Meet David Silbermann | band leader of Fearless Dave and the Tsunamis

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Silbermann and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I think it’s basic human nature to be creative and want to express oneself through artistic endeavors. I’ve always had a strong desire to do creative work and music is my main artistic focus so that’s why I decided to pursue a career in the music industry where I can use creative problem solving through production, songwriting, producing live shows, and marketIng.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Our sound is a fusion of many different strains of psychedelic Rock. What sets us apart from many bands is our completely DIY approach to almost every aspect of the band and the freeness with which we allow ourselves to be influenced by any genres. I’m very excited about our next release, we recently released 2 compilations of tracks the trace the development of the band from its start till now, but with our next release we are completely committed to making it by far the best we’ve ever done from a songwriting perspective and already have a slew of diverse sounding psychedelic rock tracks we’re itching to debut. Through perseverance and passion we went from a couple of college kids who couldn’t play guitar to a 5 piece band that regularly plays live in venues we used to go see shows at ourselves.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If one of my friends from out of town weee visiting I would take them to see some great live music at venues like Overton Shell, Hi Tone, Growlers, Lamplighter, or any other great venue in the city. I would have to take them to eat at places like Corkys and Gus’s. Lastly would definitely have to check out historical music landmarks like the Stax Museum and Sun Studio.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There a lot of people who directly and indirectly shaped me as a musician and more importantly as a person. I have to start with my family, my parents have always loved music and passed down much of their eclectic tastes from Sons of the San Joaquin to Supertramp to classical to Weird Al to the Pokémon soundtrack I remember playing during family road-trips. My mom in particular was instrumental in helping foster my love of learning music, she taught me the basic triads of the C major scale a lesson that had opened the doors for me musically and one that I have consistently referenced back to in my life as a musician. My siblings also contributed tremendously to my diverse musical taste whether it was musical comedy acts my older sister introduced me to like the Lonely Island or Flight of the Conchords or my older brother showing psychedelic genre fusions by artists like MGMT, Beck, and Gnarls Barkley these are just a few examples of how they’ve all influenced my taste growing with them and exchanging interests. My friends were also key in my musical development my love of jam bands like Grateful Dead, Phish, and Dave Matthews band, my love of punk bands like The Clash, Joy Division, and The Velvet Underground, and my love of Hip Hop artists like OutKast, Kid Cudi, and Notorious BIG without my friends sharing what they love with me and most importantly I would not have started FDAT without one of my best friends and founding band member Lavi “The Tsunamis” Tsuna. I’ve also been fortunate to have had some amazing teachers some my own Jewish community which has also been a huge influence on me not only through their love and support of secular music but also through the amazing tradition of Jewish music of which many tunes still get stuck in my head. The expert teachers I’ve had at University of Memphis through their music business program have done so much to help me develop my skills and expand my knowledge of music theory. In particular I must mention the late Dr. Lily Afshar(may her memory be a blessing) who I was lucky to study classical guitar with under for 4 semesters. Lastly I want to mention the many people in the online music community who spend a lot of their free time making music lessons to aspiring musicians for free and who spread their knowledge freely.

Website: https://fearlessdaveandthetsunamis.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fearlessdaveandthetsunamis/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FDAT901

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/FealessDaveandtheTsunamis/

Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCt56iMWRSJdwAyYEqCAghPw/playlists

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7tSk2EYikNgF5P65mztYr6?si=-h5wN85ATHehAtIj3sHYwg

Image Credits
These are all photos taken by friends or family who have given us the rights