Bob Bert

Biography

“Bob Bert proves he's the coolest thing to come out of New Jersey since the vibrating bed, as he takes over the controls and spews his groovy magic all over his latest joint BEACH BONGO BLOODBATH. Playing nearly every instrument, spouting the occasional beatnik banter and covering Love Comes In Spurts makes this psychedelic hullabaloo the perfect party album.” - Lydia Lunch

Most music gourmandizers know the name Bob Bert as the drummer for Sonic Youth in their formative years. He also beat car gas tanks for Pussy Galore. Bob has also recorded albums and toured the world with Bewitched, Action Swingers, Chrome Cranks, Knoxville Girls, Five Dollar Priest, and in more recent times Lydia Lunch Retrovirus and then coming full circle playing metal percussion again with Jon Spencer & the HITmakers. 

With BEACH BONGO BLOODBATH Bob Bert is finally stepping out under his own name for his first true solo album. For this outing he has seriously re-worked a number of cover songs into a veritable audio soundtrack for the movie of his life. Surprisingly for a guy who has slammed away for some very noisy guitar outfits, this is an album with NO guitars or bass. (once you hear his drum-centric take on Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" you will never hear that song the same way again).

Bob utilizes a variety of drums and percussion sounds as well as piano, synths, theremin, Farfisa, Rhodes, etc creating a new world of sound. There are six originals and eight covers that play to his love of campy teenage horror flicks, art damaged punk fuk-u-ness and Warholian underground groover vibes In fact, lets cue up some tracks from BEACH BONGO BLOODBATH to help tell the Bob Bert story.

After seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show at the age of eight, he took drum lessons for one year at the age of twelve and learned enough to bang along to the Rolling Stones and the garage punk nuggets of the sixties (Cue up "Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl" (The Barbarians).

Meanwhile Bob was desperate to get out of the hell known as catholic school. 

“In my town which was 11 miles outside New York City we had two types of kids, the rah rahs (jocks) and the hoods (greasers). “The hoods were mainly in the public school and I gravitated towards the hoods mainly for the style; black leather jackets and girls that looked like the Shangri - Las and the Ronettes. I told my mom I would drop out if she didn't take me out of Catholic School!”

One day Bob got called out of class by the principal nun who slapped his face back and forth saying "why would you ever want to go to public school?!”. (cue up "Mississippi Queen, Quaalude Interlude", and "Oink Oink").

In High School, Bob drifted away from drumming and was headed more towards art, Andy Warhol being a big influence and getting more into glam rock hitting the NYC clubs as a teenager going to see bands like the New York Dolls, Harlots of 42nd Street, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys etc. He discovered CBGB in 1975, when he wandered into a Television\ Patti Smith double bill. He took classes at SVA and learned how to silk screen print. He moved into the city in 1978 and became a fine art silkscreen printer eventually ending up with a job printing paintings and print editions for Warhol up until he died in 1987 simultaneously playing in Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore. Cue up " Foggy Notion" (Velvet Underground) and "Pablo Picasso" (Modern Lovers}.

In 1979 while printing in Soho, Bob saw an ad on the back of the Village Voice looking for punk rock artists. He submitted a piece and was thrilled to be accepted into the group show at the Nonson Gallery on Wooster Street. The opening was a gas, the whole scene was there; the band Shrapnel played in the back and someone drove a motorcycle into the gallery. Joey Ramone had a piece in the show which was a toothbrush with red paint on it glued to the ceiling entitled "Bloody Gums.” It was heaven! It was through the gallery where Bob met artist Linda Wolfe. In 1981 Bob and Linda moved to Hoboken a block away from the famed Club Maxwell's where Bob would spend half of his life seeing great shows and making tons of friends. In 1981 while hanging at a different club, he got up on stage making a racket with Peter Missing and Jeff Holiday. (RIP) 

“We became the band Drunk Driving causing trouble most of the time we played. We were banned from Maxwells after Peter put his upside down martini glass graffitti, which he became well known for when he formed his next band Missing Foundation, on the newly painted wall. “ After about 7 months while still working in Soho, Bob saw a flier that Sonic Youth needed a drummer. Bob took the flyer which he still has and joined in 1982. As it turns out he was the only one to call.

In The 90's Bob and Linda Wolfe (RIP} started the acclaimed fanzine BB Gun printing seven issues between 1994 -2004. In 2019 HoZac Books published Bob's book " I'm Just The Drummer" My Time Behind Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Chrome Cranks, & BB Gun Magazine, currently out of print.

So let there be drums! If that means like Sandy Nelson playing with the Flying Lizards on their greatest hits collection of kraut rock influenced Cramps covers then Bob Bert has a hot beautiful message for you. Let the BEACH BONGO BLOODBATH begin...........

—Glenn Morrow