Dan Braun
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Dan Braun (born circa 1962) is an American musician, composer, writer, editor, art director, and film producer.


Early music career

Dan Braun and his twin brother Josh have performed, separately and together, in bands including
Circus Mort Circus Mort was an American post-punk band from New York City. Formed in 1979, the band included future Swans singer Michael Gira on vocals, guitarist Rick Oller, bassist Dan Braun, Josh Braun on keyboards and Angelo Pudignano on drums. Jona ...
with singer
Michael Gira Michael Rolfe Gira (; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, author and artist. Now based in New Mexico, he founded the band Swans, in which he sings and plays guitar, in New York City in the 1980s at the height of ...
; T-Venus (with Julia Heyward and Pat Irwin); The Del-Byzanteens (with future filmmaker
Jim Jarmusch James Robert Jarmusch ( ; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter and musician. He has been a major proponent of independent film, independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films such as ''Stranger Than Paradise'' ...
); and the Spinal Root Gang (with the future
Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
on lead vocals). After recording one EP on Labor Records in 1981, Circus Mort broke up. Braun joined with Gira in the band Swans for a short stint in 1982, and was on the album '' Body to Body, Job to Job'' (1991). He went on to play with a myriad of New York bands and musicians including Robin Crutchfield, performance artist Julia Heyward, composer Pat Irwin, and with producer Lefferts Brown in the band Radio Firefight. The Braun brothers then joined The Del-Byzanteens, with Dan on drums. They recorded one album, ''Lies to Live By'', and one single, "Draft Riot". Braun also toured and recorded with composer
Glenn Branca Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...
on his ''Symphony #5''. The Braun brothers formed their own band in 1982, Deep Six, with Rick Oller, Trey Sabitelli, and Tony Braun, their younger brother. Tony left the band and Phil Kline from The Del-Byzanteens joined on guitar. The band recorded one album, ''Garage D'or'', on Twin Tone/Coyote Records in 1987 and in 1993 released one single on #1 Records, "Pretty White/Looking for a Reason".


Advertising career

While still pursuing his musical career, Braun became a graphic designer in the world of advertising. He went on to become an art director, working on the
Absolut Vodka Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 (equivalent to € in ) from the Swedish state. Absolut ...
campaign. Following the merger of TBWA and Chiat/Day, he was made creative director, overseeing Absolut's early internet experiments including "Absolut Panushka", an experimental animation site; "Absolut Kelly", focusing on the work of Kevin Kelly; and "Absolut DJ", a custom online DJ application that let consumers create "visual music" and interact with musical theorists like
DJ Spooky Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American Electronic music, electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". ...
and
Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...
.


Submarine

In 1998, Braun and two partners launched Submarine, self-described as a "convergence programming studio". The studio's first project was "Absolut Director", which allowed users to create their own rescripted movies online.
Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
,
Mary Harron Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She co-wrote the screenplay and directed ''American Psycho'', '' The Notorious Bettie Page' and I Shot Andy Warhol.'' Early life Born in Bracebridge, Ontar ...
, and Chris Smith were three of the directors who participated. The site won numerous advertising and web design awards. Submarine Entertainment, formed in 2001, expanded the entertainment activities of the previous company and reunited the Braun twins as working partners. The company, which produces and develops feature films and documentaries, has represented and sold for distribution movies, including '' Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in his own words'', '' Blackfish'', '' Yo Yo Ma, The Music of Strangers'', '' Life Animated'', '' Danny Says'', '' The Witness'', ''
Winter's Bone ''Winter's Bone'' is a 2010 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Debra Granik. It was adapted by Granik and Anne Rosellini from the 2006 novel by Daniel Woodrell. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as a poverty-stricken teenage girl na ...
'', '' Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', '' The Wrecking Crew'', '' Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me'', '' NAS:Time is Illmatic'', ''
Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, its population was 13,146. The estimated popula ...
'', '' Cutie and the Boxer'', '' Chasing Ice'', ''
Super Size Me ''Super Size Me'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he claimed to consume o ...
'', '' Spellbound'', '' The Cove'', '' Tiny Furniture'', and '' Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work'', as well as several
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Academy Honorary Award, Special Awards to ''Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. The ...
winners, including ''
20 Feet From Stardom ''20 Feet from Stardom'' is a 2013 American documentary film directed by Morgan Neville and produced by Gil Friesen, a music industry executive whose curiosity to know more about the lives of background singers inspired the making of the film ...
'', '' Man on Wire'', '' Searching for Sugarman'' and ''
Citizenfour ''Citizenfour'' is a 2014 documentary film directed by Laura Poitras, concerning Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal. The film had its US premiere on October 10, 2014, at the New York Film Festival and its UK premiere on October 17, 2014, a ...
''. In 2011, the company began Submarine Deluxe as a theatrical releasing division of Submarine. Braun was executive producer of the 2006 film ''
Kill Your Idols Kill Your Idols is an American hardcore punk band from New York, active from 1995 through 2007 and again from 2013 to the present. They were signed to SideOneDummy Records. Their releases on SideOne were Funeral for a Feeling (2001), a split ...
'', which won Best NY Documentary at the 2004
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
; the 2010 film ''Blank City'', about 1970s experimental and
no wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...
filmmakers; the 2014 film ''Sunshine Superman'', about
base jumping BASE jumping () is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend to the ground. BASE is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antenna (radio), antenna ...
; and was a producer of the 2015 film '' Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict'', about art collector
Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemianism, bohemian, and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who we ...
. Braun will executive produce the upcoming feature adaptation of "Batkid Begins" starring Julia Roberts. Braun also produced and created
web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...
''The Instant Talk Show'', with host Nick Scoullar, from 2005 to 2008.


''Creepy'' and ''Eerie'' relaunch

In 1999, the Braun brothers started pursuing rights to
Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...
's defunct horror-comics magazines ''
Creepy Creepiness is the state of being creepy, or causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease to someone and/or something. Certain traits or hobbies may make people seem creepy to others; interest in horror or the macabre might come across as 'c ...
'' and ''
Eerie Eerie may refer to: * Feeling of creepiness * Eerie (magazine), ''Eerie'' (magazine), an American horror comic first published in 1966 * Eerie (Avon), ''Eerie'' (Avon), a 1947 horror comic * Eerie (film), ''Eerie'' (film), a 2018 Filipino horror fi ...
''. With two partners, they formed the New Comic Company, which completed the acquisitions after a seven-year negotiation. In 2008, New Comic collaborated with
Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...
to release the reprint book series ''Creepy Archives''. The first volume reached #2 on ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' Bestsellers list for graphic novels. In 2009, Braun and editor Shawna Gore won the
Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...
for Best Archival Collection. In July 2009, New Comic and Dark Horse launched the quarterly color comic book ''Creepy'' with new material. Braun, the series' consulting editor, wrote the story "Hell Hound Blues" in issue #1. Soon after, a new ''Eerie'' comic-book series began. Braun announced at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con that he and his brother, Josh, were developing a ''Creepy'' anthology movie with Chris Columbus and
1492 Pictures 26th Street Pictures is an American film production company founded by Chris Columbus, Mark Radcliffe and Michael Barnathan in 1994 as 1492 Pictures. The name is a play on Columbus's more famous namesake, Christopher Columbus, and his 1492 lan ...
.Fleming, Mike (July 12, 2012)
"Comic-Con: Chris Columbus, Braun Brothers Plot CREEPY Magazine Feature"
''
Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...
''.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Dan Musicians from New York City American male composers 21st-century American composers Writers from New York (state) American editors American art directors Film producers from New York (state) Noise rock musicians 1961 births Living people 21st-century American male musicians No wave musicians