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Son of Dave, is a Canadian musician and singer–songwriter Benjamin Darvill (born January 4, 1967). He was a member of Grammy award-winning Canadian folk-rock band Crash Test Dummies in which he played harmonica, mandolin, guitar and percussion before returning to his blues, Beat-Box and harmonica driven solo work in 2000. He moved to London, England, in 1998 and has remained there since.
It starts with a beat box amplified by an old Astatic microphone, the harmonica follows and with a stomp of the foot a husky loop is captured. As the loop grinds away his vocal starts low and almost spoken whilst the harmonica sings and a groaning bass-line drops.
Self-tailored to his own thrifty standard, Son Of Dave dresses in impeccable gentleman’s fashion from the 1950's. Seen alongside the modern day businessman, one wonders how things became so bland. His three-piece suits and wide brim Fedora set him aloft the crowd with an air of bygone dignity.
Manners and courtesy are most important to Son Of Dave. If you have something bad to say about someone, mutter it under your breath and make ‘em work for Lucifer.
He grew up in a shed in Manitoba, Canada. His daddy, Dave, gave him a harmonica and shaker one Christmas. The Koreans eventually developed a foot pedal for him to sample and loop himself.
A true bluesman Son Of Dave sings from the heart, bitter words of women, ditties of Hellhounds and tales of the good ol’ Hollywood lifestyle. As the songs build he screams and howls the vocals between blazing harmonica solos and muttered obscenities.
He has played literally hundreds of gigs in the last couple of years and picked up fans as mixed and varied as Grace Jones, Mark Lamarr, Jon Kennedy, Jools Holland, KT Tunstall and Supergrass whom he supported on tour around the UK in October 2005.
Son of Dave has made his wishes and ambitions known. He wants to make grown men cry, be better than the White Stripes, scare off guitar-driven dullness and make sweet Devil music that no-one can resist.
Related Links:
Son of Dave's Blog.
Son of Dave's MySpace
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Artist biography from last.fm