PlayBackPress- If you can, please tell our readers a little about yourself.

 

Dan- My name’s Dan. I’m in playradioplay. I’ve been making music under the name playradioplay for I think almost 3 years now. I just started in my garage and kind of naturally progressed to me signing to a label. And now a year and a half after starting to record the record for the label it’s finally out.

 

PBP– Now Texas was released yesterday, and there is a couple of songs on there like ‘pirate and princes’ and ‘loco commotion’ that we’ve heard before. Why did you lengthen ‘pirate and princess’ and shorten ‘loco commotion’?

 

Dan – When I first made the demos of those songs they were really roughly thrown together so ‘loco commotion’ was just, when I program I normally program an 8 minute song and I just choose the parts I like.  In that particular instance I just left everything there and added some vocal on top of it so pretty much every idea I had for that song was in the original demo. When I went in to record it, it was just too long and too hard to listen to, I couldn’t imagine anyone listening to it without skipping through the 6 minutes of instrumental. With ‘pirate’ in the demo, the chorus only happened once and the very end of the song which isn’t the best way to have a song which is enjoyable to listen to.  It was about just balancing and making it pleasing to listen to in the context of a record.

 

PBP- I have to ask, ‘madi don’t leave’ is about your girlfiend?

 

Dan – yes

 

PBP- are you still together?

 

Dan – yes we are.

 

PBP – how did the long distance thing workout?

 

Dan – Well when she first left I was in Fort Worth, and she moved down to San Marcos texas to go to college which is like 4 hours away. She ended up moving back after a year there to go to a different college that had her major and to be closer to me.

 

PBP- did you write ‘some crap about the furniture’ before or after she came back?

 

Dan – ‘some crap about the furniture’ was about me leaving to go record. So the first one was about her leaving and the second one was about her being back and me leaving. It takes a lot of work being in a long distance relationship.

 

PBP – Now we saw you on tour with Spill Canvas a few months back for the first time and were just blown away. We went home and did some research and couldn’t believe you were only 18.  Do you think people don’t take you seriously because of your age?

 

Dan – I think a lot of my music sounds like it comes from an 18 year old, and I think a lot of it doesn’t. I guess there is some maturity and some childish stuff there. I guess it’s hit or miss for a lot of people. In the setting you first saw me for the first time with another band you knew but never heard me before, the live show is just different than a traditional band. Its harder for us to play, people just think we play everything off the tracks, we really have a harder show than just guitar and drums. A lot of people are mad we just run stuff from a computer and I guess some people think it’s cool. I guess how I feel about making first impressions is if there is not anybody in the room that hates it then you’re not doing anything dramatic enough to be worth anything. If everyone is just like ‘it’s kinda cool’ then that’s not what I want, I want people to either love it or hate it.

 

PBP- A lot of kids when they first start playing music start playing drums or guitar, what made you start wanting to tinker around with all the electronic instruments?

 

Dan – I first started with bass, I taught myself how to play bass. Then guitar, and then drums, and then through a friend that was doing it took me from just doing it as a hobby to actually getting pretty deep into programming and creating music on the computer. Since then I’ve gone from making everything within one program to using MIDI with a bunch of outboard synths and doing stuff to guitars other than just purely beats. I’ve definitely progressed from the Frequency E.P.

 

PBP – You’ve said that you’re straight edge and its very admirable that you do that considering what you’ve been through. How do you handle that in a society today that almost encourages kids to start drinking underage?

 

Dan – I can’t really speak for anyone but myself, but drinking doesn’t work for me. I’m not able to drink socially or smoke socially. I don’t know about everyone else, I wish it wasn’t so easy to get into those things. I wish it wasn’t such a trend. I know a lot of people who could have gotten into bigger things had they not gotten into a lot of that stuff. I really don’t judge anyone else for that.

 

PBP – I know you’ve toured with The Spill Canvas before and you’re on tour with them again. You must be pretty good friends with them now. You have to have some crazy story from hanging with them…

 

Dan – I guess one crazy thing, not really a funny story. But Spill Canvas was on TRL yesterday and Nick and Dan were talking about it and telling us how crazy the whole experience was and I was just nervous for them. They’re super down to earth, and they’re kind of shy, they’re not really gung-ho promote our band on MTV or anything. It’s definitely funny seeing them as opposed to bands where their entire goal in their careers is to be on TRL.

 

PBP – So how did the whole lego millennium falcon project go? Now is it legos or is it star wars that turns you on?

 

Dan – I did it all over the course of a week. I did first half by myself and then my friend texas john came over and helped me finish the second half because it was just such a daunting task with so many pieces. At the beginning of the set you literally have 5,000 pieces lying around and you’re looking for a little 2x4 square, it takes 20 minutes just to find a piece at a time. That’s the hardest part. My friend Texas John helped me finish it. I love star wars and I love legos, I guess it’s the combination of both that’s a fantasy to me.

 

PBP – Are you excited about the new movie and tv show?

 

Dan – Yeah the tv show and the movie I’m very excited for. A lot of people didn’t like episode 1 through 3. Episode 1 kinda sucked. But I’m totally into the story.

 

PBP – Being on the road you stop at fast food restaurants, when you get your cup do you mix all the sodas together or do you just get one?

 

Dan – I’ve done that before, it’s not bad.

 

PBP – Do you do that with slurpees?

 

Dan – I don’t really drink slurpees, I just don’t like brain freezes. I’m a smoothie guy I guess. I’ve done that before, but I haven’t done it in like 10 years.

 

PBP – As I said,  I’ve been to your show before, and the crowd is mostly younger girls who are into you. You’re a shy guy, how do you react to that?

 

Dan – I don’t really think about it too much. Most of them are too young for me anyways (laughs), I don’t really think about it in a perverted way (laughs) if that’s what you’re asking.

 

PBP- No No. (Uncomfortable pause) What kind of car do you drive?

 

Dan – I drive a jetta.

 

HIGH FIVE!

 

PBP – I knew I saw a picture of you in a jetta. I just bought a new one and love it. Now have you named your jetta?

 

Dan – No I haven’t, just ‘the jetta’.  Madison has one too the same year and everything.

 

PBP – Can you walk in and out of wal-mart without buying something?

 

Dan – No I don’t think I’ve ever been there without buying something to be honest with you. There’s one by my house that is convenient for groceries and is open 24 hours. I’m a late night person so I’m always buying something random.

 

PBP- ‘Texas’ came out yesterday, if anyone who reads this hasn’t bought the album yet give them 1 good reason to pick it up.

 

Dan – hmmm, what’s one good reason to pick up ‘Texas?’ There are thousands of catchy records out there, so saying the record is catchy has become a cliché reason to buy it. But it’s definitely more diverse and has a lot more depth than any other catchy record out there.

 

PBP – How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

 

Dan – I think like 10 pounds of sawdust. Is that a good answer?

 

PBP- That works for me. Thanks a lot for the interview Dan.