Daniel House
Encyclopedia
Daniel House is a business owner/entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 best known for his contribution to the Seattle “grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

” music movement of the 1980s and ‘90s. He was a co-founder and bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

-player for Skin Yard
Skin Yard
Skin Yard was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on their contemporaries – most notably Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, The Melvins, and Green River – alongside whom they are considered...

, a band that was active from 1985 to 1992, and was President and owner of C/Z Records
C/Z Records
C/Z Records is a Seattle-based record label that was established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale with the release of the now-legendary, Deep Six LP, which collected the earliest recordings of the real pro-genitors of what later came to be known as grunge...

, a Seattle-based independent record label that released music by many bands including 7 Year Bitch
7 Year Bitch
7 Year Bitch was an American punk rock band from Seattle, Washington that was active for 7 years, between 1990 and 1997. Their career yielded three albums, and was impacted by the deaths of their guitarist Stefanie Sargent and close-friend Mia Zapata of fellow Seattle punks The Gits.-Career:7 Year...

, Built to Spill
Built to Spill
Built to Spill is an American indie rock band based in Boise, Idaho. The band has released seven full-length albums. Their most recent album, There Is No Enemy, was released on October 6, 2009.-History:...

, Coffin Break
Coffin Break
-History:Coffin Break was formed in Seattle in the late 1980s, during the time that grunge was beginning to catch on; however, the group eschewed the nascent alternative sound, taking their influences from punk rock. The group released its first two full-length albums and a compilation on C/Z Records...

, Engine Kid, The Gits
The Gits
The Gits were an American punk rock band, formed in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1986. Known for their part in the burgeoning Seattle music scene of the early 1990s, their distinct punk rock sound gained a reputation for its bluesy street punk aesthetic...

, Hammerbox
Hammerbox
Hammerbox was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington. The band formed around 1990 and disbanded in 1994 when lead singer Carrie Akre left the band to form Goodness.-History:...

, Love Battery
Love Battery
Love Battery is an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington.For the most part Love Battery was an unusual group in the early '90s Seattle music scene, blending intense swirling psychedelic guitar work, pulsating rhythms, driving beats and heartfelt vocals derived from '60s garage/psych, '70s...

, The Melvins
The Melvins
The Melvins are an American band that formed in 1983. They usually perform as a trio, but in recent years have performed as a four piece with two drummers. Since 1984, singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been the band's constant members...

, The Presidents of the United States of America
The Presidents of the United States of America (band)
The Presidents of the United States of America, commonly referred to as Pot USA or "PUSA" or The Presidents, are a twice Grammy-nominated American alternative rock band. The band formed in Seattle, USA, in 1993. The three-piece group currently comprises vocalist and "basitarist" Chris Ballew,...

, Silkworm
Silkworm (band)
Silkworm was an indie rock band active from 1987 to 2005.The members were Tim Midgett, Joel RL Phelps, Andy Cohen, and Michael Dahlquist. Phelps left the band in 1994. Matt Kadane of Bedhead and The New Year played keyboards on Italian Platinum and It'll Be Cool...

, and Skin Yard
Skin Yard
Skin Yard was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on their contemporaries – most notably Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, The Melvins, and Green River – alongside whom they are considered...

. In 2003 he moved from Seattle to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 where he oversaw the development and creation of the now-defunct www.DownloadPunk.com as well as the music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

-centric online dating website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

, RocknRollDating.com.

Musical career

House’s first band was the little-known Seattle band Death of Marat, named after a painting by Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era...

 depicting the assassination of radical journalist Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...

 during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. The band lasted for a little over a year, starting in 1982 and breaking up in late 1983.

In 1984 House formed an instrumental prog-rock three-piece band called feeDBack with Matt Cameron
Matt Cameron
Matthew David "Matt" Cameron is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden...

 on Drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 and a guitarist named “Nerm” (real name Tom Herring). feeDBack lasted only 10 months but managed to record 9 songs on a 4-track recorder that Cameron owned. The songs have subsequently been remixed and mastered by Jack Endino
Jack Endino
Jack Endino is a producer and musician based in Seattle. Long associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands such as Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Nirvana...

, but have never been released.

Shortly after forming feeDBack, House was recruited to play bass in 10 Minute Warning
10 Minute Warning
10 Minute Warning was a hardcore punk band from Seattle, Washington. They became famous locally as one of the first bands to adapt the popular punk sound to something slower and heavier, paving the way for grunge bands like Green River and Mother Love Bone before breaking up in 1984.-Early years...

 (TWM), replacing the recently departed David Garrigues. TWM was unique at the time in that they originated as a punk band, but had evolved into something slower, heavier and with psychedelic overtones. TMW are popularly regarded as one of the very first progenitors of the grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

 movement. 10 Minute Warning broke up at the end of 1984 after guitarist Paul Solger quit, and drummer Greg Gilmore
Greg Gilmore
Greg Gilmore is a musician in Seattle, Washington, and co-founder of the recording label First World Music. Although born in France, Gilmore grew up in the Seattle area....

 left Seattle to join former 10 Minute Warning guitarist Duff McKagan
Duff McKagan
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an American musician and writer. He is best known for his twelve-year tenure as the bassist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s...

 in Los Angeles.

Skin Yard

In 1985 House envisioned a new band, one that would draw from elements of both feeDBack and Ten Minute Warning. He sought out Jack Endino
Jack Endino
Jack Endino is a producer and musician based in Seattle. Long associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands such as Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Nirvana...

 who he met through Nerm based on a tape that Endino had shared at a feeDBack rehearsal, and proposed his idea for his next band. They recruited Matt Cameron
Matt Cameron
Matthew David "Matt" Cameron is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden...

 and began writing songs while looking for a singer. Eventually finding Ben McMillan to take on vocal duties, they named the new band Skin Yard
Skin Yard
Skin Yard was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on their contemporaries – most notably Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, The Melvins, and Green River – alongside whom they are considered...

.

On June 7, 1985 Skin Yard played their first show opening for the U-Men. Skin Yard’s music was first released on the Deep Six
Deep Six (album)
The Deep Six compilation was released March 1986 . It was the very first release by C/Z Records, a few months before the release of Sub Pop 100 from Sub Pop Records. It was also arguably the second record to influence the later "Seattle sound" that would be known worldwide as grunge...

compilation album which also featured tracks by Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...

, The Melvins
The Melvins
The Melvins are an American band that formed in 1983. They usually perform as a trio, but in recent years have performed as a four piece with two drummers. Since 1984, singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been the band's constant members...

, U-Men, Green River
Green River (band)
Green River was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington that was active from 1984 to 1988. Although the band had little commercial impact outside of its native Seattle, Green River proved to have significant influence on the genre later known as grunge, both with its own music and with the...

 and Malfunkshun
Malfunkshun
Malfunkshun is a band formed in 1980 by Andrew Wood and his brother Kevin Wood. Malfunkshun, along with Skin Yard, Green River, U-Men, and Melvins are considered the "godfathers" of grunge, with Malfunkshun being the first of those bands to form.-History:...

. Between 1987 and 1991, Skin Yard released 4 full-length records and embarked on several national and regional tours up and down the west coast. House quit Skin Yard in 1991 and has not actively played in a band since.

Later career

In 1988 House co-wrote and recorded The Last Laugh, Helios Creed
Helios Creed
Helios Creed is an American guitarist, singer and bandleader. He first came to prominence in the mid 1970s with the San Francisco band Chrome. They are credited with being the godfathers of what later became known as Industrial Rock music...

’s first for Amphetamine Reptile Records with Jason Finn
Jason Finn (musician)
Jason Finn is a drummer and singer for The Presidents of the United States of America. He was previously the drummer of Love Battery until 1995 , when he joined Chris Ballew and Dave Dederer to form The Presidents of the United States of America...

 on drums.

In 1989, House was the drummer for Seattle band, Yeast, who released one 7" single ("Crisco Wristwatch") and a track on Teriyaki Asthma Vol. I which also included tracks from Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

, Helios Creed and Coffin Break
Coffin Break
-History:Coffin Break was formed in Seattle in the late 1980s, during the time that grunge was beginning to catch on; however, the group eschewed the nascent alternative sound, taking their influences from punk rock. The group released its first two full-length albums and a compilation on C/Z Records...

. The other members of Yeast were Milton Garrison from Vexed and Al Thompkins from Daddy Hate Box. Yeast highlights included sharing the bill once with Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...

 and once with Tad
Tad (band)
Tad was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington led by Tad Doyle. Among the first of the many bands which came out of Seattle in the grunge era, Tad was notable for the fact that its music had a noticeable 1970s metal influence, rather than the punk which influenced most other grunge bands...

.

In 1993 House played one show with the band Pretty Mary Sunshine
Pretty Mary Sunshine
Pretty Mary Sunshine was a band formed in Seattle, Washington in March 1993.Almost as quickly as they were formed, they were signed to A&M Records. Instead of unifying the five piece, being signed to a major record label hastened their disintegration. "PMS" was contracted to produce two albums...

 (opening for Red House Painters
Red House Painters
Red House Painters were an alternative rock group formed in 1989 in San Francisco, California by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek.-History:While in Atlanta, Georgia, Ohio-born Kozelek became friends with Anthony Koutsos, a drummer. He then moved to San Francisco, California, adding guitarist Gorden...

) while bass player Joe Skyward was in Europe playing with The Posies
The Posies
The Posies are an alternative rock/power pop group. The band was formed in 1987 in Bellingham, Washington by primary songwriters Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. They are best known for their radio hits "Golden Blunders" , as well as "Dream All Day", "Solar Sister" and "Flavor of the Month"...

. Pretty Mary Sunshine asked House to become their permanent bass-player, but he declined. That was the last time House performed on stage.

As Record Label Owner

Daniel House purchased the rights and ownership of fledgling Seattle-based label C/Z Records
C/Z Records
C/Z Records is a Seattle-based record label that was established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale with the release of the now-legendary, Deep Six LP, which collected the earliest recordings of the real pro-genitors of what later came to be known as grunge...

 from Chris Hanzsek
Chris Hanzsek
Chris Hanzsek is an American musical engineer and record producer currently living in Snohomish, Washington. He was co-founder, with then partner Tina Casale, of C/Z Records and their recording studio, Reciprocal Recording, in 1984...

 in 1986. Initially House intended the label as a vehicle to release music by Skin Yard
Skin Yard
Skin Yard was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on their contemporaries – most notably Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, The Melvins, and Green River – alongside whom they are considered...

, his band at the time. Skin Yard’s only previously released material was on C/Z’s Deep Six
Deep Six (album)
The Deep Six compilation was released March 1986 . It was the very first release by C/Z Records, a few months before the release of Sub Pop 100 from Sub Pop Records. It was also arguably the second record to influence the later "Seattle sound" that would be known worldwide as grunge...

compilation, and House wanted to maintain the ongoing sales efforts for the remaining LPs still in stock.

House continued to release records by other bands in the Seattle area, while working at a series of jobs, eventually working as Director of Sales and Distribution for Sub Pop
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...

 Records in 1988. House left Sub Pop in 1991 in an effort to make C/Z a viable business. Over the next several years C/Z grew into a independent label with national recognition releasing material from 7 Year Bitch
7 Year Bitch
7 Year Bitch was an American punk rock band from Seattle, Washington that was active for 7 years, between 1990 and 1997. Their career yielded three albums, and was impacted by the deaths of their guitarist Stefanie Sargent and close-friend Mia Zapata of fellow Seattle punks The Gits.-Career:7 Year...

, Treepeople
Treepeople
Treepeople was an alternative rock band from Boise, Idaho, although it spent most of its time and was officially based in Seattle, Washington. The band was composed of Pat Brown , Wayne Rhino Flower, Doug Martsch, and Scott Schmaljohn. It also included drummer Eric Akre on the critically acclaimed...

, Coffin Break
Coffin Break
-History:Coffin Break was formed in Seattle in the late 1980s, during the time that grunge was beginning to catch on; however, the group eschewed the nascent alternative sound, taking their influences from punk rock. The group released its first two full-length albums and a compilation on C/Z Records...

, Engine Kid¸Hammerbox
Hammerbox
Hammerbox was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington. The band formed around 1990 and disbanded in 1994 when lead singer Carrie Akre left the band to form Goodness.-History:...

, Built to Spill
Built to Spill
Built to Spill is an American indie rock band based in Boise, Idaho. The band has released seven full-length albums. Their most recent album, There Is No Enemy, was released on October 6, 2009.-History:...

, The Gits
The Gits
The Gits were an American punk rock band, formed in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1986. Known for their part in the burgeoning Seattle music scene of the early 1990s, their distinct punk rock sound gained a reputation for its bluesy street punk aesthetic...

¸ Love Battery
Love Battery
Love Battery is an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington.For the most part Love Battery was an unusual group in the early '90s Seattle music scene, blending intense swirling psychedelic guitar work, pulsating rhythms, driving beats and heartfelt vocals derived from '60s garage/psych, '70s...

, Silkworm
Silkworm (band)
Silkworm was an indie rock band active from 1987 to 2005.The members were Tim Midgett, Joel RL Phelps, Andy Cohen, and Michael Dahlquist. Phelps left the band in 1994. Matt Kadane of Bedhead and The New Year played keyboards on Italian Platinum and It'll Be Cool...

 and Monks of Doom
Monks of Doom
The Monks of Doom are an American alternative rock band, formed in California in 1986. Working within the indie rock aesthetic framework , the band's music drew from post-punk, progressive rock and folk rock traditions...

.

At its peak, C/Z employed 13 people and was a full-service label with distribution in North America, Europe and Australia. In 1993, C/Z entered into a production and distribution deal with Sony-owned RED Distribution. By 1994, that deal had drained C/Z of all its financial resources and effectively shut C/Z down, leaving House deep in debt. In 1996 the BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...

-owned Zoo Entertainment parternered with C/Z for a third-party venture deal which helped to resolve the debt incurred during the RED Distribution deal. Zoo provided a modest operating and recording budget and assisted in the development of new artists.

That same year, House appeared in the 1996 grunge documentary Hype!
Hype!
Hype! is a documentary directed by Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge rock in the early to mid-1990s United States. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the steps of grunge, from its subversive inception in neighborhood basements, to its explosion as a pop culture...

, the footage of which had actually been shot in 1992-1993.

In 1997 Zoo was purchased and all third party ventures were dropped. C/Z would then be turned back to a part-time venture with House looking towards new opportunities that would still keep him involved in music. The shift would move him towards Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

-based music and entertainment ventures. In 1998, House began working in the music department at streaming media pioneer RealNetworks
RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The company is the creator of RealAudio, a compressed audio format; RealVideo, a compressed video format; RealPlayer, a media player; RealDownloader, a download...

 as an editor for their online content portal, the RealGuide.

Further reading


External links

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