Daniel Brummel

Daniel Brummel
Brummel performing with Weezer in 2014
Background information
Born	September 15, 1981 (age 40)
Origin	Pasadena, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter musician composer producer teacher
Website	Website Twitter Instagram
Associated acts
Ozma Sanglorians Daniel Brummel and the Contraband Scott & Rivers Weezer Commuter Music Nada Surf Spain The Elected

Daniel Gorciak Brummel (born September 15, 1981, in Pasadena, California) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who has performed and recorded with various musical groups including Ozma, Sanglorians, Scott & Rivers, Weezer, Nada Surf, Spain, Gowns, Monstro, and The Elected. He also helped compose the music for the Lifetime network television series American Princess.

Biography

Brummel graduated from the Los Angeles County High School For The Arts in 1999, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition from UCLA in 2006 (where he studied orchestration with Paul Chihara, voice with Don Neuen, and guitar with jazz legend Kenny Burrell and his Master of Music degree in commercial music from CSULA in 2016. As a singer, bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, and drummer, Brummel has performed consistently on international tours with his various projects since 2001, when The Michigan Daily dubbed him a "pop-culturally aware songsmith" at age 19. He has also led interfaith community music events, sang protest songs, and performed experimental folk music at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Hammer Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, the Los Angeles Central Library, and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. In March 2011, Brummel was artist-in-residence at Machine Project Gallery in Los Angeles, where he hosted Skylike Notdoings, a series of events exploring the connection between music, meditation, Eastern spirituality, and dreamwork.

More recently, Brummel co-wrote the song “Eulogy For A Rock Band” with Rivers Cuomo and Ryen Slegr for Weezer’s 2014 album Everything Will Be Alright in the End. He then served as music director and touring member (guitar, keyboards, percussion) for Weezer’s fall 2014 album release tour, coordinating and conducting a new 18 person fan choir in each city. In 2016, he joined Nada Surf as touring bassist for the North American dates of the “You Know Who You Are” album release tour, substituting for original bassist Daniel Lorca and garnering praise for being “as talented of a musician as the band could have asked for to fill in.” In academia, he served as the Dean of the California College of Music from 2015-2019, achieving the institution's initial accreditation through the National Association of Schools of Music, and he currently serves as the Chief Academic Officer for Point Blank Music School in Silver Lake.

Equipment

• Dan's original P-Bass was nicknamed "The Delorean."
• Dan occasionally wore a blue jumpsuit to Ozma shows during the band's early days. He can be seen wearing one in the unedited photo of Rock and Roll Part Three's album art.

Collaborations with Weezer/Rivers Cuomo

Brummel circled on The Good Life's cover

Brummel on tour with Weezer in 2014

• Brummel appears on the 1996 single release of The Good Life's cover art.
• Brummel, under the alias "Chee Chee Boyz", contributed a cover of the Weezer song "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" for the 1996 compilation album Weezer Fanclub Cover Compilation Vol. 1.
• Brummel, as Daniel Brummel and the Contraband, contributed a cover of the Weezer song "Devotion" for the 2001 compilation album Making Noise: A Tribute to Weezer.
• Credited performer on the eponymous album by Scott & Rivers:
  • "おかしいやつ" - performer, producer
  • "朝は近い" - performer, producer
  • "遠く離れても" - performer, producer
  • "I Need Somebody" - performer, producer
  • "Butterfly" - performer, producer
• Filled in on drums for Weezer drummer Pat Wilson at a Weezer concert in 2013.
• Credited co-writer on the song "Eulogy for a Rock Band" from Weezer's 2014 album Everything Will Be Alright in the End alongside Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and Ozma member Ryen Slegr. Brummel also performed keyboards and piano on the song.
• Songs from the sessions in which Brummel and Slegr demoed with Cuomo were released in December of 2020 as Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers
• In 2014, Brummel appeared alongside all of the Weezer members and Lizzy Plapinger to provide additional instrumentation in a live acoustic rendition of Go Away.
• Again in 2014, Brummel helped fill in drums for Weezer during a live acoustic show in which Patrick Wilson could not make it due to family reasons. During this show fellow Ozma member Ryen Slegr helped play guitar on Eulogy for a Rock Band.
• Accompanied Weezer on guitars and keyboards during the Everything Will Be Alright in the End Tour in 2014. Brummel dressed as the EWBAITE character Joe Laffoley, while Rivers Cuomo dressed as Sebastian.
• Performed clarinet, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, and piano on Weezer's 2017 album Pacific Daydream.
• In 2019, Daniel wrote a piece in the anthology book, "GO ALL THE WAY: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop", discussing how Weezer's Blue Album is power pop.
• Daniel is the 1645th member of the Weezer fan club.

Discography

Ozma

• Rock and Roll Part Three (2000) - songwriter, bass, vocals
• The Doubble Donkey Disc (2001) - songwriter, balalaika, bass, vocals
• Spending Time on the Borderline (2003) - songwriter, guitar, bass, saxophone, synth, vocals
• Pasadena (2007) - songwriter, bass, vocals
• Boomtown (2014) - songwriter, bass, engineer, vocals

Sanglorians

• Initiation (2013)
• Odalisque (2020)

Daniel Brummel and the Contraband

• A Network To Take Care (1999)
• Sound Mind (1999)
• Making Noise: A Tribute to Weezer (2001) "Devotion"

Commuter Music

• Commuter Music I: Kick The Tires, Light The Fires (2000)

Monstro

• Ocean Floor Demos (2003)

As a Solo Artist

• Weezer Fanclub Cover Compilation Vol. 1 (1996) "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly" - Released under the alias "Chee Chee Boyz"
• Speak Easy (Coptic, 2005)
• Devour by End Transmission (2009)
• Switched-On Scarlatti (2019)

Nada Surf

• Live on KEXP (Acoustic) (2016)

Spain

• The Soul of Spain (Glitterhouse Records, 2012)
• The Morning Becomes Eclectic Session (Glitterhouse Records, 2013)
• Sargent Place (Glitterhouse Records, 2014)

The Elected

• Me First (2004)
• Sun, Sun, Sun (Sub Pop Records, 2006)

Gowns

• Broken Bones (Southern Records, 2008)

Jorge Huaman

• In Need Of In-Between (2010)

Irma

• Letter To The Lord (My Major Company, 2011)

We Are Me

• Living In Transit (Atmosphériques, 2014)

Sofa City Sweetheart

• Super(b) Exitos (2019)

Manisha

• All My Sunsets EP (2020)

Jonathan Mann

• Jewish Family Christmas Tree! (2020)

David Prince

• No Hard Feelings (2021)

The Easy Button

• Lost On Purpose (2021)

Film/TV Soundtracks

• That Darn Punk (2001)
• Zoey 101 (2008)
• iCarly (2008)
• Türkisch für Anfänger|Turkish for Beginners (2008)
• Still Waiting... (2009)
• Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
• Geek USA (2013)
• (Romance) in the Digital Age (2017)
• American Princess (2019 TV series) (composer, 10 episodes)

See also

• Ozma