From Film to Agency: Dan Portrait on Immersive Experiences

Justin Levinson (00:10)‍

Hey everybody, welcome to the Agency Side podcast. I am your host, Justin Levinson. And today I'm joined by Dan Portric, founder and CEO of Camp Grizzly, the Portland-based creative agency known for blurring the line between advertising and entertainment. Their work for brands like Adidas, Apple Plus, and Uber Eats have become known for big immersive storytelling events, including the Conlion winning Uber Eats, Horror Short, Don't Run Out, and the viral Severance Cube activation at Grand Central.

Dan was also named to Adweeks Creative 100 and it's so great to have you here today, Dan.

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Daniel Portrait (00:44)

Thanks for having me, Justin.

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Justin Levinson (00:46)

Cool. Yeah, yeah. I'm excited to get into the conversation. Can you start with, I'd love to know about your origin story, how you got into this particular world.

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Daniel Portrait (00:54)

Sure. So, you know, I was out of college with a group of like-minded creatives trying to kind of find our way in a tough time in the ad industry. And we just decided to connect some of our skills. And originally, like we kind of formed a media studio, like around digital cinema. Like we were actually focused on motion design. Initially, it was a really easy way for us to create content without leaving the studio and without the production dollars that it took.

We were able to like create like some really exciting things. And at that time, you know, it's been 20 years, but at that time, like, you know, we were busting stuff out after effects and it was like, you know, modest mouse was winning the VMAs for Float On and you know, I mean, it's dating things, but it was like a new technology. And so it was kind of like this cool convergence of like us hopping on like a new technology, like putting our skills from audio to design and, and video together.

to create some content. And then Portland really just embraced us and gave us a lot of opportunity at that point. Because when you're here at Sneaker City and between Nike and Adidas and the list actually goes on from there. know, Under Armour comes to town eventually. Brooks is in proximity. We've got Boop Makers in town. Just a lot of that work was really exciting work. Like it was really fun work. And it was also work that like helped us to build a real, you know, I mean, there are a lot of cities that we could have come up in that just wouldn't have.

provided that kind of content for us to build around. so, you know, that's, that's where it started making like some internal videos, some external videos, working with the sneaker companies and just starting to build, ⁓ you know, build the, build the studio. And eventually like it just, we started to hit a bit of a ceiling. You know, we added production, which was a, you know, a huge addition for us and it's still a big part of what we do.

But just being a production company in Portland is tricky. LA is right down the road and you know, it's just the competition kind of like we found ourselves in a place where, especially at that age, you know, big gigs were going somewhere else. Like we were finding ourselves kind of stuck in a murky space where, you know, we were enjoying the work, but it just wasn't quite like fulfilling. And I think the ethos here was just been.

growth and challenge and risk and pushing it and seeing, you know, kind of like how far we could take it. So, you know, we started to add experience at that point and just kind of like going beyond just creating video and film and looking to like, kind of, yeah, like get into new spaces. So experience was something that we started to tap into. eventually we added strategy too, and kind of started to build out like what is now like the agency, you know, something that's not just about like, how the execution, but it's about.

strategy and how brands can be more effective. And we're doing a lot of like bringing all those elements together now. So from content to experience and strategy ⁓ and creating some really special things.

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Justin Levinson (04:01)

Yeah, I love that. you looked at your LinkedIn page and obviously you've been doing this for like almost 20 years now. Were you doing anything? Did you study this in school? Did you study like film? What was your background there?

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Daniel Portrait (04:12)

I

did. So I went, I went through the journalism program at the University of Oregon and studied at Allen Hall in the advertising focus, which was awesome start. And it really set me off. I'm excited. I'm getting a chance to go down and speak with some of the students in the near future here. But, but it was, it was a great start. And honestly, like that group of people that I talked about, like kind of coming together and matching skills and just putting that initial like media studio together. Those were people that I met.

at the University of Oregon, actually not in the advertising program, but just friends of mine. And, you know, we were doing a lot of, can see you're a musician. We were doing a lot of like band promo, like building websites, flyers, music videos. And so like, you know, the passion was there. And I think the advertising program at U of O just kind of like a light went on that just like gave me an opportunity to like stay in a creative space and also like find a way to eat and like put a roof over my head.

Cause that was a necessity. was, that was definitely like a big part of the situation. So, so yeah, it started there and, and, and it has evolved here and we're still doing stuff that we really like. And, know, I think back on those days of like creating those flyers, those music videos, those band t-shirts, whatever it was at the time. And like, you know, we're, we're still playing in a lot of spaces here that like are inspiring and things that we actually love as an agency. So that's cool. That's really cool. It keeps the fire.

five.

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Justin Levinson (05:38)

I don't know where I'd read, but it said something about you being very inspired in Portland in the 90s and like the music and like the, the culture that was during that time. What was it like? Yeah. What was that time kind of, what was it like for someone who was like me? actually I've never been to Portland before, so I'm interested.

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Daniel Portrait (05:56)

Is that right? Yeah. mean, when I, you know, I've been, the camp was founded in Portland, like I mentioned 20, like about 20 years ago, cities changed a lot. And, you know, but at the time, like, I think there was just an awesome DIY culture going on here. Like it really felt like the kind of place where like we could open a studio and like actually have a chance of like making it. And, and I think that, that was kind of like, I think rooted in a lot of.

you know, maybe like a post-run genre, a post-Garage Band kind of vibe. But you know, like landing in Portland, 20 years ago, really, you know, kind of like collaboration was alive and opportunity was here and it was, everybody was just kind of embracing that DIY spirit. So was easy for us to tap in.

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Justin Levinson (06:45)

How many people are at Camp Grizzly now are employed by you guys?

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Daniel Portrait (06:49)

We are, we're about 85 full time. We also like maintain a, like a strong freelance and contract contingent as well. Yep. And, and so, you know, with office, our main offices in Portland here, that's where I am today. But we also have had office in New York for about a decade now. And we just moved into actually a new space there in the Domino Sugar factory.

And so, and the New York team is growing really nicely right now. It's a really exciting time out there.

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Justin Levinson (07:21)

Yeah. Maybe you can walk me through how it's scaled from just a, guess it was just you and how many people was it at the inception?

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Daniel Portrait (07:28)

It was

like really three people when it first started. Like I was focused on design and art direction. We had an editor in-house that taught himself After Effects. And then at the time, my brother actually is in music and he was like working on the music and audio side to kind of like complete the projects like that. So now it's a much bigger, much bigger thing.

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Justin Levinson (07:54)

Yeah. What was sort of like the, I guess, what was sort of like the next, you know, ⁓ production was started developing.

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Daniel Portrait (08:03)

Yeah.

Yeah. So I think when we went from being like, okay, cool. Like we're creating a lot of cool content in studio, as I mentioned, like, which was just like incredible for us. Cause we could just, that was just our time and we were young and we were hungry and we're happy to be just creating. like, could just pour all of our hours into like our, videos to like really dial them up. Right. And production is expensive and it, you know, it was expensive then and it's still like can be expensive now, but

⁓ But eventually we started to feel like, okay, cool, we want to be bringing more live action elements into our work. So we added production at that time and that opened up like, you know, a really awesome era and a ton of opportunity for us. I was directing at the time and, you know, we're editing in-house. We started adding the ⁓ artists in-house too, to like kind of beef up the motion team. So, so it was like, okay, cool. Now we're producing, directing, editing.

finishing with some composite and some 3D as well. And it was like, you know, it was kind of like contained. It was all like, it was one stop for that. And as I mentioned, like, you know, eventually it was just also like, we're looking at the bigger picture and just kind of getting interested in like, just how to express, like, or how to kind of tackle briefs that maybe video wasn't the best option for, like maybe content wasn't immediately like what it was supposed to be about.

And that's kind of like when we started to be like, well, what if we were, you know, experience or what if we were like throwing parties or events? Like what if we could just break the mold a little bit out of just like kind of video and, and start to explore that. I mean, we loved it. We had so much fun doing that. I think it was like a really, it wasn't just like ⁓ a business move, but it was actually like part of our interests. got us out of the studio. got us on the ground. seeing.

People react in real time versus hunting through comments online.

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Justin Levinson (09:58)

What was your first experience that you guys did?

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Daniel Portrait (10:01)

The first, so the, yeah, so the first experience that I remember, ⁓ was we had, we were anniversary-ing, ⁓ a campaign that we had worked with Adidas originals on in North America. The year before we had done film and video, we had done like a broadcast spot, which was awesome. And it was, I still, I still love it, but we're kind of like coming back to anniversary that, and it was like, how can we don't want to make another film.

Like we don't want to make another commercial on how do we do that? So we actually set up like a series of events. It was a concert with a rap music and Snoop in LA with like on two day notice. We had a nail salon with ⁓ Tiana Taylor that we launched in New York city. I was just watching one battle after another. She's so good at it. I was just blown away and I remember when she was so young, man. And, and then there was activation with Danny Brown and a group of artists in Atlanta.

And they all happened like in the, in about the span of a week. was like, bam, we're popping up here. We're popping up there. Like what's happening next. And, um, it was just, it was just really eye opening. And I think like being on the ground and like just getting the feel and understanding that like, you know, even like a great commercial is a 32nd, a 62nd, 90, whatever we're going to stretch out the content these days, but like the amount of time that we were getting to spend with people, like the amount of time and impact that the brand was having.

with people on the ground was just something that just the value was ⁓ unbelievable and the feeling and the lasting impression that you can leave in those moments was really evident even at that time.

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Justin Levinson (11:40)

Yeah. Do you feel like the success you had with Adidas before was reason they gave you the opportunity to do experiential? Because it seems like you didn't have a lot of experience maybe doing that at that time. What led them to putting that trust in you? Thanks for tuning in, folks. This episode is brought to you by Coming Up Creative, a relationship first boutique creative recruitment agency.

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Daniel Portrait (12:31)

Well, you know, I think we have always taken the risk of new challenge. And I think that the trust was built over, you know, at that point, like we had been working with the originals team pretty consistently over time. and, and we had just come together as, as a really strong team. And like, there was a lot of our production was super, super sharp and we had learnings to

that we needed to like take on like as we were kind of moving from like something as controlled as film production to something that was there. But we brought in the right people to do it. We added members to the team that had that expertise. But also like there was a reason that they brought that work to us. And it was because they wanted something different than what they were getting out of traditional event groups at the time. POV. Exactly. Like do it in a way that is not

going to be like just maybe as traditional as what they had been experiencing.

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Justin Levinson (13:31)

That's cool. And did you get to hang out with Snoop Dogg at all?

Daniel Portrait (13:34)
I've had the pleasure. I've had the pleasure over my career on many, many occasions.

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Justin Levinson (13:39)

Yeah,

this industry has probably connected with a lot of really amazing people. Did you think you'd be connected with some of these people when you first got started here?

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Daniel Portrait (13:51)

No, yeah, definitely not. think like there, ⁓ there are still like kind of the essence of like that 17 year old you like standing next to somebody like that is still, it's still very real, you know, even for, you know, our most seasoned talent cats in house, like Yogi. Yogi is one of our ECDs here. You know, Yogi's like been around all of them.

all everybody, you know, we all have at this point. And I think it's still, there's still a certain amount of just like, is this real? Like, and, know, it just keeps it fun.

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Justin Levinson (14:28)

Cool. Is your brother still making music to the assets you guys are making? Is he still part of the team?

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Daniel Portrait (14:33)

No, my brother's still making lots of music, but ⁓ as far as like his participation in camp, like the music just took off too much for ⁓ camp. So, so he's doing his thing and we're, doing ours and both finding, you know, some cool success along the way.

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Justin Levinson (14:50)

That's cool. I'm interested in, you know, how you built up all of these, these clients. Do you feel like it was just the good work that you're putting out led to new work? Or did you have some strategy and winning, uh, you know, all these, these pitches.

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Daniel Portrait (15:05)

Yeah. ⁓ it's been really work focused for the most part. We added business development like a few years ago and Peter Jasinski is running that for us just beautifully. think for us, like, to be real, we were really reluctant to get out there and sell. Like we just didn't feel like it was us for a long time and it took us like the right person in the right approach to like kind of get us into a spot where we felt that. I think the other thing is I was talking to Tim Nutt about this at one point, like.

You know, we wanted to be ready. Like we wanted to put the time in. We wanted to like actually get our chops up. We wanted to become those experts before we started to like move, you know, kind of go outside. Right. And I think it really worked well for us because we stayed super focused on the work and, and we still do. think like, you know, we, we want, we want people to know we're out there.

We want, we want to, you know, we've raised the profile of the agency, but we've done it mostly through the work. I'm still participating in, in the project work, like on a day-to-day basis. And to be honest, that's what I like. Yeah. You know, it's, I have a, you know, the agency is bigger now. We talked about the size now and the, and we're setting a course and, know, thinking big picture. And I'm, I'm, you know, I have an awesome team here that's working on strategy for where this whole thing's going. But at the same time, like the.

Just staying focused on the work, staying focused on like serving our clients and giving them stuff that's going to cut through for them and create success for them is the easiest way to create success for ourselves. you know, you think about like what's happened in the industry over the past like five years and that kind of like shakeup where everybody's splitting, going different places. I think that had a lot to do with like, you know, how we've built the roster as well. Like just, and it's not always like one, you know,

existing clients going somewhere else and you get the two for one, it's mostly just the fact that people are looking for new things right now. People are dropping into new places and you know, they want to find new ways to kind of like be effective in their position and new partners to help them do that. And so we've seen a lot of that like over the past few years.

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Justin Levinson (17:19)

Well, it's cool that you are still so hands-on involved. know a lot of founders, they like to delegate and sort of just, you know, sit on the sidelines, but it's cool that you're, you got your hands in it. and you mentioned that you have sort of like a strategy team that's, that's kind of looking for the future. ⁓ any sort of insights on what you guys might be pursuing or you're more than welcome to keep it on the DL as well. Well,

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Daniel Portrait (17:42)

I mean, you know, it's, it's been 20 years, right? Like, so we reached another milestone and I think like taking a moment to kind of like not actually, you know, it's a little bit about reflection. There's been a little bit of like, okay, cool. Like, let's take a moment, pause, like, look back on what we've done. But I think the 20 years for us is really about like, where are we taking it next? Like that's actually been the more exciting part is not like kind of being like, Hey, here's the resume. Like here's the, the book, but like what, what

What do we want to do next? And I think what's exciting is like, you know, the industry again, it's like, beyond the everybody's switching jobs around COVID and all that, like we're going through some transition right now. Like there is a lot of that. And I think what's exciting for us is that, you know, we feel like we're actually in a position to really take advantage of that. Like, you know, we're nimble, we're able to shift and we always have. We've evolved with, you know, really what.

customers want with what audiences want with, and what consumers want like over the years to like stay relevant and find our place, find our workplace in culture. And so like, kind of like as we look forward, A, we're noticing some real problems for the big dogs right now. Like they're trying to solve like some really, some big issues. And we need them to survive. Like we need the industry to stay strong. So we're rooting for that.

But we also see that like where we happen to sit in a place where we've got creatives and production in-house where we're, we're creating incredible content and incredible experience. Like these things seem to be at the core of what, what people are trying to get to. And in fact, very intertwined, like we think experience and content like actually live together. They're one idea and they only work when you bring them together. So, you know, what we're looking to do is double down on that.

and grow further into that space. And, you know, I think there are also some opportunities for us as well, like as we take on that growth to think about, you know, what might be, what might add to that. I mentioned, Hey, like we started off motion design. We added production. We added experience. We've added strategy. And I think for us right now, like we're looking to see like, what is that? What's the next piece that's going to help to like, kind of, you know, just make us more effective and make our work stronger.

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Justin Levinson (20:09)

Yeah, I love that. there any, like how is the technology and AI shifting, you know, your workflow and how you guys are doing?

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Daniel Portrait (20:17)

I think

workflow wise, like, mean, AI is just, it's coming on so fast, man. It's just coming on so fast. And I think like this shop's always been about like just never becoming the dinosaur. We want to stay up. We want to, we want to keep pushing and using all the levers that we have to pull like date back to like when I was talking about like after effects just lands and like, okay, cool. What can we do with that? How can we use that tool? And I think we're finding.

good spaces for AI to like be an effective tool for us in draft, in concept, in spaces, honestly, that clients don't want to spend money, if I'm being honest, like, you know, in some of those zones, like just ways to be more efficient. But I think like the other thing about AI that is really exciting for someone that's very passionate about experience and IRL and doing things in the real world is that obviously AI is also from a

When we look at content, when we look at like, you know, first of all, social comes in and becomes a giant black hole, right? It's getting bigger and bigger and bigger all the time. And we're trying to stuff it and it's getting bigger and bigger. Now you add AI to the mix. And now what we're talking about is something that is becoming very like muddy and losing meaning, know, economic principles of supply and demand. Well, we have an endless supply of content, thanks to AI now.

But like, what will that do to demand? And so I think for us, like, what's exciting about AI is that there are parts of that that we can use to make our work better, but also like it reinforces experience. It reinforces IRL. It actually will heighten, you know, these kind of like moments that happen in the, in the real world. And I'm really excited about that. And I think we're already seeing that from in sports and entertainment and just in cultural in general, like, you know,

People want to be there. People want to experience it. They want to touch it. They want to feel like they want to go to the shows. They want to go to these brand experiences. And there's some really interesting gas that's getting thrown on that fire right now as a byproduct, I think, of this AI domination.

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Justin Levinson (22:25)

Yeah. Are there any in particular tools that you guys have found helpful?

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Daniel Portrait (22:30)

I think like Previz. So when we're like working in Previz, like the teams are using a few different platforms to just create images, mostly in Selen, to be honest. So, you know, we have a really, really strong design team here, but like, as I was mentioning earlier, like, you know, that upfront where it's just like, Hey, like, we're just focused on idea here. Like we just want to talk first about an idea. When we're talking about ideas, like we found, you know,

platforms that really help us, whether, you know, early it was Mid Journey, Sora, Claude, like we're working our way through all these, but the idea of it being kind of like an effective and simple tool for previs in a conceptual sense, that's where it's played its greatest part here.

As soon as we get past that idea phase, design is taking the reins and moving that forward. And design is still informing some of that previs as well, alongside, you know, AI tools. But, but it's actually been really cool because I think like what is most important is the idea. And even for our teams, what I've noticed is that it actually frees them up to focus more on the idea than just the burden of having to put together the visualization of that idea.

And, and it, forces us to challenge those ideas in stronger ways. It, you know, it allows us to grind those ideas and not to feel that ticking clock of, shit, we've got a presentation in three days and I have to get moving on design in order to have something that is even digestible. So it's, so that, that's how it's, it's fitting in right now. And it's, it's cool. That's cool.

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Justin Levinson (24:09)

Yeah, I'm always interested in what is actually providing an ROI for creative agencies. Cause I know there's just so many tools and things to try. can do try a new thing every day. So yeah, I'm always interested in what, and what is working and what is really not working right now. Absolutely. Yeah. Great. Cool. Um, yeah, you guys are really doing a tremendous amount of stuff. I guess, you know, this is like personally, like outside of the work world. What, what do you, uh, what are some of your hobbies and things that you like to do?

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Daniel Portrait (24:22)

Yeah, that's where it's fitting in for us.

Well, you know, I created camp as a creative playground for myself. So, so much of what I love is happening here. And like, you know, that's also happening in our gallery. Like when we're hosting shows in the gallery and bringing artists in to like kind of, you know, do their thing here. We, we have a publishing arm that kind of came out of a magazine that we put on, you know, for years. We published a magazine called Cult Classic, an arts and culture magazine.

And as we kind of like retired the magazine, we spun it into Camp ABC, which is a little bit of a book publishing scenario that we're into. just launched another one. I'll send you a copy. And so, you know, I think like that's it. And then, you know, I got three kids, man. So I love being with my kids and with my fam and, but, know, I'm.

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Justin Levinson (25:21)

Yeah, I'd love to.

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Daniel Portrait (25:34)

Like I'm in the work here, like I'm 20 years in, I'm still like at the office every morning at 7 50 and I'm still doing my thing. And I just have a lot of passion for the place. So, you know, I'll work in no play and makes jackets. boy, get it. like the reality is that I like work to create a place here where there is a lot of play involved.

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Justin Levinson (25:56)

I understand that. What, are the ages of your kids?

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Daniel Portrait (26:00)

Well, have a 16 year old daughter who was a sophomore in high school and I have twins that are 13. So, ⁓ so yeah, so we're through the thick of, of like, least of like, you know, everybody's feeding themselves and like doing their thing. And now it's like, it's like, you know, developing them as bigger people.

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Justin Levinson (26:18)

Yeah.

Do you feel like they could be, are they inspired to follow in your footsteps at all?

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Daniel Portrait (26:22)

You know, my big girl is, ⁓ it's just an incredible writer. Just really great. And we were actually just last night talking about like, you know, how maybe journalism could be like an interesting path. And, know, I'm like, do you want to, I'm not here to push my thing on that. Like I'm really not, but, but yes. So my big girl's at my, youngest daughter, is probably the most creative person I've ever met in my life. She's making all the times. Her mind is just.

incredible in that sense. My son's an athlete, so he really is into, you know, a lot of the work that we're doing in sports. So I could definitely see that. could definitely see. It's fun to get to talk to them or talk about them in this space. I haven't had an opportunity to do that, but it's super fun. Thanks for asking.

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Justin Levinson (27:04)

Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. I have two kids. I'm always two young girls. We're, you know, one's three and one's six. So I'm out of the, I'm out of the diaper stage, which is good, but it's still, you know, they're still young. They're dressing, getting dressed, getting going in the morning is still like a, it's still a thing. But, yeah.

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Daniel Portrait (27:25)

It's so sweet though, so sweet though that age man. Yeah.

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Justin Levinson (27:29)

They still look are kind of cuddly and they, you want to, you know, but they, they're also kind of, I'm starting to see what they're good at as well. My oldest is, know, she's has some real talent for playing piano cause I'm a pianist and she's sitting down there and she's reading. She's got good time and she knows her hand position. So, you know, far better than I did at six. she's seven now, but when I started taking piano lessons, was very, just

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Daniel Portrait (27:31)

Yes.

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Justin Levinson (27:52)

oriented. didn't, couldn't really read notes. was very dyslexic. It took me almost till I was a teenager to really just make sense of it. I don't know why it just didn't click, but she really sees the field, which is cool. And then my youngest, she, she actually has really good pitch. She sings in tune and she's been singing those frozen songs and she belts them and they're like ⁓ in, in tune. And I'm like, you know, as a musical guy, I'm very like,

I really hear sharp and flat. Like I almost hear it like in terms of like, if you were looking at the wavelength, like, know, sense sharp or flat to like fix it, to make it in tune. And it's like right in key. And it's really impressive because I wish I could sing, you know, I hear the pitch, but it doesn't come out of my mouth in tune. But when I see somebody else in tune, I'm like, this is amazing. So, ⁓ yeah, I

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Daniel Portrait (28:41)

It's cool that they're like full of like into music is clearly like that's a big part of your life. So that's, it's, it's exciting. Like when you start to be like, Hey, we have some like common interests. Yeah. It's cool. Let's talk about those things. Yeah. My son has been like cracking into piano in the evenings. Cool. And like, he just kind of like no lessons, no prompting like was just like, Hey, like I've been thinking at school. So now I like come into his room at night and he's like just locked in.

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Justin Levinson (28:50)

Like, yeah.

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Daniel Portrait (29:09)

And he's just teaching by ear, finding things and obviously like YouTube is playing in. actually just, picked him up on MPC. Cause I was like, yeah, Hey dude, it like what, you know, you're, you're into this. Like maybe you want, do you want to try this on too? So anyway, it's fun.

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Justin Levinson (29:27)

Yeah. I mean, I think some of the best creations creators of music have been self-taught or just kind of, Paul McCartney couldn't read music, even though his father was a trained musician. He just played it by ear. think some of the, you know, I remember the magic of sitting at the piano and just playing like a C major, C, C note and then E and then the G and putting those three notes together and hearing that C major chord and then making the, you know, the E to the E flat and hearing the minor chord and feeling like this one feels happy. This one feels, I wonder why that is, but you kind of like.

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Daniel Portrait (29:53)

time.

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Justin Levinson (29:56)

just intuitively can feel what is right. think in music, mean, we, our ears are very trained to hear like traditional like cadences, like two, five, one, like you're, you're used to it. Like we want our ear wants like resolution. There's, there's only 12 notes, right? So there's only so many things you can do with them. ⁓ but anyway, I just think that are you, are you

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Daniel Portrait (30:17)

music house, are you like in my house, like it's music all the time. Like I really, I don't do quiet space as well. Even this office like inside here right now for the podcast. I'm like, where's the music? And we're, we're always it's like Sonos throughout the house, music on all the time. Like it's a, it's awesome.

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Justin Levinson (30:36)

same way here like when I'm working I have the classical music going so I'm not like too distracted but I'm like comfortable when I'm at the gym I've got like the you know I have been listening a lot like the new team Impala like well fairly recent record so I some like some stuff to hype me.

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Daniel Portrait (30:50)

those

first two songs a lot. Once they get to Dracula, I'm kind of like, I don't love Dracula, but I like those first two songs. The dance vibes are cool.

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Justin Levinson (30:56)

Yeah, I...

One of the songs further down on the album called, it's like a piece of heaven. It's like, I'm in your room and like, it's just a really beautiful composition. You can hear that like the synthesis. He's just a real wizard when it comes to like, you know, just those textures he gets with all that stuff. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, we're all, I'm the same as you. We got music going all the time and it's just, you know, it's universal language. keeps us all going.

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Daniel Portrait (31:25)

Absolutely.

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Justin Levinson (31:27)

Well, Dan, I really appreciate you being on the pod today and having this conversation and offering some value to the community. And great to talk to us about some music and about your kids too. I really love what you guys are doing and hope to keep chatting with you in the future.

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Daniel Portrait (31:40)

Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for having me, Justin. It's been a pleasure.

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Justin Levinson (31:43)

man. It's

been a pleasure. in touch. Definitely man. Have good rest of your weekend.

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Daniel Portrait (31:48)

All right.