So, What's your life story?

I was born in California, but brought up by the beach in Cape Cod, where I spent every day and night I could in, on, or around the water. Well, unless I was down in my basement playing music. My first band was called Capt. Steve and the Squids - we had a pink PA system.

Why the drums?

When I was 14, I had a slightly older friend who was selling his drum set to buy a Moped.  I had been saving my money to buy a boat from the Sears catalog, which is why I bought his drums. Perfect logic for becoming a drummer.

Why all the other instruments?

Because when you're a kid and a drummer, everyone comes to jam at your house, and leaves their instruments there because the drums are too much of a pain to move around. Curiosity, boredom... or it was raining too hard to go to the beach. Besides, it's hard to write too many songs on the drums that anyone else wants to listen to ...

Do you have a favorite?

Even though I'll always be a drummer at heart, most of the SUNSHINE BROTHERS songs I contribute are written on guitar. And I love vibey, funky instruments that have more soul than pedigree... I usually write on an old 1953 S.S Stewart arch-top guitar, which we all call "Stew."  Stew has a lot of stories in him...  And I've got an old Wurly keyboard that originally came from Loggins & Messina that's pretty inspiring to write on...

Are you the same person who wrote the music for "Futurama", "The OC", and "Rescue Me"?

Guilty. But don't tell my parents... they don't want me to end up in the music business.

Who are some of your influences?

I learned to play to Beatles and Led Zeppelin records. As a typical drummer I went through my prog. rock stage too. Stewart Copeland [of The Police] was definitely a big influence for me as a drummer. And I spent some time diving into a lot of african and world music. But mostly in the SUNSHINE BROTHERS, I'm tapping into the fact that as a kid I got to spend a fair amount of time visiting the Caribbean, and I just gravitate uncontrollably toward the music of that region. I used to ask every calypso and soca band I saw if I could sit in with them. A lot of them actually let me... which was very nice of them.

You have a pretty crazy studio with an awful lot of knobs, faders, and a bunch of buttons where you guys record the SUNSHINE BROTHERS. What do those all do?

Hmm... Beats me.  But it's pretty fun to find out.  I just twist stuff until it sounds better. Or worse, depending on what I'm hearing in my head at the moment.

Ok, so what's up with the name "Tyng"? That sounds like you should be of some asian descent...

It's actually Welsh. There's a Tyngsboro in Massachusetts that my family had something to do with sometime after the Pilgrims. Most people do a pretty big double-take, when they meet me after first hearing my last name... including a welsh cab driver, who swore that it isn't actually a welsh name...   hmmmm...