Dan Hoerner (born May 13, 1969) is an American

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and author. He is known for being the lead guitarist and

backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

of the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

-based band

Sunny Day Real Estate Sunny Day Real Estate is an American emo band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1992. The band currently consists of founding members Jeremy Enigk (vocals, guitar), Dan Hoerner (guitar) and William Goldsmith (drums), alongside Greg Suran ...

.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 1010

Music career

Hoerner was a fan of

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

and

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

bands, and decided to become a musician after attending a concert of

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They were noted for their style-transc ...

. Hoerner became the housemate of bassist

Nate Mendel Nathan ‍Gregor ‍Mendel (born December 2, 1968) is an American musician who is the bass guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters, as well as a former member of Sunny Day Real Estate. He has also worked with musical acts The Jealous Sound and ...

while attending the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, and they formed the band which would later become Sunny Day Real Estate. After being joined by drummer William Goldsmith, they started the band Empty Set. After the band recorded a two song demo, they changed their name to Chewbacca Kaboom, and band recorded a six song demo under that name. Later, the band once again changed their name to One Day I Stopped Breathing. Finally, the band settled on the name

.Grubbs, 2008. pp.74-75 From the band's founding as Empty Set until after releasing the songs "Flatland Spider" and "The Onlies" as Sunny Day Real Estate, Dan Hoerner was the band's lead vocalist as well as rhythm guitarist and keyboardist. Jeremy Enigk eventually took over on lead vocals from Dan Hoerner. However, Dan continued to supply back up vocals, as well as performing as the band's lead guitarist. After releasing two albums, the group disbanded. During this time, Hoerner had moved to a farm in rural

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

.Roberts, Michael.
Bring Back that Sunny Day
." ''

Miami New Times The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami metropolitan area, and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Overview It was acquired ...

''. December 3, 1998. The group reformed in 1998 (minus original bassist

, now of

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

, in this time, Enigk moved to the bass), releasing two more albums before disbanding again. Three original members of Sunny Day Real Estate had a quasi-reunion in the early 2000s as The Fire Theft. Hoerner was not involved. In June 2009, it was confirmed that Sunny Day Real Estate would be reuniting once again, and the band toured extensively in the U.S.A, playing on the Jimmy Fallon Show, as well as playing shows in Barcelona and London. In 2014, Hoerner revived The Big Dipper, a historic live music venue in

Spokane, WA Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. The venue is presently open, and hosts music a wide range of music including heavy metal, EDM,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, indie, and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

. Hoerner can be heard on the EP '' So Impossible'' by

Dashboard Confessional Dashboard Confessional is an American rock band from Boca Raton, Florida, formed in 1999 and led by singer Chris Carrabba. The name of the band is derived from the song "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" off their debut album, '' The Swiss Army Roma ...

. Hoerner also scored a short film b
Rohit Colin Rao
called "Someone and Someone, Inc."

Author

Dan authored a book, ''The Little Monkey Chronicles'', , a collection of short stories illustrated by Chris Thompson and published by Clearly the Underdog Publishing. In addition, in 1999 Hoerner and John Despirito co-founded the now defunct online art community called The Art Conspiracy. The Art Conspiracy was an early social media platform that contained many elements later incorporated into sites like Myspace and Facebook. At its peak, The Art Conspiracy hosted more than 500,000 users.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoerner, Dan 1969 births Living people American male guitarists American alternative rock guitarists 20th-century American guitarists Sunny Day Real Estate members 20th-century American male musicians Musicians from Spokane, Washington Guitarists from Washington (state)