Dave Janusko (born September 8, 1965) is an American songwriter, musician, producer, DJ, and remixer. He lives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States.

Career

Janusko studied graphic design at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

, then moved to New York City in 1988. Janusko and vocalist Tom Mullady teamed up to record music demos as emo / punk band The Medicine Men. In the early 1990s, Janusko was a bass player and songwriter for the Bay Area pop band The Himalayans, which included members

Adam Duritz Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the rock band Counting Crows, of which he is a founding member and principal composer. Since its founding in 1991, Counting Crows has sold over 20 mi ...

(before the formation of

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...

), Dan Jewett, Chris Roldan, and Marty Jones. In the Himalayans, Dave co-wrote the song "

Round Here Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the number ...

," which was then re-recorded by Adam Duritz’s new band Counting Crows and became the second hit off their 1993 release ''

August and Everything After ''August and Everything After'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Counting Crows, released September 14, 1993, on Geffen Records. The album was produced by T Bone Burnett and featured the founding members of the band: Steve Bowman ...

''. In 2007, Duritz's Tyrannosaurus Records released '' She Likes the Weather'', the original recordings of The Himalayans, which had not been publicly available previously. This release included the original recording of "

". "Round Here" earned Janusko a BMI Pop Music Award in 1996. Janusko joined the electronic industrial band

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (often shortened to Thrill Kill Kult or TKK) is an American electronic industrial rock band originally based in Chicago and founded by Groovie Mann (born Frankie Nardiello) and Buzz McCoy (born Marston Daley). ...

(TKK) as the principal guitarist in 1997, using the stage name Davey Dasher. He toured internationally with TKK through 2004. In 2000, Janusko collaborated with TKK drummer James Basore (a.k.a. James Fury) to create the live electronic band The Diamond Galaxy. Working with BZ Lewis and Studio 132, The Diamond Galaxy released their self-published debut, ''Technophiliacs'', in 2001. The first song on ''Technophiliacs'', “Another Day Until Tomorrow,” was featured in the

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

video game NHL 2001, and was awarded Best Industrial Song 2002 by the Just Plain Folks Music Organization. The song “It’s All a Game” was featured on MTV’s

Making the Video ''Making the Video'' is an MTV show, consisting of half-hour episodes, which chronicles the process of filming various music videos. Usually the director outlines the concept of the video (or treatment) and the show often includes light-hearted ...

: Dr. Dre; and “Alive and Dreaming” was featured on MTV’s

Undressed ''Undressed'' is an American anthology series that aired on MTV from July 26, 1999, to September 5, 2002. The series was created and executive produced by British director Roland Joffé. Synopsis The series follows the relationships (both roma ...

. Over the years, The Diamond Galaxy morphed into a live

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...

band including members

Meat Beat Manifesto Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only ...

drummer Lynn Farmer and

Good Charlotte Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of twin brothers Joel Madden (lead vocals) and Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (g ...

drummer Robin Eckman. In 2004, Janusko and vocalist Krystle Jones teamed up to create the musical act Firefly, a blend of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, and

diva house Diva house or handbag house is an anthemic subgenre of house music that became most popular in gay clubs during the second half of the 1990s. ''The Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture'' defines handbag house as having "prominent female v ...

. Former 4 Non Blondes drummer Dawn Richardson joined Firefly on stage for a couple of performances in San Francisco. Janusko then played lead guitar in the San Francisco outlaw country /

honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano (tack piano) ...

band The Plain High Drifters. The band includes members Smelley Kelley and Les James from

Red Meat In gastronomy, red meat is commonly red when raw and a dark color after it is cooked, in contrast to white meat, which is pale in color before and after cooking. In culinary terms, only flesh from mammals or fowl (not fish) is classified as ...

, bassist/vocalist Tom Armstrong, and banjo/guitar player Eric Embry of The Burning Embers. Since early 2009, Janusko has been working with

front man

Jack Dangers Jack Dangers (born John Stephen Corrigan, 11 January 1965) is an English electronic musician, DJ, producer, and remixer best known for his work as the primary member of Meat Beat Manifesto. He lives in San Francisco. Career Prior to founding ...

, contributing guitar and bass to new tracks and remixes. He collaborated with Dangers to create “In C – Extension,” a remix of

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

’s avant-garde musical composition ''

In C ''In C'' is a musical piece composed by Terry Riley in 1964 for an indefinite number of performers. He suggests "a group of about 35 is desired if possible but smaller or larger groups will work". A series of short melodic fragments, ''In C'' is o ...

'', for the album ''In C Remixed''.

Other work

In addition to his live and recorded music collaborations, Janusko has produced music for several TV and radio ads, including

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, and

24-Hour Fitness 24 Hour Fitness is a privately owned and operated Physical fitness, fitness center chain headquartered in Carlsbad, California. It is the second largest fitness chain in the United States based on revenue after LA Fitness, and the fourth in numb ...

. He has teamed up with film producer Drea Cooper to provide the soundtrack for online videos and public service announcements for the Pearson Foundation, the Milk-Bone Canine Assistants program, and the law firm Townsend & Townsend & Crew. In 2008, he wrote the soundtrack for the award-winning short film, ''The Trade'', which was created as part of the

48 Hour Film Project The 48 Hour Film Project is an annual film competition in which teams of filmmakers are assigned a genre, a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue, and have 48 hours to create a short film containing those elements. The competition has been ac ...

in San Francisco.

Equipment

Since 1998, Janusko has been endorsed by

Washburn Guitars Washburn Guitars is an American brand and importer of guitars, mandolins, and other string instruments, originally established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. The Washburn name is controlled by U.S. Music Corp., a subsidiary of Canadian corporate ...

. He also plays an assortment of Fender,

Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Friedrich Gretsc ...

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

, and Music Man instruments, in addition to

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

synthesizers. For production and sequencing, Janusko uses

Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Ableton Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool f ...

and Propellerheads Reason software.

Discography

Albums

The Diamond Galaxy – ''Technophiliacs'' (2001)
Firefly – ''The Big 8: Double Golden'' (2004)
The Himalayans – '' She Likes the Weather'' (re-release of 1991 recording) (Tyrannosaurus Records, 2007)

Remixes

"Radio Silicon: Silverado Remix," on ''Golden Pillz: The Luna Remixes'' by

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (often shortened to Thrill Kill Kult or TKK) is an American electronic industrial rock band originally based in Chicago and founded by Groovie Mann (born Frankie Nardiello) and Buzz McCoy (born Marston Daley). ...

(

Underground Inc. Underground, Inc. was a Chicago-based subsidiary of Invisible Records, consisting of a collective of independent labels, producing various studio albums by Invisible Records artists, side projects and compilations with the same focus on being art ...

, 2002)
"Flesh Playhouse: Give Us Flesh Remix," on ''Golden Pills: The Luna Remixes'' by

(Underground Inc., 2002)
"In C – Extension," on ''In C Remixes'' by

(

Innova Records Innova Recordings is the independent record label of the non-profit American Composers Forum based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1982 to document the winners of the McKnight Fellowship offered by its parent organization, the Minneso ...

, 2009)

Awards

2008 Silver

ADDY Award The American Advertising Federation (AAF), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest national advertising trade association in the United States. The AAF also has 15 district operations, each located in and representing a different region o ...

Toyota Belt Buckle Ad with Hoffman/Lewis
Regional/National TV, Single Spots, Consumer Products, Automotive

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Platinum Record Award
''

'' -

")
7,000,000 sales

Gold Record Award
'' Films About Ghosts'' -

")
500,000 sales Best Industrial Song 2002
The Diamond Galaxy: "Another Day Until Tomorrow"
(First Place)
Just Plain Folks Music Organization Best Industrial Album 2002
The Diamond Galaxy: ''Technophiliacs''
(fourth place)
Just Plain Folks Music Organization BMI Pop Music Award 1995
"

"
(

)

References

External links

Dave Janusko Music website

The Himalayans website

The Diamond Galaxy website

Firefly website

Tyrannosaurus Records website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janusko, Dave 1965 births Living people Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area Remixers Ableton Live users American rock guitarists American male guitarists People from Ravenna, Ohio Kent State University alumni Guitarists from Ohio Guitarists from New York City My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult members 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from California 20th-century American male musicians