Biography of an Eternally-on-Vacation Vampire Hunter

My "real" name is Dan. Could you have guessed? Since I started using the Internet nearly 11 years ago, I've gone primarily by the name Vampire Hunter Dan, so named out of my undying adoration of the 1985 anime film Vampire Hunter D, and its part-human, part-vampire hero who--as the film's title would suggest--hunts his own kind on occasion; indeed, the extremely long, black hair I had throughout that time period was testament to how much his entire being inspired me. You will find approximately 0 pictures of me on this website, by the way, and for that, I hope you're greatful.

Throughout the past 10 years (I'll not touch upon anything before that time, as I hadn't really "come into being" until about the age of 16), I've engaged in everything from music theory studies, marriage (and ultimately, unwilling separation) in Toronto, major surgery, composition and arrangement, heavy metal drumming, warehouse and customer service work, an international Yo-Yo convention (as a spectator and friend of one of the stars), collection of anime videos, DVDs, LDs and music, Winthrop University's Jazz Guitar Ensemble, long, late-night anime chat sessions, a series of extremely long flights to Hawaii, and just general contemplation of Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Musically-speaking, I can be heard on the Winthrop University Concert Band's only CD release as a second alto saxophonist, as well as on the "first edition" of OneUp Studios' Time & Space: A Tribute to Yasunori Mitsuda, the excessively-talented composer of the video games Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, and others. By far my favorite style of composition is orchestral, but I also enjoy composing/arranging for piano, string quartet, and just recently, quintets. I've also arranged a piece for 4 acoustic guitars, as well as one for 4 alto saxophones and one for 4 electric guitars at Winthrop. Among my favorite orchestral instruments are the concert harp, the harpsichord, the french horn (when played well...when not played well: ouch), and the bassoon (see "the french horn"); this is very evident in my works. I also adore strings, of course, but often have to kick myself into not overusing them.

My interests, naturally, include anime, the many eclectic stylings of Jrock and Jpop, playing the drums (when physically possible), guitar, alto saxophone, and piano, writing, performing (not so much as writing) and arranging original, anime and video game music, spending time with my family (from whom I was once apart for far too long), watching The Sopranos and House (two shows whose writing always mesmerizes me when compared with "typical" TV fare), computers and the Internet in general, video games (including many RPGs, such as Final Fantasy 1-9, Chrono Trigger/Cross, and many other games, such as Strider, Castlevania, and Card Captor Sakura Tetris), and watching the occasional hockey game (especially when "our" team wins the Carolinas' first-ever professional sports championship). I also enjoy many other types of music from North America as well, including nearly everything you could possibly fathom, sans much of today's music (sorry, guys). In addition, I'm rather fond of certain things from Britain, as well as amusing flash movies. I also have a newfound fascination with Johnny Cash (and you probably would too, if you'd seen Walk the Line).

My musical inspirations are extremely diverse, and include Metallica, the exhaustively-talented Yoko Kanno, Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, Joe Hisaishi, Megumi Hayashibara, Maaya Sakamoto, Sting, X-Japan, Richard Strauss, Green Day, Akino Arai, Masamichi Amano (utterly brilliant), Danny Elfman, and the anime series Macross (pick one or three), Escaflowne, Giant Robo, and Bubblegum Crisis for their beautiful, harmonious melding of song, scenery and story.

My non-musical inspirations include the gorgeous artwork of Yoshitaka Amano, the vision of Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Tony Soprano, whose life so far has mirrored mine in the eeriest of ways, Tim Burton, and Gary Oldman. There have also been three people in my life who have personally influenced my music, but sadly, only two of them still do.

Currently, I'm creating more arranged and original music to post, and music is in other ways very much a part of my current life.