Dave Willey (born 1963) is an American experimental musician and composer, best known as the co-founder and member of the Boulder, Colorado-based avant-rock group

Hamster Theatre Hamster Theatre is an American avant-rock, experimental and folk jazz music group based in Boulder, Colorado. It is led by composer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Willey. The band has released three albums and has performed at various festiv ...

. He is also a member of

Thinking Plague Thinking Plague is an American avant-garde progressive rock group founded in 1982 by guitarist/composer Mike Johnson and bass guitarist/drummer Bob Drake. Based in Denver, Colorado, the band has been active off and on since 1982, taking on a n ...

and 3 Mice. He has released two solo albums and has performed with Hamster Theatre and Thinking Plague in the United States and Europe. In a biography at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

, Dave Lynch described Willey's music as "uncompromising, challenging, and adventurous but also engaging and tuneful".

Biography

Dave Willey was born in 1963 and grew up in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

. He moved to Colorado where he played in several bands, including The Denver Gentlemen and Big Foot Torso. Willey's early influences were twentieth-century classical music, and bands and musicians like

Henry Cow Henry Cow were an English experimental rock Musical ensemble, group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer ...

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 ...

and

. In the early 1990s, Willey lived in Europe for a few years where he exposed himself to

Rock in Opposition Rock in Opposition or RIO was a Social movement, movement representing a collective of Progressive rock, progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music. It was initiate ...

and related music. There he was particularly drawn to the music of Swedish accordionist

Lars Hollmer Lars Gustav Gabriel Hollmer (21 July 1948 – 25 December 2008) was a Swedish accordionist, keyboardist and composer, whose work drew on music ranging from Nordic folk tunes to progressive rock. He has been a member and/or founder of over hal ...

from

Samla Mammas Manna Samla Mammas Manna was a Swedish progressive rock band often characterized by virtuosic musicianship, circus references and silly humour, similar in many ways to the song-writing style of Frank Zappa. They were one of the founding members of ...

. Willey said that initially he "didn't play anything but improvised music", and "wouldn't play anything that was composed or in a time signature or with a melody". But after listening to European music, he found himself liking melodic music, and realized that "there's nothing wrong with being accessible. You can be accessible and interesting and challenging all at the same time, hopefully." While in Europe, Willey began composing his own music and recording it on tape. When he returned to the United States, Willey settled near

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

and set to work on his recordings. He added keyboards, accordion, guitar, bass guitar and percussion, and created a cassette tape entitled ''Songs from the Hamster Theatre''. Willey had intended giving the cassette to friends for Christmas, but Prolific Records in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

expressed interest in releasing it on CD. Dave Lynch at

called the album, released in 1995, a blend of "rock, European folk, avant-garde experimentation, and modern composition". In 1993, fellow musician Jon Stubbs from The Denver Gentlemen and Big Foot Torso teamed up with Willey, and with several other musicians, formed

to play Hollmer covers and songs from Willey's album. In 1996, Willey also joined Thinking Plague, a Denver-based avant-rock group as bass guitarist, and guitarist

Mike Johnson James Michael Johnson (born January 30, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives since October 25, 20 ...

and reed player Mark Harris from Thinking Plague, also joined Hamster Theatre. Willey appears on three Thinking Plague albums, ''In Extremis'' (1998), ''A History of Madness'' (2003), and ''Decline and Fall'' (2012), and toured the United States and Europe with them. Willey made three albums with Hamster Theatre, ''Siege on Hamburger City'' (1998), ''Carnival Detournement'' (2001) and '' The Public Execution of Mister Personality / Quasi Day Room: Live at the Moore Theatre'' (2006), and performed with them at several festivals, including

Progman Cometh Progman Cometh Music Festivals were two Canterbury scene music concerts held at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington, USA, in 2002 and 2003. Progman Cometh 2002 Friday, August 16 * 7:00pm Glass (with friends) * 8:30pm Hughscore * 10:00pm Pi ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, Washington in 2002. While on tour with Thinking Plague in Switzerland in 2008, Willey and Thinking Plague's vocalist Elaine DiFalco met and formed a group with Swiss multi-instrumentalist Cédric Vuille. The trio, called 3 Mice, collaborated long-distance between Boulder and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

and released an album, ''Send Me a Postcard'' in 2011. Also in 2011 Willey released ''Immeasurable Currents'', an album that drew on texts from his father, Dale Willey's book of poetry, ''The Tin Box Papers and Other Poems''. The book had been published in 2001, the year he died. ''Immeasurable Currents'', which Willey said took "a million years" to finish, also featured a number of musicians, including Johnson, DiFalco, drummer

Dave Kerman 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. He is also a member of the Belgian prog ...

from the

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 ...

, and bassist

Hugh Hopper Hugh Colin Hopper (29 April 1945 – 7 June 2009) was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Biography Early career Starting ...

from

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966– ...

(who died in 2009).

Solo discography

*''Songs from the Hamster Theatre'' (1995, CD, Prolific) *''Immeasurable Currents'' (2011, CD, AltrOck) Source:

Film appearances

* Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition * Romantic Warriors II: Special Features DVD

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willey, Dave 1963 births Living people American experimental musicians American male composers 20th-century American composers American accordionists American keyboardists Guitarists from Oregon Musicians from Boulder, Colorado Guitarists from Colorado American male bass guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists 21st-century American bass guitarists 21st-century accordionists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians