Dave was playing with
The tribe of gypsies
in LA when Bruce was recording stuff for his later canned
sessions with producer
Keith Olsen. More or less accidentally Bruce heard the tribes
material and liked it, and subsequently invited them to play
on what was to become the released Balls to picasso-album.
Dave's way into music is similar to most musicians coming from the states; He saw "Kiss" live and was hooked. After playing on his own for some years he went to P.I.T. in LA to get some professional training.
After playing with Bruce on the "Accident of Birth" and "Chemical wedding" albums and the tours that followed Dave joined Celtic rock band The Young dubliners in 1999 and he's playing on their latest album "Absolutely", released early summer of 2002.
Here follows the Dave Ingraham Q & A:
Name and instrument:
David Ingraham, Drums
What had you been doing before you started working with Bruce?
Before I started playing with Bruce, I had been playing with a variety
of different bands around L.A., Tribe of Gypsies being one of them.
How did you come to work with Bruce?
If my memory serves me correctly,Bruce was in town working on some
ideas for his next solo record with a producer who just happened to
be the same producer that Tribe of Gypsies was working with at the
time. He played Bruce some of the material, and Bruce loved it! Long
story short, next thing I knew, I was on a plane to London to Record
"BALLS TO PICASSO". Obviously,there are more details and
complications to the story than that, but that's the condensed
version.
Do you remember your first meeting with him?
To be honest with you, I don't remember the first time I met Bruce.
However, I do remember flying to London with Roy and Eddie and seeing
Bruce's last show with Maiden that same night.I think we started
working on the record the following day. Keep in mind that my memory's
accuracy of these events was inevitably effected in some way or
another by the combination of jet-lag and perennially brain-shrinking
hangovers that I was dealing with at the time. (Let's just say that
we were doing a little "sampling" of the vast plethora of beers that
England has to offer!)
What was the reason for you parting company with him?
At the time, T.O.G. was on the verge of landing our own record deal.
(which we did... ...for about a week!) That was our priority at
the time, so we weren't able to tour that record.
What was the reason for you to start working together with him again?
A few years later, when things didn't work out for T.O.G. quite as
planned, Bruce approached us again and asked if we'd like to do
another record with him. We said "why the hell not!",and "ACCIDENT
OF BIRTH" was the end result. It's only fair that I stress the
fact that Roy Z was the main impetus behind all of this. He wrote
almost all of the material with Bruce and produced both "ACCIDENT
OF BIRTH" and "THE CHEMICAL WEDDING" (my personal favorite Bruce
record). It was Roy's prolific song writing ability and "vision"
so to speak, that was the foundation for the success of both of
those records. Of course, the fact that we were a "band", and not
just a bunch of hired guns,added a certain amount of chemistry
to the music, or so I'd like to think!
What have you been up to since?
I played my last show with Bruce in São paulo, Brazil, while recording
"SCREAM FOR ME BRAZIL". Bruce and Adrian played that show,and then
almost immediately rushed off to the airport to fly to... ...England?
to start working on the new Maiden record. The rest of us flew back
to L.A., thinking "What now?" For that following year, I worked
with a bunch of different bands and artists, but the bills weren't
getting paid. I ended up getting the gig with the celtic rock band
"Young Dubliners"
(www.youngdubs.com)
about three years ago, and I've been working non-stop ever since.
Do you have any fun Bruce anecdotes to share with us?
Hmmmmmm... let me think. There was the time, during a show, that
Bruce hit some idiot over the head with his microphone, and put a
dent in the mike (maybe in the guys head too!); or the time Bruce
jumped off the stage in Barcelona and got in a fight with some guys
in the audience; Or how about the time Eddie and I flew with Bruce
after a gig in... San Fransisco?..., and flew into a lightning
storm and had to make an emergency landing; Or there was the time
we played in Tokyo, Japan in the middle of the summer. Bruce would
always insist on playing with the air-conditioning turned off. So,
by the time T.O.G. was off the stage (we opened for Bruce), and half
of us ran back stage, changed clothes, and went back on with Bruce,
it was about 800 degrees in the #~ *$#~ place! By the end of the
show, Roy passed out on stage from heat exaustion. Afterwards, we
were all sloshing around back stage in puddles of our own sweat!
I could go on, but I wont.
What do you think of the time you were in Bruce's band?
I had a great time working with Bruce; I got to record four albums
and travel all over the world. Bruce was always very respectful
and easy to work with. Adrian was also a really cool guy. Although
I've had alot of fun with the Young Dubs over the last few years,
I'll always remember the Bruce gig as one of the most exciting
times in my life.
What do you think of his other works?
Well, to put things euphemistically, I didn't really care for
"TATTOOED MILLIONARE"; Wasn't exaxctly my cup of tea. However, I
do remember really liking some the stuff that I heard off of
"SKUNKWORKS"; I thought the opening track was really cool.
Dave's own question to himself:
Why are Bruce Dickinson fans so... ...strange?
(just kiddin'.) Peace.
Dave Ingraham Discography:
The tribe of Gypsies The tribe of Gypsies (1996) The tribe of Gypsies Nothing Lasts Forever (1997) The tribe of Gypsies Revolucion 13 (1998) The tribe of Gypsies Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants (2000) Bruce Dickinson Balls to Picasso (1994) Bruce Dickinson Accident of Birth (1997) Bruce Dickinson The Chemical Wedding (1998) Bruce Dickinson Scream for me Brazil (1999) The Young Dubliners Absolutely (2002)