David Kerman (born August 24, 1959), better known as Dave Kerman, is an American experimental rock drummer and composer, best known as the founder and member of the Los Angeles avant-rock group

5uu's The 5uu's were an American avant-rock group founded in Los Angeles, California in 1984 by drummer-composer Dave Kerman. The group released their first album in 1986 and recorded a second in 1988 with Motor Totemist Guild, a similar band from t ...

. He is also a member of the Belgian progressive rock band

Present The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perception, perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is ...

and the Israeli avant-rock band Ahvak. Kerman has been a member of the United States bands U Totem and Thinking Plague, and the Dutch band Blast. He has collaborated with several musicians, including Bob Drake, Chris Cutler and

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

. Kerman lived in Israel between 2000 and 2003 and holds dual American and Israeli citizenship. He established RēR USA in 2003, the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n distributor of the British

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, Recommended Records, and RēR USA's own record label,

AD Hoc Records Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

in 2006.

Biography

Dave Kerman was born in Torrance, California, south of Los Angeles. At the age of six he started playing with the drum sticks, and at nine he auditioned for a percussionist in his school band. In spite of failing the audition,

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

keyboardist Keith Godchaux, family friend and neighbor, recognised potential in Kerman and suggested to Kerman's parents that they buy him a set of drums. Kerman's first public performance was at the age of 10 with a band of his that he had entered in a local talent contest. In high school, Kerman formed a garage band with guitarist Greg Conway and bassist Jon Beck. They began as a cover band playing a mixture of

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

, King Crimson and

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...

songs but soon switched to experimenting with

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...

. Kerman also modified his drum kit to extend its capabilities, including adding telescoping metal tubing that changed pitch (made from old fire extinguishers), and stringing the bass drum shell with heavy-gauge strings that produced an un-tuned zither sound. He also started using a variety of objects to strike his drum kit with, including kitchen utensils, golf clubs and

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. In 1976 Kerman's band named themselves "Farmer Fred Genuflects to A-440" and played at a

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

Festival in San Diego, California. While their performance did not go down very well, one concert goer recognised potential and suggested they listen to Henry Cow and Faust. These new influences prompted Kerman to begin exploring new compositional techniques and he started writing experimental songs for his band. Even though Kerman was a drummer, he taught himself guitar and keyboards to compose on. After finishing school, Kerman attended California State University, Dominguez Hills where he studied electronic and

contemporary music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial ...

under professors Marshall Bialosky and David Champion. At the time he also studied

audio engineering Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound * Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of sou ...

at the Sound-Master Institute with Brian Ingoldsby.

5uu's

By the early 1980s Kerman's band was playing progressive rock and took on the name

. They began recording their first album in 1984 and went on to make six more albums, an EP and a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. 5uu's were also regularly featured on Recommended Records' Quarterly Magazine installments, with specially commissioned pieces, which were available nowhere else.The band toured 25 cities in Western Europe and 14 cities in Eastern Europe during 1995. The 5uu's has been Kerman's principal band, for which he is best known. He composes most of the music for this group.

Other bands and projects

In 1988 the 5uu's and another Los Angeles band, Motor Totemists Guild merged to form U Totem to play at the Frankfurt Art Rock Festival in Germany. U Totem toured Europe and North America and made two albums, and Kerman remained with the band until its demise in 1994. While in Europe with U Totem in 1993, guitarist/composer

Roger Trigaux Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

of the Belgian progressive rock band

, asked Kerman to replace drummer

Daniel Denis Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

, who was leaving. Kerman joined Present and has remained with the band ever since, appearing on their 2009 DVD and on five of their albums. He has also toured Europe and North America with them several times. In 1989 Bob Drake from the Denver based avant-rock group Thinking Plague left the band and moved to Los Angeles where he met Kerman. Kerman had been interested in Thinking Plague's music and moved to Denver in 1989 to join the band. He remained with Thinking Plague for eleven years, performed live with them at NEARfest 2000 and is featured on three of their albums. DaveKerman 2005

When U Totem broke up in 1993, Kerman reformed the 5uu's with Drake and Sanjay Kumar. In 1994 Kerman and Drake moved into an old unoccupied farm house in Caudeval in

southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...

owned by ex-Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler and sound engineer EM (Maggie) Thomas. Cutler and Thomas had purchased the farm a few years earlier with a view to using it as a recording studio. Kerman and Drake undertook the task of renovating and converting the farm house, and it was named Studio Midi-Pyrenees, with Drake the resident engineer/producer. In 1996 Kerman joined the Dutch avant-garde band Blast, recorded one album and toured Europe and North America with them. In 2000 Kerman relocated to Tel Aviv in Israel where he teamed up with engineer/producer Udi Koomran to continue work with the 5uu's. He also spent much of his time working as a composer for the Israeli

Batsheva Dance Company The Batsheva Dance Company (Hebrew: להקת בת שבע) is a renowned dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild in 1964. Its inception was inspired by Israel's growing intere ...

. In 2002 Kerman and Koomran started a new band in Israel called Ahvak ( Hebrew for "Dust") in a similar vein to U Totem and Thinking Plague. Ahvak played at the Tritonale Festival in Paris in 2004 and released a self-titled album the same year. In 2002 Kerman wrote a series of

editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...

s on progressive rock for ''Exposé'', a United States quarterly music publication, entitled "Earth to Josh: Prog Is Dead" (Exposé #25, September 2002), "The Further Adventures of Josh" (Exposé #26, February 2003) and "The continuing story of Josh" (Exposé #27, August 2003). Kerman moved back to Denver in 2003 where he guested on Thinking Plague's ''A History of Madness'' (2003). He also established RēR USA in Denver in 2003, the North American distributor of the Chris Cutler's British

, Recommended Records. In 2006 he created RēR USA's own record label,

. In 2007 Kerman joined Bob Drake's Cabinet of Curiosities, a live band comprising Drake (guitar, vocals, violin, banjo), David Campbell (guitar, bass, vocals) and Kerman (drums), plus a few guest musicians for each performance. In June 2007 they played at NEARfest in Pennsylvania with guests Olivier Tejedor (keyboards) and Lynnette Shelley (vocals) and then undertook a Midwest/ East Coast tour in Autumn of 2008. By April 2008 Kerman had re-joined Thinking Plague after a seven year absence. During that month the band performed a series of concerts in Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva, Milan and at the Gouveia Festival in Portugal. In September 2009, Kerman became a member of Aranis, a critically acclaimed, Flemish chamber-rock group, which played frequent concerts in Europe, and at NEARfest in the USA. His tenure with the group ended in October, 2013. Kerman relocated to Switzerland in 2010. Throughout 2011 and 2012, he toured Europe as part of the Swiss music/art troupe, Les Reines prochaines. Also during this period he produced and played drums and guitars on their studio album, "Blut", which was released in February 2013. In Summer 2013, Kerman joined the Zürich-based band, Stepmother, which includes Bill Gilonis (The Work, News From Babel), Jeroen Visser (The Nudes, Cedric Vuille) and Lukas Simonis (Vril, Dull Schicksall). He also plays drums for the Basel-based bands, Dave From Hollywood, Aie Ca Gicle, Mrs. Understanding, and Ludwigs Mondlichtkapelle.

Selected discography

;With

*''The Quiet In Your Bones'' (2022, Digital LP, Cuneiform Records, US) *''Bel Marduk & Tiamat'' (1986, LP, U:r Records, US) *''Bar Code'' (1987, 7", Rotary Totem Records, US) *''Elements'' (with Motor Totemist Guild) (1988, LP, Rotary Totem Records, US) *''

Hunger's Teeth ''Hunger's Teeth'' is a 1994 studio album by the American avant-rock group 5uu's. It was the first album by the band since they reformed in 1994 and featured the new line-up of Dave Kerman, Sanjay Kumar and Bob Drake. The album also featured ...

'' (1994, CD, Recommended Records, UK) *''Crisis in Clay'' (1997, CD, Recommended Records, UK) *''Regarding Purgatories'' (2000, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) *''Abandonship'' (2002, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) *''Tel Aviv Construction Events 1–3'' (2004, online download-only EP, Recommended Records, US) ;With Dave From Hollywood *"Wax A Hot One" (2017, LP, Konkord Records, Austria) ;With Les Reines Prochaines *"Blut" (2013, CD, Un-Records, Germany) ;With U Totem *''U Totem'' (1990, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) *''Strange Attractors'' (1994, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) ;With Bob Drake *''What Day is It?'' (1994, CD, Crumbling Tombs, US) *''Bob's Drive-In'' (2011, CD, Recommended Records, UK) ;With

*''Live'' (1996, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) *''No 6'' (1999, CD, Carbon 7, Belgium) *''High Infidelity'' (2001, CD, Carbon 7, Belgium) *''A Great Inhumane Adventure'' (2005, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) *''Barbaro (ma non troppo)'' (2009, CD + DVD,

Ad Hoc Records Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

, US) ;With Blast *''Stringy Rugs'' (1997, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) ;With Thinking Plague *'' In Extremis'' (1998, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) *''Upon Both Your Houses'' (live at NEARfest 2000) (2004, CD,

NEARfest Records The North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest for short, was a multi-day event celebrating the resurgence of progressive and eclectic music in the United States and around the world. The event was held annually in early summer in Bethlehem, Pennsyl ...

, US) ;With Ahvak *''Ahvak'' (2004, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) ;With Aranis *''

RoqueForte ''RoqueForte'' is a 2010 studio album by Flemish acoustic avant-rock, experimental and neo-classical chamber music group Aranis, led by composer and contrabass player Joris Vanvinckenroye. It is their fourth album and was released in Belgium by H ...

'' (2010, CD, altrOck Productions, Italy) ;With Stepmother *''Calvary Greetings'' (2015, LP, CD, Knock'emdead Records, US)

Other featured recordings

*N.I.M.B.Y.: ''Songs For Adults'' *Motor Totemist Guild: ''Contact With Veils'' *Motor Totemist Guild: ''Shapuno Zoo'' *Motor Totemist Guild: ''Omaggio a Futi'' *Motor Totemist Guild: ''City of Mirrors'' *Motor Totemist Guild: ''All-America City'' *

: ''

Prints In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...

'' *Fred Frith: ''Place of General Happiness'' *A.A. Kismet: ''What's the Use of Crying When the Wolves Have Arrived?'' *Noisemaker's Fife: ''Corpse'' * Rascal Reporters: ''Happy Accidents'' *Pox: ''Borgnine'' *Yugen: ''Iridule'' *Yugen: ''Laborinto d'Aqua'' * Thinking Plague: ''A History of Madness'' *IZ: ''Em'' *

Hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

: ''Kirk'' *'' Recommended Records Quarterly Magazine'': Vol.1 #1 *'' Recommended Records Quarterly Magazine'': Vol.2 #2 *'' Recommended Records Quarterly Magazine'': Vol.3 #3 *'' Recommended Records Quarterly Magazine'': Selections From Vol.1 *'' Recommended Records Quarterly Magazine'': Selections From Vol.2 *

: ''Hoketemists – ReR #33 Subscription Item'' *5uu's: ''Die Ind Austria Report #3'' *5uu's: ''KXLU Radio Archives'' *5uu's: ''Bad Alchemy #6'' *5uu's: ''A Beginner's Guide To COMA'' *U Totem: ''COS Magazine Japan'' *U Totem: ''Eyesores – A Stab At The Residents'' *U Totem: ''Unsettled Scores'' *U Totem: ''Cuneiform Sampler #1'' *U Totem: ''Cuneiform Sampler #2''

Film appearances

*Les Reines Prochaines: "Alleine denken ist kriminell" DVD (2014) *Les Reines Prochaines: "Dings" - live concert footage/ documentary DVD (2015) *Les Reines Prochaines & Friends: "Gottlieben Revue" DVD (2014) *'' Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition'' (2012) *'' Romantic Warriors II: Special Features DVD'' (2013) *Present: "Barbaro, ma non troppo" – live concert DVD (2008) *Present: "NEARfest 2005" - live concert DVD (2007)

References

External links

Dave Kerman homepageInterview with Dave Kerman, March 2003
''Agarth: The Prog Music Dimension''.

''The GrEEN DoLPHiN's PoLL''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerman, Dave 1959 births Living people American male composers 20th-century American composers American music industry executives American experimental musicians Musicians from Los Angeles 20th-century American drummers 21st-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Torrance High School alumni