Bio.
A longtime member of New York City's indie-pop underground, Dave Jay Gerstein (aka Dave Jay) working under the moniker The Sound of Monday, builds a bridge between past and present, pulling from the classic sounds of his heroes — from The Beatles and The Beach Boys to XTC and Aimee Mann. The result is an outside-the-box approach to forward-thinking indie pop, with songs that find room for more than just the classic sounds of electric guitars and harmony vocals. Touches of horns, woodwinds and strings create the chamber pop sounds reminiscent of many of his past and present influences, and add a new dimension to his longtime blend of hooks, humor, and adventurous arrangements.
Dave Jay began writing songs at age 9, aspiring to be the 5th Monkee, eventually creating his own personal musical category, summed up onomona-poetically as, J’Blammo Pop! He smirkingly states, “Hey, come up with your own name, you’ve got your own genre!”.
The Sound Of Monday began the late 1990s in New York City whose music was championed by the likes of Danny Weinkauf (They Might Giants), Brandon Wild and Len Monachello (This Way), and Mother West producer Charles Newman (The Magnetic Fields). More than two decades later, the Weinkauf-produced Quick Ear Warmer is due out this summer, with the Newman-produced “Linguistic Missdemeanor” in the fall on Newman’s own Mother West label. For Dave Jay, these releases mark a continuation of a career rooted in the musical ingredients that never grow old: ageless melodies, constant innovation, and an indie sensibility.
Raised on 20th Century music ranging from the Great American Songbook to 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Pop, and comedians like Mel Brooks, Steve Martin, and Peter Sellers, Dave Jay grew up with an appreciation for clever lyrics and even smarter songs. "I listened to everything from Irving Berlin to Buddy Holly to The Jam," he remembers. "The common denominator between all those artists was a willingness to add these surprising, unexpected turns — lyrically, melodically, and structurally — to their songs. There's a similar element of surprise in comedy, where you're being led down one road and suddenly you take a left-hand turn. That always excites me." A budding musician and stand-up comic, he interned at Saturday Night Live in college, developing a reputation for sliding jokes under Dennis Miller's door. Although he'd later become a Finalist in the Connecticut Comedy Festival (which aired on PBS), Dave Jay soon folded his comedic chops into his true calling: music.
The Sound of Monday began with a classifieds ad in the Village Voice. "I was looking for bandmates, so I listed a bunch of my influences at the top of the ad: Beatles, Squeeze, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Aimee Mann, and Adrian Belew," Dave Jay remembers. The first person to respond was Danny Weinkauf, who would go on to become a Grammy-winning member of They Might Be Giants. The two became friends, and when Dave Jay went into the recording studio to record The Sound of Monday's debut album, Linguistic Misdemeanor, Weinkauf joined him on bass. Produced by Charles Newman and recorded to analog tape during the late 1990s, Linguistic Misdemeanor was an introduction to a songwriter whose songs mixed timeless craft with contemporary cool. Although the record was shelved for two decades, it helped launch Dave Jay's artistic career nonetheless, with the songwriter continuing to write and record new music while also expanding into acting.
He entered the New York International Fringe Festival in 2008 and won Outstanding Solo Show for "johnpaulgeorgeringo," an entirely improvised one-man show in which he smoothly morphs between an impersonation of all four members of the Beatles. Dave Jay took the acclaimed show on the road, even performing it during "Beatles Week" at the band's original stomping grounds: The Cavern Club in Liverpool, England. Back in the US, he continued to earn accolades with his own music over the subsequent years, landing a spot on ABC-TV's The View, where Barbara Walters remarked, “Dave Jay…we just want you to remember the name.”
The Sound of Monday’s songs have been licensed for shows like MTV’s The Osbournes, plus their renowned cover of the Spiderman Theme has garnered over 3 million streams to date and climbing.
With new releases coming throughout 2022, stay tuned for a slew of new content, live shows, and other fun surprises!