Throughout the 1990s, millions of television viewers were captivated by two brothers who shared the same name and possessed such an extraordinarily heartfelt and tight-knit bond, especially in the ways they rebelled against authority and the often misguided barometers of suburban dystopia, on a genre-defying, network-defining show known as The Adventures of Pete & Pete.
For those of us who grew up in this era of ‘90s Nickelodeon, we truly appreciated how our brotherly heroes stood up for themselves, pointed their fingers towards the hypocritical and crazy adults, and harnessed the powers of their imagination to overcome a myriad of indescribable, preteen and teenage situations.
Most importantly, The Adventures of Pete & Pete embraced the weird, quirky, and imperfections inside us all. Atop of some of the most brilliant television writing of the decade, this show incorporated a highly influential soundtrack of euphoric rock songs (composed by an indie-rock house band called Polaris) to thematically complement the storylines of its main characters, and also happened to strengthen the ‘90s alternative movement where a wave of unorthodox artists, across all mediums, brought a renewed sense of creative freedom to the forefront of mainstream pop culture.
And since 2013, actors Danny Tamberelli and Michael C. Maronna, who respectively played Little Pete and Big Pete, have hosted their podcast called, The Adventures of Danny & Mike. Keeping true to the roots of their brotherhood and a real life, longtime best friend dynamic that has transcended into the digital sphere, this podcast is highlighted by their authentic and comedic ability to bounce off one-another on any given topic, alongside their co-host Jeremy Balon.
On August 24, The Adventures of Danny & Mike returns to its New Jersey roots where the trio will host Nostalgia Personified live at the House of Independents in Asbury Park. This show promises to be a must-see, interactive comedic event and celebration that will resonate with fans who originally watched the show and have continued to embrace its legacy, plus those who enjoyed their other noteworthy performances that defined the cultural zenith of the ‘90s, including All That, Figure It Out, and Home Alone.
In fact, I recently had the opportunity to speak with Danny Tamberelli about his Nostalgia Personified homecoming return. This conversation truly spotlights Tamberelli’s journey as a first-time dad and longtime writer, performer, comedian, and musician. Might I add, very few people in this world are as extremely cool, considerate, passionate, humble, and driven to pursue their love of art quite like Danny Tamberelli and it was an honor to hear his story.
First off, congratulations on the birth of your son. How have the past few months been and what’s the feeling like of becoming a parent for the first time?
Danny Tamberelli: I have a newborn baby and it’s the coolest feeling in the world. It’s crazy, you going from fighting authority to being authority (Laughs).
I heard you say on the podcast that you drove passed where you used to live in the city on the way to the hospital, and it was like a goodbye to the past and start of your future.
Danny Tamberelli: (Laughs) Yeah man, I lived in the Lower East Side for five-years and that was from when I was 23 to 28. I was very much a different person, way different than I am now (Laughs). That’s for sure. It was pretty funny when I was driving up to the hospital and just being like, “Oh yeah, I puked over there. Yep, I’m not going to be doing that again. Oh, okay (Laughs).” It was one of those moments but you know what, I think that is very cool too because it’s just life telling you, “Move along, son. Time to keep moving.”
Absolutely, I saw your son turned two-months-old today. What has been the best part, you know, a heartwarming moment that you weren’t expecting that just hits you in the feels?
Danny Tamberelli: The involuntary smiles, he’s not totally smiling at you but he just happens to smile and you melt. In the last week, he has started mimicking us and if I smile than he smiles. He’s not totally smiling at me but he’s smiling with me. You know what I mean? It’s just another step in this process. The whole thing has been really cool and he’s been a dream, all things considered.
He hasn’t really given us many too many problems. He sleeps at least three hours at a chunk. If we go to sleep when he goes to sleep, we’ll get a full REM cycle. That’s how I have been basing everything so it like, “Oh, is he going to sleep for 3 hours? Time to take a nap for 3 hours.”
For sure, that timeframe helps you adjust to a schedule, somewhat.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, somewhat. Sometimes he’ll go to sleep for 6 hours and we’ll be like, “Oh, is he sleeping?!” And then he’ll be like, “Haha just kidding, dude!” He will wake up after 2 hours (Laughs).
The early parent struggles, so to speak.
Danny Tamberelli: Oh for sure, we’re definitely deep in it right now.
You know what I think is pretty cool, your wife is also a writer and published author. She just released her new book.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, her third book, The Undoing of Thistle Tate, just came out in the middle of July.
In terms you writing so many of your own sketches and all of your experiences as a performer and your wife being an author, is that just a really cool dynamic to have and that you share with your writing and ideas?
Danny Tamberelli: Oh yeah, I think it’s great and it’s really cool. They are very different but very similar too, so there’s a lot of creativity that we both have. I feel like that’s part of the reason why we got together and fell in love with each other, we were both very creative people. And it’s not like we’re doing the same thing, you could watch everybody’s progression a little differently.
It’s just really nice to be able to bounce ideas and information off her and see how she writes, how she decides to get her characters from one point to the other. I could show her scripts that I’ve written where I’m like, “Here’s this dude and his character and his character arc.” And how we got our characters to those places is very different and it’s like the Eric Clapton/Duane Allman scenario. Eric Clapton was a bender and Duane Allman used a slide, they produced similar effects but they got to those points in different ways.
Through personal expression.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, for sure.
Your son is going to grow up with some great writing and music, which I think is awesome too.
Danny Tamberelli: I keep his little chair that he sleeps in right next to my records and he sits there and he’s constantly staring at them.
You and Michael are coming to Asbury Park next week. Having reached that point in life where both you and Michael are parents, you guys have kept this friendship going for so many years. Could you talk about that dynamic between you two and how that sense of true brotherhood has transcended the show all these years later?
Danny Tamberelli: Oh, for sure. Michael is one of my oldest friends, if not my oldest. I have two family friends that I’ve basically known since I was born but in terms of being friends with someone, I’ve known Michael since I was 7-years-old. I’m 37 so it’s 30 years of friendship now. There were some odd years off because when I went to high school, he went to college. We didn’t really get to chat too much and when I went to college, he was done with college and living in New York.
Our paths crossed again in Brooklyn sometime in 2006. He would always wish me Happy Birthday about six-days early (Laughs). He always thought my birthday was on GroundHogs Day, but my birthday is February 8th. He would always be the first person to wish me Happy Birthday and I never had the heart to tell him that he was wrong (Laughs). I was always like, “Ah, thanks man!”
One of my favorite stories from the podcast is when you gave him a Billy Joel vinyl for Christmas and signed it as Billy Joel. You got him the vinyl though, it’s the thought that counts (Laughs).
Danny Tamberelli: We like to have fun like that (Laughs). It’s pretty crazy, I don’t have any brothers. I have two sisters and I’m the oldest. Having someone like Mike to look up to for all these years with music stuff and everything, he has a great dry sense of humor that I appreciate and I probably took a little bit of that from him when I was a kid. It’s just one of those things, you know that’s going to be a great joke to mess with him because he loves Billy Joel so much. I used to love him but now, I can’t stand him anymore.
Oversaturation?
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, it’s that and it all started with me not being able to take hearing him on the radio anymore. Living in New York and New Jersey, he’s pretty much on the radio during any given second. I give myself a three second rule because I still listen to FM Radio in the car. I play this game where it’s like if I hear Billy Joel, I change it quickly or sometimes, I’ll start humming the songs to myself and I’ll be like, “Fuck, he beat me (Laughs)!” It’s a constant struggle here. I think I’m up a little bit, I think I’m pretty good turning it off but some songs come on, and I’m like, “Ah, man, it’s Billy Joel!”
Going off your chemistry with Mike, Jeremy also brings such an easygoing and joyful spirit to the show. You and Jeremy have collaborated on the Manboobs sketches and your other comedy outlets. Could you talk about the chemistry that you two have and between the three of you altogether?
Danny Tamberelli: The first year or two, you could kind of hear that Mike was maybe a little standoffish to Jeremy because I don’t think he warmed up to him right away. Jeremy and I are writing partners on pretty much everything that I do or that we do together. Comedy wise, it’s a cool bond. We’re really good at writing sketches together. Jeremy is good at directing and editing and I’m good at creating and writing jokes. We compliment each other and the three of us together, Mike’s now had a few years to get to know Jeremy’s vibe and understand his jokes. There’s a lot of bouncing back-and-forth and I’m the one who is reeling things back sometimes, which is not usual for me. I don’t think I’m usually the guy who’s like, “Hey fellas, let’s figure it out.”
All three of you guys are so quick. I mean, in a second’s notice, you guys could effortlessly transition between a conversation or a joke. I think that plays a huge role in the spirit and pacing of your show.
Danny Tamberelli: I think the improv aspect is very important for all three of us. I would say doing the live shows has been very helpful for that and the fact that we never come to the studio like, “Okay, we’re going to talk about this, this, and this today.” We kind of just let it go and see where it lands. Not every podcast needs to be something that is very structured and has a set of goals, and I also love podcasts like that. I’m just saying, I also like the stream of conscious, just shoot the shit, see what happens, and maybe find some really good moments.
I would say that’s a great way to sum up the podcast and live show if someone comes to see Nostalgia Personified for the first time. It keeps you on your toes.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, we’ll do some witty banter and get into some old clips as fake TV brothers. We’ll make fun of each other, our haircuts, and the clothes that we wear. We’ll do some random improv stuff where Jeremy will give us a topic like, “Hey, here’s some old commercial from the ‘90s.” He will play them, pull the audio, and we’ll have to redo the commercials with overdubs essentially. He will show us a PSA thing and tell us, “We don’t do enough PSAs.” And it’s like, I was a spokesperson for Hepatitis B in the ‘90s, damnit! We’ll rip on that or something like there’s a shortage of peaches in senior homes, stupid things.
We want to make sure that we’re not just showing videos. Nostalgia Personified really is Mike and I busting each other’s balls for an hour and showing old clips and giving people who loved the show some cool, behind the scenes stories. We have a segment called “Dirty Secrets” where Mike and I have to reveal some mildly incriminating stories that went on…(pauses)
(Laughs)
Danny Tamberelli: I don’t want to give them away but we have a segment called “Dirty Secrets.” (Laughs)
No, no. Sometimes, you just have to tease the audience.
Danny Tamberelli: Oh yeah, totally (laughs).
Having grown up in New Jersey and Pete & Pete being filmed in North Jersey, what does this upcoming show mean to you and that feeling of coming back to Asbury Park and being able to perform at home?
Danny Tamberelli: I’ve been going to Asbury Park for a long time. My parents used to take me there when I was a kid even when it wasn’t so nice. My dad was cool and used to take me to shows there. My band has played at the Stone Pony and on the boardwalk in Asbury Park. We played one of our first big festivals ever down there. It’s definitely a place that I hold dearly in my heart and I love it there. It means a lot to go back to Jersey and have a fun show. I’ve got a lot of Jersey pride, I may live in Brooklyn but New Jersey is not lost on me. My entire family still lives there and I go back to Bergen County all of the time.
New Jersey is a pivotal part of your personality.
Danny Tamberelli: 100 percent! My wife always finds it funny when I say that, “We’re going down to the shore.” In fact, we’re actually going down to the shore tomorrow. We’ll be down in Wildwood from Thursday to Sunday.
That’s a great four day getaway, by the way. I love going down to Wildwood for a few days.
Danny Tamberelli: Oh man, it’s great. It still gets packed in the summertime but it’s not that crazy. It’s always fun when we get to go. It takes a bit longer to get down there, so the dropoff rate is a bit higher. It’s definitely more Philly than New York down there.
I’m from North/Central Jersey too and it’s a bit of a culture shock when I go down there. I’m used to the Yankees and Giants up here and it’s all Phillies and Eagles over there.
Danny Tamberelli: Oh, big time. And as a big New York Giant household, we just keep to ourselves (laughs). We don’t want no trouble (Laughs).
(Laughs) Oh yeah, you have to wear a neutral hat and plain shirts.
Danny Tamberelli: “Yeah, why are you wearing purple for?”
Well, you know it’s game day.
“What team do you root for (Laughs)?!?”
Well, I don’t know (Laughs).
I was at Yankees Stadium once and it was a Mets vs. Yankees game. I parked at the top of one of the parking garages and I parked next to these fat cat, Wall Street dummies who were smoking cigars and being loud and boisterous. I was wearing this black-on-black Mets hat and they yelled over to me, “Hey, who’s your team? Who you rooting for?” I showed them my hat and they were like, “Oh, Mets, huh? They suck!” The Mets won the game and I came back to my car afterwards and there was spit all over and they took their stogies and put them out on my windshield.
Ugh, that’s just classless. That’s so stupid.
Danny Tamberelli: It’s funny because it’s like, okay, I think there’s a lot more pressing issues in the world than who I am rooting for? You have 27 rings so why you don’t you shut up?
Man, you’re not even getting paid by the Yankees.
Danny Tamberelli: (Laughs) Yeah!
Well, I’m sorry that you happened to you, man. I definitely don’t condone that.
Danny Tamberelli: It’s okay (Laughs).
Honestly, that’s why I’m more of a music guy. On that topic, I’ve been a fan of yours for many years and love the fact that you’re such a die-hard music fan and vinyl collector. The environment of Pete & Pete, being on the set with Mark Mulcahy from Polaris and having guest appearances by someone like Michael Stipe from R.E.M., music was such a critical component of that show’s character. Growing up to be a musician, what was it like to immerse yourself in a musical environment like that at such a young age?
Danny Tamberelli: Oh yeah, 100 percent! 100 percent! I mean, I was seven-years-old when we started the show and people treated me like their younger brother. I used to get mix tapes and I still have a couple from Chris and Will, and even Katherine Dieckmann. She was the reason why we got all of the cool music people, she had directed music videos for R.E.M., the B-52’s, Kate Pierson, and Syd Straw. Basically, it was like Michael Stipe appeared the show and people saw it. Once everyone saw that Michael Stipe could do it, other people would be like, “Yeah, sure.”
All of a sudden Iggy Pop was on the show and I didn’t really know who he was. My dad took me down to the basement and pulled out the Fun House vinyl record. He was like, “This is who is going to be on your show next week (Laughs).” As a sixth or seventh grader, I was just so psyched and completely immersed myself in all of his records. When he came onto the set, I was like, “I know everything you’ve done.” And he was like, “Who is this 11-year-old-kid talking about “T.V. Eye” and loving the record Fun House? What the hell? This is so weird.”
There were so many musicians! In particular, like that early New York punk rock scene, David Johansen from The New York Dolls was a guest on the show. Debbie Harry from Blondie was on the show and there was so much of that, which totally molded me. Funny enough, I toured with Richard Lloyd in 2009, who was the other half of the guitar duo from Television, and he was in that same scene. We wound up doing 4 tours over 3 years and I went to Canada and England, and played with them! It felt like I got another notch on my punk rock belt for playing with people from that scene, not just performing with musicians from that era on a TV show. That’s my wheelhouse right there and that’s my favorite kind of music.
Like I said, everyone gave me mixtapes and I was a little kid walking around with my first Sony cassette deck blasting R.E.M.’s Green, Billy Bragg, and The Replacements. I knew about those bands and have been listening to them since I was a little kid. It was a weird thing to walk around and being like, “I know who Jonathan Richman is!” Back in the day, everyone was like, “Woah, there’s that dude from There’s Something About Mary.” And I was like, “You mean Jonathan Richman?”
Those are some crazy stories, man. That really goes to show how the universe listens and responds. All of those years later, you found yourself in a touring situation with the guitarist of Television.
Danny Tamberelli: Oh totally, and for one of those tours, we had Billy Ficca who was the drummer of Television. It was Richard, Billy, and myself and like 3/4’s of the band, which was just super crazy.
For anyone who hasn’t read or heard about your Iggy Pop story before, it’s legendary and harkens back to your beginnings as a bassist.
Danny Tamberelli: He saw that I was playing bass and that I really fell in love with the bass. He would ask me about it and say, ‘Oh man, that is cool.” Just being curious, I was like, “Hey, I’ll bring my guitar in and we can jam.” He said, “That would be fun,” and I was like, “What?!?” He and I used to hang out at lunchtime if he was on set. We would have lunch together and chat about everything. He was such a cool dude and he really treated me like an adult.
Most of the people on the set were so cool and I really didn’t feel like I was a child. Everybody talked to me like an adult and didn’t make the environment feel weird. Iggy Pop had no problem hanging out with a 12-year-old-kid on set and telling me how he worked at a pet store and that’s how he got his name, “Iggy.” And all sorts of other stuff, like living in the Lower East Side and really getting that gritty, New York City vibe out of him. Just being an inquisitive pre-teen, I was very interested in all of that stuff.
I think it’s cool too because not only were you introduced to the punk and hardcore scenes of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but this is the same timeframe as grunge and alternative. Weird and quirky was embraced and I would say Pete & Pete totally coincided with that movement and represents the alternative era too.
Danny Tamberelli: Totally, this might mean nothing but it means everything to me. Do you remember that Nada Surf song “Popular?”
Absolutely.
Danny Tamberelli: That music video was filmed in Bayonne High School, which is where we shot some of the high school stuff for Pete & Pete. We actually pre-dated that music video, that’s for sure.
That is insane! Again, things you grew up to be passionate about coincided with your experiences in that timeframe. That has to be a surreal feeling.
Danny Tamberelli: Oh yeah, I thought it was so funny when I saw that video on MTV for the first time. I was like, “Oh my god! That’s Bayonne High School.” I love that song and band. And yeah, it makes you feel like your paths are crossing and not in these weird wavelengths. I mean, I feel like that’s why people who come to the live show or come see Jounce, anyone who recognizes me from Pete & Pete, 99.9% of them are people I think I would’ve hung out with or made conversation with at the bar. It’s a certain type of person and if affected me the same way it affected them. It’s a really nice, copacetic situation, you know?
I completely understand what you’re saying. Myself and a lot of my friends who grew up in that era and watched Pete & Pete, we all became musicians or pursued art in some type of capacity. There’s a certain DNA that bonds us.
Danny Tamberelli: Just a little weird and just left to the dial enough, as The Replacements would say.
Definitely. On the topic of Jounce, you guys released a new record last year and you actually recorded the entire album in one day.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, we were in Chicago and we were able to use a studio that I don’t even think is there anymore. Maybe it’s because they were giving away free records (Laughs)? No, we just had a buddy who worked there and they were down to record us. We recorded 10 songs and we put 8 of them on the record. But yeah, they were all done in one take and there are no overdubs or anything like that. It was just us doing it, which I thought was really great. We’ve put out three full-lengths and a couple of EPs over the years, and we’re not really as good as we should be about that.
Right now, we’re working on a new record and we’re putting together all of the songs, so we should have a new release in 2020, which should be cool. We’ve been such a different kind of band and for the last ten-years, we’ve really been the band that we would like to be. Before that, we were trying to figure ourselves out and if wanted to be a hippy/trippy jam band. We used to play The Saint in Asbury Park and now we play the Asbury Yacht Club when we come down.
And you guys are playing at the Mercury Lounge in the city in a few weeks?
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, we’re playing on September 17th at the Mercury Lounge!
I wanted to ask you, being the frontman of Jounce and finding your voice, what do you strive for when it comes to your lyrics and compositional approaches and song structures?
Danny Tamberelli: I do write all of the lyrics and Matt and I will each write half of the tunes. We’ll have 75 percent of a tune together, and the guitar player’s name is Matt DeSteno, he and I will come up with something to finish it, or he’ll show me an idea that he was thinking of. Also, he is someone that I’ve known since I was 11. We grew up four houses down on the same street and we’ve been playing music together since we both started playing. My parents would have these New Years Eve parties and we would be upstairs in my room playing Nirvana’s “Breed” and just going crazy (Laughs).
Sings the vocal intro, “I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care”
Danny Tamberelli: Exactly! So we do a lot of collaborative stuff and individual stuff on our own. For me, the lyrics are something that I take very seriously and I feel I’m very judgmental about my own lyrics and even judgmental of other people’s lyrics. As I’ve grown older, I’m trying to be less judgmental of others lyrics because that doesn’t do anybody any good.
I will tell you somebody who I look up to strongly is Bob Pollard. I think the way he writes, couplets in particular, they are some of the most poignant lyrics that you could possibly get if you listen to Guided By Voices. When I write a song and try to rhyme something or try to get the feel that I want to get across, I think to myself, “Would Bob Pollard like this?” And you know what, I think he would.
It gives you a sense of comfort.
Danny Tamberelli: Sure, I think because when I write, my lyrics are super personal and intimate. They are a reflection of my life or things that are going on. I don’t really write fanciful stories or write lyrics to something like, “I want to write a song about this today.” The lyrics come out and they are always the last thing. When I write music, everything is composed and sometimes there’s a melody and sometimes there’s not, but the lyrics are always my last thing. I will have ideas jotted down that haven’t become lyrics or haven’t become a song, and I’ll see if the vibe of the song fits the tone of those lyrics.
Honesty and personability often brings out the best in lyrics. You mentioned Nirvana being a huge influence before.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, I was in sixth-grade and bands like Nirvana and Green Day were huge. I was trying to learn how to play songs like “Longview” and open chords on the bass, and that was the first experience that I had playing something where I was like, “That is cool!” It was such a big moment for me and when you’re first starting out and learning how to play, you want to play stuff that makes you feel good so you could be like, “Okay, I could continue to do this.” You could do that with playing those songs, stuff like “Breed,” and I’m not trying to take away the musicality from those songs. Those songs are important building blocks.
When I turned 15, I discovered Phish and wanted to be a jam band kid, and that was an important expression of music for me too. I wanted to see these people take their music to a different level than I’m used to experiencing and I enjoyed it because it was different and challenging. I felt like I received a masterclass in musicality every time I went to a show. That was really important to me at the time and it’s not so much anymore, but I feel like it’s important to continue growing as a musician.
And that’s the cool thing about Jounce. We’ve been a band since 2000 and we have continued to morph and change from when we were in college. When I was in college and studied music, I studied jazz and played upright bass and all sorts of avant-garde stuff. Now, I’m back to my chunky rock roots and it’s what I like to do most, plus I feel like I could add those little extras that define you as a musician and help you find your voice. I don’t think I would’ve been able to grow without having those moments like, “Oh, I’m going to see Phish at PNC.”
I totally relate to what you’re saying. Once you actually learn the fundamentals, that’s when you pursue virtuosity. And it’s a cool feeling when you come back and appreciate it all. I think that’s when you become an intuitive musician, songwriter, and listener.
Danny Tamberelli: I wish I had said it as smoothly and clearly as you did (Laughs). But you’re exactly right, that’s definitely it.
I felt motivated by what you were saying so the compliment belongs to you (Laughs).
Danny Tamberelli: (Laughs) Okay, for sure.
Talking about Nirvana, I’ve seen you guys cover Faith No More and did you hear about Mr. Bungle?
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah man, Mr. Bungle is coming back!
The show is going to be in Brooklyn. You going to check it out?
Danny Tamberelli: I’m definitely going to check it out! That’s going to be great.
For someone who might not know, you have an awesome vinyl collection and have been collecting for years.
Danny Tamberelli: I do have a pretty good vinyl collection and it all started with my father. My dad has a collection of 5,000 vinyls. I was always surrounded by it growing up and maybe a couple of his records have slipped into my hands. He has the first pressing of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World, which doesn’t have him lounged out on the sofa. It’s the first pressing and it was like a cartoon of this dude in a cowboy hat with a shotgun. It’s really weird but it’s probably my favorite piece that I stole from him.
But that’s okay because I got him Fun House signed and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid signed by Ozzy Osbourne. That was a cool thing that I was able to do. I befriended Jim Kerr from Q104.3 who was one of the DJ’s there. I happened to be there one day so I brought that record for Ozzy to sign. It was one of the only times where a 13-year-old could pull some rank and was like, “Yeah, I just want to come up and meet Ozzy.” And they’re like, “Yeah, that’s cool. Totally!”
And was this when Black Sabbath first got back together with Ozzy, around 1997?
Danny Tamberelli: It was when Ozzy Osbourne released that record Ozzmosis; the one where Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne wrote those songs together.
Oh, man! I love Ozzmosis! “Perry Mason!”
Danny Tamberelli: Exactly! Exactly! That was a great record and a lot of it had to do with Geezer Butler chugging on that bass! Woof!
You know what’s crazy, Michael Beinhorn produced that record; he worked with a bunch of great ‘90s bands and he worked on Ozzmosis after he worked on Soundgarden’s Superunknown!
Danny Tamberelli: Oh, really? Superunknown has to be his best, I would think. I didn’t know he did Ozzmosis too, that’s just crazy.
You’re a big metalhead too, right? I know you love Black Sabbath and Slayer.
Danny Tamberelli: Oh yeah, man! When I was on the set of Pete & Pete, I had this really cool hat and basically, kids in the neighborhood would find out that I was a metalhead and they would go to this store and buy posters for me. It was the most flattering, cool thing. They would just be like, “Oh, we’re just so happy that you’re here. We heard you heard that you loved Megadeth so we went to the local Sammy Goody and got you this cool patch.” And they gave me Megadeth, Slayer, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails, and Primus patches, so I put them on my hat and it was a plain red hat. I would wear it all of the time so the kids would see me wearing the hat and be like, “Oh man, that’s so cool.”
It’s a super neat feeling, you know? Think about where you were when you were 12 or 13 and the scraps of money that you had, would you go and buy something for someone who’s on TV because you like them and want them to have something cool that they gave you? That’s a pretty wild thing to think about.
That’s definitely powerful. It goes to show the impact of that show, the imagination and adolescence part of it, especially for anyone who grew up in a weird environment. The heart of the show and how you inspired those kids and what you and Michael accomplished as performers.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, we were just kids and we were doing stuff that people wrote for us, but we were still just being kids and at the end of the day, it’s just cool that it could still resonate now. When people come up to us and they’re like, “I have kids and I started showing them Pete & Pete on YouTube.” And that’s because they can’t find it in other places and it’s hard to get. But that’s the ultimate compliment for Mike and I.
Now that we both have kids too, it makes you think about it in a different way. It’s like, I can’t wait to show my kids so many things whether it’s bands I like or things he might eventually like. I wouldn’t feel weird putting on Pete & Pete and showing him that. I might feel weird putting on The Baby-Sitter’s Club and showing him like, “Yeah, that’s Danny. That’s your dad!” But for Pete & Pete, I’ll be like, “Dude, you’re going to love this!” I know he’s going to be a little weirdo, I’m looking at him right now (Laughs).
Like I said earlier, you guys are going to raise him right between the books and music.
Danny Tamberelli: You saw the Instagram post earlier, he was in his little metalhead onesie holding a Black Sabbath vinyl. He’s going to be alright.
Talking about the impact of one of your other films, you recently reunited with your cast mates from the Mighty Ducks. How did it feel to reconnect with the cast and your friends? The Anaheim Ducks really went all out and put together such a classy reunion.
Danny Tamberelli: Dude, we got to go out on the ice, drop the puck, meet some of the players, and hang out afterwards. It was really so nice. I love hockey and I’ve actually been a Devils fan since I was nine-years-old, basically when I got the role. My dad wasn’t really into hockey, it just wasn’t his thing. For some weird reason, he liked the Toronto Maple Leafs. I don’t know why liked the Maple Leafs but he just did, but I don’t think he really cared too much about it because there wasn’t a team in New Jersey before 1982. That’s kind of my generation, I grew up with the New Jersey Devils, they are the Jersey team and that was my team.
Once we got onto the set of Mighty Ducks, I met all of these different people from different cities and I was able to be like, “Yeah, I like the New Jersey Devils. I’m a Devils guy.” Just being on the ice for a pro NHL game was something awesome, that was really cool. I got to skate on the ice and play hockey a little bit, and I was very rusty (Laughs). The last time I was on the ice, I was in college and kept thinking I could play a pickup game at UMass Amherst with a bunch of very good hockey players. They were playing for fun and I got my ass kicked. I went back the next week to try it one more time and I got my ass kicked again, so I was like, “Well, I guess my hockey career is over (Laughs).”
I will say this, your hockey legacy will always outweigh whoever those guys were on the ice that day (Laughs).
Danny Tamberelli: (Laughs) Maybe, maybe! Some of them might be playing hockey now, for real, but I would say to most of them that you’re right (Laughs). I will say that the next time they want to drop the puck at an Anaheim Ducks vs. Vancouver Canucks game (Laughs).
The last question I have, you mentioned recording with Jounce and future episodes of The Adventures of Danny & Mike. What’s up for the rest of 2019 and 2020?
Danny Tamberelli: We just had to take a bit of time off from the podcast, just through the end of the summer. We just got too busy, we don’t really take time off ever but we took a little bit of time off now. It’s hard now because we both have kids, it was easier when he only had a kid and he had a schedule. And now I have a schedule and he has a schedule, and our schedules sometimes don’t just add up.
But what’s cool is that you guys continue to stay in each other’s lives. Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of people find inspiration in the fact that your friendship has transcended the show.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah man, and that’s why we love doing the live show. I think that’s why I think it’s great and people should come check it out. If you love Pete & Pete, we talk about stuff that happened to us and other things like being in commercials and movies. We’re happy that we still get to to hang out and do stuff like this, and we’re also really happy that people like it.
In the last two years, we’ve done 20 or 30 of these shows throughout the southeast, northeast, and midwest, and they’ve all been really fun. We get the same sort of reactions, we get people who show up with Petunia tattoos and Artie tattoos. These are people who thought that much of the show to get ink on their body forever, and I could make a coffee table book of all the Petunia pictures that I have, and it’s really incredible.
Art lives on forever, man. Whether it’s music, comedy, or acting, that’s the beauty of that pursuit.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah, and you know, that’s my life whether it’s doing standup shows, sketch shows, or playing with the band. With Jounce, we’ve toned down a bit over the years but we’ll still do two tours, up-and-down the east coast and even Chicago and down. We’ll come down to Asbury Park a few times a year and we’ll play a few dates in Brooklyn and the city. We’ll keep writing songs and I also do jazz stuff on the side. I made a record with Mike Clark, the drummer from The Headhunters and Herbie Hancock. Those first Herbie records; the funk records Thrust and Floods, Mike Clark played drums on those albums. That was a pretty cool thing to do.
I work with jazz music and that was the one thing I forgot to ask! You played with Mike Clark!
Danny Tamberelli: We made a record and you could check it out, the name of the group is Middle Blue and the album is called Love Chords. It was released on Ropeadope records.
From a bass playing perspective, how much of a learning experience was it working with a drummer like Mike Clark?
Danny Tamberelli: Oh, I had to tell him that I had been playing with him since I was 18, when I got to college. I lived and breathed Floods and Thrust. Thrust, in particular, might just be the greatest funk record ever produced. I used to play along to those records all of the time so I was playing all of the Paul Jackson parts and learning how to get down as a bass player. Getting to play with Mike, we played a few times before I said that to him. One night, I had a few drinks and I was like, “Hey Mike, I’ve got to tell you something.”
Goes to show, another powerful full circle moment.
Danny Tamberelli: I love everything, man. It goes from liking metal and rebellion and my music career and just learning overall. My mom was a huge Motown person, so I feel like that’s why I was drawn to the bass as a kid. I was always listening to bass lines and my dad was a classic rock dude. Eventually, I got into metal and hippie music, which got me into jazz and other shit. I got back to being a seventh grade, punk rock kid after college. And that’s when I realized, you could put all of that stuff together and build your own thing.
I’d like to think that a lot of Jounce stuff is firmly established in rock but I studied with Yusef Lateef for a year in college and Mark Dresser, and some of these New York jazz cats. I learned a lot and it’s not the thing that I want to do all of the time, but it’s great that I was able to get that experience and feel comfortable playing with Mike Clark ten-years-later.
And it only helps to push yourself as a performer.
Danny Tamberelli: True, definitely.
Man, that’s an inspiring story. I think I’m going to play my guitar after this.
Danny Tamberelli: Yeah man, go rip it up!
Catch Danny Tamberelli on the Nostalgia Personified Tour at House of Independents in Asbury Park on Saturday August 24. Click here for tickets.
