KNOWN UNKNOWNS: Dan the Automator shares some behind the scenes stories from his career

WORDS / ERIC EVRIDGE

Dan the Automator is coming to Fayetteville on December 12 to spin records at Smoke & Barrel for their 7-year anniversary.

If you didn’t know already, Dan is a sort of enigma in the music world.  People either know Dan or they don’t…at all.  And if you know Dan, you probably know a lot about Dan.

Dan produced some of the best indie hip hop of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, releasing records with rappers Kool Keith and Del tha Funkee Homosapien.  He produced the first Gorillaz record that went on to sell over five million copies.  He’s worked on other collaborations with Mike Patton, Prince Paul, Kid Koala, DJ Shadow, Emily Wells, Kasabian, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and many more.

But you probably know that already, too.  So, I’m here to tell you some things you don’t.  I got to speak with Dan and instead of talking about records from 15 years ago, we talked about things you probably didn’t know.

You know Dan produced Dr. Octagon with Kool Keith.  But did you know that during the making of that record, Dan learned about porno New Release Day?

“I really learned a lot about porno.  One of the things I learned, and this is when there was still DVDs and tapes and stuff before the internet, one thing I did learn was New Release Day.  And I can’t remember now because it was such a long time ago, but either Monday or Thursday was New Release Day.  We’d have to go into town and go to the porno store and have him (Kool Keith) go through every single porn there,” Dan said.

You can hear it all over the record.  The research was real.

“You know, I like to see a naked woman as much as anyone, whatever, but after about five minutes, that’s really boring.  Until you’re an actual connoisseur like Keith or something, in which case it can go on for hours.”

So, Kool Keith is a porn connoisseur, sure.  But he also happened to discover his love for Chinese food while in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“In particular he liked dumplings and onion pancakes,” Dan said.

Me, too, Keith.  Me, too.

You know that Dan worked with Prince Paul to create their alternate personas, Nathaniel Merriweather and Chest Rockwell, respectively, in Handsome Boy Modeling School’s first record.  But did you know that at a HBMS show at the House of Blues, Del forgot the lyrics to “Magnetizing”.

“Del comes out to rhyme, and Magnetizing has a crazy long verse, like 24 bars.  So like, this is the rapper’s rappers song.  Not a predictable pop song.  Within the first three or four bars, he totally forgets the lyrics.  So he’s just rhyming, he’s free styling, which he’s really good at.  But then he just rhymes and when the chorus hits…he just stops when the chorus hits.  And I just thought that was the fucking weirdest and coolest thing ever.  He couldn’t remember anything but he knew what the timing points were.  I don’t even know if I knew where the timing points were at that point.”

Basically, Del tha Funkee Homosapien is really good at what he does.

You also know Dan produced the first Gorillaz record.  But did you know that while recording in Jamaica, Dan got shook down by the police?

“One time me and Damon were driving in the car and the police just stopped everyone to try and shake them down.  The asked us where we were staying and we told them where and they just let us go.  And then later we find out it’s because people, especially people with a little bit of money, they pay off the cops so you don’t get stuck in those things.”

Of course, that begs the question, “Did you pay off cops in Jamaica?”

“We didn’t pay them off, the guy who owned the house paid them off.  So, once he (the cop) knew where we were staying, we were free to go.  Which was kind of scary at the time.”

You know Dan produced Lovage and worked with Mike Patton on the album, but did you know about their awesome rider for their shows?

“Basically, our rider on Lovage was a bottle of Courvoisier and two bottles of Alize.  Let’s just leave it at that,” as he laughs.  Did that really happen?  “Oh yeah, yes.”

That’s about as Chest Rockwell as it gets.