Dave Derby is an American songwriter, recording artist, producer, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

who was born in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

and now resides in New York City. Derby serves as a songwriter and producer fo
Gramercy Arms
a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

musical and artist collective featuring members of

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin, Spanish and other languages * Luna (goddess) In Sabine and ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon (Latin ''Lūna'' ). She is often presented as t ...

, Elk City, The Dambuilders,

Guided by Voices Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band formed in 1983 in Dayton, Ohio. It has made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. The most well-known lineup of the band consisted o ...

, Shudder to Think,

Joan As Police Woman Joan Wasser (born July 26, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and producer who releases music as Joan As Police Woman. She began her career playing violin with the Dambuilders and played with Black Beetle, Anohni and the Johnsons, ...

, Mascott,

Sparklehorse Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band from Richmond, Virginia, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous. It was active from 1995 until Linkous's 2010 death. Before forming Sparklehorse, Linkous fronted local bands Johnson Fa ...

and A Girl Called Eddy, as well as notable artists such as

Lloyd Cole Lloyd Cole (born 31 January 1961) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was lead vocalist of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989 and subsequently worked solo. Early life Cole was born in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. He ...

Tanya Donelly Tanya Donelly (born July 14, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New England. She came to prominence as a co-founder of the band Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh. Donelly went on to co-form the altern ...

Matthew Caws Matthew Rorison Caws (born August 5, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Nada Surf. Caws is also a member of the indie rock duo Minor Alps, alon ...

Doug Gillard Douglas Scott Gillard (born December 23, 1965) is an American guitarist and songwriter. He has been a member of major indie pop and punk bands, most notably Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Bambi Kino, Death of Samantha, and Cobra Verde. Early ...

Diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

and

Kay Hanley Kay Hanley (born September 11, 1968) is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known as the vocalist for the alternative rock band Letters to Cleo. Life and career Hanley grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, across the street from the ...

. Derby has also produced albums for Reveal Records.

Recordings

Gramercy Arms

Gramercy Arms has released three albums. Their first eponymous album was released on Reveal Records and Cheap Lullaby Records in 2008. Their second album, "The Seasons of Love" was released in 2014 on Reveal Records. The album received a positive review in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''.Fusilli, Jim
"With a Little Help from His Friends"
''The Wall Street Journal'', 19 August 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2019 A video was released on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

for the album's song "Beautiful Disguise" which featured

and

Joan Wasser Joan Wasser (born July 26, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and producer who releases music as Joan As Police Woman. She began her career playing violin with the Dambuilders and played with Black Beetle, Anohni and the Johnsons, ...

on lead vocals. Their third album, "Deleted Scene" was released on Magic Door Records in April 2023 and their fourth album,
"The Making Of The Making Of"
was released on Magic Door in April 2024.

The Dambuilders

In addition to his work with Gramercy Arms, Dave was a founding member of The Dambuilders, a band in the early 1990s Boston rock scene. The founding members: Derby, Tryan George, and Eric Masunaga, all from Hawaii had played in different incarnations (such as the Exactones, Papaya, Pomade, Green-Eyed Tiki and Chicken Eats the Worm) before moving to Boston in 1990. The band began as the Dambuilders in Hawaii in a three-piece and four-piece configuration. Early violin was provided by Debbie Fox. With Fox's involvement, nearly all of the band's songs had electric violin tracks. Around 1992, the "classic line-up" consisted of Derby (bass guitar and lead vocals), Masunaga (guitar), Kevin March (drums), and

(violin). Many of the band's early recordings were engineered by Masunaga.

Lloyd Cole

Following the dissolution of the Dambuilders in 1996, Dave formed a lo-fi home-recording-focused musical project called

Brilliantine Brilliantine is a hair-grooming product intended to soften men's hair, including beards and moustaches, and give it a glossy, well-groomed appearance. It was created at the turn of the 20th century by French perfumier Édouard Pinaud (also kn ...

. Dave's friend Claudia Gonson (The Magnetic Fields) introduced him to

who was initially interested in producing Brilliantine only to join as keyboardist. When Cole's bassist was unavailable for a tour of the US and Brazil, Dave was recruited to play bass in

's band The Negatives. Derby and Cole have co-written numerous songs and shared production credits for both of their respective musical projects.

Other projects

In 2003 Derby released his first solo album "Even Further Behind" on Badman Recordings and in 2007 release
"Dave Derby and the Norfolk Downs"
on Reveal Records.

Film and TV

Derby has also composed and produced music for film and TV including a song that he co-wrote with

Michael Kotch Eve's Plum was an American New York City-based rock band, active in the 1990s. The band was fronted by Colleen Fitzpatrick, who was later known by the stage name Vitamin C. Eve's Plum released two albums and seven singles on 550 Music/Epic Record ...

and Colleen Fitzpatrick (Vitamin C) for

Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll, and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cy ...

in Hannah Montana: The Movie . Derby wrote and performed music for

Sam Seder Samuel Lincoln Seder (; born November 28, 1966) is an American actor, progressive political commentator, and media host. His works include the film '' Who's the Caboose?'' (1997) as well as the television shows ''Beat Cops'' (2001) and '' Pilot ...

's 1997 film Who's the Caboose? as well as the theme song for the miniseries sequel ''Pilot Season'' starring

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She first rose to prominence for her brief stint as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' during its ...

. The song eventually became the end theme for ''

The Majority Report with Sam Seder ''The Majority Report with Sam Seder'' is an American progressive internet talk radio program and podcast hosted by Sam Seder. The program focuses on the discussion of current events and political affairs; to this end, comedy and satire are ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derby, Dave American male songwriters American male composers 21st-century American composers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Musicians from Honolulu The Dambuilders members 21st-century American male musicians