Daved Kohls:
CLASS OF 1967
Stagg High SchoolClass of 1967
Stockton, CA
Lincoln High SchoolClass of 1965
Stockton, CA
Daved's Story
After 1967's graduation, I briefly dabbled with life as a keyboard player in the local Stockton music scene performing in local groups such as Decaying Organisms, Black Roses, the Ether Sea, Morris Toad, and hanging with others such as The Family Tree, The Strange, Plastic Explosion, Sweet Wine, etc., until enlisting in the military in 1969 & then spending 6 years as a petty officer in Naval aviation electronics.
I carried a high security clearance while working on search & track radar, TACAN, radio, navigational computers, and specializing in ECM & IFF systems (primarily on EA6B and A-4F aircraft), till the end of the Vietnam war.
During this period I married Donna Anderson, a local Stockton girl, for almost 5 years and had a son, Kristian, who, as an adult, has become quite succesful in his own showbiz career as a prominent Los Angeles session drummer and with his own gold-record award winning, multi-album group, Adema.
While in the Navy, I picked up an interest in guitars, fueled by the instrument's portability. My first acoustic guitar, was given to me in early 1970 as a birthday present from fellow military classmates, while stationed near Memphis for electronic schooling.
I then spent 2 years of shore duty on Whidbey Island, WA, maintaining aircraft in the first EA6B training squadron, VAQ-129, followed by 3 years of sea duty on the aircraft carrier, USS Hancock, with an A-4F squandron, VA-212.
At the end of the Viet Nam war, before being honorably discharged in 1975, I spent 6 months at NAS Subic Bay in the Phillipines helping to process escaping refugees.
I closed out the '70s living out of an Econoline van while traveling around the country looking to re-find myself, briefly settling in mid Iowa and working at the John Deere factory in Waterloo as a construction and maintenence electrician for a couple of years, before missing the coast and moving to southern California.
L.A. 'Boogie Nights' got crazy for awhile as time passed and by 1980, I had settled in the Pacific Northwest, where I gained some local celebrity in the Portland, Oregon area as a performer and session musician, till I fell into entertainment production and finally found my true career calling as a "Backline Technician"...
...or, the more familiar term... "Roadie".
Begining as a keyboard tech with the band, Quarterflash ("Harden My Heart", "Find Another Fool", "The Night Shift", "Take Another Picture"), I moved onto guitar teching a year later with a spinoff group, called "Meinstreet"; fronted by their lead guitarist/lead male vocalist, Jack Charles.
Eventually I moved on to an up & coming Portland band called The Dan Reed Network ("Get To You", "Ritual"), bringing them up thru the Northwest nightclub scene and ...Expand for more
then taking them thru the recording of their self-titled first album in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and finally thru their first international tour.
This led to my association and friendship with legendary promoter Bill Graham and his stable of BGM acts.
In the early '90s, at Bill's request, I moved back to California and worked out of the San Francisco bay area for 10 years with such groups as Eddie Money, Joe Satriani, Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians, Jefferson Starship, Jellyfish, Don Henley, Testament, Savatage, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, the Replacements, Tom Petty, Santana, and many others.
After Bill died near the close of the century, my primary workbase shifted from San Francisco to Los Angeles and I hooked up with blues/jazz guitarist Robben Ford.
Needing to be close to L.A., but not wanting to actually live there, I moved south to the quiet suburban, Sierra-bluffs of Bakersfield where I was closer to my kids and family.
Work with Robben continued for nearly 12 years until Robben decided to dis-band his formal group and pare down his public performances and touring on the road.
At about the same time he was making these decisions, he toured as part of Gregg Allman's "...& Friends '04" solo project, where I was asked to also manage Gregg's keyboard's and guitars.
Gregg and I hit it off quickly and easily, with Gregory asking me to be his full time tech and equipment manager... providing a logical and comfortable shift from working with Robben, to breaking into the "southern rock ' music community and joining the Allman 'family of musician's'.
These days, nearly a decade and a half into the 21st century, my primary client for about 9 years now has continued to be Gregg, both with the Allman Brothers band and with his various other musical projects.
During breaks I've scheduled my time to work regularly with Larry Carlton, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Warren Haynes, Government Mule, and others.
In 2013, since my primary work base had shifted to the southern east coast (allowing me to now live anywhere I want on the west coast), I moved back up to the Pacific Northwest in 2011, where I bought a home in Portland, Oregon, married my girlfriend of many years, Kimberly, and bought a chocolate colored, long-hair, deer-head Chihuahua for my lovely wife to keep her company when I am gone on the road touring.
In 2014, the Allman Brothers Band formally retired from the road but I am, of course, still working for Gregg with his Gregg Allman Band project.
More info, pictures, and music may be found at :
myspace dot com/tunetech
facebook dot com/DavedKohls
daddario dot com/DADMediaLibrary.Page?ActiveID=3770&MediaId=101&MediaName=Allman_Brothers__Guitar_Tech__Dave_Kohls_On_EXP
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
Register for Free to view all photos!