by JOHNSON CUMMINS

At approximately 3 a.m. on November 24, Dave Wenger, songwriter and singer in Daddy’s Hands, was crossing the street at Rachel and St-Laurent when he was struck down by a hit-and-run driver, and lost his life shortly thereafter. He was 33 years old.

In a tragic irony, Wenger had just recently moved back to town from Vancouver and was excited to get his band off the ground again, while preparing for a long overdue release of his songs, which will be out shortly on Kill Devil Hills, the label of Wolf Parade’s Dante DeCaro. Although Wenger was said to be as likely to infuriate people as he was to endear himself to them, his songwriting talents proved immeasurable, and he managed to impose a huge influence on the Montreal and Vancouver music scenes. I talked to two people who were both influenced by the man as musicians, and were able to call him a friend.

Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade): “Dave was the guy who got me into punk rock when I was 14. If it weren’t for Dave, I would’ve just been working at a gas station right now, but he forced me to start my first band. Most people who were from Victoria and played in bands over the past couple of years there probably owe a debt to Daddy’s Hands. It could be really trying to be a friend of Dave’s, but I always considered him a good friend. He was also one of the few people I know who really did suffer for his art.”

Chad Jones (Frankie Sparo): “I met Dave in high school band class. I was learning how to play bass and he was running what would imminently become my favourite metal band of all time, Moral Decay. Shortly after that, I started Frankie Sparo and he started Daddy’s Hands, and we moved to Montreal together in a hat-shaped van. I suppose I’d just like to tell you something besides one of the dozens or hundreds of awful stories from people romanticizing the saddest, most pathetic shit you have ever heard, as if he hadn’t already done that himself, thoroughly, disastrously and frankly better. I would like to tell you instead about what kept a few of us in awe and in love, inspired and heartbroken all the time; to tell you that and have that suddenly be the whole story of his life, without the other parts. I’m hoping that might happen but it won’t so I will tell you this.

To me, he was not blown along by a dark wind, but compelled to pursue one. It might seem like the same thing but it isn’t. If I dare say so, he was the reason a certain number of people play the kind of music they do (this did not go unnoticed, incidentally). I should add, he is the reason I play music, full stop.”

TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT… jonathan.cummins@gmail.com

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