Solo

Dan's love of music keeps him busy writing and touring throughout the year.  2010 saw Dan rocking a full 6 week tour of the United States and Canada supporting Streetlight Manifesto, followed by his third solo tour of Australia.  2011 promises to be busy as well, with upcoming tours of Japan and The U.K.

In Nov of 2010, Dan P. will be releasing a split with Streetlight Manifesto's Tomas Kalnoky, who goes under the name of Toh Kay:

"Two friends come together to reinterpret each others tunes for the first volume of the Pentimento Music Company's "You By Me" series. Toh Kay (Tomas Kalnoky of Streetlight Manifesto) and Dan P. (Dan Potthast of MU330 and The Stitch Up) have traveled the world together numerous times, playing shows from Tokyo to New York City to London, hearing one another's music countless times. Somewhere along the line, the idea for the "You By Me" series was born: two songwriters per record (preferably ones that respect and enjoy each other's work), 10 songs (5 each), no rules regarding rearranging and changing the songs, whether it be genre, chord progressions or even a lyric or two. A few months later, Volume 1 is wrapped and ready to go..."

Solo discography:

Eyeballs- Dan's first solo album, released on Asian Man Records, features acoustic guitar and vocals with intentionally sparse instrumentation. The stripped down approach showcases Dan's sharp songwriting ability and powerful voice.

Sweets and Meats- On his second solo album, "Sweets and Meats," Dan goes for a full band sound with the addition of drums (Lance Reynolds of Bitchy and the Blue Meanies), bass, and organ (James Rickmann from Slow Gherkin), while still maintaining an organic acoustic guitar sound that doesn't get in the way of the songwriting.

Eat the Planet- In '07, Dan wrote and recorded a new solo album in his apartment in the span of two weeks called "Eat the Planet." It is a mostly-ska influenced release in which he plays all the instruments and sings all the vocals. Dan released this album himself, and it was available only on tour, and was a limited edition of only 400, hand folded and stuffed CD's. Then in 08, Dan released a re-pressing of a re-mixed version of the Eat The Planet album, with improved drum machining, and much improved artwork.  The new artwork features paintings done by Mr. Potthast.

Around the World- Dan's latest release (summer 2010) is a collection of songs written on tour in 20 different cities.  Once again, this album is self released.  The original pressing of 1000 CD's is only available at shows.
Lyrics and super bonus extended liner notes!

You By Me- Fall 2010 Split with Toh Kay.  See above.


Dan P. and the Bricks

Dan P. and the Bricks on facebook
Dan P. and the Bricks on myspace
Dan currently plays in a 10 piece ska band from Santa Cruz, CA called Dan P. and the Bricks.  Formed in February of 2009, the Bricks features members of MU330 (Matt Knobbe, MU330's original tenor sax player) and legendary Santa Cruz ska/rockers Slow Gherkin. (A.J. Marquez, Matt Porter, Phil Boutelle, Brendon Thompson) With five horns, drums, organ, two guitars and upright bass, the energy is high, the fun is big and the sound is HUGE!!!

One of the main motivations for starting the band was to raise money for local and internationally reaching charities. To date, the Bricks have rocked fund raisers for The Leukemia and Lymphoma society, Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America, Hospice of Santa Cruz County, and The Santa Cruz AIDS Project. The Bricks have also worked with Action Santa Cruz to raise money for Haitian earthquake relief.  Their frequent impromptu street shows have raised hundreds of dollars for Doctors without Borders and Chilean earthquake relief.

MU330
Dan Potthast has been the lead singer/frontman for MU330 since the band first started playing shows in 1988.  In the 90's, MU330's songwriting, lyrical depth, and stage shows all made them stand out from the crowd of bands of the decade that were merging ska with other styles. MU330 is known for being the critic's choice of the "Third Wave" ska bands.  They were one of the first bands to spread 3rd wave ska punk from the U.S. to the U.K., Europe and Japan, and continue to be extremely influential in their genre and beyond.  They are the ska punk band that people still listen to when they "grow up."

With MU330, Dan has played over 1800 shows in the U.S. (48 states including Hawaii and Alaska), Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, Russia, Japan and even South Korea.

Dan's songs have been used in numerous TV shows and movies, including Nip Tuck, The Brendan Leonard Show, and the German films "Pas De Deux" and "Dopplepack."  MU330 songs have also been used in the major motion picture "Unaccompanied Minors."



The Stitch Up

In 07 Dan started a new band called "The Stitch Up" with people he met while working at a Rock N' Roll summer camp in San Diego. They recorded and released an album called "Attitude Adjuster" which was released on Pentimento Music. They immediately followed up the album's release with a full U.S. tour opening up for Streetlight Manifesto

In 09, The Stitch Up released their second album, "Set Your Alarm" on Pentimento Music  This time with Dan's wife Shannon on backing vocals and bass guitar.  Their good friend Gregory Braithwaite rocks the drums on this one.