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E25: Danny Eisenberg (Crows Backup Keyboard Player) Interview
305 Plays2 months ago
Danny Eisenberg has been the backup keyboard player for the Crows for decades, including a few shows on this year's tour. He was also a founding member of Mod-L society, one of Adam's first bands. Maybe most important, he's also a childhood friend of Immy.
Hear some behind the scenes stories and learn what it's like to fill in (or support) Charlie on the road....
Check out Danny's single here:
https://dannyeisenberg.hearnow.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Greetings
00:00:18
Speaker
Welcome to Episode 24 of Sullivan Street, where we have a very special guest, Dan Eisenberg, who I will introduce in just a bit. But first, let's say hi to my co-host, Chris Miggs. Chris, we're recording on July 4th. So happy Independence Day. Happy Independence Day and happy happy summer tour season there's it's it's summer tour and and you get to listen to new crow shows like every day if you want to so that's always nice always yes and by the time we record the next episode they um well one you'll will have seen them and they'll will have um
00:00:49
Speaker
played some of their ah shows that they are headlining or leading as opposed to the Santana show. So we'll be talking about that.
Introducing Dan Eisenberg
00:00:57
Speaker
But talking about them playing on tour in the 2024 season, this is a great time or a good segue to introduce our guest. Our guest, Dan Eisenberg,
00:01:06
Speaker
um probably not known to a lot of Crows fans, which should be ah because ties into the Crows history and also ah current ah news as well. So um Chris will give more introduction, but he played with Model Society, one of Adam's first bands, which most of the listeners of this podcast know.
00:01:25
Speaker
He's a Bay Area musician, played with so many. I was just looking at the ah discography of of albums he's played on. I think I saw more than 30 and I'm probably missing some there. He's played with Ryan Adams. um And ah very interesting, the Crows fans has substituted um for Charlie on a number of tours, in particular ah the 2014 tour. There's more we'll talk about. And also, oh, 2008 and also this year, I think for just one show.
Early Musical Experiences with Model Society
00:01:55
Speaker
But let's say hi to Dan Eisenberg. Dan, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Hello, everybody.
00:02:02
Speaker
ah Yeah, please, Chris, you can start. Yeah, so I i want to start out, let mean if we start at the beginning, because you know Adam kind of tells the story. The way he tells the story is that he showed up to band practice one day when he was the keyboard player in model society. And there was another keyboard player, and that was you. And he was told that he was still the singer, but no longer the keyboard player in model society. And I've always been kind of curious, like, what was your like like what was your experience on that? What's your side of that story? What does that look like for you? Yeah, but boy that was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but but I remember Well, first of all, I'm a big fan of Adam's piano playing. I really I really am. He's a he's a great You know, he's a great piano player and you know in a in a in the pop piano style You know like his piano playing on long December Well, it's got great feel like if you heard that you heard him and he didn't sing a note of that you go I want that guy on my session playing piano I mean, you know ah
00:03:02
Speaker
But I remember being at a little little garage where i think where i live where I rented was turned into like a little studio in Berkeley. And he showed up with with his drummer, Rob.
00:03:14
Speaker
and um And I think he was showing me some songs and he played piano. And and I was like, he plays piano? Why do you guys need me? And then i get i mean i maybe Rob said, OK, no, he's going to play piano now. But I don't think I was so much better than him. you know But ah you know different.
00:03:32
Speaker
He said, Adam's a great piano player. So and we then we started that band. and just but I do remember thinking, because he just threw out some songs and singing. you know And this is long before he was you know really well known or famous or anything. And I'd go, this guys this guy's really good. He's not very talented. This guy's a very talented young man right here. you know But that was your first time meeting him. Your first band practice together was your first time meeting him. Yeah, I think that was. I came over to this, as that's what I recall, he came over, I think it was where I lived, I think, with my piano. And he was robbed the drummer and and ah and he showed me some of his songs. And I go, these songs are really good. So you were friends with Rob the drummer and that kind of pulled, that's what kind of pulled you into the band. Yeah, I knew the drummer. I think I just knew the drummer from being, and you know, being around Berkeley.
00:04:24
Speaker
think I think I was going to UC Berkeley at the time, like just getting a liberal arts degree, and I think we all were going to school there. and did Did you want to talk a little bit about your time during that band? I forget how long that band lasted for. Yeah, that band lasted, you know I think, a solid two years. I think, like basically, i maybe started in the latter part of 1986, I think, but you know a definitely 1987,
00:04:50
Speaker
I think it broke up around the summer of like 89 or something like that or you know late you know early summer of 89 somewhere in that ballpark. And it was a really fun band for for a long time.
Musical Influences and Piano Journey
00:05:01
Speaker
you know We didn't really get too popular. We finally started selling out this probably about a 200 capacity bar in Berkeley called the Starry Plow. And I just remember it was so exciting to walk up to the marquee and the first time in my life it said sold out. i was It was awesome. but you know We never really broke into the city. We recorded ah a 45.
00:05:27
Speaker
and um yeah 45 is really kind of interesting interesting because it's ah kind of all that exists of the band, I think, online. i mean There's no tapes other than really that 45 which if anyone hasn't listened, it's on YouTube. There's ah two songs called Janie and back to Baltimore. Janie and back to Baltimore, right? Yeah. Yeah. What do you, um and I'm curious, so but you guys you did you guys tour very much or was it really just sort of a local thing? It was just a local thing. you know We rehearsed and you know and those guys, you know the band carried my Hammond B3 and Yamaha CP70 piano and you know make friends and enemies really fast when you have keyboards like that.
00:06:07
Speaker
They're really heavy. They're really heavy. Just out of curiosity, because I used to say that if I i could be wrong, i didn' I didn't have any particular musical talent. A little bit, I played some instruments growing up. But I used to say that if I was going to play in a band, I would have wanted to play keyboard or I don't know about all the other instruments you play. But how did you get into, I'm curious, how did you get into keyboarding and then or piano or whatever your start was and then how did you then transition? I don't know if you're interested in other instruments and then how did you transition to be like, I don't just want to play keyboard at home, I want to do it in a band. and Was there a particular type of music you wanted to play with? ah Yeah, well those are great questions. um the yeah Well, there was a baby grand around my house, not a very good one, but my mom used to play Beatles records and Donovan records and the musical hair.
00:06:56
Speaker
And when I was pretty young, you know seven, eight, I would just go try to find, figure out those songs on the piano. you know I was definitely not a prodigy or anything like that, but I i really liked i was i really felt moved by that music and and felt pulled to the piano to try to figure it out. you know like So I grew up, my mom was really exposing me. My dad played viola, but I didn't really hear him play too much, but it was those records that that ah I used to get pots and pans and go down I'd get my brother, I have a brother and sister, I'd get them to with pots and pans and spoons and play along to Mellow Yellow by Donovan. And um and then later on, like probably junior high, around junior high-ish, I started, the funny thing is I heard those those early Santana records. you know like ah yeah Santana one and a Braxis.
00:07:51
Speaker
and When I heard Greg Raleigh's, the way that dude was playing Hammond, Oregon, with that soul, and that heat that dude is so soulful. Soul and fire.
College Days and Musical Friendships
00:08:02
Speaker
That guy's soul and fire. That's Greg Raleigh and taste. you know And he was like 18 or 19, but he was a young man coming up with these iconic solos that Dave Matthews, the keyboard player in in in Santana, who's just a serious badass, he you know he's still plays some of those solos verbatim because they're so great, you know the great growly play. But those solos and the tone of that organ, just something went some something went off and said, that's I want to do that. you know and And I love Nicky Hopkins from the Rolling Stones, kind of did the same thing.
00:08:35
Speaker
And a big, huge, huge influence, um of course, it for me, was who I just go, that guy is Billy Preston with the Beatles, you know, and the Stones, and all all the stuff Billy Preston did, his solo stuff. I, you know, he's, you know, Billy, you know, I'd say Billy Preston, Billy Preston's the man, you know. And um it was the man.
00:08:57
Speaker
You know, maybe he's the man somewhere else. so but somewhere in the in some Well, and he said you' but given his songs, i would if if there is something else, you know? Yeah. i think that yeah yeah and they're you know if If there is something else, and i think that's I think it's a reasonable possibility there's something else. yeah you know I don't know, but I think it's... Why not?
00:09:16
Speaker
you know did um did did you you said you went to ah ber You said you were attending Berkeley? i went I went on to Berkeley High and then I went to UC Berkeley for... Well, I ah started going. i was i was I went to Berkeley High and then I went to UC Santa Cruz for a couple of years, dropped out of UC Santa Cruz, was in a band with David Immergluck down there and in Berkeley High. I went to Berkeley High with David Immergluck, the guitar player at County Crows. yeah and ah And we played in yeah and that we played together probably for a few years in that band. And then that band was called Strange Creek. And then it was called then we we we just scaled down. to we get we We let one guitar player go, the other guitar player. And it was then just Dave, it was Quartet. And that was called Laughing Dice.
00:10:09
Speaker
And then I was going to, then I transferred up, went to UC Berkeley, and that's where I met Adam, and then Adam's guitar player, Vincent Spalding, who's a really good guitar player, played with Rodney Franklin on some of his records, and um he joined the Army Band, so we needed another guitar player for Model Society, and so I go, I think I got the guy for you. You can check this this buddy of mine, David Emergluck, he's really good, and then introduce them.
00:10:36
Speaker
Well, so that, I was going to ask that. So you're the one that introduced Immergluck into model society, but then introduced him and Adam, which, I mean, obviously they, it sounds like they've been best friends for 40 years now, right? I take full responsibility. The fault is mine. I take full responsibility.
00:10:54
Speaker
It's funny how that works out. I'm sometimes like but almost by accident, I've introduced people and then they're married 30 years later, right? Or something. It's weird how one introduction can really change. Yeah. It's it's ah it's awesome. Yeah.
00:11:06
Speaker
This is total trivia, but what did you major in school? Yeah. I started in music and then I felt like the good professor. All my heroes always said, man, the best way to learn is just learn by ear off records. That's mainly how I learned because everybody, all my heroes, it was way before you had the YouTube lessons and all that stuff. All your heroes that you read every single interview, every single one, Miles Davis, Wynton Kelly, all these jazz players,
00:11:36
Speaker
Billy Preston. yeah They all said the same thing. I mean, I just learned by ear off the records. you know you don't And so that's what I started doing, just putting on the records.
Model Society's Side Projects and Stories
00:11:43
Speaker
We had one of those half speed super scope tape recorders, slowed it down, you know but it dropped it at an octave when you did it back then because didn't have the technology they do now. And yeah, I remember i remember playing, I don't know how much time we have, tell me if I'm going after you. But I remember i remember OK, so Model Society, we were playing a house party near where I lived. And I had this neighbor that lived next to me, this interesting gentleman, and a you know slightly older guy. And I'd been practicing with my Super Scope tape recorder earlier that day, figuring out some jazz lick or something. And i to get that jazz lick, you have to keep you know wind rewinding that thing backward. I hear like two notes.
00:12:31
Speaker
twitter the You keep doing it like you know like hours and like you get this one link That was earlier in the day before the party that night of the party playing with model society Adam the bass player Marty who Marty was a bass player and Marty Jones who mr. Jones is written about yeah and um We were playing we were we were playing and and it's like 2 in the morning We're still playing this house party got it cleared by all the neighbors except this gentleman And all of a sudden he comes, bounces into the house, kind of jumping up and down, clapping his hands. And I'm not going to name this guy. God bless him. It all ended well. But he bounces over first to our bass player, Marty, who's kind of a tough guy. Marty did construction. You wouldn't mess with Marty. And he bounces over to Marty, and he's jumping. And I'm just like, what is going on here?
00:13:26
Speaker
and he And he claps Marty's face like slaps him. Marty stops playing and Adam, I don't think he clapped Adam, but there was one woman who who was a girlfriend of one of the guys who lived in the house, wanted us to stop playing like two hours ago because she wanted she didn't even live there, but she wanted to sleep and she came down two hours before and asked us to please stop and we said one more song. Of course, we went to some Grateful Dead jam last 45 minutes on purpose. you know
00:13:57
Speaker
she i should So but she'd already gone left. c We call him the clapper bounced in slap Marty comes over and I was just fascinated by this whole situation like fascinated in the human condition. He comes over me bouncing. And he's with his son, you know, college age son who's know coming in behind him. And he comes over to me and he goes, it's 230 in the morning. And he just collapse my face. you know It kind of hurt. you know It did sort of hurt, but i was I was just fascinated. Then he bounced out of the house, and the story's almost over, so thanks for listening. Anyway, I think it's a word it's it's it's funny. can and Adam is there, so um so he bounces he bounces over bounces out of the house, and we're like, well, that was a trip where I'll go, and that was a trip, and then later I'm going to sleep that night.
00:14:50
Speaker
and he's He's talking to his son. And and his he said, son, I ah went temporarily insane tonight. And his his son said, but dad, I hope you get over it. And then he and then i i i've you know I felt bad for the guy because you know we were kind of in his in his environment. Next day, next day i I wrote him a nice note saying, I'm very sorry for ah you know if we if our music disturbed you.
00:15:22
Speaker
but I think the way that you handled it was not maybe the best way. you know He came over that afternoon and said, and knocks on my door and and i it was a peace offering. He said, that's that's one of the times he called I get called Daniel. you know He goes, Daniel, I just want to say you're a very nice young man. Thank you so much for that very nice note. But see what happened earlier in that day You were playing that same youre practicing that same figure over and over and over again. And then that night you guys, Model Society was playing that party and and I wasn't in control in my environment and I went temporarily insane. An hour of music.
00:16:09
Speaker
The power of music. Anyway, i don't know that I don't know if that was, I don't know if you want to keep that on the podcast. I always, I always wonder like the sun, for example, that down sorry about that that no that for example, the sun that showed up who was about your age, I'm guessing, like do people like that remember or even know that, for example, Adam Duritz was one of the, I don't think they, they probably didn't, they probably will never put that together because they didn't know. They'll probably never, yeah, they probably, that's a great, but yeah, they'll probably know. But we but we had we were all we were all entertained by it. you know you know not we know We didn't put the guy down, it was just, we were fascinated. And um we were all just in stitches the next day, laughing about it, even though we did get clapped.
Legacy and Unreleased Material of Model Society
00:16:54
Speaker
So that it was just a funny, odd thing to have happened, and we nicknamed that guy the clapper.
00:17:00
Speaker
I hope he's doing great wherever he is. I hope he's doing great. you know God bless. her for you Chris, you you were when you were even saying like only two of the songs were officially released, the 45, I always wonder if like the tapes exist somewhere. like dan do you know if anybody has like you know Adam, for example, 20 years ago, re-released all the himala the Himalayan stuff.
00:17:22
Speaker
um Yeah, just kind of curious if if any of the recordings are ever there or if any of the songs, i even part of me, since I bet you as some of those model society songs have have like things that it would be fun to rerecord them and probably have some good, ah there's probably some good songs. There were some, I thought there were some good songs. It's been a long time, man. um Maybe ah the guitar player, one of the other guitar players, ah Mike Robinson, who's a really good friend of all of ours,
00:17:50
Speaker
might still have some cassettes. Michael Robinson, you know, oh care Marty Jones, Marty Jones might have some, you know? Yeah. but basic play out it be Cool to record one of those and for 2024.
00:18:02
Speaker
i don't know yeah what I like that back the Baltimore song. I like Janie. I thought those were some good songs. Yeah. But what did the rest of it sound? I mean, presumably if you guys had a bunch of songs, because all we know, all we know are those two songs, right? In terms of like what you guys played. like is that Are those songs like representative of what the rest of the band sounded like or is not really? your um That was like part of it. There were other songs. you know and we also And then we also started opening up for our so ourselves under a different name, doing all covers that we love to do. you know so
00:18:40
Speaker
this exact same band members, Adam was, and we called that band Your Mom, and ah like Your Mama, but we called it Your Mom, you know? oh And so we get all the money, because we would we were the opening band and the headliner, and we get to play longer, and we do stuff, we do Van Morrison covers, Adam really loved Van Morrison, we did some Les McCann covers, we did, ah you know, um yeah, we did Compared to What by Les McCann, you know, we did, ah there's, there's, yeah, and, um That sounds like a little Grateful Dead, maybe, based on the... we I mean, I was definitely into the Grateful Dead. iie Adam was into the Grateful Dead, too. Emmer Gluck was definitely into the Grateful Dead, but he started... Emmer Gluck played with Mama Society, but he was was doing a... He got in there a little bit later, and not as much. But yeah. like You know, those there were there were different kinds of songs, the original songs. Adam wrote some great songs.
00:19:42
Speaker
could kind of opening up and doing kind of improv a little bit. And on some of those, it sounds like maybe you're not yet or yeah we were, you know, I don't know how much jamming model society did. I can't remember, but your mom, we would definitely open up some more improv, you know, probably, you know, definitely a lot of solos and and that kind of thing.
00:20:05
Speaker
One of these days, Chris, we'll have to get a list of all bands Emmy has been in. And I bet you the list is very extensive. He might even be one of the highest in the country. Yeah, he was just, I just played with Mother Hips a few days ago in Nevada, and Jay Blakesburg, the photographer, was there. And he said that he shot Emmy Gluck. Like, the Emmy thing, like, you know, I call him Emmy Gluck. I call him Emmy sometimes, but I didn't grow up calling him Emmy.
00:20:35
Speaker
Yeah. And we're glad our Dave, you know, but. ah But he said he shot Dave and Dave was with the Ophelia's. I've been like a long time. I had the Ophelia's amongst the doom. Hmm. Well, let's all history and campervan. Yeah. Right. We interviewed and we interviewed Dave Lowry about about some of that period. and Yeah. I mean, I will just say any early fun, early Emmy stories before we talk about like later stuff just like das One of my absolute best friends in the whole universe, you know, I love that guy one And we just had a we had a great great time just me sitting in on out that one show Recently, you know, we all it was just love love my brothers out there, you know, but uh Funny and i mean there's a lot of funny Emmy stories. I have to think like which ones I have to like, you know, I have to
00:21:29
Speaker
to get them cleared, probably. Yeah, yeah yeah exactly. yeah yeah we don't write We don't want anything that weird out. We had this one thing that was cool. like It was probably in the early 2000s. I think I was touring with Tiff Merritt. I toured with her for almost five years. Tiff Merritt, singer-songwriter from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Really good. and um i was I think I was maybe in North Carolina, I can't remember, we were out east somewhere and and Dave was out, Emmy, Emmy, Dave was out east touring with us, I guess maybe, I don't know if it was Counting Crows or who somebody and we we both met, we were meeting for dinner, just random, we hadn't talked about this and neither one of us had ever had any
00:22:17
Speaker
you know crazy color ever in our hair ever and we hadn't talked about this and we meet at this restaurant we both walk in and we both had the exact same shade of red and you know like bright red you know like bright red color hair color red like not like red hair red but you know red red you know right kind of pink red in our hair and it was a it was just a it was funny how that just happened at the same time we both never had done that um you know Yeah, I mean, one thing that's nice and it kind of ties into what at least, you know, we only know these people from a distance or what we read or interviews, but um I love that, you know, you've kept in touch with a lot of these people all these years that the story continues. I mean, Adam, to me, seems like I think one an unherald thing about him, such a loyal guy that doesn't get changed by, you know, fame in that way. And and course it's that he's also talked about, by the way, if somebody burns him, he remembers it forever as well.
00:23:14
Speaker
and probably holds it against him but when he likes somebody he's there for the long haul and I just think that's a great quality.
Joining Counting Crows
00:23:19
Speaker
Yeah yeah he's got dude's got a big heart you know. So we're gonna so we'll move into your your playing time at the Counting Crows and I know Chris wants to ask you about some particular shows uh and uh substituting for Charlie and I I guess I just want you to maybe first talk about that because as I've said so much on the podcast, I think Charlie is so, so, so talented. I think he's one of the best in the United States. And I think he is think he's charlie' great. And I think he'd be tough to substitute for because I think sometimes when he plays things, and this is just me projecting, you can tell me if I'm wrong, I think he sometimes adds things to songs or does things in a way to challenge himself. right and so It's pretty difficult to to maybe do everything that he wanted to do or had in his mind, but you could talk about that. Yeah, Charlie's awesome. I love i love Charlie's parts. it's like you know i yeah i mean i mean it was I was nervous going out there every every single time. I was nervous this last time. ah but you know ah just My mantra for the music business, I guess you could use it for life is do my best and leave the rest. There you have it, Charlie. I love Charlie's playing, man.
00:24:32
Speaker
He plays great parts, he's soulful, he's tasteful, and ah just yeah, just really serves the music and the song. Great, so I do my best to learn his part the parts that you know best you know that I can, and then just do my own thing. you know But I think Adam also, in the county, they're main parts of the songs, they want you to, you gotta grab those, but then they also want you to put your heart into the music.
00:25:00
Speaker
you know yeah And that you know it's just, I think they know my strengths and weaknesses. you know they And they just want me to put you but my strengths into the music as sort of the vibe I get. But but i yeah i'm ah I'm a huge fan of Charlie Gillingham. Great person, great player. How much prep time? Great fashion sense. Yes, yes.
00:25:26
Speaker
How much I mean, when because i know you know, you may not know there's but ah about I think it's like about a two week period in 2008 where you, you know, we replaced Charlie because he was having a baby. yeah How much like prep time did you have for that sort of gig? That one and that was the second time I think I did it. You know, um that one, I got a little more prep time than the first time. First time his dad passed away, so he had to to bail. What was that? 2004, I think. OK. Yeah.
00:25:56
Speaker
I think that was the John when they were on tour with John Mayer. Is that John Mayer? Oh, that would be like the O3, the John Mayer tour. Okay. Okay, so yeah, must have been right when I got off tour with Ryan Adams. But yeah, so that's, so 2000, 2004, 2008, the prep time was probably about, I don't know, they gave me,
00:26:23
Speaker
I've had a few weeks probably. so that you know that's like This last time, just a couple weeks ago, I had and like had like i had you know had one day.
00:26:36
Speaker
i did i did like i did i I charted out like 20s because it's been a long time since I played all those songs. you know but it so i charted out all those and I didn't have the charts anymore and i didn't have I didn't have time to always prefer not to have to look at the paper. you know ah but You know, 20 songs. don't want to you know So i I charted out 20 songs and about you and then flew out the next next morning. Wow. Yeah. Well, it's not bad. Because you charted out 20 songs, but did you know that those were kind of the only 20 that could get played? because No, they sent me. They sent me. So they called me on a Monday saying, Charlie couldn't do the show. Shabbat, he's going to be out for a bit. And you know and ah he was under the weather. And they and they they said, here.
00:27:23
Speaker
ah focus on these, and they sent me those 20 songs to focus on. Gotcha. Because I know looking I was looking back from the 2008 songs, and some of those songs that were played during those shows were songs that had like never been played before. Like, why should you come when I call, right? where So you guys, but I assume were just, maybe you would prep those but a little bit, but you'd maybe be figuring those out together with the band.
00:27:46
Speaker
I recall for that tour, they are already been playing all the songs, you know but there were some really cool songs and some challenging songs like you know Washington Square. Was that the name of that song? wash you know all those A lot of that beautiful Charlie piano in there. Yes, that's one of the best. yeah I remember spending a lot of time on that, but then I think I think i thinking like mostly got it. you know um I was listening to that yesterday. I did yeah i agree. That sounded great. Oh, cool.
00:28:17
Speaker
but that's I guess that's that's a tough thing that that people hopefully will recognize um after this episode is that for someone like you playing with so many bands, right you there's a lot of learning in there and and and and and and sometimes might not even be a payoff. I'm not saying with the crews, but you might have to learn something for one band you play, I don't know, a month or two with them and then that's it. right so Yeah. i mean you know it's a But it's always valuable that just as I was a kid, you know you just learn by ear off the records and and you get you get benefit just using your ear. so even if if the gigs doesn't you know ah you know If somebody calls me for a one-off and I have to use learn a bunch of material, then I have to get a different business arrangement. you know
00:29:03
Speaker
but minute it's like ah but you know it's um you know you you always There's always benefit learning learning music by ear. so you Even if it doesn't turn into like a long tour or something like that, you you get the value of having figured it out by ear. You talked about Washington Square being a bit of ah um a challenge because as you said, Charlie's part is so good there and it's not a song that they play all the time. Is there any particular songs you just like playing with them either because you like your part or you like the way the band is or how the audience reacts?
00:29:37
Speaker
um and i like i like ah like so i like I like all their songs. They're such great songs. um you know it's like they And there is spontaneity those guys have on stage, which is awesome. So you just never know any song could turn into the one that that was. You just don't know which one's going to be the most you know fun up there. of but's i Part of what I was curious about too is that you've played in a lot of bands where there's there's improv, right? And you've played with Ryan Adams, you've played with like Phil Lesch in the mother hips. And yeah um I'm kind of curious if you, like the Crow's version of improv always seems like sort of unique to me, right? The idea of, particularly in something like Rain King, where you just kind of might be following a new song in the middle. um I'm always kind of, what was that like for you to kind of plug into and sort of drop in and and figure out
00:30:32
Speaker
You know, how to but was that it was that a hard experience? Was that is that you're talking about different than other proper the recent thing the recent sit-in Or just any of the times I know in the Green Kings one where you know, maybe in the middle I was the 2008 version there's with a little help from my friends in the middle Well 2008 we probably went over it at soundcheck or something like that we went over a few songs at soundcheck And then
00:31:04
Speaker
Yeah. And we just, we went over whenever we just went over a few songs and sound check. But is is it different, like improving with the crows verse? I mean, like so you played friend of the devil just a couple of weeks ago, right? with i put that ripon solo um But you've also played that song again, like with like Bill Lesh and band. Is that a different experience with the crows in terms of that kind of improvising or is it, is it all kind of one to you?
00:31:29
Speaker
Well, that's an excellent question. I would just say there's definitely a common denominator. um
00:31:37
Speaker
Somebody like, I haven't played with Phil for a little while, but somebody like Phil or people in that scene, um God bless Phil Lesh. That dude's killing it, man. He's killing it. but that sting Sounds great.
00:31:48
Speaker
eighty five yes kicks He's said he's such a ah he so awesome. I'd say like in the Grateful Dead circuit of musicians and jazz musicians, you know though the focus you know it's so it's about the songs, but it's also but there's more maybe a little more stretching than the Counting Crows. That being said, Counting Crows, I feel like what I love about that band is if there There's definitely, you don't have to play it the same way every single time. Make certain riffs and lines that identify the song you need to do, but um at least at least that's my impression. Of course, I don't know, you know, um um when I've gone in to do stuff with those guys, a lot of it, I'm winging it. but So i I'm not gonna play it the same way every time, but they didn't they seem to be cool with it, you know? But, it you know, Emmer Gluck has grew up on The Grateful Dead and he,
00:32:43
Speaker
And Jim Dog is a great improviser. They're all really great improvisers. you know And Adam improvises a lot vocally, I feel, and even conducting the sections of songs.
Humorous on-stage Experiences
00:32:53
Speaker
you know Like that Rain King version we just did, you know they they gave me, you know Dan Vickery wasn't there, they gave me his solo on Rain King. I played it on Oregon. And then I thought the solo, would you know and then they kept, Adam kind of conducted to keep going.
00:33:11
Speaker
after I thought it was over. And so we extended it and it was like, okay, cool. And that was, that was really fun. Um, I just feel like you just never know kind of crows. I feel there is a lot of spontaneity and a lot of creativity and, uh, just, I guess it's like their improvisation might be a little bit, not quite as obvious as somebody like Phil Lesch, you know, but they definitely improvise and there's a lot of spontaneity in the County crows. Yeah.
00:33:41
Speaker
Well, that's it. So it really is kind of, and that's what I kind of figured, but you're on some like ranking, right? You're just, you're just kind of watching Adam for cues. So he's, it's like an improv, but with more of like a band leader format, maybe. Is that maybe the way to describe it? Yeah. Or like, uh, I think of him as yeah he's definitely the band leader, but I would call him, I would call him the, uh, the conduct and almost like a conductor, you know, right which I was, I'm stoked to have because it's like, I'm like,
00:34:07
Speaker
Where are we going with this? And and he's like, you know, he'll and he'll do this. I keep going, keep going. And, you know, it's it's awesome. Yeah. Have you had any um oh any particular memories of any particular shows? I know that's kind of vague that you wanted to share or with with fans. I don't know if there's a particular year or show that stands out for you. count Counting Crows. Yeah, with Counting Crows. I remember this one time you talked about like like funny moments with with Emory Gluck and those guys and and in me and Dave.
00:34:38
Speaker
Dave and Jim, Jim Dogged, Jim Bojes. We used to have this band called Glider. Maybe one day we used to do like some really fun covers you know like Booker T and Meters and Fellini soundtrack stuff. and so But we have we have a history. Those those guys you know those ah those guys are my brothers. you know and um One of my first shows with Counting Crows, I can't remember if it was 2004 or 2008, and Charlie and all those almost everybody in Counting Crows, I think except Emmerglut, uses in-air monitors.
00:35:07
Speaker
Rather than having a speaker to hear everything of all the instruments and vocals right next to you, they have inner monitors. But Immigrant, old school, just uses monitors. I haven't really, I've used it in areas a little bit, but not a lot. So I'm mostly just rolling with but monitors. and And I get to this, I get driven right, you know probably charted out a bunch of songs, this is you know a long time ago, 2004, 2008, charted out a bunch of all these songs, get dropped off at like a Shoreline Amphitheater venue for sound checks, my friend and we're going over songs, then playing the show that night, and and and they they put up a monitor for me. They they they hadn't they had the monitor for me, it wasn't really working right, and we started, you know so I could hear it, and then they got it right,
00:35:52
Speaker
And then we're hitting the show, and I think they open with Round here. And it starts with Dave Bryson's little signature guitar riff. I just want to say, I think Bryson's the secret weapon in that band. That guy's awesome. you know And it starts playing that guitar riff. And the organ's doing this, supposed to do this drone thing and change chords underneath that guitar riff. But the monitor stopped working right. you know Everybody else is hearing it on in-ears, except me.
00:36:22
Speaker
And I couldn't hear his guitar riff. And so I was like, I don't know when to change the chord because I couldn't hear the riff. I couldn't hear the rhythm of the riff. I couldn't hear the, there was no riff. And I, and, and so I just kind of, I just kind of played chicken and I kind of like, I kind of, I held a note that would work through all the chords, you know, maybe I found one note that might work through all the chords and kind of held that, but kind of rock the volume pedal back a little bit. So it's not too loud, you know, it's kind of cowardly move, but I didn't know what else to do.
00:36:51
Speaker
And then an immigrant, you know, he's right in front, right in front of the Oregon. And he looks back without any hesitation. He looks back, he looks up at Jim and and he walks, he looks back, looks back and he walks over, puts his foot on top of my foot and steps down the mountain. Everybody had a good laugh at that. You know, then somehow they got my monitor working so I could hear the hear the rhythm of it, you know, that Yeah, another terrifying moment in the rock and roll. I can imagine i suppose your first show playing with them and you can't you're trying to open the the show. the right Yeah, that was 20 years ago and still going to therapy about it. You know, it's not just kind of a random question. But have you had any inner I mean, I guess obviously while you were playing with them, but have you had any
00:37:44
Speaker
interesting interactions with Crows fans um um that they are they knew you know that they knew you from playing with them or your history with the band, et cetera, besides here today on Sullivan Street Podcast.
Collaborations with Notable Artists
00:37:57
Speaker
Every once in all every once in a while, you get somebody who comes up to you, hey, you play with Cannon Crows, I saw you with Cannon Crows, blah, blah, blah.
00:38:06
Speaker
ah kind Oh, that's cool. We we looked ahead at a record for the show and we noted that you also have played, um I guess, on the Tender Mercies album. Is is that true? Yeah. You want to talk about that a little bit? Oh, I just ah recorded that. I love that. I love those songs. You know, Dan Vickery's project and ah Jim Bojes is on that. I think Charlie's on some of that too. And um yeah, I just we recorded Dan Vickery's house in San Francisco.
00:38:37
Speaker
Great songs. Did you play with them? in the Did you play with them back in like the 90s too? Or is that just? I did some, I did a few live, I did some live shows, but not a lot of live shows. Gotcha. Um, then of course, again, that, that would sort of sat unrecorded until I think it was what was like 2010, 11, 12, something like that. I guess. Yeah. Something that sounds about right.
00:39:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. 2011, it looks like it was recorded. um yeah Chris, did you also have other questions about particular shows, I think you did or something? Well, in terms of specifics, you know, I mean, you um in terms of this is like an animaticist and a Ryan Adams thing at sort of at the same time, right? you You guys played together on the Tonight Show, right? Doing doing answering bell. all Right. I played with Ryan Adams for about two years, like the Gold Tour and 2001, 2003.
00:39:31
Speaker
and And Adam and Emmergluck were, Adam recorded, was hanging out with Ryan Adams, like they were buddies, and and I didn't even know who Ryan Adams was, you know, and and they were, Adam did that on the record, you know, sang answering bell on gold, right? And sang backgrounds on that, maybe took a verse or something. And ah and then Emmergluck called me and said, hey, Adam and I have been hanging out with this dude, Ryan Adams, this guy's no joke.
00:39:59
Speaker
If he calls you to audition, say yes. so I go, OK. And then I got a call like a few days later. Hey, did Danny, is Danny Eisenberg? That's when i I think I started being called Danny, you know. ah ah you yeah You know, you want to come out audit come to national and audition? I said, sure. And then, yeah, we got we got to do we. So, yeah, I think yeah Adam joined us on The Tonight Show. We did did answering bell. And then what was really cool, you know, and Adams, you know,
00:40:29
Speaker
you know I was like, my buddy Adam is a big star. now you know saying I was super stoked for him, you know but I was like, that's Adam. me Adam's a big star. you know and i was you know I'd be nervous around him sometimes because he's just a little... so you know and ah and that you know Now it's like, he's just my bro. you know but va came know but it' like Then it was more of an earlier on. and
00:40:50
Speaker
Elton John was a big fan of Ryan Adams and and he would pop up and we'd hed play with us sometimes like I would be playing Oregon and there'd be piano set up for Elton and Elton would we'd be playing at the same time we did that at the Irving Street Plaza New York yeah we call it and then um we did a place club in Toronto and then we did tape the crossroad show with Elton but we also and we played his Grammy party one year but we in Elton was awesome but um But we also did a ah video for answering Bill that Elton was in. And then because Adam sang on it, Adam came to shoot the video with us. And I remember being in a dressing room with Adam. Elton's on the other side of the sheet rock wall on the other side. And and my big rock star buddy, Adam, goes just was just like,
00:41:45
Speaker
He became a fan. He looks at me. Do you know who's right over there? Do you know who's across that wall? All of a sudden, it was really awesome seeing Adam. i don't like you know It's like that's thiss why we play music, because we love those guys, you know because their music moves us. and The same same thing, too, with ah my buddy Dave Emergluck. Just recently, you know he sat in with Carlos Santana.
00:42:14
Speaker
And it was like the day after I flew back, he sat in with Carlos on the song. And and um you know he we grew up, he and I, listening to Santana. And that's you know he saw Santana when he was 11 at the Berkeley Community Theater. And he credits that with why he started playing guitar, I'm pretty sure.
00:42:31
Speaker
No, you're absolutely right. I was just so stoked seeing him sitting with Santana. ye Particularly meet with musicians. I think comedians also a little bit, but particularly with musicians, if you're right, no matter how much of a star you are, there is someone that you looked up to who's older than you, right? That you listened to when you were a kid that kind of motivated you to get the music. And then when you hear that they met those people, they're still star shot, you know, still shocked no matter how much of a star that person became themselves. yeah Because they were your idol growing up or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And elton elton was Elton was awesome. And Adam introduces himself to Elton John and in the dressing room and says, hi, I'm Adam. And Elton just
00:43:18
Speaker
I know who you are. ah I love stuff like that. Well, I feel like, and I guess it's still true, but like, el it seemed like Elton John, like everyone had a story about like, well, Elton John told me he really liked my record. Apparently Elton John listened to everything it seemed like at that time, you know? Elton's, uh, man, my experience, that you know, I got to do probably, it was a long time ago in the galaxy, far, far away. The last time was probably sometime in 2003 or something, but, um,
00:43:48
Speaker
Elton was the nicest person in the world. like ah Ryan Adams, manager who's now passed away, a manager back then, Frank Kalari, had this great word for Elton John because it just summed him up. He was pro-gracious, like super professional and very gracious to all of us. you know um and ah like He would show up at these gigs and the piano they had for him was I was like, you know, they said, can you test it out before he gets here and make sure that it's, you know, and if I play the piano, boy, and I'm thinking this piano just does not sound right. And, you know, and I'd probably be like up there, like, trying to get, you know, getting a little prima donna on it and go, man, you need to put some highs in here, but some take out the lows, and you know, this is, you know, and then Elton gets there, walks up to the piano and go, Okay, this is cool. you know and doesn get like Okay, i that's professional right there. I gotta get some of that, you know? Yeah, he's just chill with whatever piano just happens to be in a New York club. i mean my That was my experience. Like he was, he was chill. He didn't complain. He was super positive. He was funny as hell. Like he would, uh, I mean, I don't know if I can, can I say something that might not be politically correct? Totally. un sure So we're, so we're, We are nervous. We're taping the Crossroads show with Elton. and we'd play He sat in with us a couple live shows, but we're going to take that VH1 Crossroads show.
00:45:17
Speaker
and we're at ah think we're We did it twice. you know One time they had we had to tape it again for technical reasons. and they and I think we're at second time. riman We did it at the Ryman. Yeah, that's the one they used. The first one we did it, we did it at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Okay. That one got scrapped and we did it at the Ryman and and we're all nervous as hell at soundcheck. I mean, Elton John, you know, and yeah and so i mean no he sat in with us, but it's still...
00:45:49
Speaker
this doing this television show and this recording. and We'd all worked on the songs. We're feeling pretty solid on them. you know and But we're still nervous and he could tell we're nervous.
Reflecting on Musical Journey
00:45:59
Speaker
and ryan had that Ryan Adams has that song Firecracker. Elton's on the piano at soundcheck. The lyric of the song is, I want to be your firecracker. Elton just goes, I want to be your fudge packer.
00:46:16
Speaker
And it was just like, it just made us all just laugh so much. It just put us all at ease. It was a total producer move of Elton to make us all laugh and be comfortable. And then it was just, once we laughed, it took away all the nervousness.
00:46:35
Speaker
You might need to edit that out, I don't know. But as you said, it yeah people do realize... No, you call it right. Put people at ease. He knows people are nervous around him to show that he has kind of a sense of humor about himself and the world. or Laughing at himself, laughing. you know and yeah ah Yeah, society yeah no I get it. Chris, was there any other particular performances that you wanted to what what you'll ask you know we've talked about? just different periods you know The era, there's ah the band Augustana was doing a lot of the shows ah with um but the Crows. any Any memories of that? It was kind of like a larger band with all all those guys sitting in. Augustana.
00:47:21
Speaker
Sorry. Oh, no worries. that's i well Sorry. I'll just stand on that name sounds familiar, but I don't really remember the music so much. Well, they were they were just sort of on stage with with you guys a lot in that those 2008 shows. There's the. Yeah, i think but I think they were op they were probably the opening band, right? Yeah.
00:47:45
Speaker
okay I'm just curious about that. then and Maroon 5 was headlining, right? I think. I mean, we were co-headlining. Co-headlining, yeah, yeah. They were going back and forth. and I know you play with so many bands, both with the Crows and with everybody else. and And I welcome people. We said this before the show or whatever, but I welcome listeners to the podcast to to check out your discography. Like I said, I've counted more than 30 and and's so many different types of music as as well. Of course, you probably you know have a certain type, but um I guess that's what happens, right? People just get, they know your reputation or your skill, and then you just get asked a certain, I mean, the one that stands out to me, which I actually own this album, didn't listen to it much, because I had a friend who was obsessed with it, and I think I listened to it once. what was it How do you pronounce is it? Modest Yahoo, I always forget.
00:48:30
Speaker
What's it? By who? um um I'll put the the album Youth by... Madis Yahu? Yeah, Madis Yahu. Were you on that one? I don't know. the they ske as Okay. The internet says it. So it must be true. um Okay. What kind of music was it? Oh, isn't it like... ah Jewish rap? Yeah, it's like Jewish hip-hop, I think. and Maybe, okay. It kind of sounds vaguely from here.
00:48:58
Speaker
you know Is there any particular albums that you like love playing on that people don't know you played on that you're that you're you're particularly proud of? Particularly proud of. you know I recorded a record with Jonathan Richmond in 1996, recorded um you know probably half a dozen records with the Mother Hips, the Tender Mercies record,
00:49:21
Speaker
um I have a track, ah a track of mine called Remember that I put out, I'm not a great singer, but I put it out on Spotify and and ah it's under Danny Eisenberg on Spotify and Apple Music called Remember.
Current Projects and Future Releases
00:49:33
Speaker
And um and um Jesus, it's just different. some some I think some punk jazz records.
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. ah A career that didn't just how you say you didn't just do one particular thing, you definitely had the richness of traveling around the world and and traveling with different bands and recording with different bands. So yeah, I mean, how do you feel about that career overall, the type of career that you had? I mean, I i love playing music. I still love playing music. I feel like I'm enjoying his more than ever, you know. um Yeah, and Tiff Merritt, I did a couple records with her, another country, I think his name of the record, that's that's a pretty good record. um I mean, I just, you know, it's never, I'm never i'm not yeah'm never gonna be as good as I wanna get, you know, it's just, it's ah onward, um so it's ah which is the fun part, you know, you can always just keep working on it.
00:50:32
Speaker
yeah I guess I'll use this time to ah plug some of your social media, which is at Danny Eisenberg on Facebook. It's easy to find. It says, works at musician, uses the Hammond B3 piano and keyboards, and also on Instagram, Danny Eisenberg 7. And you said you're recording something right now or project. So talk about that a little bit.
00:50:56
Speaker
Yes, this band is Greg Loy Cano's solo project. Greg Loy Cano is a guitar player, one of the guitar players and singers of the mother hip. um Basically the the lead main lead guitar player in the mother hips. um And he is a solo project is called Stingray. And that's got Vicky Randall in it on percussion and and vocals, background vocals and and some lead vocals, and Michael Urbano on drums, and Coffee Brown on bass, and Scott Ayers on guitar. And they they those are all super badass heavy hitters, you know. And ah and it it's really, it's kind of a soul, soul almost funk, so soul vibe, you know, and some rock for sure. but
00:51:48
Speaker
So we've been recording at the record plant in Sausalito this last week. um And we, yeah, we, you know, I'm not sure how, if they're going to put out an EP or LP or what's going on with that, but I think we did six, five or six songs this week. And I think the music's great. It's coming out really, really great. It's our day song, you know, but the rest are originals. and' kind of I call it sort of like funk rock or soul rock. There's some soul soul vibe. Greg sings a lot of falsetto on this record. um guess yeah um and I was also thinking about just going back to but when you're on The Tonight Show. I mean, that had to be a pretty cool experience. um
00:52:37
Speaker
right just just Just being on there. I don't know if your family members were watching. I saw you because you were featured quite a bit. you know that The camera did not ignore you. so yeah i got i With different bands, i got to I've been on those national TV shows. It's been a while, but and I think the first time. oh One other band I wanted to plug to that is a great band, it's called Go By Ocean, lead singer Ryan McCaffrey. and I've been on, I think, every single one of their records. and He's going us got some great songs.
00:53:06
Speaker
So I recommend, recommend go by ocean record called sun machine record called paper thin hotel. Um, yeah. Um, but, uh, I probably done tonight show and David Letterman probably about half a dozen times each decided night live one time with Ryan Adams. And then I did, um, Conan a couple of times what once, which I told her Shelby Lynn for a year.
00:53:33
Speaker
And when I am Shelby Lynn record, putting I wasn't on that record, but that's the tour we did in 2000. And I did Conan with her. And yeah, it's always it's always a fun ride to do those shows. Like I said, it's been a little while. I haven't done one for for a bit, you know? Cool. Yeah. And I would highly recommend if if you if anyone listening is a Ryan Adams fan, there's like 2001, 2002 Gold Era shows. That is a shit hot band. That is a yeah one of...
00:54:03
Speaker
yeah That was a really fun band, man. that a yeah that was I think at the early part of that run, like I yeah yeah played with them 2001, 2003, I think. and um That first rendition of that band, I think you called it Sweetheart Revolution. Ryan Adams and the Sweetheart Revolution.
00:54:22
Speaker
and ah call it something Forget what you called it afterward. you know, cards and LAX and I don't know, I don't know. The pink card. He was okay. It was a pink card. Yeah. And he might've called it LAX too, man. You guys are good. You guys got all the facts, deep facts together. And then in the last tour I did with him, we got to open nine shows for the Rolling Stones. So that was, that was pretty fun.
00:54:45
Speaker
Well, so cool. Well, thank you. Thank you, Chris. Any other last questions or? Oh, no, that's it. Thank you. Thank you so much for for joining us and talking about the experience. And um it's ah it's been an honor. Yeah, it's so cool. And you really shed light off on something too, which is that um I know you talked about Bryson being the MVP of the band, and people have said that. But because the Crows have three guitars on occasion, they do play without one of them sometime, right? Dan, for example, in the 2023 was sick a few times. So they just play with two, and then Emmy and Dave took some of their parts. But it's tough to play without Charlie, is is is one of the things we're learning here. They didn't just say, oh, we'll just forget Charlie's parts. No, yeah they brought you in.
00:55:29
Speaker
And, um, and that's really cool that you got the view at the tour and added to, as I said, Chris told me, I don't think he talked enough ahead of time, but, or during the show, but Chris had listened to the shows that you played a lot and was, uh, you know, gushing about your performances as much as we love Charlie. He said, boy, Dan did a great job filling in and it's not an easy thing to do. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. And, uh, yeah, I love, love Charlie's playing. Love those guys, you know, yeah, I don't play a I don't really play accordion, so I had to, you know, I was going to do like Omaha on the Hammond, which I did before, you know, maybe the time I didn't, you know, he was there, so it was all good. I was like, oh, my God. Oh, do you see me long December? What do you, that's a good question. When you said, what did you do for long December instead of the accordion? Well, Charlie was there. Well, we were talking about when, OK, well, Charlie was there. We both played at this last show, right? Right. Right. And so I played, but I play Oregon on it, you know.
00:56:28
Speaker
and play or i just I just do something on Oregon. Try to make it sound good. you know you know Well, it's funny. We had James Campion on last week. We'll re-release that episode soon. And he was talking about this podcast being like a, it's not just a podcast, but kind of like a project in a way that part of it was not just to talk about what's going on now, but is to maybe document some of these you know, the history of the band as well. And so that's one thing that was really cool again, thank you for being on, is that it's not just, oh, it's an interesting story, because you substituted this year, you were part of the whole history, including Model Society, and you knew, did you say you knew Emi from high school? Is that what you said? Junior high, pretty much. Junior high. Yeah. So you know, I mean, that's what I'm saying, this goes back to all that, and you've been with somebody.
00:57:18
Speaker
By the way, yeah I know you were joking about that you call him, you know, Emmy or, you know, Emma Gluck and Dave, but um James Campion calls him Emmer, so there's another one. I saw his number i mostly i mostly call him Emmer, you know. like Well, I call him Dave. I guess I mostly call him Dave, you know.
00:57:36
Speaker
You know, I actually might be, yeah, what's up, bro? You know but know, so I mean, yeah, so that's really neat. We have a history that goes back to yeah junior high school to now. So yeah, thank you so much for joining us here. So I just want to say I love those guys and you know, just just the brother the brotherly love I have for those guys means means a lot, you know, um it's it's it's the best.
00:58:00
Speaker
even just as much as the music. That's great. And congratulations on your decades of success and all your current and future projects, too. Well, thanks a lot. Well, all the best to you guys. Good to meet you. And it's been an honor to be asked to do this. So I really appreciate it. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And we'll see you next time here on Sullivan Street.