Dave Pirner
Encyclopedia
David Anthony "Dave" Pirner (born April 16, 1964, Green Bay, Wisconsin
, United States
) is an American
songwriter
, singer, and producer
best known for being the lead vocalist and frontman for the alternative rock
/grunge band
, Soul Asylum
.
. He taught himself how to play the drums
. By age 20, Pirner started his career drumming with a punk band
called Loud Fast Rules as part of the Minneapolis scene, together with Karl Mueller
(bass) and Dan Murphy
(guitar). When Pirner switched to singing and playing rhythm guitar
, Pat Morley joined on drums. Morley was later replaced by Grant Young, and the band changed their name to Soul Asylum. After touring the United States
for a number of years they gathered a cult following of fans, but did not quite reach commercial visibility. Pirner at the time was the band's songwriter and he produced the album, Coup De Grace, by the Minneapolis metal
band the Coup de Grace in 1990.
and Vh1
with the 1992 single, "Runaway Train", followed by another hit song, "Black Gold
"; both from their album, Grave Dancers Union
. Both albums began charting respectably themselves, with Grave Dancer's Union, and a change from the band's initial drummer, Grant Young to that of Sterling Campbell
went on to sell more than two million copies. Radio host Eddie Trunk
said in an episode of Vh1 Classic
turntables that Pirner was a songwriter
he marveled.
As Soul Asylum grew in popularity, Pirner was seen guesting on albums of differing genre
s, including artists like Paul Westerberg
, Jason Karaban
, Mike Watt
, The Autumn Defense
and Victoria Williams
. His disheveled appearance, blonde matted dreadlocks made an unmistakable impression on fans and critics alike; making Pirner eaasily recognized and associating the band with the grunge rock scene.
By 1999, Soul Asylum went into hiatus, after making 1998's Candy from a Stranger
, which sold the fewest number of copies of the three (after Grave Dancers Union and Let Your Dim Light Shine
(1995), which yielded the big hits "Misery
" and "Just Like Anyone
"). But after four years, Soul Asylum reunited and started writing songs in the studio
. Bassist Karl Mueller died on June 17, 2005, at the age of 42 from esophageal cancer
. About a year after his death, Soul Asylum released their most recent album The Silver Lining on Legacy Recordings
, which was dedicated to Mueller. About half the songs on the album were recorded with the late bassist, such as "Lately", "Slowly Rising" and "Standing Water". The first hit from this album was "Stand Up And Be Strong". Soul Asylum toured with their new line-up, which consisted of Pirner on guitar and vocals, Dan Murphy
on lead guitar, Michael Bland
on drums and Tommy Stinson
on bass (as well as John Fields standing in on bass and piano for Mueller). Zen Valo also quotes Pirner as "One of the best Singer/Songwriters to come out of Minnesota since Prince".
Pirner became noteworthy for his personal life as much for his music. He dated film
celebrity
Winona Ryder
and subsequently made a cameo appearance in her 1994 film Reality Bites
. Pirner was also a part of the all-star band assembled for the soundtrack of the 1994 film Backbeat
. Pirner also contributed to the soundtrack of Kevin Smith
's 1997 film Chasing Amy
. The song "Can't Even Tell" is featured in Smith's Clerks
, and Smith used "Misery" in the sequel, Clerks II
.
In 2002 Pirner released his first solo album entitled Faces & Names
on Ultimatum Music. He also contributed guest vocals on the song "Chillout Tent" in The Hold Steady
's 2006 release, Boys and Girls in America
.
Pirner lived in Bywater
, New Orleans
, Louisiana
for a time and still maintains a residence and recording studio in New Orleans.
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, singer, and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
best known for being the lead vocalist and frontman for the alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
/grunge band
Grunge music
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
, Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...
.
Biography
By the time he was 17, Pirner was living and working in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. He taught himself how to play the drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
. By age 20, Pirner started his career drumming with a punk band
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...
called Loud Fast Rules as part of the Minneapolis scene, together with Karl Mueller
Karl Mueller
Karl Mueller was an American rock musician. He was the bass player and a founding member of the Minneapolis Alternative Rock band, Soul Asylum....
(bass) and Dan Murphy
Dan Murphy
Dan Murphy is best known as the guitarist for the American band, Soul Asylum. He is also a member of Golden Smog.-History:...
(guitar). When Pirner switched to singing and playing rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, Pat Morley joined on drums. Morley was later replaced by Grant Young, and the band changed their name to Soul Asylum. After touring the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for a number of years they gathered a cult following of fans, but did not quite reach commercial visibility. Pirner at the time was the band's songwriter and he produced the album, Coup De Grace, by the Minneapolis metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band the Coup de Grace in 1990.
Commercial success
The band achieved commercial success and visibility on MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and Vh1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
with the 1992 single, "Runaway Train", followed by another hit song, "Black Gold
Black Gold (song)
"Black Gold" is a 1993 single performed by the Minneapolis rock band Soul Asylum. It, along with the band's more famous hit "Runaway Train", helped bring their album, Grave Dancers Union to a multi-platinum level....
"; both from their album, Grave Dancers Union
Grave Dancers Union
Grave Dancers Union is the official sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band Soul Asylum, released in 1992...
. Both albums began charting respectably themselves, with Grave Dancer's Union, and a change from the band's initial drummer, Grant Young to that of Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell in New York City, New York, is an American rock drummer who has worked with numerous high-profile acts. He rose to attention in 1986, touring with Cyndi Lauper on her her True Colors World Tour, in 1986, and in 1987, joined Duran Duran...
went on to sell more than two million copies. Radio host Eddie Trunk
Eddie Trunk
Eddie Trunk is an American music historian, radio personality, talk show host, and author best known as the host of several hard rock and heavy metal themed radio and television shows.- Current work :...
said in an episode of Vh1 Classic
VH1 Classic
VH1 Classic is a television network, launched on May 8, 2000. It is operated as part of MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom and primarily features music videos and concert footage from the 1970s through the mid-1990s, though it formerly included a wider range of genres and time periods...
turntables that Pirner was a songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
he marveled.
As Soul Asylum grew in popularity, Pirner was seen guesting on albums of differing genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s, including artists like Paul Westerberg
Paul Westerberg
Paul Westerberg is an American musician, best known as the former lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter of The Replacements, one of the seminal alternative rock bands of the 1980s. He launched a solo career after the dissolution of that band...
, Jason Karaban
Jason Karaban
Jason Karaban is an American singer-songwriter and musician living in Los Angeles, California. Karaban first began his career fronting the Philadelphia based indie rock band Dragstrip Courage in 1997, and Grand in 2000. He emerged as a solo artist with the release of Doomed to Make Choices, in...
, Mike Watt
Mike Watt
Michael David Watt is an American bassist, singer and songwriter.He is best known for co-founding the rock bands Minutemen, dos, and Firehose; , he is also the bassist for the reunited Stooges and a member of the art rock/jazz/punk/improv group Banyan as well as many other post-Minutemen...
, The Autumn Defense
The Autumn Defense
The Autumn Defense is an indie band composed of multi-instrumentalists John Stirratt and Pat Sansone.-History:The Autumn Defense began as a side project for John Stirratt, best known for his work as bassist for alt-country bands Wilco and Uncle Tupelo...
and Victoria Williams
Victoria Williams
Victoria Williams is an American singer-songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. She is noted for her descriptive songwriting talent, which she has used to immerse the listener of her songs into a...
. His disheveled appearance, blonde matted dreadlocks made an unmistakable impression on fans and critics alike; making Pirner eaasily recognized and associating the band with the grunge rock scene.
By 1999, Soul Asylum went into hiatus, after making 1998's Candy from a Stranger
Candy From a Stranger
Candy from a Stranger is Soul Asylum's eighth studio album. It was released on May 12, 1998 . It is the follow-up to the 1995 studio release Let Your Dim Light Shine....
, which sold the fewest number of copies of the three (after Grave Dancers Union and Let Your Dim Light Shine
Let Your Dim Light Shine
Let Your Dim Light Shine is an album from 1995 from the band Soul Asylum. Critically, it suffered in comparison to its predecessor, Grave Dancers Union, the band's breakout release...
(1995), which yielded the big hits "Misery
Misery (Soul Asylum song)
"Misery" is a 1995 song performed by the Minneapolis rock band Soul Asylum. Although Let Your Dim Light Shine critically suffered in comparison to its predecessor, Grave Dancers Union, the single, "Misery", reached number 20 on The Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in...
" and "Just Like Anyone
Just Like Anyone (song)
"Just Like Anyone" is a 1995 song by American alternative rock band Soul Asylum from their seventh album, Let Your Dim Light Shine. Written by lead singer Dave Pirner and produced by the band with Butch Vig, the song was released as the album's second single. It entered the singles charts in Canada...
"). But after four years, Soul Asylum reunited and started writing songs in the studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
. Bassist Karl Mueller died on June 17, 2005, at the age of 42 from esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
. About a year after his death, Soul Asylum released their most recent album The Silver Lining on Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
, which was dedicated to Mueller. About half the songs on the album were recorded with the late bassist, such as "Lately", "Slowly Rising" and "Standing Water". The first hit from this album was "Stand Up And Be Strong". Soul Asylum toured with their new line-up, which consisted of Pirner on guitar and vocals, Dan Murphy
Dan Murphy
Dan Murphy is best known as the guitarist for the American band, Soul Asylum. He is also a member of Golden Smog.-History:...
on lead guitar, Michael Bland
Michael Bland
Michael Bland is best known as a drummer for Prince starting in 1989. He was with Prince during The New Power Generation era and played with him live and on albums for 7 years....
on drums and Tommy Stinson
Tommy Stinson
Thomas "Tommy" Eugene Stinson is an American musician best known for his work as the bassist for The Replacements and Guns N' Roses as well as the post-Replacements groups Bash & Pop, where he performed guitar duties, and Perfect...
on bass (as well as John Fields standing in on bass and piano for Mueller). Zen Valo also quotes Pirner as "One of the best Singer/Songwriters to come out of Minnesota since Prince".
Pirner became noteworthy for his personal life as much for his music. He dated film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
and subsequently made a cameo appearance in her 1994 film Reality Bites
Reality Bites
Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and featuring the directorial debut of Ben Stiller. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with major supporting roles played by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film was shot on location in Austin...
. Pirner was also a part of the all-star band assembled for the soundtrack of the 1994 film Backbeat
Backbeat (film)
Backbeat is a 1994 British-German drama film directed by Iain Softley. It chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon , and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr...
. Pirner also contributed to the soundtrack of Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
's 1997 film Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....
. The song "Can't Even Tell" is featured in Smith's Clerks
Clerks
Clerks is a 1994 independent comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film as Silent Bob. Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances...
, and Smith used "Misery" in the sequel, Clerks II
Clerks II
Clerks II is a 2006 American comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, sequel to his 1994 film Clerks, and his sixth and latest feature film to be set in the View Askewniverse...
.
In 2002 Pirner released his first solo album entitled Faces & Names
Faces & Names
Faces & Names is Dave Pirner's first solo studio album. It was released in the United States on July 30, 2002.-Track listing:All songs written by Dave Pirner.#"Teach Me To Breathe" – 3:46#"Never Recover" – 3:45#"Faces & Names" – 4:21...
on Ultimatum Music. He also contributed guest vocals on the song "Chillout Tent" in The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
's 2006 release, Boys and Girls in America
Boys and Girls in America
Boys and Girls in America is the third studio album by The Hold Steady, released on October 3, 2006 by Vagrant Records.On August 18, 2006, first single "Chips Ahoy!" was released as a free download from music site Pitchfork Media...
.
Pirner lived in Bywater
Bywater, New Orleans
Bywater is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Florida Avenue to the north, the Industrial Canal to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Franklin Avenue Street to the west...
, New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
for a time and still maintains a residence and recording studio in New Orleans.
External links
- Dave Pirner at MinneWiki
- The Soul Asylum Band Files are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society.