View source for Bob Bert

{{short description|American drummer}}
{{distinguish|Bob Burt}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- Individual -->
| name              = Bob Bert
| image             = Lozbert2.png
| alt               = 
| caption           = Bert in 2016
| image_size        = 
| background        = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name        = Robert Bertelli
| alias             = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1955|06|11}}
| death_date        = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth) -->
| birth_place       = [[Passaic]], [[New Jersey]]
| instruments       = Drums
| genre             = Rock
| occupations       = Musician
| years_active      = 1982-present
| label             = [[Thick Syrup Records]]<br> [[In the Red Records]]
| associated_acts   = [[Bewitched (American band)|Bewitched]]<br>[[The Chrome Cranks]]<br>[[Knoxville Girls]]<br>[[Pussy Galore (band)|Pussy Galore]]<br>[[Sonic Youth]]
| website           = 
}}
'''Robert Bertelli''', better known professionally as '''Bob Bert''' (born June 11, 1955), is an American [[rock music|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 (album)|Bad Moon Rising]]''.  After ''Bad Moon Rising'', Bert quit the group.

Bert contributed during the last half of the 1980s as percussionist for noise band [[Pussy Galore (band)|Pussy Galore]]. He was a member of [[Action Swingers]] in the early 1990s.<ref name="Strong">Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, {{ISBN|1-84195-335-0}}, p. 588</ref>

In the early 1990s, Bert drummed for the [[The Chrome Cranks|Chrome Cranks]] (which also included Peter Aaron on vocals; Jerry Teel on bass; and William Weber on stun guitar).

After the dissolution of the Cranks, Bert joined forces with guitarist [[Kid Congo]], guitarist [[Jack Martin (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 (American band)|Bewitched]]. Releases by Bewitched include the ''Chocolate Frenzy'' 12" EP; some albums, including ''[[Harshing My Mellow (album)|Harshing My Mellow]]'' on No. 6 Records; and the "Hey White Homie" 7" on [[Sub Pop]]. Bewitched toured with Sonic Youth and STP (short-lived NYC all-female foxcore band which included PG guitarist [[Julie Cafritz]]) during the summer of 1990, the year ''[[Goo (album)|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 (band)|Suicide]] for the reissue of the band's [[Suicide (1980 album)|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.

[[File:Lydia Lunch Retrovirus W71 06.jpg|thumb|''Lydia Lunch Retrovirus'' at ''Club W71'', 2017]]
Bert is now playing with Retrovirus ([[Lydia Lunch]], [[Weasel Walter]], Tim Dahl), who have released studio and live albums, and also with Wolfmanhattan Project with [[Kid Congo Powers]] ([[The Gun Club]], [[The Cramps]], [[Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds]], Knoxville Girls, Pink Monkey Birds) and [[Mick Collins]] ([[The Gories]], [[The Dirtbombs]]).

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.

Bert's father is [[Angelo Bertelli]], who played college and pro [[Gridiron football|football]], and won the [[Heisman Trophy]] in [[1943_college_football_season|1943]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mitchell |first1=Greg |title=Five Months After Bombing Nagasaki, We Staged an All-star Football Game in the Fallout Zone |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/08/nuclear-football-in-nagasaki/ |website=Mother Jones |access-date=6 August 2025}}</ref>

==Discography==

===With Sonic Youth===

* ''[[Confusion is Sex]]'', 1983
* ''[[Kill Yr Idols]]'', 1983
* ''[[Sonic Death]]'', 1984
* ''[[Death Valley 69]]'', 1984
* ''[[Bad Moon Rising (album)|Bad Moon Rising]]'', 1985

===With Lee Ranaldo===
* ''[[Between the Times and the Tides]]'', 2012

===Bewitched===
* ''Chocolate Frenzy'' 12" EP
* ''[[Brain Eraser]]'', No. 6 Records
* ''[[Harshing My Mellow]]'', No. 6 Records
* "Hey White Homie" 7" [[Sub Pop]].
* ''[[The Worst Poetry of 1986-1993|Bob Bert Presents: The Worst Poetry of 1986-1993]]'', [[Thick Syrup Records]] 2011

===Chrome Cranks===
* ''Dead Cool'', CD [[Crypt]], 1995
* ''Love In Exile'', CD PCP, 1996
* ''Oily Cranks'', CD [[Atavistic Records]], 1997
* ''Diabolical Boogie: Singles, Demos & Rarities (1992 B.C.- 1998 A.D.)'' CD, Atavistic Records, 2006
* ''Ain't No Lies In Blood'' CD, [[Thick Syrup Records]] 2011

===With Lydia Lunch Retrovirus===
*''Retrovirus'', Recorded live at the Knitting Factory, Brooklin, NY, Nov 15, 2012 (CD / Widowspeak, 2013)
*''Urge to Kill'' (CD / Widowspeak / Rustblade / Brava, 2015)
*Live in Zurich (CD / Widowspeak, 2016)

=== With Wolfmanhattan Project ===

* ''Smells Like You'', (7", In The Red Recordings, 2015)
* ''Blue Gene Stew'', (CD/Album, In the Red Recordings, 2019)

=== With Jon Spencer and the HITMakers ===

* ''Spencer Gets It Lit'', (Album, Bronzerat/Shove Records, 2022)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[[David Browne (journalist)|Browne, David]]. ''[[Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth]]''. Da Capo Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-306-81515-7}}. pg. 81 ff.

{{Bewitched (American band)}}
{{Pussy Galore}}
{{Sonic Youth}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bert, Bob}}
[[Category:Sonic Youth members]]
[[Category:Pussy Galore (band) members]]
[[Category:American rock drummers]]
[[Category:Noise rock musicians]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Musicians from Hoboken, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:American male drummers]]
[[Category:Drummers from New Jersey]]