Dave "Rave" DesRoches is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

rock musician from

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

. To the general public, he is the sometime Teenage Head rhythm guitarist on the early recordings who graduated to lead singer during a Frankie Venom hiatus in 1985 and catapulted the band back into the charts. Many know him as a session player who has played with such notables as

Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Harold Budd ...

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and

Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950March 17, 2010) was an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock bands the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s as a teen vocalist for the Box Tops ...

Career

Early career

Dave began his music career in his high school years writing songs and performing driving acoustic rock and folk-pop in and around Hamilton. This evolved into the group, The Shakers, from 1979 to 1982 with Rick Andrew, Tim Gibbons and Claude DesRoches. They charted many singles with albums produced by

( U2) and Jack Richardson ( Guess Who,

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

Teenage Head

Three years after the break-up of The Shakers in 1982, Dave took over as lead singer of the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band Teenage Head. He had grown up with the members of the band and had played as a backing musician on their "Frantic City" LP, and "The Shakers" had often opened for their fellow Hamiltonians. Dave replaced Frankie Venom who had worked with Dave on several other projects. He continued to aid Teenage Head with hits like "Can’t Stop Shakin'". Dave left Teenage Head after a successful run to try things out on his own. In November 2016, Teenage Head announced the return of Dave "Rave" Desroches as lead singer.

The Dave Rave Conspiracy

Alongside producer

Gary Pig Gold Gary Pig Gold (born May 30, 1955 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, author and journalist. His fanzine ''The Pig Paper'' was Canada's second independently published music magazine, and among the recor ...

he formed a group called "The Dave Rave Conspiracy", releasing the album "Valentino's Pirates" on Russia's

Melodiya Melodiya () is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union. History Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya" in accordance wi ...

record label in 1992. However, to appease cold war era Russian sensibilities, the album was credited to the Dave Rave "Group", as the label was uncomfortable with the word "conspiracy". Notably, the band also included

Billy Ficca William Joseph Ficca (born February 15, 1950, in Delaware) is an American drummer who was a founding member of the rock groups Television (band), Television and The Waitresses. Career Of Italian origins, Ficca was a childhood friend of Tom ...

, formerly of the influential

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 ...

band

Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, and Lauren Agnelli, of the 1980s

anti-folk Anti-folk (sometimes spelled antifolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in New York City, founded by the musician, author and comedian Lach, as a reaction to the commercialization of folk music. It is characterized by its DIY ethos, ...

band

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. "Valentino's Pirates" has become a quite a cult classic, and was the first North American rock album released by a post-

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

state after the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

. Press surrounding this release included a

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

documentary revisiting Russia with the group as well as three promotional videos that were in heavy rotation at

MuchMusic Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...

in Canada. Bullseye Records re-issued the album for the first time on CD in 2001. The next Dave Rave Conspiracy album, Three Octave Fantastic Hexagram, was released in 1994 and included many of the players from the Valentino's album along with former

, Lauren Agnelli. However, the band broke up shortly afterward. Agnelli and Dave Rave formed an incredible creative partnership that resulted in three Agnelli & Rave albums over the next ten years including the critically acclaimed Cowboy Flowers Sessions, Heaven and Earth, and

Confetti Confetti are small pieces or streamers of paper, mylar or metallic material, usually thrown at celebrations, especially parades and weddings. The origins are from the Latin ''confectum'', with ''confetti'' the plural of Italian ''confetto'', ...

. The Dave Rave Group's second album, Everyday Magic, was released in 2003 and featured players from his former bands such as Teenage Head, The Shakers and bands and musicians with whom he had worked as either a musician as a producer such as

The Trews The Trews are a Canadian rock music, rock band from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, consisting of vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek, and drummer Theo Mckibbon. The band is currently based in Hamilton, Ontari ...

, Joe Mannix and Kate Schrock. "Love Fades" and the title track "Everyday Magic" featuring ECMA winners and Juno nominees, The Trews, received airplay at Rock, AC and Campus radio. Dave also co-wrote The Trews' single, "I Can’t Say" with Jack Richardson. Other co-writing credits include bands such as

Oliver Black Townline (formerly Oliver Black) is a Canadian rock group from Welland, Ontario. Members of the band include Serena Pryne (vocals), Nick Lesyk (guitar), Greg Zack (bass guitar), and Allan Colavecchia (drums). Musically, the band performs heavy ...

, now Townline, and the Maddhatters and he continues to work with and mentor some of the hottest acts today. Dave spends his time in Canada and the US playing live, producing, writing and coming up with more ideas to bring great musicians together. Dave Rave released his Anthology in two volumes worldwide on Bullseye Records in January 2006. He has also released his second jazz-pop album, "In The Blue of My Dreams", with Mark McCarron in 2007 under the Bongobeat label. It was shortlisted for a Grammy that year. He spent 2008 writing, producing and touring the globe. Dave Rave spent 2009 playing over 100 shows, including Grey Cup 2009 and three European tours and he had a chance to work again with the

Trews Trews (or truis, ) are men's clothing for the legs and lower abdomen, a traditional form of tartan trousers from Scottish Highland dress. Trews could be trimmed with leather, usually buckskin, especially on the inner leg to prevent wear from ...

on the song "How’s Everything" on their Top 10 DVD. He also had time to record the album, "Live with What You Know", which was released in June 2010 on the Bongo Beat label. Players on the album include members of

, Plastic Heroes, Rick Andrew (The Shakers), Sonic Blue Sound Review, Mark McCarron, The Maddhatters,

and the debut of vocalist Kate MacDonald on "Silver Lines" among many other great musicians. Dave has already toured Europe twice in 2010 with one more European tour to go along with a tour of North America in support of the new record.

Discography

Studio albums

* 1981 – The Shakers / ''In Time'' * 1983 – The Shakers / ''Weekend'' * 1990 – The Dave Rave Group / ''Valentino's Pirates'' * 1994 – The Dave Rave Conspiracy ''/ Three Octave Fantastic Hexagram''

EPs

* 1990 – Dave Rave / ''Pure Honey''

Compilation appearances

* 1998 – "Love of Money (Stupid Cupidity)" – Lauren Agnelli And Dave Rave / Somewhere Down The Road * 2001 – "Xmas Wish List" – Dave Rave Xmas Spirits / ''Takin' Care of Christmas'' * 2003 – "Love Fades" – The Dave Rave Group / International Pop Overthrow Vol. 6 * 2011 – "Your Sparks Fly" – Dave Rave / ''International Pop Overthrow Vol. 14'' * 2012 – "You're My Sensation" – Dave Rave / ''International Pop Overthrow Vol. 15'' * 2013 – "Rockin' to the Middle" – Dave Rave with Rick Andrew / ''International Pop Overthrow Vol. 16'' * 2016 – "So Invisible" – Hailee Rose, Dave Rave / ''International Pop Overthrow Vol. 19''

Writing credits

* 1985 – Teenage Head / ''Trouble in the Jungle'' * 2005 –

/ Den of Thieves * 2008 – Teenage Head with Marky Ramone / ''Teenage Head with Marky Ramone'' * 2008 – The Black Tales / ''The Black Tales'' * 2009 –

/ Acoustic – Friends & Total Strangers * 2024 – Evan Rotella / Where I Stand, Happy To Be Here (album)

As producer

* 1985 – Teenage Head / ''Trouble in the Jungle'' * 1985 – Teenage Head / ''Frantic Romantic'' single

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Desroches, Dave Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian male singers Canadian rock singers Canadian male songwriters Musicians from Hamilton, Ontario Writers from Hamilton, Ontario Teenage Head (band) members