DaveWITTE

Drummer specializing in aggressive music and then some. 


Media

Collection of videos and images.

NEWS

Here is a list of current projects and personnel involved.

ARGONAUTS

ARGONAUTS is now THE GLORIOUS GONE. The first show at GWARBQ was a success and demo material has spawned label interest quickly. Expect an announcement soon.

www.facebook.com/TheGLORIOUSGONE


BRAIN TENTACLES

Rounded out by Bruce Lamont (Yakuza/Corrections House) & Aaron Dallison (Keelhaul). Finishing touches are being put on the debut recording, more news to come.

www.facebook.com/TheBraintentacles


DENY THE CROSS

Powerviolence Agenda of the highest order with Carlos Rameriz (Black Army Jacket), Dan Lactose (Spazz) & Ramon Salcido (Agents of Satan). Recording in progress.

www.facebook.com/Denythecross666


THE GLORIOUS GONE

Yielding the heaviest material yet, this ball is just starting to get rolling.

www.facebook.com/TheGLORIOUSGONE


IBU

Along with Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth), Erik Burke (Lethargy/Sulaco) & Chris Dodge (Spazz/Infest) have six high ABV songs written and counting with plans to record soon.


KING GENERATOR

Now that Jamie Thomson (Shank) lives in the US, wave two of writing will happen along with Mike Hill (Tombs)


MUNICIPAL WASTE

Writing continues for the sixth full length.

www.facethewaste.com


NO FAITH

New album is almost finished and sounding great.

http://nofaith.bandcamp.com


PUBLICIST UK

The debut album for Relapse Records is finished. Artwork is in progress, expect a release date soon. Live appearances announced. Check tour selection. 

www.facebook.com/PublicistUK


TOPLESS WYTCH

Will reveal itself when the time is right.


Biography

With a playing style that incorporates the physical dexterity of extreme heavy metal to the fluidity of ‘70s jazz fusion and savage attack of primal hardcore and punk, Dave Witte is a drummer that has never had patience for preconceived genre limitations.

One of the heavy music scene’s most prolific drummers of the last two decades, Witte’s passion for playing began back in middle school when an uncle turned him onto the instrument. One BMX bike/drum kit trade later, the young upstart was on his way. A self-taught musician, the New Jersey native learned by analyzing and playing along to performances by the likes of Neil Peart, Dave Lombardo, Phil Rudd and local hero, Ripping Corpse drummer Brandon Thomas.

Witte first made his mark on the underground music community via Human Remains, a wildly inventive death metal band he helped form in 1989. In 1992, he co-founded Discordance Axis, a seminal grindcore power trio whose breakneck tempos and chaotic songwriting approach proved to be the perfect arena for Witte to experiment, and in the process, redefine extreme drumming as it was known then.

1997 found Witte joining seminal New York City powerviolence band, Black Army Jacket, touring the US and issuing a full-length a year later. During that same period, the drummer formed Major Burns, an angular noise-rock band that further proved Witte’s diverse musical tastes and malleable playing style.

Keeping in line with that diversity, Witte continued to bring his ever-expanding drum skills to a variety of projects, touching on a myriad of musical styles along the way. One of those projects saw Witte joining forces with former Spazz bassist/vocalist Chris Dodge to form East West Blast Test, a 2-piece that explored everything from John Zorn-inspired free-form jazz and post-rock to crust punk and countless other genres in between, over the course of two studio albums. What makes East West Blast Test even more impressive is the fact that Witte and Dodge were never even in the same room during the project’s entire lifespan, instead trading sound files via email.

Eager to get back into a full-time band situation, Witte formed Burnt by the Sun in 1999, a forward-thinking metallic hardcore outfit that released three studio albums on Relapse Records before splitting up almost a decade later.

Witte has also been sought out for his live skills, hooking up with influential avant-garde rock band Melt-Banana as their touring drummer since 2001. A year later, Witte was invited by industrial rock icon Alec Empire to play Japan's famed Fuji Rock Festival as part of his new band. Despite meeting the band for the first time after landing in Japan, and only having one day-of-show three-song rehearsal, Witte and the band rose to the occasion, flooring the 100,000 plus crowd in attendance. Empire was so impressed by his performance that he invited Witte into the band for headlining sets at the UK's Reading and Leeds Festivals later that summer.

In 2005, Swedish metallers Soilwork were in a bind. The band was set to launch their inaugural stint on the Ozzfest tour and their drummer couldn’t make the first tour date. Being huge fans of his work, they knew Witte was up for the challenge of stepping in for their drummer on short notice. As expected, he delivered and helped Soilwork kick off the Ozzfest run in style. Witte has also given live drum assistance to stoner rock gods Atomic Bitchwax and Brooklyn post-metal troupe Anodyne.

Witte relocated from New Jersey to Richmond, Va. in 2003 and soon after was asked to join Municipal Waste, a band that shared many of the same ‘80s crossover metal influences as the drummer. Eleven years, countless world tours and four studio albums later, Municipal Waste are one of the most popular and respected acts in the heavy music scene. Signed to Nuclear Blast, the group’s latest album, 2012’s The Fatal Feast, debuted at #1 on the Billboard New Artist charts.

Even though Municipal Waste remains Witte’s prime commitment, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t kept his plate full in between their tours. Japanese psych-noise icons Boredoms selected Witte to participate in 88BoaDrum, a Nike-sponsored event that featured 88 drummers performing an original 88-minute composition in Los Angeles, CA and Brooklyn, NY on August 8th, 2008.

The last decade has found the drummer releasing new music as a member of Birds of Prey, Hope Collapse, Hex Machine, King Generator, and Argonauts. 2012 brought on the formation of Deny the Cross, a band that counts former members of Spazz and Plutocracy within its ranks. In 2013, Witte announced Brain Tentacles, a project also featuring Yakuza mastermind Bruce Lamont, and if that wasn’t already enough, the drummer also started another band called I.B.U. with members of Brutal Truth and Infest, among other groups.

Voted by the editors at Spin magazine as one the “100 Greatest Drummers in Alternative Music’ in 2013, Witte is still driven by the same restless spirit and intense love for music he had as a kid in Jersey. If history is any indication, Witte will continue to take creative risks and find new ways to keep surprising us.

- Carlos Ramirez, 2014

Discography

ALEC EMPIRE

Fuji Fest, Japan (2002) * Live appearance
Reading & Leads, UK (2002) * Live appearance

ANODYNE

Red Was Her Favorite Color (2001, Happy Couples Never Last Records)
The First Four Years (2004, Blackbox Recordings)

THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX

2011 *Live appearance

ATOMSMASHER

Atom smasher (2001, Hydrahead Records)

BIRDS OF PREY

Weight of the Wound (2006, Relapse Records)
The Hellpreacher (2009, Relapse Records)

BLACK ARMY JACKET

Black Army Jacket/Agathocles (1998, Deaf American Recordings)
222 (1999, Chainsaw Safety Records)
Closed Casket (2004, Blackbox Recordings)

88 BOADRUM

Brooklyn 2008 *Live appearance

BURNT BY THE SUN

Burnt by the Sun/Luddite Clone (2000, Ferret Records)
Burnt by the Sun EP (2002, Relapse Records)
Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution (2002, Relapse Records)
The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good (2003, Relapse Records)
Live from the Relapse Contamination Festival (2003, Relapse Records)
Burnt by the Sun/Car Bomb Split (2007, Relapse Records)
Heart of Darkness (2009, Relapse Records)

CANDIRIA *Guest appearance on Molecular Dialect

Beyond Reasonable Doubt (1997, Too Damn Hype Records)

CIRCLE OF ANIMALS *Guest appearance on Lessen Human Suffering

Destroy The Light (2010, Relapse Records)

DISCORDANCE AXIS

Discordance Axis/Cosmic Hurse (1992, Pulp Records)
Discordance Axis/Hellchild (1993, H.G.Fact Records)
V/A World H.C. Compilation (1993, Discrete Records)
Discordance Axis/Capitalist Casualties (1994, Pulp Records)
Discordance Axis/Def Master (1994, H.G. Fact Records)
Ulterior(1995, Devour Records)
Discordance Axis/Putocracy (1995, Slap A Ham Records)
Discordance Axis/Melt Banana (1995, H.G. Fact Records)
V/A Oh Great Blue Thing Compilation (1996, Oh Great Blue Thing Records)
Jouhou (1997, Devour Records)
Necropolitan (1997, H.G. Fact Records)
The Inalienable Dreamless (2000, Hydrahead Records)
Discordanace Axis/Corrupted/324 (2001, H.G. Fact Records)
Our Last Day (2005, Hydrahead Records)

DOWN WITH THE SHIP

WKDU Live Radio Performance

EAST WEST BLAST TEST

East West Blast Test (2000, Slap A Ham Records)
Popular Music for Unpopular People (2006, Ipecac Recordings)

EXIT-13

Exit-13/Hemdale (1995, Visceral Productions)
Exit-13/Multiplex (1996, H.G. Fact Records)

HEX MACHINE

Hex Machine (2006, Relapse Records)

HOPE COLLAPSE

Year of The Leper (2005, Ink Blot Records)

HUMAN REMAINS

Demo (1990)
Demo (1991)
Admiration Most Deep and Foul (1992, Cenotaph Records) Spoint of Beauty V/A Midnight Offerings (1992, With Your Teeth Records)
Patterns in the Grass (1995, Happy Days Records)
Using Sickness As A Hero (1996, Relapse Records)
Where Were You When Discography (2002, Relapse Records)

IABHORHER

S/T 7" (1994 Slap A Ham Records)

KING GENERATOR

King Generator (2008, Tankcrimes Recordings)

MAJOR BURNS

Korea (1999, Now or Never Records)

MELT-BANANA

Live Touring Drummer 2001-2005
Peel Session (2001, Unreleased)

MUNICIPAL WASTE

Louder Than Hell (2005, Six Weeks)
Hazardous Mutation (2005, Earache Records)
The Art of Partying (2007, Earache Records)
Massive Aggressive (2009, Earache Records)
The Fatal Feast (2012, Nuclear Blast)
Scion Presents: Municipal Waste (2012, Scion Audio Visual)
Garbage Pack (2012, Night of the Vinyl Dead Records)
Toxic Waste (w/ Toxic Holocaust) (2012, Tankcrimes Records)

PHANTOMSMASHER

Phantomsmasher (2002, Ipecac Recordings)

REDRUM

Ghettoblaster (1997, Antichrist Propaganda)

SOILWORK

Ozzfest 2005 * Live appearance

Twilight

Guest Appearance on Below Lights III:
Beyond Trident's Tomb (2014 Century Media Records)

Young Widows

Best Friends Day 8/2009 *Live Appearance

TOUR/SHOWS

MunicipAl waste

5/15, Montreal, QC - Pouzza Fest

PUBLicist uk 

3/14 at Lost Lake, Denver CO

The following shows are all in Austin, TX
3/17 at The Liberty (End Sounds Party)
3/18 at The 512 Bar on 6th (Colorado Music Party)
3/18 at The 720 Club (Official SXSW Showcase)
3/20 at Sweetwater (Texas Metal Collective party)
3/21 at The ABGB (Real Ale Party)
3/21 at Yellow Jacket Social Club (Rock of Ages party)

FRIENDS

Excellence in all forms. I have lots of talented friends that rule.