David Immerglück
Encyclopedia
David Immerglück is an American
multi-instrumentalist
who is best known as a guitar
ist in the alternative rock
bands Counting Crows
, Camper Van Beethoven
and the Monks of Doom
. A versatile musician, Immerglück plays mandolin
, pedal steel guitar
, electric sitar
, and keyboards
on a professional level, sings and harmonizes
with backing vocals, and performs some songs as a slide guitar
ist.
David Immerglück's surname
is Austria
n, and roughly translates from German
as "always lucky." His nickname is "Immy", often coupled with the slang phrase "gimme".
area. Like other aspiring young musicians, he played with various childhood friends, but began a lifetime habit of joining or "sitting in" with more than one band at a time, learning from the exposure to other differing musical influences and interests. He early began to experiment with different sounds and a growing interest in instruments beyond just the guitar. Performing in an esoteric rock band called Polymorph, Immerglück recorded his first (unreleased) singles with a band named Mod-L Society; "Back To Baltimore", and "Janie", in 1985. By 1986, he had moved on to a band called The Ophelias, and the same year, had spread his interests to joining other indie rock
bands.
were a side project formed by members of the popular progressive
Bay area indie rock
Camper Van Beethoven
. Formed in 1986, the Monks of Doom "somehow fused post-punk sensibilities with prog rock decadence and folk
tradition and elegance". Six months into their career, original guitarist Chris Molla was expelled from the group due to his "lack of commitment" and was replaced by Immerglück, who contributed guitar, pedal steel, vocals
, and keyboards
in the group. One Allmusic critic compared their work to "pop experimental
ists Frank Zappa
and Syd Barrett
". Bassist Victor Krummenacher
noted, "We were interested in doing slightly more outside music that had heavier and more progressive tendencies. It was an outside expansion, a chance to go wherever our imagination took us." Immerglück described the sonic chemistry between that of himself and Lisher, the band's two guitarists, as music "that seemed to juxtapose the chaotic and the beautiful, the raw bluster and the ornate".
Immerglück also joined Camper Van Beethoven as a member for the final tours of their initial run, prior to their breakup in 1990. The Monks of Doom intensified their activity after this, ultimately producing five albums to positive acclaim before the members took a long reprieve in 1993. Both groups have since reformed - Camper Van Beethoven in 1999 (with Immerglück peripherally involved as a part-time member), and the Monks of Doom in 2003 (with Immerglück involved full-time).
group Counting Crows
, and has since appeared in some capacity on all of Counting Crows' albums. Because of other musical projects, he initially functioned only as a session player. With his skills on a variety of guitars, including both slide guitar
and pedal steel guitar, mandolin
, keyboards and backing vocals, he easily fell into place with old friends from the San Francisco Bay scene. Since 1999, Immergluck has been a permanent member of the band, touring and recording.
, during the time he was contributing to the Monks of Doom. He has also performed as both a session musician and a sideman
with a wide range of other artists, including John Hiatt
, Chantal Kreviazuk
, Elan Sara Defan
, Cracker
, Low Stars
, Jason Karaban
and Sordid Humor
. Immerglück, along with Davey Faragher
, was nominated for a Grammy award
for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2001 for his work with John Hiatt
's album Crossing Muddy Waters
, a bluesy soulful album of only three performers, without drums, compared by some to the work of Tom Waits
, with Immerglück contributing mandolin, 12-string guitar, and slide guitar on many songs.
, Bob Dylan
, The Band
, Van Morrison
, The Doors
, Bruce Springsteen
, Jerry Garcia
, Guided By Voices
, Peter Green
, Led Zeppelin
, and Miles Davis
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
who is best known as a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist in the alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
bands Counting Crows
Counting Crows
Counting Crows is an American rock band originating from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1991, the group gained popularity following the release of its debut album in 1993, August and Everything After, which featured the hit single "Mr. Jones"...
, Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven is an American alternative rock group formed in Redlands, California in 1983.An eclectic band, Camper Van Beethoven mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk and alternative country, as well as various types of world music. Their aggressive musical pluralism created a...
and the Monks of Doom
Monks of Doom
The Monks of Doom are an American alternative rock band, formed in California in 1986. Working within the indie rock aesthetic framework , the band's music drew from post-punk, progressive rock and folk rock traditions...
. A versatile musician, Immerglück plays mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, pedal steel guitar
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
, electric sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
, and keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
on a professional level, sings and harmonizes
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
with backing vocals, and performs some songs as a slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
ist.
David Immerglück's surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
is Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n, and roughly translates from German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
as "always lucky." His nickname is "Immy", often coupled with the slang phrase "gimme".
Early bands
Immerglück began playing music in the San Francisco BaySan Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
area. Like other aspiring young musicians, he played with various childhood friends, but began a lifetime habit of joining or "sitting in" with more than one band at a time, learning from the exposure to other differing musical influences and interests. He early began to experiment with different sounds and a growing interest in instruments beyond just the guitar. Performing in an esoteric rock band called Polymorph, Immerglück recorded his first (unreleased) singles with a band named Mod-L Society; "Back To Baltimore", and "Janie", in 1985. By 1986, he had moved on to a band called The Ophelias, and the same year, had spread his interests to joining other indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
bands.
Monks of Doom and Camper Van Beethoven
The Monks of DoomMonks of Doom
The Monks of Doom are an American alternative rock band, formed in California in 1986. Working within the indie rock aesthetic framework , the band's music drew from post-punk, progressive rock and folk rock traditions...
were a side project formed by members of the popular progressive
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
Bay area indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven is an American alternative rock group formed in Redlands, California in 1983.An eclectic band, Camper Van Beethoven mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk and alternative country, as well as various types of world music. Their aggressive musical pluralism created a...
. Formed in 1986, the Monks of Doom "somehow fused post-punk sensibilities with prog rock decadence and folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
tradition and elegance". Six months into their career, original guitarist Chris Molla was expelled from the group due to his "lack of commitment" and was replaced by Immerglück, who contributed guitar, pedal steel, vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, and keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
in the group. One Allmusic critic compared their work to "pop experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
ists Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
and Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
". Bassist Victor Krummenacher
Victor Krummenacher
Victor Krummenacher is an American musician and bass guitarist who is a founding member of alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven. He also helped form CVB offshoots Monks of Doom and Camper Van Chadbourne and has pursued a solo career as a singer-songwriter...
noted, "We were interested in doing slightly more outside music that had heavier and more progressive tendencies. It was an outside expansion, a chance to go wherever our imagination took us." Immerglück described the sonic chemistry between that of himself and Lisher, the band's two guitarists, as music "that seemed to juxtapose the chaotic and the beautiful, the raw bluster and the ornate".
Immerglück also joined Camper Van Beethoven as a member for the final tours of their initial run, prior to their breakup in 1990. The Monks of Doom intensified their activity after this, ultimately producing five albums to positive acclaim before the members took a long reprieve in 1993. Both groups have since reformed - Camper Van Beethoven in 1999 (with Immerglück peripherally involved as a part-time member), and the Monks of Doom in 2003 (with Immerglück involved full-time).
Counting Crows
Around 1993, Immerglück became involved with an early incarnation of the modern rockModern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
group Counting Crows
Counting Crows
Counting Crows is an American rock band originating from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1991, the group gained popularity following the release of its debut album in 1993, August and Everything After, which featured the hit single "Mr. Jones"...
, and has since appeared in some capacity on all of Counting Crows' albums. Because of other musical projects, he initially functioned only as a session player. With his skills on a variety of guitars, including both slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
and pedal steel guitar, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, keyboards and backing vocals, he easily fell into place with old friends from the San Francisco Bay scene. Since 1999, Immergluck has been a permanent member of the band, touring and recording.
Other musical work
Immerglück joined another band, GliderGlider (band)
Glider is a 4 piece jazz/rock combo created by Jim Bogios and David Immergluck - both members of Counting Crows. The band also includes bass player Yoshi Sako and Danny Eisenberg on the Hammond B3...
, during the time he was contributing to the Monks of Doom. He has also performed as both a session musician and a sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
with a wide range of other artists, including John Hiatt
John Hiatt
John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...
, Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Jennifer Kreviazuk is a Canadian singer-songwriter of the adult contemporary music genre. She is also a classically trained pianist, and can play the guitar.-Albums:...
, Elan Sara Defan
Elan Sara DeFan
Elán is a recording artist, known for being one of the first Latin American female songwriters to begin her career with an English language album written completely on her own and the first independent artist from Latin America to have sold more than 1.7 millions copies of her music with her band...
, Cracker
Cracker (band)
Cracker is an American alternative rock band featuring founders/songwriters singer David Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman. They are best known for their platinum-selling 1993 album, Kerosene Hat, featuring the hit songs "Low", "Euro-Trash Girl", and "Get Off This".Founders Lowery and Hickman...
, Low Stars
Low Stars
Low Stars is a musical project of Dave Gibbs and Chris Seefried, that captures the sound of classic bands like Crosby, Stills, and Nash and The Eagles.- History :...
, Jason Karaban
Jason Karaban
Jason Karaban is an American singer-songwriter and musician living in Los Angeles, California. Karaban first began his career fronting the Philadelphia based indie rock band Dragstrip Courage in 1997, and Grand in 2000. He emerged as a solo artist with the release of Doomed to Make Choices, in...
and Sordid Humor
Sordid Humor
Sordid Humor was a musical band formed in 1987 by the duo of Tom Barnes and Jim Gordon. Barnes' unique vocal style and unusual phrasing was the trademark of Sordid Humor, and he went on to lend his vocals and alt-rock guitar style to Engine 88, and a solo project called the Blimp...
. Immerglück, along with Davey Faragher
Davey Faragher
Davey Faragher is an American bass guitarist from Redlands, California. Faragher's career took off and received critical notice as a founding member of the nineties band, Cracker, and his following work with The Imposters, the backing band for Elvis Costello since 2001.Faragher is an accomplished...
, was nominated for a Grammy award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2001 for his work with John Hiatt
John Hiatt
John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...
's album Crossing Muddy Waters
Crossing Muddy Waters
Crossing Muddy Waters was singer-songwriter John Hiatt's fifteenth album, released in 2000. A raw album recorded with no drummer, it was a purely acoustic album that brought elements of bluegrass music into his Americana sound. The title of the album is an intentional double entendre, referencing...
, a bluesy soulful album of only three performers, without drums, compared by some to the work of Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, with Immerglück contributing mandolin, 12-string guitar, and slide guitar on many songs.
Equipment
Extensive description of instruments on the official website in the infobox:- 1966 Fender Jazz BassFender Jazz BassThe Jazz Bass was the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic...
- Fender StratocasterFender StratocasterThe Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
Influences
Immerglück has listed a variety of musicians who were influences on his music. They include: Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Guided By Voices
Guided by Voices
Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band originating from Dayton, Ohio. Beginning with the band's formation in 1983, it made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard...
, Peter Green
Peter Green (musician)
Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
.