London-based musician who was the drummer with Adam & the Ants, Bow Wow Wow and, others, having recently unveiled a collaborative project, which sees a new track – each created with a different collaborator – being released once a month into 2027, with an album in the future. To kick that off, the first release came out on June 26. His career has spanned more than four decades, and he has authored two books along the way. He will be performing live in the UK next month, September 20th, at The Fleece in Bristol.
“Clem Burke from Blondie said to me, ‘You know, you’ve got a trick, Dave, don't ever lose that trick,’ and I did lose that trick. The trick of playing that kind of Bow Wow Wow, early Ant style of drumming.”
“At the end of 2023, I was asked by John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees, he flew me to his place in L.A. and we recorded an album together, Chime Oblivion, and he's such a great artist and such a professional and the faith he had in my playing as that unique style that I’ve got, inspired me to say, well, I'm going to do it. I've been talking about it for so long. I'm now going to do my own music with people I want to make music with and let the chips fall where they may.”
“They came back saying they love it and they want to do this and they want to do that. And it just, it happened, it was like a dream come true. I thought people would be putting their things in their ears, ‘Who wants to listen to an hour of drumming,’ you know, but it's really worked.”
“I love collaborating; I mean it's one of the wonders in music that you can never be sure when you walk into a room with another musician, you can never be sure, you have no idea what will come out in the end.”
“I just said, you know, I can't keep flogging myself uphill doing this drumming for … no one because people, the public, want to hear me do what I did in the old days in respect of original drumming, as opposed to just formulaic.”
“I never had a sort of drum lesson or musical upbringing. And so, I just kind of played it by ear on that respect, it just came out.”
“I was asked to leave (school) about 14 years old. I was working … for what they call a messenger boy, running around London delivering letters and stuff and the drums sort of saved me really.”
“I didn't think that I'd ever be a musician, you know, living hand to mouth.”
“That's where the drums came in. I found that when I started playing, I was instantly calm and hyper focused, still am, on getting beats and exacting them and seeing where they take you, the horizons keep turning up, another beat begets another beat, and on and on it goes and I can rely on it. It's never let me down.”
“There wasn't a lot of money and there wasn't a lot of hope. It was like a big boot on the throat of the youth of the country and punk rock was the thing that cracked it open.”
“Technique gives your imagination wings. You can't just because you’re creative, be an artist or be a musician – you have to get your head down and learn technique or else it won’t come out. It will just sound crap.”
“I consider electronic dance music and playing the cello for the world symphony orchestra the same thing. You're making music.”
“Brass Climate”
“Phattie’s Lunchbox”