Sidewalk Dave bring their psychedelic-inflected indie rock to the Best Video Performance Space on Thursday, Mar. 7. The cover charge for this show is $5 and the music starts at 8 PM.
Sidewalk Dave is led by singer/guitarist/songwriter Dave Van Witt. Van Witt resists describing his music, preferring to that the listener “listen and decide for yourself. There has never been an overarching influence or ‘you sound like’ that has been consistent or meaningful to me, so I will not mislead you with my own opinions of myself.”
He is willing to divulge some biographical info, including the origin of the name “Sidewalk Dave”:
In seventh grade I was kicked out of band class for improvising during concerts we would put on for all the parents. After a few failed punk bands (one aptly named Formula For Failure) I began writing my own songs on a cheap guitar. Learn a chord, write a song, learn a second chord, write two songs, and on and on. I used to burn the nerves out of my playing fingers to strengthen my callouses and allow me to practice longer each day. Right after my sixteenth birthday my mother moved to Kansas City to get re-married. After living in seven different towns between Belgium, Switzerland, Iowa, North Carolina, and Connecticut, I decided to stay put and ride out high school on the grace of friends and their families. Often, I would get some beer and play on the sidewalks to keep from bothering my hosts. One fateful evening a friend yelled from a passenger-side window, “Sidewalk Dave!” The name somehow followed me to college, and after my pretentious prog-rock band fell apart (due to my arrest for possession of LSD), I needed a name to release the music I continued to work on by my lonesome. Four albums later, I’m still learning what it is to become a man through the persona and stage name, Sidewalk Dave.
Writing at CT.com, Chip McCabe listed Sidewalk Dave’s 2012 album “Hard On Romance” among his albums of the year. According to McCabe:
This album just seethes a nasty vibe and sound that you would expect to hear emanating from the best dive bars in the bowels of the most artistic cities. I hate calling a band’s efforts “mature” because that implies their previous work is, what, “immature”? But this really is a band that continues to grow and expand their sound so that every new album is their best. The Blues play a big influence here but it’s just one coat of paint over a canvas of sounds that draw from such varied artists as The Stooges, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Sonic Youth, Weezer and even moments of Pink Floyd just to name a few. However you want to classify it though (I’ve seen “rock”, “folk rock”, “alt rock”, etc.) doesn’t really matter because whatever label you try to put on this band they will always transcend it. This album is no exception.
Check out Sidewalk Dave’s video for their song “Sinister Things”:
UPCOMING PERFORMANCE SPACE EVENTS:
• Saturday, Mar. 9. ACOUSTIC CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC: HADE & WILLIAMS
• Wednesday, Mar. 13. ACOUSTIC BLUES & ROCK: NOAH KESSELMAN
• Thursday, Mar. 14. WINE TASTING with KARL RONNE from THE WINE THIEF
• Wednesday, Mar. 20. JAZZ: DAVID CHEVAN
• Thursday, Mar. 21. INDIE GARAGE ROCK: GHOST OF CHANCE
• Sunday, Mar. 24. READINGS: JOEANN HART & MATT DEBENHAM
• Wednesday, Mar. 27. PUNK ROCK: STARK RAVING LULU
• Thursday, Mar. 28. FILM SCREENING: STEPHEN DEST’S “MY BROTHER JACK”
• Wednesday, Apr. 3. INDIE ROCK: LYS GUILLORN BAND
• Thursday, Apr. 4. CLASSICAL: HAVEN STRING QUARTET
• Wednesday, Apr. 10. BLUEGRASS: RAGWEED
• Thursday, Apr. 11. SINGER-SONGWRITER: ANNE MARIE MENTA BAND
• Wednesday, Apr. 17. SINGER-SONGWRITER: ESTHER GOLTON
• Monday, Apr. 22. FILM SCREENING FOR “WHAT WOULD YOU DO?” SERIES: “WALK ON WATER”
