As a ‘90s kid, David Immerman balanced his love for alt and pop-rock with a desire to become a lone-wolf shredder. The latter instinct led him to Berklee – and eventually, a session and touring career.
“I’ve always gravitated toward hired-gun players,” he says. “In college I got more into pop stuff and the guys who played for people like Avril Lavigne.”
After a stint with Jive Records, he wound up as Lavigne’s touring guitarist in 2013. “When I moved to LA she was the biggest artist on the planet,” he says. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, I wanna do that!’”
He’s currently taking some time off with back trouble, and while he aims to return to her side, he knows nothing is set in stone.
“When you do the hired gun thing, you never know what or when your next thing is. So I’m redoing my studio, doing remote sessions and the things that keep me busy while I’m off the road.”
What kicked off your guitar journey?
“I always played some sort of instrument when I was a kid. My grandma gave us a piano and I took lessons. In elementary school I started playing the violin because my grandfather was a violinist. But I wasn’t super into it.
“Coming home from school in the ‘90s, putting on MTV and seeing these bands, skateboards, and all that stuff – I got wrapped up in it. That’s what made me want to play guitar.”
How did you decide what type of player to be?
“I had every popular album from maybe ’93 to ’96, when stuff like Green Day, Foo Fighters, and Bush got me. But once I started playing guitar, I got into guitar god stuff like Ozzy’s guitar players and Yngwie Malmsteen. I wanted to be a virtuoso player.
“I had a guitar teacher who wasn’t a shredder, but I was really into it. I’m blessed that I got him at a younger age because he recognized that I had something, even though he couldn’t show me the shred stuff.
“He taught me how to practice. If my tone or phrasing sounded awkward he would make me do push-ups! It built me up. I put focus on natural sensibilities like finer tone and feel, as opposed to just ripping through 16th notes at some ungodly BPM!”
Was your plan to become a session player?
“Not really. In high school I was like, ‘I’m gonna be a professional musician.’ I went to a summer program at Berklee and they offered me a scholarship. I wound up declaring business as my major, and got really into music publishing; I thought that’s what I wanted to do.
“But after college I got a job doing sample clearance licensing, and I realized that I wanted to go back to my dream of being a session and touring guy. So I moved to Los Angeles.”
Was your plan to start a band?
“I’ve thought a lot about it, but I never wanted to start my own band. I know so many creative people who do their own projects. But all the guys I idolized – except for Tony Iommi – were either guitar heroes or session dudes.”
What led to joining Avril Lavigne’s band in 2013?
“One of my best friends from college is Drew Taubenfeld, a big-time player and music director now. His brother Evan was Avril’s original guitarist. When we were in college, I’d go to their house for Thanksgiving, or he’d come up to Boston, so I knew him a bit.
“When I moved to LA I’d hang out at his place; he took me under his wing. I learned about production, how to be a professional, and the whole hired gun thing. I got a gig with Leslie Roy, who was on Jive Records, and then I got a gig with Allison Iraheta from American Idol.
“I guess I made a name for myself playing with these badass female pop-rock artists. When the Avril job became available, my buddy Evan recommended me.”
How has your rig with Avril evolved since 2013?
“It’s changed a lot. When I joined I was using a dual-head rig with a head switcher through a single cab. I had this badass single, high-gain channel Soldano.
“But a while back I switched to a Kemper – with Avril, we try to match the tones on the records so everything sounds legit. I’ll get the stems from the record and try to pick out what they used, unless I know already.”
How do you approach a classic track like Complicated, which has some memorable guitar lines?
“They kind of cobbled together the lead parts of that one. I use a PRS hollowbody with piezo pickups, and a wound third to make it sound a little bit more acoustic.
“For the chorus I roll on the blend knob and get a dirtier tone to thicken it up. If you listen to the guitar stems, it’s not a big wall of sound, so it doesn’t translate the same live.”
Do you take a similar approach to classics like Sk8er Boi and Girlfriend?
“Yeah – those are fun! Girlfriend is especially fun because I’ve been playing it for so long, it just goes on autopilot. I’m on the mic a lot for that one because there’s background vocals for the entire song; otherwise I’d be jumping around a lot more!
“With Sk8ter Boi, the stems have a ton of different layers – it is a wall of sound thing. On the album there’s a part doing the accents, like, an octave above. Live I combine the two parts and have a composite of rhythm parts.”
Does Avril give you a lot of input when it comes to guitar?
“I absolutely love working with her. We’re friends. She allows us to do our thing – but she definitely has strong opinions on how she wants things to sound.
“There are times when she’s like, ‘Why does this guitar sound like that?’ I’ll sit with her and find out what kind of tone she’s thinking about. She’ll go to the front of house and critique the mixes while we’re in rehearsals; she’s pretty hands-on when it comes to arrangements and the live set. Then it’s up to our music director to make it a reality.”
You’ve been taking a break from the road. What have you been up to lately?
“I’ve been doing a lot of physical therapy! I had a couple of spine surgeries, but I’m doing really well now. I’m in a fortunate position that I used to do a lot of songwriting and production, so I get some mailbox money. I’m not rich but I’ve had a few things do well.”
Do you have plans to rejoin Avril on the road at some point?
“I would absolutely love to! Hopefully, when she books something I can go out. But with her, it's always the balance of doing another record versus going out on tour, so we’ll see what she decides to do.”
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