Dave Harrison - Producer/Musician

Dave Harrison is well-known as an extremely talented musician in his own right.  We are preparing an in-depth biography about his musical accomplishments.  However, until that is finished, you may enjoy reading an interview from several years ago...  found on Edwin.com several years ago.  Have fun, and watch for an updated Bio soon!  Thanks for your patience!  REMEMBER, this is an old article...
 

• What is your current equipment list?

YAMAHA BIRCH CUSTOM (Absolute Plum Finish)

22" X 16" kick drum

12" X 10" tom

14" X 12" tom

16" X 14" tom

14" X 6 1/2" maple snare drum

14" X 3" brass snare drum

cymbals: ZILDJIAN

20" K custom ride

19" K thin dark crash (brilliant)

18" A thin crash

17" K thin dark crash (brilliant)

20" A swish (w/3 rivets)

14" A bottom hi-hat (brilliant)

14" K special dark top hi-hat

sticks: VIC FIRTH DRUMSTICKS, INC.

American classic 5a or 5b wood tips

rakes, brushes, bams, mallets

electric and misc. percussion:
DRUM KAT 3.8 midi controller

ROLAND R-8 drum machine

AKAI S-2000 sampler

AFRO conga and tumba

• What has your musical training been and how does that continue to help you now?

I started studying percussion in fifth grade and I continued through high school and college. I picked up my degree from West Virginia University. I studied with Gary Chaffee in Boston for a short period of time. I also studied with Rande Sanderbeck. I studied general percussion with Phil Faini at WVU. He has always been a huge influence.  

That continues to help me because I have a pretty deep well from which to draw. This especially helps me in the studio. It just gives me a lot of depth.

• How did you meet Edwin? And what made you want to get into a band with him?

I met Edwin when Craig was playing with them before they got signed. They came by the Exit/In in Nashville. Craig called and said that they were playing the next night and to come on by. So, I brought a bunch of percussion stuff and sat in. Later, they called me on a Tuesday night and said, 'Can you be in Cincinnati tomorrow with the show learned, no rehearsal and go for two weeks?' And I said, 'Yeah, absolutely.' We started a great musical and personal friendship.

• What CDs would someone currently find in your changer?
   

Francis Dunnery’s "Let’s Go Do What Happens" — an epic

Kid Rock — are you kidding me or what?

Elvis Costello’s "Mighty as a Rose" — Jim Keltner is so slinky

Sheriff Reno Hamilton — my buddy Eric Hamilton drinking moonshine and doing bluegrass versions of The Cars, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin — killer stuff

Tom Petty’s "Wildflowers" — distilled simplicity — Steve Ferrone is a genius

• Who are your influences?

My earliest influence as a drummer was Nigel Olsson who played with the Elton John band all through the 70's. Anything Elton John is cool with me. I think he is the greatest songwriter ... of my generation, anyway. Especially the stuff in the 70’s. It's very similar to our situation. It was marketed as Elton John, but it was very much a band. It was always the same guys. They played on all the records, they did all the vocals. They didn't bring in session players. They stayed intact for a decade. As I became interested in other styles of music, I discovered other drummers like David Garibaldi from Tower of Power, Steve Gadd, Ritchie Hayward and Steve Ferrone from the Average White Band.

• Throughout the years, you have collected and enjoyed playing many different kinds of funky percussion instruments. In fact, there was even a garden weasel played on the Misguided Roses album. What kind of great percussion surprises are on the Messenger CD?
   

I play a cajone — which is a Peruvian instrument. You can hear that on the down beats and the back beats on "Ghosts of Jackson Square" and on the loop for "I Could Not Ask For More." The cajone is basically a plywood box, but it has one side that is very thin where you get your bottom end, and the other side is for the top end. I played the udu as well — which is a clay pot. I also purchased a shakere. I play that on "See off this Mountain" and "Wish In This World."

• If you were to write an autobiography, what would it be titled?

Drum Luck

• How was the studio experience different for Messenger than it was for Misguided Roses?
   

With Messenger, it was different in that we had a much clearer idea of how we wanted to make the record. We made Misguided Roses for the most part in Matt Rollings’ basement. So for me, the biggest change was having a drum room. And that makes all the difference in the world. We miked the drums like we normally do — with overhead mics and closed mics on each component. And we also miked the drums at 25 feet and 35 feet away. It was a little more professional. We had a wealth of resources at our fingertips. Another huge thing for us was having Bob Clearmountain booked in advance to mix the CD.

I also give tremendous credit to Rich Crabtree and Dean Harrison (Harrington Management) for creating the environment for making the kind of record that we wanted to make. That is not easy to do. They really worked hard to put all of the pieces into place so that we could make this record.

Dave Harrison was born and raised in West Virginia. He graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in applied music. He currently lives in Nashville, TN and plays double bogey golf.