Dave's main focus these days is playing music with as many different people and in as many different styles as he can. He gigs regularly with Andy Koch's Badd Dog Blues Society and Old Skool. Here and there along the way he has been heard with Lone Star Rhythm, New Orleans' Ronnie Oliver and Fat James.
Dave loves the jams and open mikes here in Whatcom County because of all the unique opportunities he gets to step up to bat with the area's big players. "My goal is to learn something every time I play," says Dave. It isn't unusual to catch him at several open mikes in one week, in addition to his gigs. Whatever time was lost playing bass during his twenty years of being a working guy with his own business is quickly being made up for!
His presence on stage may be fairly new, but Dave has been surrounded by music all of his life. Both of his Californian parents were musicians (and even produced records for awhile) and every one in his immediate and extended family either sings or plays. Dave sang in Choirs and in the family group (country western and gospel) and put in a few years on french horn in school (a talent Dave says he gave up to chase girls.)
Dave always loved the bass, an instrument he was introduced to at a young age. He remembers having to stand up on a kitchen chair to play the families stand-up Kay model 2 bass. The Gibson '67 bass he occaisonally still plays is from his teen years.
The 'Airplane' nickname Dave carries refers to his many, many years as a pilot. With an overabundance of 'Dave Browns' everywhere, it helps to clarify to whom one is referring. This sickname certainly wasn't Dave's idea, but it definitely has stuck.
When you don't find Airplane Dave Brown on stage, you'll run into him in the audience or backstage at blues shows or festivals. Blues is the style of music that he enjoys the most, whether he's listening or playing!
(photo by Noona Walton, copyright 2003, all rights reserved)
