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David Kendrick

David Kendrick

David Kendrick was the fourth drummer for DEVO, replacing Alan Myers.

Pre-DEVO[]

David Kendrick had "a very loud drum set in my bedroom" as a youth and "was in bands outside of school".ref Dave was in an artistic family that encouraged his musical interest.
After being in several bands in the 70's Kendrick moved from the midwest to L.A. He formed "The Continental Miniatures" with Erick Ramon, Kevin McCarthy, Richard Bytner and Mattew Walker. They had a charting single (entered Billboard 1978-5-13 & reached #90) with a cover of Dusty Springfield's 1964 song "Stay Awhile." After interference in follow-up song selection they broke up. [1]
David joined Leslie Bohem's Los Angeles new wave band Bates Motel with Bob Haag and Alan Slater (after Bob Beland and the drummer left). Kendrick and Bohem were recruited to join the band Sparks and performed with them from 1981 through 1985, recording three albums.
While they were members of Sparks, Kendrick and Bohem formed the side project Gleaming Spires with members of the Sparks backing band and had a hit with the single Are You Ready for the Sex Girls? from their 1981 album Songs of the Spires. Gleaming Spires broke up in 1985, around the same time as the dissolution of that Sparks line-up.

With DEVO[]

David Kendrick joined DEVO in 1987, and recorded songs with the band for the film Slaughterhouse Rock. He performed on the albums Total DEVO and Smooth Noodle Maps, as well as playing live with the band at all their shows from 1988 to 1991 and occasionally thereafter (Josh Freese became the main live drummer for DEVO in 1996.)
David has also played on DEVO recordings made after 1990. alt.fan.devo post 2005-08-18 07:25:42 UTC
Following the 1991 breakup of DEVO, David Kendrick worked briefly for Mutato Muzika. Everybody but Jerry worked for Mutato, too. When DEVO reformed David continued to contribute his drumming to the band.
David appears with DEVO in the 1996 CD-ROM game Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol.
David was brought in on occasion to perform live when Freese was unavailable, including the 2002 event with Daniel Lanois being the other scheduled entertainer,07/27/02. the 2003 tour of Japan and the 2004 Run Hit Wonder performances.
Devotionals[]
David has regularly appeared at Devo fan "Devotional" gatherings.
At the 2005 DEVOtional he answered questions during a Q & A session, and performed "Happy Guy" with Spudboys during the DEV-O-ke set. [2]
David was a special guest at the 2015 DEVOtional, which broke attendance records. David spoke, signed autographs and played drums with some DEVOtees at a 7 p.m. performance. [3]
He was a special guest at the 2017 DEVOtional which again broke attendance records. David spoke to fans, signed autographs and performed "DEVO Has Feelings Too" with Malcom Tent, "Are You Ready For the Sex Girls?" with Lt. Dance, "Spin the Wheel" with the Spudboys and "Beautiful World" with Jerry on bass and vocals.
David also attended the Devo 5k in Akron with Jerry.

Post-DEVO[]

David worked with singer Andy Prieboy in the rock musical "White Trash Wins Lotto," about "music in the Reagan years," and with Stan Ridgway 1 in a 2006 Wall of Voodoo performance. (They all played together on Ridgway's release Shine (Red Bead Follows Blue) 2.)
David is a founding member of and the songwriter for the long-running musical collective, Empire of Fun.
"My long running studio project is The Empire of Fun, which records many so called “concept projects.” I also work with Andy Prieboy and make long running punk rock hoedown music with Glen Meadmore, plus many many oddities that come my way. I still love live performance." - David Kendrick [4]
David joined the "protest band" Revolushn as a lyricist and drummer. He performs as "Dekay."[1]
David also joined Xiu Xiu as a full member for their 13th studio album "Ignore Grief," and contributed drums, percussion and lyrics. [5] He previously contributed drumming to Xiu Xiu's cover of The Chameleon's "Less Than Human."

Equipment[]

Drums, Percussion
  • Gear has included drums by Ludwig and Pearl, and cymbals by Zildjian and Paiste.
Dave uses size 5B drum sticks.

Discography[]

select discography

Sparks[]

Whomp That Sucker
Angst In My Pants
Outer Space
Pulling Rabbits Out Of A Hat
Profile: The Ultimate Sparks Collection (compilation)
Heaven Collection (compilation)
The Hell Collection (compilation)
New Music for Amnesiacs: The Ultimate Collection (compilation)
Sparks: The Sparks Brothers (Original Soundtrack) (compilation)

Gleaming Spires[]

Songs Of The Spires
Life Out On The Lawn 12"
Walk On Well Lighted Streets
Funk For Children / Party EP
Welcoming A New Ice Age
The Future Looks Brightest - Rarities and Orphans Volume 1 (Posh Boy Records compilation)
Trivia:

DEVO[]

Total DEVO
Now It Can Be Told: DEVO at the Palace 12/9/88   (live)
smoothnoodlemaps
Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology   (compilation)
Recombo DNA   (compilation)

the empire of fun[]

The Blue Head [8]
Classics of Enduring Elegance [9]
It looks like Today Outside [10]
PRIMARILY, The Empire Of Fun Box Set   (compilation) [11]
Jeepers! [12]
Crime, Memory and Loss [13] [4]
CANdYPIE 2000
"I'm sorry Mr. Kendrick, there's a skull inside your head"(spoken word + music) [14] [15] [16]
Trivia:
  • The Empire of Fun has been a studio band, however they contributed the presentation “From the Mouths of Musicians” to Lit Crawl L.A. in 2015.[17] They included some beat poetry.[18] pic
  • Catasonic Studios had The Empire of Fun as a client. [19]

Revolushn[]

The Freshman
Further!!
3

Videography[]

select videography

Gleaming Spires[]

How To Get Girls Through Hypnotism
Are You Ready For The Sex Girls?
A Christian Girl's Problem
Funk For Children

DEVO[]

The Complete Truth About De-Evolution
Disco Dancer
Post Post-Modern Man
Post Post-Modern Man (Rocky Schenck remix)
Live In The Land Of The Rising Sun
- Live performance plus appearance in bonus features, including:
"David Kendrick Speaks" [20]

Revolushn[]

Spiral Galaxies
Electric
Weird Little Mind
Dinosaurs
Dogs Get High
Fly Me to the Moon
Vulcan Love Song
Martian Shanty Town

Cyberography[]

DEVO[]

Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol. CD-ROM Game. Credits - Cast.

Notes and References[]

  1. Archive.org. Blog. montesnewblog.blogspot.no/ 2013-12-10. Sparks Drummer Project (1): David Kendrick, 1981-1986! by Monte Mallin. Interview
  2. Booji Boys Basement. © 2005. "Oh, No! It's the DEVOtional! Time Out for Fun - 2005." By Alex Brunelle.
  3. Devo-Obsesso. DEVOtional 2015 Event Report by Michael Pilmer.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Dangerous Minds. (11.24.2014). Sparks, Christian girls, drugs & lemon meringue pie: Meet obscure new wavers Gleaming Spires. posted by Heather Drain.
  5. polyvinylrecords.com. (1.12.2023). Ignore Grief - Polyvinyl Records
  6. Futurismo Label Releases. Discogs.com
  7. Gleaming Spires. Omnivore Recordings.com
  8. The Blue Head archived product page. Tracklist and description. Entire website "Copyright © 2005-2011 DESPOT RECORDS. All rights reserved."
  9. Classics of Enduring Elegance archived product page. Tracklist and description.
  10. It looks like Today Outside archived product page. Tracklist and description.
  11. PRIMARILY, The Empire Of Fun Box Set archived product page. Tracklist and description.
  12. Jeepers! archived product page. Tracklist and description.
  13. (Crime, Memory and Loss) - "It's got Terry Reid, Lisa Germano, Russell Mael of course. Andy Prieboy, he was in Wall of Voodoo, he sings some songs too."Monte's One Stop Blog! Published December 10, 2013.
  14. "I'm sorry Mr. Kendrick, there's a skull inside your head"archived product page. Tracklist and description.
  15. theempireoffun com/content.html "despot" (select link to Despot Records page).
  16. Discogs. I'm Sorry Mr. Kendrick, There's a Skull Inside Your Head
  17. LitCrawlLA.org. Events (2015-10-24). “From the Mouths of Musicians” presented by the empire of fun. Primarily known for their musical output, these four Los Angeles folk also wear other hats, having published books of fiction, essay and film criticism. Local musician David Kendrick hosts “From the mouths of Musicians” whereupon four music folk who have been at it since the 1980s will each read selected works for 8 to 10 minutes and at least two will play a song. That other thing they do! Featuring Les Bohem, Johnette Napolitano, Chris Desjardins and David Kendrick.
  18. Sarah The Spectator (blog). (2015-11-9). Reading The Streets by Sarah The Spectator. My last stop was The Federal Bar to drink in From The Mouths of Musicians from the empire of fun. Music writers filled the dark back room speakeasy with music, stories, and beat poetry.
  19. Catasonic.com
  20. DailyMotion. Devo live rising sun extras 3: David Kendrick speaks. uploaded by Craze TV.


External Links[]

David Kendrick Artist - Discography -- Discogs
David Kendrick Person - Overview -- MusicBrainz
David Kendrick Credits -- AllMusic
David Kendrick Filmography -- IMDb


DEVO
Mark Mothersbaugh | Gerry Casale | Bob Mothersbaugh
Bob Lewis | Bob Casale | Jim Mothersbaugh | Alan Myers
David Kendrick | Josh Freese
Jeff Friedl | Josh Hager
Record Labels / Publishers
Booji Boy Records | Warner Brothers | Enigma | Devo, Inc. 
Stiff | Virgin | Rykodisk | Infinite Zero | Restless | Discovery | Rhino 
MVD Audio | The Orchard | Superior Viaduct | Futurismo
Production
Brian Eno | Ken Scott | Robert Margouleff | Roy Thomas Baker | DEVO 
The Teddybears | Greg Kurstin | Santi White | John King | John Hill | Mark Nishita 
Official Studio Albums
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978) | Duty Now For The Future (1979) | Freedom of Choice (1980) | New Traditionalists (1981) | oh, no! it's Devo (1982) | Shout (1984) | Total Devo (1988) | SmoothNoodleMaps (1990) | Something for Everybody   (2010)
Other Albums
Be Stiff EP (1978) | E-Z Listening Disc (1987) | Now It Can Be Told: DEVO at the Palace (1989) | Hardcore DEVO Vol. 1 74-77 (1990) | Hardcore DEVO Vol. 2 1974-1977 (1991) | DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years (1992) | DEV-O Live (1999) | Recombo DNA (2000) | Live In Central Park (2004) | DEVO Live 1980 (2005) | New Traditionalists: Live 1981 Seattle (2012) | Something ELSE for Everybody  (2013) | Miracle Witness Hour  (2014) | Live at Max's Kansas City - November 15, 1977  (2014) | Butch Devo and the Sundance Gig  (2014) | Hardcore DEVO Live!  (2015) | Art Devo 1973-1977  (2023)
Filmography
In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution (1976) | The Men Who Make The Music (1981) | Human Highway (1982) | We're All DEVO (1984) | The Complete Truth About De-Evolution (1993) | DEVO Live (2004) | DEVO Live In The Land Of The Rising Sun (2004) | DEVO Live 1980 (2005) | Butch Devo and the Sundance Gig  (2014) | Hardcore DEVO Live!  (2015)
Related Articles
History | Bootlegs | Booji Boy | Devolution | Influence | The Wipeouters | Jihad Jerry & The Evildoers | Devo 2.0 | Akron, Ohio | Kent, Ohio | Music Videos | Cover Versions | Outfits

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