After 20 years, 'Digital Dave' exits Logan House

If you've been to Kelly's Logan House to see a band any time over the past two decades, then you know of David "Digital Dave" Mudrock even if you don't know he exists.

The sound engineer has been in charge of making sure the show goes on at the historic Trolley Square-area watering hole for more than 20 years and 3,000-plus concerts.

During that time, he did sound for both the hundreds of Delaware bands and national acts that used to swing through -- everyone from former Beatle drummer Pete Best and Men at Work's Colin Hay to Rusted Root and Tommy Tutone.

He's seen it all. The good shows and the bad. The mosh pits and empty dance floors. The make-out sessions in the front row and the blow-out fights among tipsy couples.

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And last weekend, the longest serving Logan House team member other than the owners powered down his gear for the last time and spent this past week moving his equipment out of the room that has been his nighttime weekend home for decades.

That's right. Digital Dave has left the building.

Even though he revelled in the gig, enjoying being in the middle of it all in Delaware's oldest Irish bar, Mudrock decided it was time to focus more on his audio/visual production company, 23rd Century Inc.

"Everything comes to an end, but I'll miss everything about it. It a once-in-a-lifetime job," says Mudrock, who still doesn't know why the band Sparks long ago dubbed him "Digital Dave," a nickname that stuck even though he's an analog fan. "The Kelly family has done so much to support the local music scene. It really was a pleasure to work there every night."

He kept his departure pretty quiet, giving only management and a couple of the last bands he worked with a heads up.

It was early Sunday morning when the frontman for Newark cover band Radio Halo broke the news to the crowd before their final song: it would be Mudrock's final song as well.

"We quieted down and I announced that he had been there forever and had the crowd say, 'Thank you Digital Dave' to him,'" says Dave Hepner, who dedicated the final song – Fall Out Boy's "Sugar, We're Goin Down" – to Mudrock. "He stood up and took a bow."

Mudrock, who worked at the Wilmington club Bottlecaps before the Logan House, can quickly rattle off the names of some of the more memorable local acts he worked with, including Wilmington jam band Montana Wildaxe, which once had a longtime monthly residency. Others that stream into his mind include Chorduroy, Pete Casey and Seven Rings, Tommy Conwell, John Faye, Nick Bucci, Cliff Hillis and more.  

"It really is amazing how much talent there is out there," he says.

Mudrock has watched local musicians grow from 22-year-old novices to 42-year old veterans. In some cases, he's done sound for bands that feature the sons of musicians he did sound for years ago.

And he's seen it all – even a keyboard player "strip down to his BVDs" during a show.

"He wanted to make everybody comfortable. He told the crowd, 'If I can do this and be comfortable, then you guys should feel comfortable, too," Mudrock remembers. (And, yes, it worked.)  

The shows at the Logan House are not always contained to the stage. A female customer became the center of attention one St. Patrick's Day weekend because she passed out near the stage. The show stopped, an ambulance arrived and she was wheeled out. But not before awakening and telling the hushed crowd, "I'm fine. I'll be back tomorrow."

Adds Mudrock, who lives in Bear: "The Irish are dedicated to their music."

With Mudrock exiting, Michael P. Kelly, owner of the bar that has been in his family since 1889, tipped his cap to the veteran LoHo soundman.

“We will sorely miss DDD (Digital Dave Da’man)," Kelly says. "I have seen nobody better in Delaware. He is a real pro with a gifted ear. He can even make me sound good."

And the goodbyes aren't stopping. When Mudrock stepped down, Logan House bartender Dave Perritt became the newest name atop the LoHo seniority list, having worked there 19 years.

But the drink-slinger and guitarist for punk band March of the Mongolian Deathwvrm had also previously decided it was time for his own personal last call. He will serve his final drinks Saturday night.

Up until a few years ago, Mudrock would control the sound from the back of the upstairs room, but he was moved right next to the stage by the rear exit during a remodeling.

It was there where you could count on seeing the bespectacled soundman on his perch, behind a small wooden fence they built around his equipment.

If you've seen the old Tim Allen sitcom "Home Improvement," he looked like the neighbor Wilson peeking from atop a fence. And when something would go wrong on stage, you'd see him pop out of his booth and hop onstage to make a quick fix.

But the shows were never about him. He was always in the background, almost part of the furniture of the bar, which the Kelly family has owned since 1889.

"I liked staying out of the limelight and being as stealthy as possible," he says. "From an audience perspective, I want them to think everything was being delivered by the band, even if my finger was on the scale a little bit."

Logan House general manager Joe Mujica says Kennett Square-based Audiofirm will take out the sound duties.

Not only was Mudrock the party-starter (even though looks more like an IT guy than a rock'n' roller), he was also the party pooper.

When 1 a.m. rolled around, it was his job to turn up the lights and make sure band stops playing.

He was usually successful.

Only a few bands, such as Montana Wildaxe, could get away with stretching a show too long. One night the jam band told him they only had one song left and then it went on for 20 minutes. Music fans got 20 extra minutes of Grateful Dead tunes that night. 

Mudrock's other role at the Logan House was to absorb the grumbling from bands who have to load their gear in and out of the 153-year-old tavern in the Forty Acres neighborhood.

Load-ins go through the rear exit, meaning hauling equipment up and down a steep metal fire escape that can be a real bear if it's raining or snowing.

He's heard all the complaints and when someone asks if the bar will ever get an elevator, he always had the same answer: "This building was built when Abraham Lincoln was president. If they haven't done it by now, it's probably not going to happen."

This weekend, Mudrock will find himself in a position he hasn't been in for more than 20 years – with a weekend off.

Instead of blaring rock music and beer-stained floors, he went down to Bethesda, Maryland to visit his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter and start the next – and much quieter – chapter of his life.

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).