Benjamin Darvill (born January 4, 1967), known by his stage name Son of Dave, is a Canadian musician and singer–songwriter, based in the United Kingdom. He was a member of Grammy award-nominated, Juno award-winning folk rock band Crash Test Dummies in which he played harmonica, mandolin, guitar and percussion before returning to his blues, Beat-Box and harmonica driven solo work in 2000.[1]
Son of Dave | |
|---|---|
 Benjamin Darvill as Son of Dave in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Benjamin Darvill |
| Born | January 4, 1967 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Rock, folk rock, blues |
| Occupation(s) | Singer–songwriter, musician |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, harmonica, mandolin, guitar, percussion |
| Years active | 1989 – present |
| Website | Official site |
Son of Dave was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was inspired to learn the harmonica after hearing James Cotton and Sonny Terry play at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.[2]
He moved to London, England, in 1998 and has remained there since.[3] Son of Dave has recorded six albums to date and performed over eight hundred shows across Europe, as well as performing in Canada, the United States, Australia, South Africa, Uganda, Japan, Russia, and Cuba.
Son of Dave appeared on BBC television's Later...with Jools Holland in 2005, performing the song "Hellhound", before recording the song a few years later on the album O3.
His 2003 album O2 has been described as a mix of "cotton-pickin’ blues, vocalising beat-box, hard-breathing folk, steamy funk and even modern R&B".[4]
A song from O2, "Devil Take My Soul", which features chorus vocal by Martina Topley-Bird, was featured in the Warner Bros film, License to Wed, starring Robin Williams.
In 2010, the track "Shake A Bone" from the album of the same title, recorded by Steve Albini, was featured on season 3 episode 11 of Breaking Bad.
In 2010, Son of Dave and his song "Revolution Town" were featured in a commercial for the search engine Bing.[5] The commercial, using a first-person perspective, shows Son of Dave using Bing and his Windows-enabled phone to travel to his own concert at the Someday Lounge in Portland, OR.
In 2016, the track "Voodoo Doll" from the album Shake A Bone was featured as the last song in the first episode of Preacher, an AMC series based on the comic book of the same title.
Discography edit
Son of Dave edit
- B. Darvill's Wild West Show (1999) Kartel 019
- O1 (2000) Kartel 002
- O2 (2006) Kartel 003
- O3 (2008) Kartel 013
- Shake a Bone (2010) Kartel 023
- Blues at the Grand (2013) Kartel SOD001
- Explosive Hits (2016) Goddamn Records SOD002
- Music for Cop Shows (2017) Goddamn Records SOD003
- Call Me a Cab (2021) Goddamn Records SOD004
- Call Me King (2022) Goddamn Records SOD005
Crash Test Dummies edit
- The Ghosts That Haunt Me (1991)
- God Shuffled His Feet (1993)
- A Worm's Life (1996)
- Give Yourself a Hand (1999)
References edit
- ^ "Benjamin Darvill". Xtreme Musician. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
- ^ Thomas H. Green (4 April 2008). "Son of Dave: a suitcase and a harmonica". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
- ^ "Son of Dave". NME. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
- ^ Daniel Brown (April 2007). "O2". Mondomix. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
- ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2022.