Hamilton artist profile: Dave Gould

If you’ve heard the human race, riot nrrd, Will Gillespie, or Alfie Smith, you’ve heard Dave Gould.

Raised on Stompin’ Tom Connors, Dave subsequently found inspiration in That 1 Guy from Las Vegas, and Arizona-born Bob Log III. “When I left the Ottawa area at age 20, I was determined to be a full-time artist,” Dave says. “So, after relocating, I studied music at Mohawk College, worked in music stores, and toured in bands.”

He was nominated more than a dozen times for a Hamilton Music Award and won a Hamilton Arts Award for performance in 2013.

Today, Dave successfully balances parenting and family with an unconventional artist’s life, working in and around Hamilton as, among other things, a private percussion teacher, an arts educator with the nonprofit Culture for Kids in the Arts, a performer with Mystic Drumz, a sound sculpture installer, an open-mic host at the Corktown Pub, and as an exotic instrument inventor. He enjoys “designing instruments that can handle being toured, played, and tuned with little maintenance,” making them sound as good as possible and sharing their unique sounds with an appreciative audience.

During COVID-19

Dave and his partner flew home from Chile just after COVID-19 preventative measures were put in place. On the 14th day of self-isolation, a delivery person arrived at their door “and proceeded to cough up a lung.” After careful consideration, they decided to keep self-isolating for an additional couple of weeks.

“Our great friends are dropping off groceries. I’ve blackened my pans; I’m trying some fancy cooking and baking, sharpened my knives, and cleaned the coffee maker,” Dave says. “I’m getting much-needed caribou antler rehearsing done. I’ve been making live-edge, red oak bathtub caddies, too, in case anyone is interested in treating themselves during COVID-19 isolation.”

Between daily Jane Fonda workouts, walks with his partner, Stephanie, and video calls with relatives and friends, Dave performed on a live-streamed “Hamilton Shows Up” concert presented by the non-profit CoBALT Connects, and held his first remote open-mic show from his workshop. Dave’s first live performance since COVID-19 was on Canada Day at the Burlington Rib Fest drive-through.

“It felt like how the animals at the lion safari must feel; cars slowly driving past, rolling down windows to take pictures. It was surreal,” Dave says.

Dave describes his music as “a subversive thing that doesn’t really have much of a local scene, so I’m happy when anyone with an open mind stops long enough to hear something different. I’ve played a hunting camp, where camo-donning, beer-swigging hunters stomped and danced until stuff fell off the shelves. The same week, I performed at the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s annual ball, where philanthropists in tuxedos sipped sangrias and debated who was the greater influence on my sound – Harry Partch or Luigi Russolo.”

What else is Dave up to these days?

“Adding repertoire to my Antler Show. I need to learn/write a more structured song. When I sit down behind the antlers and fire up the old tube amps. I improvise until something strikes me as worth repeating. If words come, I’m a happy camper. Sometimes it’s the words that come first, inspired by a cause and a walk home from downtown.

“I’ll do anything for as long as I have to, from building bathtub caddies to performing virtual shows, to creating DIY musical instrument kits for kids to make at home. After the COVID-19 isolation, hopefully, I’ll have oodles of new material so I can play gigs with the antlers around Hamilton. I’ll be touring the libraries and YMCAs doing Mystic Drumz presentations. This fall, I have some cool projects lined up searching downtown alleys to find materials for making instruments for a concert.”

Found art + sound art = Dave Gould’s art.

Share post