DVS Biographies Page

I have been playing guitar since 1982, thanks to the Bass player in our band (Larry). He got me started, him and another friend (Dave). I have many influences, such as Jimi, Carlos, Duane Allman and Dicky Betts, E.C., Stevie Ray, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and just about any blues or rock guitarist around, not to mention the various players I've met in my life. I've always wanted to get the right people together and form a band, and I think DVS is it. We are currently working on original material. I (we) intend to put out a CD in the near future.

This December's child was born in the winter of '65 and raised in the rural valley of Coon Creek, northwest of Morris Mountain, Illinois, USA, North America, Planet Earth.

The oldest member of the group, I've always had immense, passionate appreciation for music and all its magical, transcendent qualities. My infinitely cool parents, Ralph and Dora, gave me my first guitar when I was about ten and I learned to play and sing many folk songs from my family and friends. When I was fourteen my great friend and fellow musician, Dave Van Scotter, introduced me to an excellent guitar teacher, Curt Tieman, who taught us how to play by ear and learn our favorite blues and rock & roll songs, furthering our playing abilities immeasurably.

My first real band, The Nuclear Mushrooms, which included Dave and Kevin on guitars, lasted too few months in 1984 and played an exclusive two gigs, was my last experience in a band until January of '99. Kevin and Joshua's already working band, Mt. Roscoe, was in desperate need of a bass player after their previous goon had abandoned them, and I've had the great fortune and ecstatic pleasure of playing with them ever since. The obviously lovely and talented Evelyn, a true godsend, joined in January of 2000 to complete the quartet. Then, in December of the same year, we changed our name (after much debate) to 'DVS' (deviously representing
Maximum Dave). We are now poised to take the area by storm.

My main musical influences include Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Santana, Doc Watson, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Sparrow, Tom Petty, and of course Neil Young.

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