Image Credit: Yours Truly
Yesterday morning I was in the midst of dealing with the usual chaos of a Monday at EduCorp® and one of my colleagues mentioned the passing of Clem Burke from Blondie. Clem was one of those drummers I admired for his Ringoesque ability to keep perfect time and just ‘do the job’ of locking with the bass to keep the heartbeat of the band solid. When I first started learning drums it was ‘Heart of Glass’ that I continually practiced for its simplicity and solid timing (also, bonus synth groove in the track which kept my attention) – only to learn later it was the venerable Roland CR-78 drum machine that Clem had played to. Regardless, he was one of my ‘Invisible Mentors’ back then and I’ll handily say thanks for the inspiration Mr. Burke.
Once things had settled down at EduCorp® in the late afternoon I caught the news about Dave Allen. For some unknown reason, I immediately raced for my stash of photos and dug out ones from my short time with Dave. The Banner Pic is one I took of him in LA in the late 90’s as he was showing me around the city – he had recently signed me to his World Domination Records label.
I wasn’t much of a Gang of Four aficionado back in my early days. We did do a cover of ‘What We All Want’ from Solid Gold in a band I was with back in the 80’s, but I was much more into Shreikback at the time with their funky grooves and Fairlight weirdness, but didn’t have the tech to handle covering any of those songs. So I really didn’t know much about Dave except he was the owner of World Domination Records and was the old bass player in Gang of Four and Shreikback. I quickly realized he was much more than just those things.
After I signed with Dave’s label, he (along with Kevin, World Dom’s A&R Guru) went with me all over the Left Coast while I did promo bits and DJ gigs, and we would talk about music, politics, books, technology, and whatever came to our minds during the downtimes and over lunch or dinner, including my incessant questions about how the old tracks were done and the gear they used. Dave’s tenure in the music business gave me a lot of insight into how things (actually) worked and he was incredibly well-read and knowledgeable about so much I had never experienced – and he would happily chitty chat about all of it. That was the Dave I remember fondly – always charming, always pleasant, and always helpful. His approach to music and how to be creative and independent remains with me to this day.
Fun Fact – I spent a lot of downtime thumbing through the library at his house in Laurel Canyon – several of my favorite books came from finding them there. He lived next door (I believe) to Joni Mitchell’s old house there so I can say I’ve experienced the ‘vibes’ of that area. Hat Tip to Michael Donaldson for helping me remember things a bit better… 😀
Image credit: Yours Truly (again)
I also spent a lot of time in World Domination’s Offices (the pic above is Dave at his desk there) and would talk about the ‘behind the scenes’ nuts and bolts of the Industry, and I would play Dave demos of tracks I was working on – either getting a nod of approval or his facepalm of ‘that doesn’t work’. His ear for music was something I was (and still am) jealous of, and his tastes were broad and deep – he could bring endless ideas to the table. Once I was demoing something to Kevin in his office and Dave appeared out of nowhere, bass strapped around his body, playing along and saying ‘you need to do something like this on that part’. He recorded the part onto a cassette deck in his office and gave me the tape so I could remember it when I got to the studio back home.
Dave spent quite a bit of time visiting us at Eighth Dimension as well. Michael probably has a better recollection than I do, but the one I remember the most was when Dave hired Eric Taylor of Seely to come down from Atlanta to play drums on something Dave wanted to work on. Michael and I hired some drums and a couple of high-end condenser mics that we didn’t have and set them up in our (then barely used) office and recorded Eric on Drums and Dave jamming to ADAT for Dave to take back to LA to finish up. After that recording, Dave gave me one of the best compliments I’ve had as an Engineer, saying ‘I’ve worked in multi-Million Dollar studios, and I’ve never had a better drum sound than what you did’. In truth it was all Eric’s playing and I used a slightly modified Glyn Johns’ mic technique to make it sound like what Eric was hearing, but that was Dave being Dave – supportive and encouraging.
Dave left his tried and true Music Man Sting Ray ‘FACT’ bass in our care that day. I couldn’t tell you how many recordings that got used on at Eighth Dimension. He also gifted Shriekback’s old Roland JX-8p synth to the cause, and that was used a lot as well. I asked about their old Fairlight (because of course I would) and he said Barry Andrews was now making high-end woodworking out West and might have it stored in a closet along with their old LinnDrum and he would ask if he still had them. None of that materialized, but again that was Dave being the Gentleman he was.
World Domination shuttered after a year or so after my deal (again, Michael will have better info here than I would). Dave came back to retrieve his bass, and moved onward and upward to new things. I emailed him a few times afterwards but lost touch after that. Last I’d heard he was working for The Mothership® and Beats Music.
Hearing of his passing left me with a jolt I didn’t quite expect. As we get older we lose more and more of those we know, and the wisdom of that aging usually lets me just reflect, accept, and continue moving forward. Dave Allen was, like only a handful of people in my life, someone who saw something promising in what I was doing and gave me the resources and encouragement to make that happen. And I’m positive I wasn’t the only one he did that for.
Thanks Dave.
Until next time…
Update: Michael’s thoughts on Dave over at the 8Sided Blog. Well worth a read.
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