Pura Vida

Dave Bader grew up in a musical family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and during his teen years did some roadie work with a local band that included T-Bone Giblin. Soon after high school and college he relocated to San Francisco where he joined his first band, The Spliff Kings which included his older brother Robert. After several years in California, he returned home to Iowa to raise a family and after years of low activity he joined up with others in Iowa to form the Shed Heads which evolved into Flat Cat. Flat Cat had a good ten year run as a fun time party band with a wide repertoire including many originals written by Dave Bader. It was during the Flat Cat years that Bader hooked back up with T-Bone Giblin which included the release of Flat Cat's Bring A Friend CD and the release of T-Bone's solo CD Choice Cuts. Bader has also been part of several other bands including Flying Carp, Mid Wife Crises, Trailer Park Romeos, Pawned Scum, Central Shores, Charlie Morgan & BoneCrushers and The Bader Brothers Band, which consists of brothers Dave, Mike, Tom and Robert Bader. He recorded with and did several tours with his brother Mike. Over the years he has played behind and with a wide variety of local and national names including Ron DeWitte, Dennis McMurrin, Kevin BF Burt, Craig Erickson, Charlie Morgan, Merrill J Miller, Carole King, Bryce Janey, Michael Hill, Perry Welsh and many others. Dave has been deeply influenced by Howlin Wolf, Memphis Soul, New Orleans back beat, Old School Country and the San Francisco music scene.