MEET THE MARCHMEN

One of the founding members of The Marchmen as well as the guy charged with booking the band's gigs, Kevin stands apart from his instrumentally eclectic bandmates in that he's been laser-focused on lead and rhythm guitar since he picked it up at Age 10. An Oakland native, Kevin has a real day job as a Senior VP at Morgan Stanley. 

FUN FACT: At 16, Kevin bought a Les Paul Custom and promptly signed up for a 1975 Berkeley symposium featuring B.B. King.  The legendary performer, a longtime Gibson man, noticed Kevin's instrument and invited him on stage, where the pair performed a duo of "The Thrill is Gone." 

Berge has the distinction of being the only two-time member of The Marchmen: first on vocals and bass from 2012-15; then, after a hiatus, on guitar synthesizer and 8-string bass since returning in 2019. A management consultant by day, Berge has long been heavily influenced by The Beatles, Yes and The Beach Boys.

FUN FACT:  As a 17-year-old in 1977, Berge, a native of Oakland, toured Fukuoka, Japan -- Oakland's sister city -- with his band Misty Blue as part of a cultural exchange. Berge (a guitarist) and the drummer were banned from playing at one school because only acoustic performers were deemed free from corruptible influences.

Emery, who researches an oral vaccine for Covid-19 by day, moved from LA to the Bay Area to attend Cal. But he didn't get serious about his keyboard hobby until pursuing a grad degree in molecular biology at SF State. There he also signed up for a jazz performance course and found himself jamming with the most unlikely of classmates: Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett.

FUN FACT: In 1994, while attending a taping of KOFY-TV's Late Night with James Gabbert, Emery was tinkering with a piano on the set when a frantic producer approached and asked if he could fill in on keyboards to accompany the show's musical guest: Clarence Clemons, the iconic sax player in Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band. Between songs, Gabbert asked Emery if he was nervous playing with the Big Man. Clemons grabbed the mic and proclaimed: "I ain't making him nervous. I'm making him famous."

Dan is one of three Oakland natives in the band and, for all intents and purposes, a lifelong resident (he strayed a few miles to attend Cal). Unlike his bandmates, however, he wasn't reared on performance -- the Marchmen, for whom he has been the lead vocalist since 2014, are his first band. Until his recent retirement, Dan lent his financial expertise to Bay Area startups.

FUN FACT: Dan is fond of singing while golfing, and during a 2014 round with Marchmen co-founder Kevin Cardenas he was asked if he'd like to audition for The Marchmen. Dan showed up at the next practice, crooned the Allman Brothers "Melissa," and the rest is history.

When he's not engineering sound for Hollywood motion pictures like Deadpool at his cutting-edge recording studio in the Oakland Hills, Jay is practicing his wide-ranging craft on the guitar, bass, keyboards and, of course, drums, where he found his groove after serving two years as The Marchmen's bass player from 2015-17.

FUN FACT: Jay followed in the footsteps of fellow Upper Arlington (Ohio) High School alum Jack Nicklaus as a state champion golfer for the Golden Bears. He may have been destined to be a Marchmen; Jay was born on the Ides of March.

It's been one long musical journey for Bradd since his days as a campus troubadour at Ohio University, where he made his meal money playing solo acoustic guitar. An audio engineer at San Francisco's Moscone Center by trade,  Bradd -- the "new guy" in the band after being recruited in 2018 -- plays guitar, keyboards, the banjo and, for The Marchmen, bass and mandolin.

FUN FACT: Bradd and drummer Jay Shilliday were high school classmates in Upper Arlington, Ohio. At 16, their band Atlantis recorded their first single, "Winds of Fortune."