Meet Dave Allen

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

Hi Dave, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I have been a musician from a very young age. At first, my desire was to play music because of the great enjoyment I received from it. As time progressed and I became better at my craft, I realized that the music I was playing and creating in the moment directly affected others. It started with my close friends and family and then when I began performing, recording and teaching, I realized the broader communities that I was involved in were affected as well. This sense of making a difference was an important realization at the time and encouraged me to transcend myself and my own musical needs. Of course, I play music because it makes me feel good but as I grew as a musician I realized the powerful impact that music had on others as well.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Being a professional musician in this day and age encompasses quite a broad spectrum of roles within the music industry itself. I record music, I perform music and I teach music. In fact, I have always recorded, performed and taught music. Performing was an early love of mine and initially drove me to become a better musician. As I became more musically adept, I started to teach. Teaching was a way that I could pass on the gift of music to anyone that wanted its charm in their life but also provided me from a business perspective, with another avenue of income. Performing at night and teaching during the days was a good way to make a living and I enjoyed being fully immersed as a musician. As I became more skilled as a musician, the next musical avenue that greatly appealed to me was recording music. My musical strengths have always been my versatility and the ability to find the emotion behind the music. I often relate performing music to theater acting and recording music to acting behind a camera. When performing music, the energy of the audience in the moment is immediate. Plus, the energy of the crowd helps to steer the performance, a symbiotic experience between the performers and the audience. Recording music is at times, even more difficult. Simply because there’s no audience other than the other creatives in the studio. You are trying to convey an emotion that a listener will experience at some point in the future, after you record your parts. These different roles within the music industry have all been extremely rewarding, even though at times especially earlier on, it was very challenging to make money. I had to believe in myself and keep going no matter what. Sometimes the music business moves slower than us musicians and in the past this has been the most difficult part of the business process. It was in those crucial moments though that I built individual strength, perseverance and belief that no matter what, it would all work out. It has thank goodness! I am so glad that I stayed on course. I am now able to experience this love of music in my life every day and to also pass on this beautiful gift to others who are receptive.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love the Sunset strip and all the rock clubs. It is there that my early dreams of becoming famous began. I have since played all of those clubs multiple times. My dreams have changed and evolved over the years but I still like to take out of town people to experience the strip first hand. I also love the comedy clubs in Hollywood, there’s nothing like having a laugh between friends. I always drive them through Laurel Canyon and explain a little bit about the late 60’s L.A. music scene to them. We then head to the infamous ‘Troubadour’ on Santa Monica Blvd. This club is also drenched in L.A. music history and I am glad to have also played there many times. I also like to take out of town-ers to Venice Beach. I remember loving my experiences down there when I first moved to L.A. many moons ago. We’ll eat sushi somewhere for lunch, then go view the Hollywood sign. We’ll probably end up at Pro Drum on Vine Street, after all, I’m a drummer! If they are into Jazz then we’ll head to the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. I have also enjoyed playing there over the years. Catalina always has some world class acts coming through so it’s a nice treat to go see some amazing live jazz.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family has been the greatest support to me over the years. They loved me, encouraged me and believed in me when I didn’t. My close friends and early music instructors were also instrumental in motivating me to become a better and more expressed musician. It was through these smaller communities that I was able to build musical self esteem and belief that I was on the right path. The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts was the college that I studied at. This was the community that encouraged me to stay the course and become the professional musician I am today.

Instagram: @daveallendrummer

Facebook: facebook.com/dave.allen.90663/

Youtube: @davoaussie

Image Credits
Aisha Singleton Haim Mazar Emerson Swinford