Ryan, being as into Brian as you are, you may have met the members of his band, some of whom were in a Pop group named The Wondermints. Before they joined Brian they had a member named Brian Kassan, who played bass in the group. Kassan felt they weren't including enough of his songs in their set, so left to start his own group, Chewy Marble.
I met Kassan when we both played in the band that backed Emitt Rhodes for his first live performance in over twenty years, at The Poptopia Festival in the late 90's. When Chewy Marble "let go" their original drummer, Brian contacted me, and I ended up playing on about half the songs on their second album, Bowl Of Surreal. Kassan's a mighty fine songwriter himself.