Name Dalia Shusterman Genres Alternative rock | Instruments Drums, vocals Record label Burnt Hair Records Labels Priapus, Burnt Hair | |
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Born December 25, 1973 (age 50)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada ( 1973-12-25 ) Origin Crown Heights, New York Associated acts New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, Blood 'N' Grits, Casa Samba, Cirque de Ville, Michigan Impossible, 7 Mile Ford, Timo Ellis, Hopewell, Bulletproof Stockings | ||
Birth name Dalia Garih Shusterman Occupation(s) Drummer, songwriter | ||
A Hasidic All-Female Band That Rocks
Dalia Garih Shusterman (born December 25, 1973) is a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for the alternative rock bands Hopewell and Bulletproof Stockings.
Contents
- A Hasidic All Female Band That Rocks
- Early life
- Hopewell
- Return to Judaism and retirement
- Bulletproof Stockings
- With Hopewell
- With Bulletproof Stockings
- References
Early life
Dalia Shusterman was born December 25, 1973 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to a French Modern Orthodox Jewish family. She grew up in Potomac, Maryland. She played piano as a child, but discovered her talent for drums at an Earth First New Year's Eve party when she was 16, after playing the hired band's hand drums while they were on break and getting a positive response from the people in attendance. Inspired by this, she soon started busking in Washington, and then after hitchhiking across the country, in New Orleans. The street playing there got her access to several local stages, Mardi Gras parades, and even onstage at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
Shusterman briefly attended the State University of New York at Purchase, where she studied philosophy and literature. While still an undergraduate, a friend convinced her to play a full-on drum kit in the opening act for the band Boss Hog.
Hopewell
In 1993, Shusterman and bassist Jason "Whip" Merrit joined brothers Jason and Justin Russo of Mercury Rev to form the psychedelic rock band Hopewell. The group recorded a series of 7" singles before releasing their 1998 debut album Contact on Burnt Hair Records. The record was promoted by a small string of shows until the band went on hiatus, during which time the Russos toured with Mercury Rev and Merrit recorded a solo album, Song Song.
The band regrouped in 1999 to record their second album, The Curved Glass, which was released in October 2000 by Priapus Records. The album received critical acclaim and was promoted by a performance at the English Reading and Leeds Festivals, as well as an extensive European tour.
Return to Judaism and retirement
In September 2001, Shusterman, while in Manhattan, received a flyer for a Sukkot event in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and decided to attend. Her experience there motivated her to join Chabad, marry a young Hasidic rabbi she had met at the event, and quit Hopewell. She subsequently moved with her new husband to Los Angeles, where their four sons were born.
Bulletproof Stockings
After her husband's death in the spring of 2011, Shusterman and her children moved back to New York. There, a friend introduced her to Perl Wolfe, a very promising singer-songwriter and fellow Lubavitcher who was forming an all-female Hasidic alternative rock group in December of that year. The band was named Bulletproof Stockings and the group released their debut EP, Down to the Top, on April 1, 2012. Since then, the quartet Bulletproof Stockings (Wolfe, Shuterman, Maister, & Pestun) have toured throughout New York and Los Angeles with plans to expand their lineup and release a full-length album.
On April 8, 2016, Shusterman announced that Bulletproof Stockings had disbanded and that the four band members were heading off to individual music pursuits.