DANNY O’BRIEN is the frontman and primary songwriter for The Minimum Requirements.  He plays the guitars, accordion, banjo, mandolin, keyboards, zither, fiddle, and occasional percussion.

 

Danny was born in 1983 in Tucson, Arizona, but has spent most of his life in Cleveland, Ohio.  He was interested in music early on, singing along with Sade's “Smooth Operator” at the age of two, marching around with his Fisher-Price snare drum at four, and pounding dissonantly on the electric organ his parents gave him at five.  At some indeterminate point, this playfulness developed into actual musical ability and a perceptive ear, and he learned to pick out songs and chords on the organ (which, unfortunately, met its fiery demise some years ago).

 

            In middle school, Danny played percussion in the school band, got his first drum set, taught himself MIDI sequencing, and began writing songs.  His sense of humor and catchy melodies started showing up in school projects and bizarre inside-joke recordings.  During this period Danny became an obsessive Beatles fan and developed an interest in reggae music and world percussion.

 

In seventh grade, Danny worked with Justus Brake in the “Odyssey of the Mind” problem-solving program, and in eighth grade, he met the Wahl family when he performed in North Olmsted High School's production of The Sound Of Music.  The seeds of TMR were quietly sown.

 

During the summer of 1997, before his freshman year at St. Ignatius High School, Danny first heard the music of quirky Brooklyn duo They Might Be Giants, whose musical and lyrical began to influence—or, more accurately, to legitimize—Danny’s own ideas about songwriting.  The same summer, Danny started teaching himself to play guitar and several world percussion instruments.

 

In the spring of 1998, director Chris Venesile invited Danny to play auxiliary percussion in the rhythm section of North Olmsted High School's “Special Edition” vocal jazz ensemble.  Danny’s skills—and his collection of exotic drums—caught the attention of Special Edition drummer Eric Wahl and pianist Jonn Sokol, who invited him to join their band Sarcasm Included, which also included guitarist Gabe McElwain, bassist Chris Nunnari, trumpeter Kevin Kasick, and vocalist Ben Bruening.  Danny performed one concert with the group before it broke up in the fall.  Just before Sarcasm disbanded, Danny had written a new song called “Sandbox.”  Sarcasm Included never played it, but Danny kept the song up his sleeve, since he and Eric were intent on starting a new band.

 

For Christmas of 1998, Danny’s parents gave him his own electric guitar.  Thus equipped, he began to work on new songs with Eric.  That winter, Danny had also been playing drums with bassist Justus Brake in a band called Feelin’ Fine, which broke up after a totally disastrous Valentine’s Day concert at Peabody’s Down Under.  That spring, Danny and Eric recruited Justus as the third member of their new trio, and in May of 1999, The Minimum Requirements were born.  They made their first public appearance that August.

 

Throughout high school, Special Edition continued its tremendous impact on Danny’s musical education and helped him cultivate a love of jazz and improvisation.  By junior year, Danny was the group’s permanent drummer, and he got the opportunity to perform and record with a plethora of incredibly talented vocalists and musicians, particularly Chris Venesile, bassist Aaron Tully, and pianist Marty Witzcak.

 

Today, TMR is Danny’s primary musical project and the outlet for his own songwriting, but he continues to collaborate with other fine musicians on other projects.  He is very involved with liturgical music ministry at the Church of St. Clarence with pianist Jim Buccini, and he is a member of the group Heavenly Host, under the direction of Russell Petrus.  Danny occasionally turns up the funk with the Tony Koussa Jr. Band, and he also collaborates with Gabe McElwain, Eric Huddle, and David Roman on various musical adventures.  Recently, Danny has become fascinated by bluegrass and folk music, and his latest musical endeavor is teaching himself to play the fiddle.

 

        Danny studies politics and world religions at The Ohio State University.  He writes online commentary at his site Blog O’ DOB.  During the summer, when not rocking out, he works in advertising at The Cleveland Plain Dealer.