Daniel Kaniess. the artist, also lent his creativity to music. Through the years, he contributed to the recordings of such performers as Boiled in Lead, The Hypstrz, The Buck-Fifty Boys, Seth Hogan, Poetry Grenade and WRONG.  He joined some of the those performers in live shows, as well as others such as the Violent Femmes, Curtis A, Man-Sized-Action, GST, the #%!*# Squareheads, and Steakface.

Kaniess was a founding member of 2i, a Minneapolis band that created punk funk magic.  He also started the improvisational collective BLACKi, a group that  still lives today.