dave aernidave aerni
David
Lee Aerni, name-checked as Dave Aerni on the cover of "Freak Out!"
(1966) under the heading "These People Have Contributed Materially In Many
Ways To Make Our Music What It Is. Please Do Not Hold It Against Them",
also known as David Songbird and David Lee, was a singer and a bass player. He
began his musical career after his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1961. It
all started as an apprentice in Paul Buff's "Pal" recording studio in
Cucamonga, California, where had the privilege of working with not only Paul
Buff (also name-checked on the cover of "Freak Out!"), but also FZ,
Ray Collins, and other "fine" musicians. Aerni is the mostly
"forgotten" co-writer of Love Of My Life, a track on the Cruising With
Ruben & The Jets (1968) album, released as a pre-MOI, Ron Roman recording
("Love of My Life / Tell Me"); he overdubbed on FZ's instrumental
tracks. He can be heard on the single "Heavies / The Cruncher" (1964,
Original Sound OS41) by The Rotations; both tracks can be found on Cucamonga
Years - The Early Works Of Frank Zappa (1962-1964).
He
managed a surfin' band called the "Tornadoes" and they had a top
selling record (recorded at a studio in Riverside) in Southern California for
several weeks running called "Bustin' Surfboards", which was in the
top 30's nationwide. The song, written by the Sanders brothers (Gerald, Jesse
and Norman) together with Leonard Delaney, can be heard on the "Pulp
Fiction" soundtrack (1994, MCA, MCD 11103); it was produced by Bob Irwin.
The song is also on Rhino's "Rock Instrumental, Volume 5: Surf" (1994,
R2 71605). According to the liner notes (by Dan Forte), it was a regional hit in
1962; historically it is regarded as the first reverb-soaked instrumental of the
idiom and the first single to feature a surf title (however, "Surfer's
Stomp" by The Mar-Kets preceded it by about 6 months). In Robert J.
Dalley's book, "Surfin' Guitars: Instrumental Surf Bands of the
Sixties" (1988, Surf Publications, 1996, Popular Culture, ISBN 1560750421),
bassist Gerald Sanders states that his brother, lead guitarist Norman, used an
Echophonic Tape Echo unit, not a reverb tank.
In
2010, Crossfire Publications released "Dave Aerni Presents The Best Of The
Aertaun, Daani, Ador & Daytone Labels" as well as the "Paul Buff
Presents..." series.
They feature a lot of the early recordings that Dave Aerni participated in.
from david aerni's home page, which is located at: http://www.homezen.com/ :
i began my musical career after my honorable discharge from the navy in 1961.
it all started as an apprentice in paul
buff's "pal" recording studio in cucamunga, california where i had
the privilege of working with not only paul,
but also frank zappa, ray
collins, and other fine musicians.
(paul buff now
is a business called paul c. buff inc. with the web site: http://www.white-lightning.com/
)
at another studio in riverside i recorded a surfin' band called the
"tornadoes" and we had a top selling record in southern california for
several weeks running called "bustin' surfboards", which was in the
top 30's nationwide. i co-produced the 45 record with the taunton brothers from
upland. we also produced surfin' dances at the local armory featuring not only
the "tornadoes", but also the "beachboys" and "dick
dale and the daletones".
while working at paul's studio i recorded a rock-a-billy artist named bobby ray
who needed a bass player for a gig he had in san bernardino. i had played rhythm
guitar about ten years and felt i could handle the bass, so i took the job.
bobby was a fine singer, but had a problem with bennies (benzadrine) and soon
lost his job because he was unable to sing.
bass players were (and still are) in demand, so i soon had another job backing
another vocalist, sonny wilson. about a month after my new job began on a
saturday night, sonny took off for nashville with no notice, leaving us (johnny
strange or wayne charvel on guitar, and a drummer, whose name i can't remember -
the back-up band) to perform. johnny and i were determined to keep this gig
because it was the hot spot in "berdo", so we bit the bullet and
started singing. we succeeded, and kept the job for quite a time.
during the next few years i played bass with artists like don underwood, eddie
kay (klinkhammer), ray peterson, sammy hagar, ike and tina
turner, the coasters, jimmy reed, and john lee hooker. in the '70's i found
myself in san fransisco with sammy hagar playing at the red velvet backing some
of these artists. the drummer and myself got busted for smoking marijuana. the
drummer freaked out on the street in front of a policeman who came to the
drummer's room in our hotel. his room and mine were joined by a bathroom, and
the police followed their nose into my room and arrested me.
while i was in jail for a month, sammy hit it hot with "montrose" and
never looked back. when i finally hit the street again i had enough of the big
city and headed north to sonoma county. i started playing bass with an acid-rock
band called the "immaculate contraption" (mark ryan, bob bellezza,
curt paulson, and minah baker) and lived in the rehearsal barn near sebastopol
at a farm called "om hollow". an electric heater shorted out while i
was in the main house causing the barn to burn to the ground. not only did the
band and myself lose all of our equipment, but i lost all my personal
belongings.
from insurance money i bought a couple of accoustic guitars, teamed up with a
lady by the name of c. c. dawn (wilcoxen), and began playing folk music. we
appeared at the renaissance faire in marin county, then headed south to l.a. to
play in the faire there (smile). by the end of the faire we were no longer a
team and i headed back to sonoma as a solo
folk singer.
for several years i traveled from southern california to oregon to
cincinatti singing in coffee houses, street corners, rainbow family gatherings,
and to just about anyone who cared to listen. at the rainbow family gathering in
wyoming i acquired the name "songbird", which i added to my first name
and called myself "david songbird". i finally decided to go to school
at sonoma state college while taking advantage of my g.i. bill.
soon after starting school i met tom oleari, who was a great songwriter, and i
decided to form a band called "smokin'". the band was moderately
successful in northern california selling an e.p. record and touring around the
area. the original band consisted of tom on guitar, ira bennett on piano, jeremy
cohen on fiddle, and steve puleo on drums.
the only classes i was interested in were music and expressive arts. one of my
professors in the music department was arthur hills. arthur left a lasting
impression on my life. he was my guru, friend, and teacher. much of what i
consider good about myself was because of his influence. i feel very fortunate
to have had him in my life.
while in school i had the opportunity to produce a couple of television shows
for kqed in an fransisco. the first was the "marijuana medicine show"
during the time when the marijuana initiative was in politics; then a show
called "music around the world", which featured many different
cultures of music in one program.
after 5 years of school i felt i had learned all i could from the institution. i
met david sharp who was a disk jockey on a local (santa rosa) radio station, who
gave me a job in his record store "the wooden nickle" in sonoma,
rented a room at his home, and drummed for the band.
( david sharp is still a disk jockey in the area and writes a great column
called the "global music notes" - music reviews of music from around
the world. his web site is located at: global notes. or e-mail david sharp at: dhsharp645@aol.com
)
this is where i met my wife cheryl. shortly after we were married we moved to
eugene, oregon to have a better place to raise her 3 children. two weeks after i
arrived in eugene i was working in a bar playing music with a country band. i
changed my stage name to david lee, which was more acceptable to working in a
bar band. that was in the early '80's.
i had the opportunity to play with some fine musicians during the next 12 years.
i started playing with kit pray - vocals, joe evans - guitar, and bruce indicot
- drums; then (not necessarily in the following order) with linda
gee/marcum/evans - vocals, drums; dave & cathy clark - guitars, vocals; mike
anderson - vocals, guitar; pat thurlow - drums, vocals; scott cagle - guitar,
vocals; jimmy dupree - drums; neil grandstaff - guitar, vocals; stan becraft -
drums; billy mccoy - guitar, vocals; dave cooper - guitar, vocals; john fohl -
guitar, vocals; larry blom - steel guitar; petrene moreland - vocals; and mike
reed - harmonica; and nameless others that have slipped into the past.
three years have now passed since i decided i no longer wanted to play music in
bars and stopped hussling gigs. about the same time cheryl and i moved to
douglas county, oregon and i've found a fine blues & classic rock band to
express my music in. they are called "homebrew" and perform casual
gigs around the area.
dave aerni started his musical carreer as an apprentice in paul buff's
"pal" recording studio in cucamunga, california. at the studio
he worked a.o. with frank zappa and
ray collins.
info from david aerni's home page:
an interview with patrick neve
discography
| tornadoes: bustin' surfboards (196??, ??) - producer |
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| ron
roman: love of my life / tell me
(1963, 7", usa, daani) - the a-side was co-written by frank zappa; frank zappa also plays on this track |
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| the bongo
teens and preston epps: surfin' bongos (1963, lp, usa, original sound osr-lpm 5009) - the bongo teens = paul buff and dave aerni |
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| the
rotations: heavies / the cruncher
(1964, 7"dj, usa, original sound) - produced by frank zappa |
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| tornadoes- bustin' surfboards (1993, ??) - producer |
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| various artists: cowabunga! the surf box (1996, ??) - multi instruments, producer |
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| the
tornadoes: beyond the surf (1999, cd, usa, sundazed) - includes tracks that were engineered by frank zappa (in 1962 !) |
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the
tornadoes: charge of the tornadoes |
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| the bongo
teens & preston epps: surfin' bongos (mono) (2010, download, -, crossfire publications) - the bongo teens = paul buff and dave aerni ; including various bonus tracks ; feat. frank zappa |
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| the bongo
teens & preston epps: surfin' bongos (stereo) (2010, download, -, crossfire publications) - the bongo teens = paul buff and dave aerni ; including various bonus tracks ; feat. frank zappa |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.1 |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.2 |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.3 |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.4 |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.5 (2010, download, -, crossfire publications) - feat.contributions by frank zappa |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.6 (2010, download, -, crossfire publications) - feat.contributions by frank zappa |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.7 (2010, download, -, crossfire publications) - feat.contributions by frank zappa |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.8 (2010, download, -, crossfire publications) - feat.contributions by frank zappa |
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| various
artists: dave aerni
presents the best of the aertaun, daani, ador & daytone labels (2010, download, -, crossfire publications) - feat.contributions by frank zappa |
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various artists: paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives: the collection (2011, flash-drive, usa, crossfire publications) = the complete 35 album series, with bonus liner notes on pdf and 56 extra tracks |
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frank zappa:
masked turnip cyclophony (2015, cd, uk, gonzo multimedia) |
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| frank zappa: masked
turnip cyclophony (2016, 2lp, uk, let them eat vinyl letv408lp) = reissue of the 2015 cd with a slightly altered album cover |
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