Dave Mello was the drummer of the punk

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...

/ska

Ska

Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

 band Operation Ivy

Operation Ivy (band)

Operation Ivy was an American ska punk band that formed in Berkeley, California, and was often credited with spurring the 1990s punk revival in California. It is well-known as one of the first bands to "mix" hardcore punk with elements of ska, known as ska-core...

. He was one of the key pieces to the musical feel of Operation Ivy.

Operation Ivy's first show was held in Mello's garage in Albany, California

Albany, California

Albany is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. The population was 18,539 at the 2010 census.-History:In 1908, a group of local women protested the dumping of Berkeley garbage in their community...

. He played for them only two years. They broke up in 1989 because of unwanted attention. Before Operation Ivy, he was in Rabbi Conspiracy and Distorted Truth and after Operation Ivy disbanded, Dave went on to bands like Downfall

Downfall (band)

Downfall was a ska and punk band from the Bay Area formed by Tim Armstrong, Matt Freeman, Dave Mello, Pat Mello, and Jason Hammon following the break-up of Operation Ivy in 1989 and pre-dating Armstrong's and Freeman's wider recognition in Rancid...

 and Schlong (with his brother Pat Mello).
In addition, Dave has toured with many bands as a stand-in. He also got a signature drumstick model by the Bulgarian company, Twotone Drumsticks.

Today, he lives in the East Bay area with his wife Sarah and young son, Maxwell. While still pursuing his musical projects, Dave regularly appears at the all ages punk club 924 Gilman Street

924 Gilman Street

924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, not for profit, collectively organized music club usually referred to by its fans simply as "The Gilman." It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California about a mile and a half west of the North Berkeley BART station and a quarter-mile west of San...

 and plays guitar with the band Jewdriver, and does some reunion shows with Schlong.