Benjamin Darvill (born January 4, 1967), known by his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Son of Dave, is a Canadian musician and singer–songwriter, based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was a member of

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

award-nominated, Juno award-winning folk rock band Crash Test Dummies in which he played

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and percussion before returning to his

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

, Beat-Box and

driven solo work in 2000. Son of Dave was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. He was inspired to learn the harmonica after hearing

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

and

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and occas ...

play at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. He moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, in 1998 and has remained there since. Son of Dave has recorded six albums to date and performed over eight hundred shows across Europe, as well as performing in Canada, the United States, Australia, South Africa, Uganda, Japan, Russia, and Cuba. Son of Dave appeared on BBC television's '' Later...with Jools Holland'' in 2005, performing the song "Hellhound", before recording the song a few years later on the album '' O3''. His 2003 album '' O2'' has been described as a mix of "cotton-pickin' blues, vocalising beat-box, hard-breathing folk, steamy funk and even modern R&B". A song from ''O2'', "Devil Take My Soul", which features chorus vocal by

Martina Topley-Bird Martina Gillian Topley-Bird (''née'' Topley; born 7 May 1975) is an English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who first gained fame as the featured female vocalist on trip hop pioneer Tricky (musician), Tricky's debut album, ''Maxi ...

, was featured in the Warner Bros film, ''

License to Wed ''License to Wed'' is a 2007 American romantic comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis. Starring Robin Williams, Mandy Moore and John Krasinski, with Christine Taylor, Eric Christian Olsen and Josh Flitter in supporting roles, the film tells the s ...

'', starring

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedie ...

. In 2010, the track " Shake A Bone" from the album of the same title, recorded by

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

, was featured on season 3 episode 11 of ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...

''. In 2010, Son of Dave and his song "Revolution Town" were featured in a commercial for the search engine

Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...

. The commercial, using a first-person perspective, shows Son of Dave using Bing and his Windows-enabled phone to travel to his own concert at the Someday Lounge in

Portland, OR Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. In 2016, the track "Voodoo Doll" from the album ''Shake A Bone'' was featured as the last song in the first episode of ''

Preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

'', an

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

series based on the comic book of the same title.

Discography

Son of Dave

* '' B. Darvill's Wild West Show'' (1999) Kartel 019 * '' O1'' (2000) Kartel 002 * '' O2'' (2006) Kartel 003 * '' O3'' (2008) Kartel 013 * '' Shake a Bone'' (2010) Kartel 023 * ''Blues at the Grand'' (2013) Kartel SOD001 * ''Explosive Hits'' (2016) Goddamn Records SOD002 * ''Music for Cop Shows'' (2017) Goddamn Records SOD003 * ''Call Me a Cab'' (2021) Goddamn Records SOD004 * ''Call Me King'' (2022) Goddamn Records SOD005

Crash Test Dummies

* '' The Ghosts That Haunt Me'' (1991) * '' God Shuffled His Feet'' (1993) * '' A Worm's Life'' (1996) * '' Give Yourself a Hand'' (1999)

References

External links

Review of 'Ain't Going to Niketown' on the Daily Music Guide

at BluesinLondon.com
Son of Dave Official Website

Son of Dave's artist page at SEYDEL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Son of Dave 1967 births Living people Musicians from Winnipeg Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists Crash Test Dummies members Singers from Manitoba