David Kerman (born August 24, 1959) is an American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

drummer and composer, best known as the founder and member of the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

avant-rock group 5uu's. He is also a member of the Belgian

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Present The present is the period of time that is occurring now. The present is contrasted with the past, the period of time that has already occurred; and the future, the period of time that has yet to occur. It is sometimes represented as a hyperplan ...

and the

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i 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 a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry ...

. 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, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n distributor of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, Recommended Records, and RēR USA's own record label, AD Hoc Records in 2006.

Biography

Dave Kerman was born in

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

, south of

. 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 Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

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, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

and

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

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. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...

. Kerman also modified his drum kit to extend its capabilities, including adding telescoping metal tubing that changed pitch (made from old

fire extinguisher A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which ha ...

s), 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 Barbie dolls. 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 a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

Festival in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. 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 California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

where he studied electronic and

contemporary music Contemporary music is whatever music is produced at the current time. Specifically, it could refer to: Genres or audiences * Adult contemporary music * British contemporary R&B * Christian adult contemporary * Christian contemporary hit radio * Con ...

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 soun ...

at the Sound-Master Institute with Brian Ingoldsby.

5uu's

By the early 1980s Kerman's band was playing

and took on the name 5uu's. They began recording their first album in 1984 and went on to make eight more albums, an EP and a single. 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 Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

and 14 cities in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

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 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. 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 of the Belgian progressive rock band

, asked Kerman to replace drummer Daniel Denis, 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 as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

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 Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

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. In 2002 Kerman and Koomran started a new band in Israel called Ahvak (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

for "Dust") in a similar vein to U Totem and Thinking Plague. Ahvak played at the Tritonale Festival in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 2004 and released a self-titled album the same year. In 2002 Kerman wrote a series of editorials 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

, Recommended Records. In 2006 he created RēR USA's own record label, AD Hoc Records. 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 Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

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

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and at the Gouveia Festival in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. 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 5uu's *''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'' (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, *''Live At AKW Würzburg'' (2023, Digital, Cuneiform Records, US) 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, 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, US) ;With Ahvak *''Ahvak'' (2004, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) ;With Aranis *'' RoqueForte'' (2010, CD, altrOck Productions, Italy) ;With

Stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a female non-biological parent married to one's preexisting parent. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Culture Ste ...

*''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'' *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 (meteorology), 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 hailsto ...

: ''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 * 5uu's: ''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 Drummers 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