Dave Cloud
Encyclopedia
Dave Cloud is an American musician, singer, songwriter, storyteller and occasional actor. Cloud is known primarily for his amusing, earthy concert performances, and garage rock
recordings with his band The Gospel of Power.
of the 1960s and early 1970s, and learned to play guitar as a teenager. Cloud first performed publicly in local Nashville record stores in the late 1970s. After overcoming severe stage fright, he started to play solo shows in small Nashville clubs, most notably the dive bar
Springwater Supper Club & Lounge. Around this time Cloud formed The Psychotic Night Auditors, a punk rock
band so loud and obnoxious that they "cleared the room" at Springwater, prompting the club owner to ban the group "for life."
During the 1980s, Cloud listened mainly to classical music and directed his energies into "private tape experiments [that involved] overdubbing voices, guitars and other instruments." Eventually Cloud was invited back to Springwater, where he would spend the next several years developing his performance style (including his signature "stage humping" and "phantom kung fu" antics) and a repertoire of original compositions, rock and pop covers
, and occasional karaoke
. In the process he earned a reputation as Nashville's resident "garage rock lounge lizard extraordinaire."
Since the mid-1990s, Cloud has been the leader and principal songwriter for Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power, an experimental garage rock band that has recorded several lo-fi
albums. The band toured Europe in 2006 and 2008, and continues to play shows in the Nashville area.
When not playing music, Cloud works as a volunteer book reader for visually impaired persons; since 1984 he has recorded thousands of hours of audio books and magazines for the Nashville Talking Library. Cloud also has appeared in several films, music videos, television programs and advertisements.
described Dave Cloud's music as a "perverse cross between Neil Diamond
and Tom Waits
," that "translates a love of 60s and 70s rock and soul through the lens of punk and experimentation." In its review of Cloud's 2006 album Napoleon of Temperance, The Sunday Times
wrote, "Cloud's bellowed vocals, Beefheart
-style beat poetry, hefty riffs and freestyle wig-outs achieve a transcendental psychedelic primitivism."
, Silver Jews
), Dave Friedman, Ben Martin (Lone Official, Clem Snide
), Laurel Parton (Trauma Team), Steve Poulton and Matt Swanson (Clockhammer
, My Dad Is Dead
, Lambchop).
Bassist Matt Swanson recorded and produced (or co-produced) Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power's first four albums using four-track equipment, and released the first two CDs on his own Thee Swan Recording Company label. The band's most recent album, Practice in the Milky Way, was released in 2011 on the UK label Fire Records
. The band performs regularly in the Nashville area and has toured Europe twice. The current touring band members are: Dave Cloud (vocals, guitar), Matt Bach (guitar), Matt Swanson (bass) and Ben Martin (drums).
(all with The Gospel of Power)
(all with The Gospel of Power)
(all with The Gospel of Power except "All the Same")
) and Norway's Bergenfest, where Cloud also served as artist in residence. While in London the band performed live on deXter Bentley's "Hello Goodbye" radio show, broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM.
On their second European tour (spring 2008), Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power was the headline act for Bergenfest's "Indie Bonanza" finale. The band's concert at London's 12 Bar Club was rated "Critics' Choice" in Time Out.
of the Cardigans
contributed vocals to "Land of a Thousand Dances
" on Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power's fourth album Pleasure Before Business (2008).
In March 2008, after his own performance at Springwater in Nashville, Steve Mackay
(saxophonist for The Stooges
) joined Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power for two songs during their late-night, garage rock set.
In early 2008 Norwegian folk group Storm Weather Shanty Choir
invited Dave Cloud to record a vocal track for the traditional sea shanty "Drunken Sailor
." The group originally released the song in June 2008 as a "B-side" single and later included it on its 2009 album Way Hey (And Away We'll Go).
films: Gummo
(1997, uncredited) and Trash Humpers
(2009); the premiere episode of the TV comedy show Travel Sick
(2001); and the 2005 music video for Bobby Bare
's song "Are You Sincere." In spring 2008 Cloud was featured in a TV, billboard and print ad campaign for Budweiser beer
in the UK.
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
recordings with his band The Gospel of Power.
Biography
Dave Cloud came of age listening to rock and rollRock N Roll
-Personnel:*Ryan Adams - Bass, Composer, Costume Design, Guitar, Keyboards, Multi Instruments, Vocals, Vocals *Billie Joe Armstrong - Vocals *Melissa Auf der Maur - Vocals...
of the 1960s and early 1970s, and learned to play guitar as a teenager. Cloud first performed publicly in local Nashville record stores in the late 1970s. After overcoming severe stage fright, he started to play solo shows in small Nashville clubs, most notably the dive bar
Dive bar
A dive bar is a type of bar or pub. Dive bars generally have a relaxed and informal atmosphere—they are often referred to by local residents as "neighborhood bars," where people in the neighborhood gather to drink and socialize...
Springwater Supper Club & Lounge. Around this time Cloud formed The Psychotic Night Auditors, a punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band so loud and obnoxious that they "cleared the room" at Springwater, prompting the club owner to ban the group "for life."
During the 1980s, Cloud listened mainly to classical music and directed his energies into "private tape experiments [that involved] overdubbing voices, guitars and other instruments." Eventually Cloud was invited back to Springwater, where he would spend the next several years developing his performance style (including his signature "stage humping" and "phantom kung fu" antics) and a repertoire of original compositions, rock and pop covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
, and occasional karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
. In the process he earned a reputation as Nashville's resident "garage rock lounge lizard extraordinaire."
Since the mid-1990s, Cloud has been the leader and principal songwriter for Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power, an experimental garage rock band that has recorded several lo-fi
Lo-fi music
Lo-fi is lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for music. The qualities of lo-fi are usually achieved by either degrading the quality of the recorded audio, or using certain equipment. Recent uses of the phrase have led to it becoming a genre, although it still remains as an...
albums. The band toured Europe in 2006 and 2008, and continues to play shows in the Nashville area.
When not playing music, Cloud works as a volunteer book reader for visually impaired persons; since 1984 he has recorded thousands of hours of audio books and magazines for the Nashville Talking Library. Cloud also has appeared in several films, music videos, television programs and advertisements.
Musical style
The Nashville SceneNashville Scene
Nashville Scene is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with New Times Media early in 2006. In 2009 the paper was...
described Dave Cloud's music as a "perverse cross between Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
and Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
," that "translates a love of 60s and 70s rock and soul through the lens of punk and experimentation." In its review of Cloud's 2006 album Napoleon of Temperance, The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
wrote, "Cloud's bellowed vocals, Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
-style beat poetry, hefty riffs and freestyle wig-outs achieve a transcendental psychedelic primitivism."
The Gospel of Power
The Gospel of Power is the "loose congregation" of Nashville's veteran underground rock musicians that record and/or perform with Dave Cloud. The fluctuating roster has included Matt Bach, Brian Boling, Paul Booker, Matt Button (Lone Official), Tony Crow (LambchopLambchop (band)
Lambchop, originally Posterchild, is a band from Nashville, Tennessee. Lambchop is loosely associated with the alternative country genre...
, Silver Jews
Silver Jews
Silver Jews was an indie rock band from New York City, formed in 1989 by David Berman along with Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Berman remained throughout and was the only constant member. During the last few albums, Cassie Berman became a regular member of the band...
), Dave Friedman, Ben Martin (Lone Official, Clem Snide
Clem Snide
Clem Snide is an alt-country band featuring Eef Barzelay , Brendan Fitzpatrick and Ben Martin .-History:"Clem Snide" is a character in several novels by William S. Burroughs, including Naked Lunch, The Ticket That Exploded, and Exterminator!...
), Laurel Parton (Trauma Team), Steve Poulton and Matt Swanson (Clockhammer
Clockhammer
Clockhammer was an alternative metal group from Nashville, TN., once described as "a cross between Frank Sabbath and Black Sinatra." Originally the brain-child of Vanderbilt undergrads, Christian Nagle and Matt Swanson, the 1987 line-up consisted of Byron Bailey , Nagle , Swanson , and Ken Coomer...
, My Dad Is Dead
My Dad Is Dead
My Dad Is Dead, is a recording project of musician Mark Edwards. The project began in Cleveland, Ohio in 1985. My Dad Is Dead has released eleven full-length albums on labels such as St. Valentine's, Scat Records, Homestead Records and Emperor Jones....
, Lambchop).
Bassist Matt Swanson recorded and produced (or co-produced) Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power's first four albums using four-track equipment, and released the first two CDs on his own Thee Swan Recording Company label. The band's most recent album, Practice in the Milky Way, was released in 2011 on the UK label Fire Records
Fire Records (UK)
Fire Records is an independent record label in London, England. The label was founded by Clive Solomon in 1986 and is currently run by James Nicholls.-Current roster:*Giant Sand*Guided By Voices*Howe Gelb*Josephine Foster*Wooden Wand*Bobby Conn...
. The band performs regularly in the Nashville area and has toured Europe twice. The current touring band members are: Dave Cloud (vocals, guitar), Matt Bach (guitar), Matt Swanson (bass) and Ben Martin (drums).
Albums
- Songs I Will Always Sing (1999, Thee Swan Recording Company)
- All My Best (2004, Thee Swan Recording Company)
- Napoleon of Temperance [2-CD compilation] (2006, Fire Records)
- Pleasure Before Business (2008, Fire Records)
- Practice in the Milky Way (2011, Fire Records)
(all with The Gospel of Power)
Singles and EPs
- "You Don't Need Sex" (2007, Fire Records)
- "Puff Rider" (Various Production remix) (2008, Fire Records)
- "Fever" EP (2009, Fire Records)
(all with The Gospel of Power)
Other recordings
- "Carol of the Bells" on A Working Stiff Christmas: 15 Years at Springwater (2000, Tiny Rig Records)
- "All the Same" on Keep Mother, Vol. 2: C & D (2006, Fire Records)
- "Lovely Rita" on Sgt. Pepper with a Little Help from His Friends (2007, MOJO Magazine)
- "Take You Slow" on This is Ming Beat: A Tribute to Sexton Ming (2009, RIM Records)
(all with The Gospel of Power except "All the Same")
European tours
Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power twice have toured the UK and Norway. Their first tour, in the spring of 2006, included shows at London's Scala (supporting the Silver JewsSilver Jews
Silver Jews was an indie rock band from New York City, formed in 1989 by David Berman along with Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Berman remained throughout and was the only constant member. During the last few albums, Cassie Berman became a regular member of the band...
) and Norway's Bergenfest, where Cloud also served as artist in residence. While in London the band performed live on deXter Bentley's "Hello Goodbye" radio show, broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM.
On their second European tour (spring 2008), Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power was the headline act for Bergenfest's "Indie Bonanza" finale. The band's concert at London's 12 Bar Club was rated "Critics' Choice" in Time Out.
Notable collaborations
Nina PerssonNina Persson
is the lead singer and lyricist for the Swedish pop group The Cardigans. She has also worked as a solo artist, releasing two albums as A Camp and appearing on the tribute album to Serge Gainsbourg entitled Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited...
of the Cardigans
The Cardigans
The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in the town of Jönköping in October 1992.Their debut album Emmerdale gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life that an international reputation was secured...
contributed vocals to "Land of a Thousand Dances
Land of a Thousand Dances
"Land of a Thousand Dances" is a song written and first recorded by Chris Kenner in 1962. The song is famous for its "na na na na na" hook, which was added by Cannibal & the Headhunters in their version of the song in 1965, whose version peaked at number thirty...
" on Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power's fourth album Pleasure Before Business (2008).
In March 2008, after his own performance at Springwater in Nashville, Steve Mackay
Steve MacKay
Steve Mackay is an American tenor saxophone player, best known for his participation on The Stooges' second album Fun House.-The Stooges:Mackay was familiar to The Stooges from his work in Detroit's avant-rock pioneers, Carnal Kitchen...
(saxophonist for The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
) joined Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power for two songs during their late-night, garage rock set.
In early 2008 Norwegian folk group Storm Weather Shanty Choir
Storm Weather Shanty Choir
Storm Weather Shanty Choir is a 6-man sea shanty choir from Stord, an island on the west coast of Norway. They were formed in 2000, by shantyman Håkon Vatle, and used to introduce themselves as "the roughest, thoughest and youngest boy band in Norway, singing 150 years old cover songs".They have...
invited Dave Cloud to record a vocal track for the traditional sea shanty "Drunken Sailor
Drunken Sailor
Drunken Sailor is a traditional sea shanty also known as What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?It begins with the question, "What shall we do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?" Each verse thereafter suggests a method of sobering—or castigating, or simply abusing—the sailor.The song...
." The group originally released the song in June 2008 as a "B-side" single and later included it on its 2009 album Way Hey (And Away We'll Go).
Film and TV appearances
Dave Cloud has appeared in two Harmony KorineHarmony Korine
The story is told from the perspective of a young man suffering from untreated schizophrenia, played by Ewen Bremner, as he tries to understand his deteriorating world. Julien's abusive father is played by Werner Herzog...
films: Gummo
Gummo
Gummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
(1997, uncredited) and Trash Humpers
Trash Humpers
Trash Humpers is a 2009 American independent drama "film" directed by Harmony Korine. Shot on worn VHS home video, the film features a "loser-gang cult-freak collective" and their whereabouts in Nashville, Tennessee.-Cast:-Production:...
(2009); the premiere episode of the TV comedy show Travel Sick
Travel Sick
Travel Sick was a British hybrid comedy-travel television series that originally aired on Bravo from 2001 to 2002. It placed UK writer Grub Smith in a different region of the world in each episode. In each destination, he was asked to complete five undesirable challenges posed by the show's producers...
(2001); and the 2005 music video for Bobby Bare
Bobby Bare
Robert Joseph Bare is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is the father of Bobby Bare, Jr., also a musician.-Early career:...
's song "Are You Sincere." In spring 2008 Cloud was featured in a TV, billboard and print ad campaign for Budweiser beer
Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)
Budweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
in the UK.
Recognition and awards
In 2004 Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power were nominated for a Nashville Scene Music Award in the Rock/Experimental category.External links
- Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power (official Web site)
- Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power at Fire RecordsFire Records (UK)Fire Records is an independent record label in London, England. The label was founded by Clive Solomon in 1986 and is currently run by James Nicholls.-Current roster:*Giant Sand*Guided By Voices*Howe Gelb*Josephine Foster*Wooden Wand*Bobby Conn...