David Ouimet (born 1965) is an American artist, author, and musician. He was a band member of
Cop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop was a noise rock group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed: having a distinctive instrumental l ...
,
Motherhead Bug
Motherhead Bug was an American rock music group founded in 1989 in New York City by singer and trombone player David Ouimet and bass guitarist Tony Lee.
Band history
Ouimet had earlier founded industrial rock group Cop Shoot Cop, and Lee was a m ...
,
Firewater, and
Sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
but has since moved on to interests other than music.
He grew up in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
, in a music oriented household. Having been introduced to synthesizers in his teenage years, he developed an interest in editing. He studied film at
Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
where he developed a friendship with his future bandmate
Tod Ashley
Tod Ashley (born November 30, 1965), better known by the stage name Tod A, is an American singer, songwriter, and bass guitarist. He founded the rock music groups Cop Shoot Cop and Firewater.
Ashley also spent time while in art school in a ban ...
.
In the early 1990s, Ouimet co-founded the
noise rock
Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...
group
Cop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop was a noise rock group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed: having a distinctive instrumental l ...
, playing
sampler and keyboards. He left after their first album to form the legendary Gypsy Klezmer Punk outfit
Motherhead Bug
Motherhead Bug was an American rock music group founded in 1989 in New York City by singer and trombone player David Ouimet and bass guitarist Tony Lee.
Band history
Ouimet had earlier founded industrial rock group Cop Shoot Cop, and Lee was a m ...
, as songwriter, vocalist and trombonist. He has also recorded and toured with
Foetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...
and
Swans
Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...
.
Ouimet's illustrations of creepy,
biped
Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' a ...
al,
fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
-capped insect creatures (usually wielding
scimitar
A scimitar ( or ) is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. A European term, ''scimitar'' does not refer to one specific sword type, but an assortment of different ...
s or smoking
hookah
A hookah (Hindustani language, Hindustani: (Nastaleeq), (Devanagari), IPA: ; also see #Names and etymology, other names), shisha, or waterpipe is a single- or multi-stemmed instrument for heating or vaporizing and then smoking either tobacco ...
s) appeared on Motherhead Bug's singles and album, and he has continued his career as an illustrator with
Robert D. San Souci's ''
Dare to be Scared'' series and Nancy Etchmendy's ''Cat in Glass and other Tales of the Unnatural''.
"Daydreams for Night", stories by the Canadian musician
John Southworth and illustrated by David Ouimet, was published by Simply Read books in 2015. School Library Journal described the book as "gorgeously illustrated" and Publishers Weekly noted "Ouimet's haunting b&w illustrations follows in the tradition of Shaun Tan's Tales of Suburbia and Chris Van Allsburg's Mysteries of Harris Burdock." Ouimet created an animated trailer for the book.
In 2015 Ouimet began modeling and has appeared in magazines, billboards, and major international print advertising campaigns.
A Japanese edition of "Daydreams for Night" was published by Asuka Shinsha Japan in January 2016.
Ouimet's work was selected for the
Society of Illustrators
The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition.
History
Founding
The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...
Annual 59 and was exhibited at the Museum of American Illustration in New York City in February 2017.
His
street art
Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art.
Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graff ...
began appearing in New York City in 2016 and has since appeared throughout the world. Ouimet's primary imagery revolves around his Hoodiebird characters, cloaked birds generally embellished with ornate filagree.
In September 2019 Ouimet's debut book as an author and illustrator, "I Go Quiet", was published in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India by
Canongate Books
Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner ''Life of Pi''. Canongate was n ...
. In early 2020 the book was published in the U.S. by
W.W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton Ant ...
, and in a Portuguese edition by
Companhia das Letras
Companhia das Letras is the largest publishing house in São Paulo, Brazil. It was founded by Luiz Schwarcz and his wife Lilia Moritz Schwarcz in 1986. Companhia das Letras began as a literary publishing house and gradually grew into 17 independen ...
, A Turkish Edition by Cinar, a German edition by MVG Verlag, an Italian edition by Terre di Mezzo Editore, a Spanish edition by Minotauro, and a Chinese Edition by the CITIC Press Group, among others.
"I Get Loud", the follow-up to "I Go Quiet" was published by Canongate books in the summer of 2021, with numerous translated editions.
"I Go Quiet" was the winner of the 2020 East Sussex Children's Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2021 Kate Greenaway Medal.
In March 2022 “ Eu Fico Em Silencio “, the Brazilian edition of “ I Go Quiet “ was selected for the UNESCO 2021 Books of Distinction.
In March of 2022 David directed his debut animated music video, “ Glide “ from Earth Moon Earth featuring Skye Edwards of the British Band Morcheeba.
In the summer of 2023 David relocated to Europe, where he is working on his next children’s book.
Bibliography
Discography
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouimet, David
American male singers
Singers from Tennessee
20th-century American artists
American trombonists
Male trombonists
American electronic musicians
Noise rock musicians
Cop Shoot Cop members
Firewater (band) members
Living people
Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee
1965 births
21st-century trombonists
21st-century American male musicians