Nearfest->Saturday : Bob Drake

Bob Drake is part of the State's progressive prog movement(that is to say avant prog), descendents of Europe's Rock In Opposition legacy. He's been part of many groups I dig, such as Thinking Plague. He was joined by David Campbell on bass and drum master Dave Kerman.

To be honest, I wasn’t familiar with Bob Drake’s solo efforts. While he played guitar and briefly a purposely out-of-tune violin, I believe this was mostly a tongue-in-cheek experiment. Drake’s voice at times is a high alto, and often (like in 5uu’s) reminds me of what might have happened if Chris Cutler invited Jon Anderson to join Henry Cow instead of Dagmar Krause(like that would've happened!). Unfortunately, Drake's vocals seemed to have been mixed below the music and were very muddled.

Dave Kerman (whom I’ve seen drum many a time with both Present and Thinking Plague) stole the show. He had what looked to be a basic beginner’s drum kit, at least, to my untrained eyes. But he put IZZ’s two drummers to shame! But what else can you expect from someone called on to fill Daniel Dennis’s role as he did while touring with Present? When he drummed, it was amazing. To be frank, it was the only thing musically I enjoyed about the set.

Yes, Dave Kerman will fool you, with rinky-dink drums and coming out in a bathrobe and a pillow, sleeping on his kit through half the set. But when he turned his lamp on, it was time for business! Underneath the veneer of humor and the act of not taking oneself too seriously, is a fierce musician. A lesser drummer couldn’t get away with it.