Robert Bertelli, better known as Bob Bert, is an American rock drummer.
Biography
Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, Bert initially came to prominence as drummer for the experimental rock band Sonic Youth during the early to mid-1980s. Bert played on the Sonic Youth releases Confusion Is Sex, Sonic Death, and Bad Moon Rising. After Bad Moon Rising, Bert quit the group. Bert contributed during the last half of the 1980s as percussionist for noise bandPussy Galore. He was a member of Action Swingers in the early 1990s. In the early 1990s, Bert drummed for the Chrome Cranks. After the dissolution of the Cranks, Bert joined forces with guitarist Kid Congo, guitarist Jack Martin, bassist/vocalist Jerry Teel and organist Barry London in the rootsy New York City band Knoxville Girls. Throughout, Bert managed to release a handful of recordings by his percussive/concussive vehicle Bewitched. Releases by Bewitched include the Chocolate Frenzy 12" EP; some albums, including Harshing My Mellow on No. 6 Records; and the "Hey White Homie" 7" on Sub Pop. Bewitched toured with S.Y. and STP during the summer of 1990, the year Goo was released. During the late 1990s, Bert and his wife, artist Linda Wolfe, began publishing BBGun, a zine that primarily covers punk rock. In 1998, Bert contributed the liner notes and interviewed Suicide for the reissue of the band's eponymous second album. Bert played with Five Dollar Priest as well as with the International Shades, which features ex-Live Skull guitarist Mark C. and former Pier Platters shop assistant-turned-keyboardist Dorien Garry among others. In 2011 Thick Syrup Records released the compilation cd Bewitched - Bob Bert Presents: The Worst Poetry Of 1986 - 1993, featuring all tracks Bob Bert recorded with Bewitched. The label also released the last album of the re-united Chrome Cranks featuring Bert on drums. Bert is now playing with Retrovirus, who have released studio and live albums, and also with Wolfmanhattan Project with Kid Congo Powers and Mick Collins. In 2019, Bert released I'm Just the Drummer: My Time Behind Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Chrome Cranks & BB Gun Magazine, a book compiling his photographs and interviews he did with artists he collaborated with or that influenced him.
