My Favourite Musician: Dan Avidan

Dan’s from Springfield, New Jersey, and his birthday is March 14th, 1979. His full name is Leigh Daniel Avidan but he prefers to not be called Leigh since he’s always gone by Dan.
His first language was Hebrew though he’s since forgotten all of it, and he is Ashkenazic Jewish, but is non practicing and agnostic. He had his Bar Mitzvah in Israel.
He loved dinosaurs (specifically stegosaurus) with a passion growing up, and wanted to be a paleontologist before he found out that he got heat stroke from the lack of ability to sweat. (On a trip to Hershey Park, he learned that he couldn’t sweat properly and he basically suffered heat stroke and his vision went white for roughly twenty minutes.)
Got the scar on his eyebrow from falling off of a box when he was three.
Saw JAWS as a child and now has a permanent, crippling fear of the ocean (and basically any big body of water) and of sharks.
After graduating High School in 1997, he went to Boston University for advertising. He eventually joined a student exchange program during his senior year of college, attending a Tufts University campus in Talloires, France to study botany and epidemiology.
He was a heavy pot smoker for several years, and once wrestled an alligator in the Everglades while high off his ass. Part of the reason he stopped smoking was it went from relieving anxiety to causing it, and for the sake of his singing voice.

In late 2002, he responded to a Craigslist ad and joined The Northern Hues, acting as their lead singer. No one was very happy with the name but it was a compromise between the six of them. TNH released one album - a self-titled one - and broke up in 2005. Dan’s favourite TNH song is “Out of the Black Sea”.

Dan joined up with Peter Lennox in 2006 to form Skyhill, they released Run With the Hunted on May 16th, 2007, and toured through 2008 before disbanding. They were super proud of the album, but they couldn’t get anybody to listen.
On October 15th, 2015, they returned to release the single "Firefly", which is written about the second worst breakup he’s ever had. This single would lead to the resurgence of Skyhill as a whole, coupling with the release of "Howling at the Moon" on October 31st, 2020. They teased an upcoming album for the next three years, before releasing a third single - "The Last Domino" - on September 29th, 2023 - as the first single for their next album.
Out in the Moonlight released on October 13th, 2023, with 7 new tracks and a re-recording of "Firefly" - now called "Fireflies".

Dan and Brian Wecht (Ninja Brian) met in early 2009, forming Ninja Sex Party later that year. So far, they’ve released eight original albums, three cover albums (all referred to as Under the Covers), over 20 singles, and have been featured in several songs.
Dan’s full stage name is Daniel Y. Sexbang. He claims that the Y stands for “You”, saying his name is “enveloping you in a sensual manner”. His stage name was originally Danny Sweetnuts.

On June 25th, 2013, Dan joined Game Grumps, and later that year him and Arin created Starbomb, which currently has three albums. Most of his favourite Grump playthroughs include Arin having some sort of breakdown, though he loved Shadow of the Colossus. Aside from the gaming channel, the two also do a nightmare of a show called Ten Minute Power Hour over on The Grumps channel.

His most recently-created project is Shadow Academy, which Dan started alongside his producer Jim Roach during the early months of COVID-19. The lyrics and melodies are primarily inspired by classical literature, like Dracula and Moby Dick. They released 3 singles through the first few months of 2022, before putting out their first 12-track album on April 22nd, 2022.
Dan has also released two cover acoustic albums with the Super Guitar Bros - one on April 17th, 2020, and the second on June 23rd, 2023.

The Northern Hues EP - The Northern Hues
Released: 2003
Number of songs: 6
Length: 27min
My favourite songs: Arrows, Get a Ride
For me, TNH hits home in a lot of ways. It was written when Dan was more or less lost, and the songs themselves feel very stoner-indie to me which is probably one of my favourite ‘genres’.
Lots of places online misspell Arrows as Arows, but there’s no real reason for it as it’s spelled correctly on the CD. Literally just the lines “Read but it can't tell how / Baby it's alright, waste away with me” are sung so emotionally it just makes it such a hard-hitting song for the first one on the album.
Get a Ride is about Dan’s OCD and his depression, specifically about right after when he had mono. He laments the loss of childhood joy, the fact that he’s never going to feel that good ever again, and how he can’t regain it.

Run with the Hunted - Skyhill
Released: May 16th, 2007
Number of songs: 10
Length: 40min
My favourite songs: Hands On The Water, Different Frequencies, Only One, Run With The Hunted
The whole of this album represents a crumbling relationship, attempting to fix it, and realizing the best thing to do is to just leave.
Hands On The Water, the first track on the album, is Dan realizing that this relationship is failing, and how he can see that the other person just isn’t willing to put in the effort to fix it.
Different Frequencies echoes this hopeless relationship, and even calls out how the other person can’t seem to see or acknowledge what’s wrong. He’s attempting to salvage the good things that are left and enjoy them while he can.
Even though it’s Dan’s least favourite song, Only One is one of my favourites just because of the one semi-spoken part about how the relationship is going to end with no one happy, just because of how different they really are.
The last song on the album and the one it's named after, Run With The Hunted, is about healing. Its chorus echoes how he felt trapped in a relationship he wanted to fix, but one he just couldn’t. This song has the closing line of the whole album “As long as I keep standing / I can look ahead” - and it never fails to give me chills.

NSFW - Ninja Sex Party
Released: September 29th, 2011
Number of songs: 15
Length: 33min
My favourite songs: Objects of Desire, Manticore, You Can Do Us!, Accept My Shaft
Tonal whiplash from Run With The Hunted. The acronym doesn’t stand for Not Safe for Work, but instead Ninja Sex for Women. A lot of people tend to bash NSP’s earlier work for being misogynistic but that’s sort of missing the point - hell if you watch the music videos you’ll know what I mean - it’s a mockery of the stupid shit men do to try and get laid.
Anyway.
Accept My Shaft is the only song I’ll really talk about since it’s just so fucking funny to me. It’s a soft love song, or at least it sounds like one, but the lyrics immediately take a turn right at the end of the first verse with the phrase “thunderous erection”.

Strawberries and Cream - Ninja Sex Party
Released: April 15th, 2013
Number of songs: 13
Length: 25min
My favourite songs: Everybody Shut Up (I Have an Erection), Fyi I Wanna F Your A, Rhinoceratops vs. Superpuma, The Ultimate Sandwich
Strawberries and Cream coincides with when Dan joined Game Grumps, a fact that’s even more obvious when you find out who animated a bunch of the music videos - Ross and Arin. This is probably my favourite NSP album just given how much I love all the songs on it, and it’s the one I listen to the most often.
The Ultimate Sandwich is usually the first NSP song I tell people to listen to since it's pretty short, has a lot of puns in it, and I think sets a quick example of the rest of NSP's music.

Starbomb - Starbomb
Released: December 17th, 2013
Number of songs: 13
Length: 27min
My favourite songs: It’s Dangerous to Go Alone, Sonic’s Best Pal, Kirby’s Adventures in Reamland
The beginning of Dan’s horny plus Arin’s chaos. With most of the songs Starbomb has just as a band I don’t wholly understand their references - I haven’t played a lot of the games that Arin and Dan have - but I still enjoy listening to them.

Player Select - Starbomb
Released: December 16th, 2014
Number of songs: 14
Length: 26min
My favourite songs: The Hero of Rhyme
There are a handful of good songs on this album, sure, but I don't know about the games they reference in it to understand half of them. This album also has, in my opinion, one of the most annoying Starbomb songs - Minecraft is for Everyone.

Attitude City - Ninja Sex Party
Released: July 17th, 2015
Number of songs: 13
Length: 34min
My favourite songs: Road Trip, Dragon Slayer, Cookies!, 6969
I think Attitude City is peak NSP music - it has a collection of both the best music videos and best songs they've ever released, and the whole album now feels like nostalgia for me almost ten years later. I was really active in fandom online when this album came out, too, and people went WILD for it.

Under the Covers Vol. I - Ninja Sex Party
Released: March 4th, 2016
Number of songs: 12
Length: 46min
My favourite songs: Take on Me, Subdivisions, Wish You Were Here

Under the Covers Vol. II - Ninja Sex Party
Released: October 27th, 2017
Number of songs: 12
Length: 51min
My favourite songs: Pour Some Sugar on Me, You Spin Me Round (Like a Record), Rocket Man

Cool Patrol - Ninja Sex Party
Released: August 17th, 2018
Number of songs: 15
Length: 37min
My favourite songs: Orgy for One, Danny Don’t You Know, First Date, Mansion Party
This is NSP’s first album to have a full backing band - as in Brian didn’t do all the music for this one, Tupperware Remix Party, or TWRP, did the majority of it.
Danny Don’t You Know has always stuck out to me because of how sincere it is - it doesn’t feel like Danny Sexbang is singing it, it feels like Dan Avidan is. It’s incredibly heartfelt and passionate, and it made me cry the first few times I listened to it.

The Tryforce - Starbomb
Released: April 19th, 2019
Number of songs: 14
Length: 32min
My favourite songs: Hardest Fucking Game in the World, A Boy and His Boat
One of the coolest things I think they ever did was Arin Checks the Mic. It doesn’t feel like he’s singing that for the album it really feels like he’s just fucking checking the mic.

Under the Covers Vol. III - Ninja Sex Party
Released: November 15th, 2019
Number of songs: 13
Length: 51min
My favourite songs: Down Under, Sledgehammer, Nights on Broadway, Don’t Fear the Reaper

Dan Avidan & Super Guitar Bros I - "Solo"
Released: April 17th, 2020
Number of songs: 11
Length: 45min
My favourite songs: Kiss from a Rose, Black Hole Sun, Nights in White Satin

The Prophecy - Ninja Sex Party
Released: October 16th, 2020
Number of songs: 12
Length: 39min
My favourite songs: The Decision Part 2, Thunder and Lightning
This particular album has their highest production quality so far - between the 10+ minute song and its accompanying video, you can really tell when you listen through this one how much time went into it. Yes, of course, it's all doofy and silly music mostly about sex but I think you can really feel the heart and soul put into this album.

Level Up - Ninja Sex Party
Released: October 22th, 2021
Number of songs: 10
Length: 35min
This is just a collection of remastered NSP songs, it has a few on my favourites on it but it's all around pretty good.

The Very, Very, Very, Very Classy Acoustic Album - Ninja Sex Party
Released: December 27th, 2021
Number of songs: 11
Length: 33min
Acoustic covers of a few of their songs and other covers - I saw the live, digital concert for this recording and I still have the video saved somewhere lol.

Shadow Academy - Shadow Academy
Released: April 22nd, 2022
Number of songs: 12
Length: 46min
My favourite songs: White Whale, Cast No Shadow, All for One
This is the album Danny was meant to perform - it's a hard-hitting rock album with insane guitar solos and a heavy, consistent drum beat. The songs are all inspired by folklore and classical lit, including an entire song just about Moby Dick's titular antagonist. This album makes me both cry and want to kill a billionaire, it's beautiful.

Dan Avidan & Super Guitar Bros II - "Solo"
Released: June 23rd, 2023
Number of songs: 11
Length: 54min
My favourite songs: Breathe, Shout, Shape of my Heart

Out in the Moonlight - Skyhill
Released: October 13th, 2023
Number of songs: 11
Length: 41min
My favourite songs: Vague Lines, Stockholm Syndrome, Fireflies
With the initial release of Howling at the Moon a few years prior, I knew this album was going to be amazing, but it blew me out of the water. Not only has Peter Lennox's music composition improved by leaps and bounds, but the emotion behind Dan's voice in this album is incredible. The album has an air of betrayal to it, as if getting back to the best of life after someone else has tried to trample your chances. On the first day this released, I think I listened to it in its entirety like 20 times.

These Nuts - Ninja Sex Party
Released: March 8th, 2024
Number of songs: 15
Length: 35min
My favourite songs: Death Metal
I haven't listened to this enough to form a really strong opinion on anything but Death Metal (since I can't stop listening to it lol), but it's solid!

And that's still not everything Dan's done or been a part of. I've decided to skip a breakdown of the singles for now since there's so many of them.