In “Celebration” from Join Us, Marty does a big drum fill towards the end of the song.
The day they were in the studio recording it, there was a story in the news that Phil Collins had announced his retirement from music. Everyone found this weird and hilarious, and Marty suggested putting a Phil Collins drum fill into the song to mark the occasion. When you listen to it now it’s clearly in the style of 80s Phil Collins.
I KNEW IT! Every time I hear that drum fill, I think "That sounds so Phil Collins inspired" (I was a huge Genesis fan as a kid) but I never knew the background story. Too funny! Thanks for sharing that.
IDK if this fits under what you're asking, but all of them have written and performed songs on the TMBG children's albums, in case you're curious how they hold up on their own. These include: Where Do They Make Balloons?, Number Two, I Am A Paleontologist - Danny Weinkauf Infinity - Dan Miller The Alphabet Lost And Found, High Five!, Speed And Velocity - Marty Beller
Dan Miller will also often do keyboard (or sometimes melodica) on tracks and contribute backing vocals.
They're obviously good at what they do, but I wish I had a more nuanced take on the other two's stylings and contributions to the band, other than Marty drums and Danny bass...es.
Specifically for their studio albums, and obviously there are songs with guest performers, or even less members of the band:
Dan Miller - Plays lead guitar on every studio album from Mink Car until today. It may be difficult to distinguish Dan from Flans for the basic backing guitars, but generally on newer recordings, the more elaborate solos are likely Dan’s.
Danny Weinkauf - Likewise plays bass on every studio album from Mink Car on. Danny and Dan both used to be members of the band Lincoln, and joined TMBG pretty close to each other.
Marty Beller - Plays drums on every album since The Spine. While many of Their songs make use of electronic, and specialized percussion elements, sometimes those are programmed by the Johns, but often enough they’re actually Marty, who has been known to remarkably replicate their old drum machine feel when asked.
They’re all really great musicians!
Dan Miller does amazing work at the live shows, somewhere there is a take of him playing an organ part on his guitar.
And here is a monster solo in Damn Good Times about 7 minutes into Podcast 6B:
https://tmbw.net/wiki/Podcast_6B
Dan will play Linnell's keyboard while Linnell is playing accordion sometimes. Also he'll do vocal harmonies with the Johns on Darlings of Lumberland and probably some other songs I don't remember.
In “Celebration” from Join Us, Marty does a big drum fill towards the end of the song. The day they were in the studio recording it, there was a story in the news that Phil Collins had announced his retirement from music. Everyone found this weird and hilarious, and Marty suggested putting a Phil Collins drum fill into the song to mark the occasion. When you listen to it now it’s clearly in the style of 80s Phil Collins.
This is great! But I’m still upset there isn’t a drum solo in Doctor Worm. 🐛
I KNEW IT! Every time I hear that drum fill, I think "That sounds so Phil Collins inspired" (I was a huge Genesis fan as a kid) but I never knew the background story. Too funny! Thanks for sharing that.
Nice trivia. Hadn’t heard that before
IDK if this fits under what you're asking, but all of them have written and performed songs on the TMBG children's albums, in case you're curious how they hold up on their own. These include: Where Do They Make Balloons?, Number Two, I Am A Paleontologist - Danny Weinkauf Infinity - Dan Miller The Alphabet Lost And Found, High Five!, Speed And Velocity - Marty Beller
Dan Miller will also often do keyboard (or sometimes melodica) on tracks and contribute backing vocals. They're obviously good at what they do, but I wish I had a more nuanced take on the other two's stylings and contributions to the band, other than Marty drums and Danny bass...es.
Don’t forget Elephants
The entire Join Us album is a great way to soak in Marty Beller's style. He does a different drum texture for each song.
I love that Judy is Your Viet Nam is almost all drum fills, no consistent groove. Very cool!
Miller time for Dan, I’ll be haunting you for Danny, Experimental film for Marty are the first that came to mind for me
Specifically for their studio albums, and obviously there are songs with guest performers, or even less members of the band: Dan Miller - Plays lead guitar on every studio album from Mink Car until today. It may be difficult to distinguish Dan from Flans for the basic backing guitars, but generally on newer recordings, the more elaborate solos are likely Dan’s. Danny Weinkauf - Likewise plays bass on every studio album from Mink Car on. Danny and Dan both used to be members of the band Lincoln, and joined TMBG pretty close to each other. Marty Beller - Plays drums on every album since The Spine. While many of Their songs make use of electronic, and specialized percussion elements, sometimes those are programmed by the Johns, but often enough they’re actually Marty, who has been known to remarkably replicate their old drum machine feel when asked. They’re all really great musicians!
Dan Miller does amazing work at the live shows, somewhere there is a take of him playing an organ part on his guitar. And here is a monster solo in Damn Good Times about 7 minutes into Podcast 6B: https://tmbw.net/wiki/Podcast_6B
Dan will play Linnell's keyboard while Linnell is playing accordion sometimes. Also he'll do vocal harmonies with the Johns on Darlings of Lumberland and probably some other songs I don't remember.
You get to hear a lot about their opinions in “When Will You Die?”
Venue Songs is a pretty good showcase of just how many different styles they can play.
Go back in time to when they were doing "dial a drum solo" during the concerts.