Drums/Vocals

Danny Rosenthal is a music maker and a dreamer of dreams. At five years-old he decided on a career as a stuntman, but altered course at thirteen to symphonic conducting. And though we've never seen him with an orchestra, we've definitely seen him waving sticks around since. Musically speaking, Danny's played a myriad of instruments in his day (guitar, piano, trombone in fourth grade and a brief stint with the tuba in eighth grade) but when he first held the cymbals for the marching band at a Niles West High School football game, things changed forever. Thanks to the request of his older, tuba-playing brother, Danny kept his post as the cymbal guy and begged his mom for a drum set at Christmas (which they let him open early) and eventually moved on to perform in the Drum Corp. International Championship as well as the Illinois State Theatre Festival. Around the same time and before he was able to spell his own middle name, "the Danimal" started creating bands and jamming with Josh in various suburban basements, perfecting his craft. If you ask Danny, Josh and the Empty Pockets really happened because, “I tricked Josh into being in a band with me and he tricked me into naming it after him.” Since then, the Empty Pockets keep Danny around mostly for his unconventionally infectious pop/rock beats but also because Nate needs him on his lap, or at least the adjacent van seat, for all of our band van travels. Danny is a Cancer who just wants to play the drums and find a girl who thinks he's funny. Next time you make a wish on an eyelash, throw a shout-out to Danny. You know he'd do it for you.

Nicknames:
Danimal, Daniel J., DJ, Lord Chauncey Van Fauncelwater IV, Danny Boy

Official Title:
Dance Captain
A moon-walking Danny has always had a flair for dance moves. That’s why we’ve made him resident Dance Captain. Responsibilities include: choreographing all dance numbers, warm-ups, music selection, videography, and making sure Josh doesn’t look like a goof (often to no avail).