The Witzard

Dan Ex Machina - "When to Shut Up" Music Video (CREDIT: Jackie Papanier) Dan Ex Machina (DXM) is the long-standing, ever-evolving Alternative/Indie Rock project of Cherry Hill, NJ-based musician Dan Weiss. DXM was active as a solo project since the early 2000's, but never officially released any music until early 2020 to properly release finished versions of albums conceived as far back as 16 years ago. For example, Dan Ex Machina's "2020" debut, the awesomely-titled Pity Party Animal, was originally written by Dan Weiss and a crew of musically-abled friends in 2004; years later, it was tracked, mixed, and mastered by Doug Gallo at AGL Sounds in New Brunswick, NJ between September and December 2017. DXM's "2020" follow-up Borat-referencing My Wife was originally written back in 2006 with additional recording, production, mixing, and mastering by Doug Gallo in 2017 at AGL Sounds. Bail Shag EP by Dan Ex Machina Last year, we spoke with DXM...

Dan Ex Machina - "When to Shut Up" Music Video (CREDIT: Jackie Papanier) * INTRO/EXTRA I-II. What made you finally decide to record and release the recordings contained within both Pity Party Animal & My Wife, which were originally written between 2004-06, nearly 14-16 years later? How would you say your overall musical sound, style, point-of-view, etc. has changed and evolved since the release of Pity Party Animal earlier this year? Dan Ex Machina: To tackle these both at once: The short answer is that I had bad, inconsistent, home-made, occasionally inspired "finished" versions of a few records recorded at the time they were written, both in dorm rooms when I was in college. I didn't know what I was doing, which was occasionally good for the imagination of the song-writing and arrangements. It was only in the last few years that I was able to revisit these projects—more than a decade later—and make them sound how I, also, wanted them to sound. Than...