Punk Globe: Thanks so much for the interview Dan. Can you give us some background on yourself.

Dan: I grew up in Seattle, born in 1969, and was heavily influenced by the grunge and garage rock movements of U-Men, Sonics, Blood Circus, Nirvana, TAD, Soundgarden, & Alice in Chains. I had played some piano as a child, but it wasn’t until I went to the Coast Guard Academy in New London CT where I picked up bass guitar. As a senior in college we got this killer car loan deal, and instead of buying a nice car I bought a used GMC Jimmy and with the left over money I bought a Fender Patriot bass (I think it was about $150) and a 150 Watt Pevey bass Amp on a pact with my friend who wanted to play drums. We had access to a free practice studio at the Academy where we would go down and jam. In a few short months Dan Johnson (the drummer) and I had assembled a band we called “Illegal Action”, with Brian Corrigan on vocals, and Jerry Popiel on guitar – later replaced by Pat Shaw who became our mainstay guitarist. We played our first show at Leamy Hall – at the CG Academy – to a packed house! Two people actually were injured during the show but refused to go to the medical clinic until after the show. We have a video tape of it, it was truly amazing. Our fates were sealed on that day and the music bug bit hard! After college, I reunited with Illegal Action drummer Dan Johnson and we formed the band Visitor 42 in 1995.

Punk Globe: You are a pretty accomplished musician can you tell us about what instruments you play?

Dan: My staple is rhythm guitar and bass – I love the rhythm and always try to connect with the drummer in the band. I’ve been really blessed to play with some amazing lead guitarists (Tim Warder – Visitor 42, Greg Volker - Gunpowder) and enjoy letting them do what they do best while I “hold the fort”. Although I do enjoy a good melody, and tend to incorporate that into my playing style as well.

Punk Globe: You are best known for playing with Visitor 42 . Can you tell the readers some of your other bands that you play with?

Dan: In addition to my first band “Illegal Action”, I have also played in “Lower Sound”, “Greg Volker and Deer Crossing”, and “Gunpowder”

Punk Globe: Can you tell us what the status is with Visitor 42 at present?

Dan: “Visitor 42” had a great run, we played from 1995 to 2009 and technically we have not really disbanded, however after Curt Knudsen left the band in 2005 to move for work, we made one more album but had been floundering around. Our practice studio in Alameda burnt down in Oct 2006. Lucky for us we were on the ground floor and we only had some minor water damage – most of the people in the building lost everything. We now currently reside at the “Soundwave/Oakland Music Complex” studios which has been great. We have formed a new project yet to be named – but it includes Dan Johnson on drums, myself on guitar and vocals, Tim Warder (V42) on guitar and vocals, and the very talented Miguel Vallejo on bass and vocals. It’s in the spirit of V42 with everyone contributing to the song writing and we are having an absolute blast! Mig comes from a long list of talented bands including “Random Eye”, “Left Out Lamont”, and “Did I Stutter”. We hope to start playing out again soon! We are considering “Jettison Crew” as a name, but nothing firm as of yet.

Punk Globe: Can you tell us some of the highlights of playing with Visitor 42?

Dan: One great moment for me was when Dale Crover of the Melvins saw us play at Al’s bar in LA. We did a cover of Nirvana’s “Floyd The Barber” and afterwards he came up to me and gave me a guitar case owned by Curt Cobain. He said I might as well have it, he was going to throw it away. We also played a killer show at The Garage with White trash Debutantes – hosted by Vaginal Davis. We got to hang out with Lemmy Kilmeister, Exene C, Donita Sparks, Ginger Coyote, and others. We played with a lot of great bands including MDC, The Dwarves, White Trash Debutantes, The Donnas, Strychnine, Circus Bogus, Dork, Boy Kicks Girl, Smokejumpers, Cell Block 5, Frail, The No No’s, Problem, Simon Stinger, Venus Bleeding, and many others. We played great clubs up and down the West Coast. Saw two movie premiers that we were involved with. And only had one vehicular accident (which was with another band while coming back from LA).

Punk Globe: You also play with Erik Core how is that doing?

Dan: Great, Gunpowder is set to release our second CD. This was a great experience, we recorded the entire thing ourselves, and Greg Volker and I did all the mixing and mastering. We plan to release it through CD baby but you can get free tracks by visiting our website at http://gunpowderband.com/mp3/ and clicking on the folder “masters”.

Punk Globe: But most exciting you are now doing radio . Can you please tell us all about that?

Dan: Yes, I started podcast a year ago called “Music Life Radio”, it’s an audio podcast with interviews from all sorts of people about anything related to music. There is a huge uniting common thread to music, no matter what kind you like – that is extremely connecting and cool on all levels.

Punk Globe: Who are some of the people that you have interviewed?

Dan: I interviewed John Binkov of the VKTMS, Rick Didia and Aireene Espirtu of Ten Ton Feather, Comedian Phil Johnson, World War II survivor Tom Mulder, and Chris Panny of the No No’s.

Punk Globe: Tell us about the music you play?

Dan: The show is essentially taking stories from people about the impact of music on their lives. I play clips of music from the people/bands I interview, and from their influences. I cover all genres and styles.

Punk Globe: Do you take CD submissions for your show?

Dan: Yes, although what I really encourage is people recording their own stories and sending those in to us. We’ll edit them and put it out. Great promo for your band and a timeless way to record a piece of punk rock history in an aural format. Visit the link to start the submission process http://www.musicliferadio.com/contact/

Punk Globe: Can you give us a link ?

Dan: http://www.musicliferadio.com/

Punk Globe: Any band links that you would like to share?

Dan: The bands I am currently listening to:

Budgie – A welsh heavy metal band from the 70’s – Rush meets Black Sabbath. I never knew these guys existed until I played the game “Brutal Legend” which feature one of their songs in the soundtrack. Metallic did a cover of a couple of their songs. I f*cking love this!

FRACAS –Bay Area Punk Rock band that always rocks my world.

Ten Ton Feather – Punk in their own right – who else can combine slide steel guitar and ukulele and create songs like these!

Punk Globe: Any words of wisdom for Punk Globe readers?

ALL YOUR FEARS ARE LIES! If you love music and have a desire to play, just do it, don’t fear it. And from my favorite T-Shirt “Jesus Saves – and takes half damage! “

Thanks so much Dan and please check out his Radio Show......