Dive Bar Romeos Bio

DAVE DONEN (drums, vox) started his career at age 14 at the New York World’s Fair. By 16 he was backing up strippers and go-go girls at clubs like the Peppermint Lounge and the Wagon Wheel. At 17 Dave played for Chuck Berry at the world famous Fillmore East. He continued his rock and roll education touring with Chubby Checker and Bo Diddley. At 21 he traveled to London to join a band comprising Alan Kendall and Blue Weaver of the Bee Gees, Clive Taylor of Amen Corner, and fellow American Barry Lynch.
After a return to the New York club scene, Dave spent a year with Kevin Keane and Frank Carillo on Tim Hardin’s comeback tour. The three formed the group Carillo, releasing Rings Around the Moon in 1978. Dave later spent seven years working with Patti Smith’s guitarist in The Lenny KayeConnection, playing venues from New York (The Ritz) to San Francisco (The Warehouse), and co-writing on the band’s 1984 album I’ve Got a Right. Dave remains active in several bands, but says of his gigs with Dive Bar Romeos, “It’s great to feel like you’re twenty years old again and just play balls to the wall rock and roll!”

MIKE MULLER (bass, vox) is a sought-after player for live gigs and studio sessions. He completed three projects during the Covid lockdown, playing bass and producing for French rocker Manu Lanvin, Brazailian guitarist Mario Rossi, and New York songwriter Sylvie Yannello. He also appears on Too Many Lauras‘s recent release Living in Sin. A Long Island native, Mike was a gigging guitarist in his local Smithtown scene while still a teenager, but quickly gravitated to bass, playing with rock and blues rock bands throughout New York City (Kenny’s Castaways, Tramps, The Ritz), Boston (Jack’s, Cambridge, Alston), and Connecticut (Agora Ballroom). After graduating from SUNY Stonybrook, Mike toured the Northeast before moving to the Fan District of Richmond, Virginia, where he established his rock cred on the RVA club scene and the Georgia and Carolinas juke joint circuit. Joining the pop rock band Single Bullet Theory in 1981, Mike focused his songwriting on pop-y, melodic songs, contributing three compositions to SBT’s first release with Nemperor Records. Mike has toured extensively, throughout North America with the Bullets in the 80s, and in Europe with various blues and Americana acts in the 2010s. A speaker of passable French, Mike remains in regular contact with many European friends and contacts, and looks forward to a new European tour post pandemic.