Another Interview with Dave Kerman, Drummer of Thinking Plague and Present (Among Others) (2008)

Interview date: April 11, 2008

Dave Kerman started his musical career with 5uu’s, where he was the driving force. With that band he made a handful of cult albums and helped shape the American rock in opposition movement. Kerman is known as a workhorse, which the number of bands he has played in proves – 5uu’s, U Totem, Thinking Plague, Present, Ahvak, Yugen,… Lately he’s focused only on Present and his company (ReR USA), but this time he graced us with his presence as part of Thinking Plague at the Gouveia art rock festival in Portugal. We caught up with him before the Thinking Plague set.

Rockline: So what’s the deal with Present now that you’re back in the US?
Kerman: Pretty much the same, since I was living in Israel before.

Rockline: But Israel is still closer to Europe.
Kerman: The world is so small, and the flights are so short – four or seven hours.

Rockline: So no problems?
Kerman: Nope. Did I already tell you we’re putting out a new CD and DVD with Present? The DVD was supposed to have both shows from the RIO festival, but now that we’ve watched last year’s footage from Gouveia, we’d like to put that show on the DVD too.

Rockline: And the new Present album? Is it mostly Roger Trigaux’s work, or did somebody else chip in?
Kerman: The long composition is a joint creation by Roger and Reginald. Really, Reginald deserves most of the credit – Roger just helped him with the arrangements to make it come out a bit different. It’s the first time Reginald has stepped up more as a composer. I think it sounds good and a bit different – more melodic. You already heard one part of it at the RIO festival – the piece Vertiges. The whole thing runs 48 minutes, and at RIO we played a shortened version – just 15 minutes. At first we figured the album would have only that piece, but we managed to squeeze in a Present cover of Jack The Ripper, which Unvers Zero play in the original and which Roger wrote. On top of that, the album will also have A Drop of Blood, written by Pierre Chevalier, the keyboard player.

Rockline: A Drop of Blood? You guys are real jokers.
Kerman: Yeah. It’s a show, we’re goofing around a bit. But honestly, we really are jokers. I think people get the wrong idea about Present. They think we’re a bunch of uptight guys. We just like tension and anger in music.

Rockline: That’s how you get rid of your frustrations?
Kerman: Yeah.

Rockline: What about your other projects – 5uu’s, U Totem? Is anything happening there?
Kerman: I think with U Totem we haven’t heard from each other in so long that we’ve grown too different, too far apart. A year or so ago we talked about getting back together, but I don’t think it’ll happen, it’s too expensive. The music is so difficult that we’d have to live close to each other. But since we’re so far apart, we’d end up having to improvise, and that’s not something I want to do.

Rockline: When I listen to the first U Totem album, I notice similarities with Univers Zero. Do you see it that way too?
Kerman: Maybe the instruments are similar, but our music is more complex. We don’t have motifs that develop over a long time or repetition the way Univers Zero do – with us everything was structured in detail.

Rockline: Did you go for that style on purpose? U Totem are quite different from 5uu’s or Motor Totemist Guild.
Kerman: I don’t think we did it on purpose. First the two bands merged, but 11 members was too many. Touring was too expensive. In the end only five of us were left. The similarity with Univers Zero is probably that we both used bassoon, but Univers Zero also had a violin.

Rockline: Did you ever think about having a violin?
Kerman: We did, but we couldn’t find anyone. For a while a guitarist played with us, but then he bailed at the last minute.

Rockline: What about Bob Drake? Doesn’t he play violin?
Kerman: He does, but he’s got his own style. I don’t think he’d even want to play in our style. He plays more of a rockin’ country thing – a fun one. Back then we took ourselves very seriously.

Rockline: Maybe his goofy style would have made a good contrast to your seriousness?
Kerman: Maybe. But since we were so serious, we didn’t even want to hear about goofing around. That was back then, though – now I want to mess around. It’s part of who I am now.

Rockline: On stage, at least.
Kerman: Yeah. Back then we could have worn suits and ties without a second thought, we were so solemn.

Rockline: I heard something comical is going to happen during your set. Can you give me a hint what it is?
Kerman: I’d rather not. Just wait and you’ll see. We’ll play a very serious show, but there’ll be a few interesting surprises.

Rockline: Will you be reading sheet music on stage?
Kerman: Partly, yeah, we’ll all be reading. If the guy in charge of the lights forgets to light one of us, there could be trouble.

Rockline: Have you written anything new yourself?
Kerman: I have, I’ve got sixty minutes of material so far, but I’d need time off to go to Israel and record it. The process would probably take six to eight months. Right now I don’t see how I could pull that off.

Rockline: Would you play the new pieces with a band or on your own?
Kerman: With a band.

Rockline: 5uu’s?
Kerman: Yes. When we toured in 1995, three other members were with me (including Mike Johnson and Bob Drake). For a new album I’d do something similar.

Rockline: What style will the new pieces be in? I know you’re a grind core fan. Will the new album be grind core?
Kerman: First off, I’ll tell you that Stevan Tickmayer, the keyboard player in Thinking Plague, and I are planning to start a new band where we’ll play technical grind core. Just drums and keyboards.

Rockline: No guitar? I thought you needed guitar for grind core.
Kerman: Mostly no guitar, but Tickmayer will take care of the wacky effects. It might not be typical grind core, but the music will be influenced by the genre. Grind core isn’t about the listeners, the musicians just do their own thing. Grind core reminds me of the progressive music of the seventies, which looked for inspiration in all kinds of places.

Rockline: When did you start listening to that kind of music?
Kerman: About four years ago. I started with new metal. Once I got used to the heavy style, I wanted to hear something even harder. Now everything sounds too wimpy to me.

Rockline: And what about the RIO festival next year?
Kerman: Yeah, there wasn’t one this year because there was no money. It’s supposed to happen next year.

Rockline: Will you be playing?
Kerman: With Present, definitely. Some other bands have tentatively confirmed too, but nothing’s official yet.

Rockline: Now that you live in the US, do you think you’ll have more musical opportunities?
Kerman: No. Even though there are more people there, the interesting musicians are scattered all over the country. There aren’t many people who listen to this kind of music.

Rockline: Will you miss working with bands like Ahvak?
Kerman: Yeah, they were young and enthusiastic. I’d love to keep working with them. They had a similar approach to Univers Zero. They’re still together, but they have a new drummer.

The conversation went on for a long time, but a lot of the topics aren’t suitable for publication. It was more of a friendly chat about politics, life in Israel and America…

Text: Rok Podgrajšek
Photos: Raymond Ricker and Rok Podgrajšek

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