Biography

David has been performing for over 25 years..working with bands such as Rich Spirit, Vinyl Play, and Rock bassist Chris Glen to name a few..

it all started at the age of 4 when his parents David and Heather bought him a toy keyboard for his Christmas purely as a ‘stocking filler’ but it didn’t take them long to realise that it wasn’t the demos that were playing on the keyboard..it was their son! 

From there, David began playing in his primary school for their assemblies, playing in his local church, and then went to piano lessons under the private tuition of Daniel Letham to try and learn to read music.

David reached Grade 5 then decided to stop as he felt he was learning faster by ear than reading the music itself. During his time under Daniel Letham, David also performed at the prestigious Glasgow Music Festival 5 years running playing in the Jazz and Rhythm & Blues class, and every year, earned an honours grade..the highest mark given to any individual in its 140 year history..

At the age of 15, David joined his first band Rich Spirit and it was here that he developed his skills in songwriting, recording, and live performance.

This band had various incarnations going from Rich Spirit, to The Vandelles, to finally Vinyl Play.

The band recorded their debut album UNDER THE FLIGHTPATH, which was released in 2010.

In 2011, David decided to leave the band to pursue other projects.

David still keeps in regular contact with his former band mates, doing recording sessions for drummer Jamie Henry and vocalist Ryan McGavin’s Country project Gravel Tracks.

He also performs with Vinyl Play bassist Simon Phillips with his wedding band The Jets periodically as a session musician.

From there, David joined the JPhunk Quintet, a 5 piece Jazz/Funk band playing music from the likes of Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, which rapidly increased his knowledge of playing at the highest level playing exceptionally difficult pieces of music and working with some of the finest musicians in the country which included Bassist Sam Firth (The Nimmo Brothers), and Drummer Gary Montgomery (Ray Harris)

shortly after that, David joined his first blues band..The Resonators.

The Resonators was purely a pub covers band but a band he really enjoyed being part of as this band would later become something even ‘bigger’ - The Sensational Alex Harvey Experience.

In 2013, David performed overseas for the first time, playing in Marrakech, Morocco for 6 weeks in a 5 star hotel with musicians in the band coming from all over the world. This was a great education for David and one he cherishes a lot for the experience he gained there..

David also attended North Glasgow College from 2013-2016 and qualified In both NQ, and HND level for Music Performance & Business under the guidance of Ted McKenna, who was better known as a professional rock drummer in bands such as The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Rory Gallagher, and The Michael Schenker Group.

At that time, Ted became a huge Influence in Davids career, as he rapidly became a fan of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and currently plays with tribute The Sensational Alex Harvey Experience.

David has also worked with SAHB bassist Chris Glen with his band The Outfit for a few years.

Working with Chris was a big deal for David at the beginning...working with one of his heroes and performing SAHB songs on an almost regular basis in parallel with SAHE..but lack of gigs further a field led David to make the decision to leave and once again pursue something different...

This would all change right here because in 2017, David was approached by another SAHB legend to collaborate on his latest project..

Guitarist Zal Cleminson contacted David to help co-write and record material he had been working on while living in Cyprus and of course David happily agreed.

Zal knew David was in a SAHB Tribute band and had attended a few of their shows over the years and really enjoyed them.. so much so that he asked them to be his band..and after a few rehearsals, the band was working and Zal had a band...SIN'DOGS.

Since the summer of 2017, Zal and sin dogs have recorded a self titled 3 track EP, performed a UK Tour, and have recently released their debut album Vol.1 and are touring throughout the UK this year with plans for bigger festivals and European Dates in 2019.

David feels that Zal has given him the biggest opportunity of his career, being able to write, record, and perform with him is just a dream come true. 

David is currently working on a solo album of instrumental music called 'Out Of The Dark' which has major influences of musician's he grew up listening to.  Musicians such as John Carpenter, Mike Oldfield, Danny Elfman to name a few, but all material is original and will hopefully be released by the end of 2019.  

The album will be composed, produced, and released by David himself with visuals for videos on certain tracks worked on by good friend Jono Rezillo.

His Dad is a keen and experienced guitarist and songwriter, and David is planning to release an album of his dads work in 2019/20..yet untitled.

You'll find more on these side projects David is involved with in the ‘NEWS’ section of the site.

Outwith music, David loves spending time with his wife of 5 years Joanne, their 4 year old son Mason, and his family n friends.  David is also going to be a father again for the 2nd time and their new arrival is due at the end of September 2019.

David is also a lifelong Glasgow Rangers fan and attends games on a regular basis.

David cites his biggest influence is his Dad who is also a musician but he believes all his family are the influences in his life as he wouldn’t be where he is now without their support and encouragement.

Musical Influences include:

MUM/DAD/JOANNE/MASON

JOHN CARPENTER

HUGH MCKENNA - (SAHB)

TOMMY EYRE - (SAHB/IAN GILLAN)

JON LORD - (DEEP PURPLE)

JORDAN RUDESS - (DREAM THEATER)

DEREK SHENNIAN - (SONS OF APOLLO)

JOOLS HOLLAND

STEVIE WONDER

DR JOHN

DON AIREY

ALAN HOWARTH (COMPOSER - HALLOWEEN II,III,IV,V,AND STAR TREK)

HARRY MANFREDINI - (COMPOSER - FRIDAY THE 13TH PART I-VI)

DANNY ELFMAN - (COMPOSER - BATMAN, BATMAN RETURNS, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS)

MIKE OLDFIELD - (COMPOSER - TUBULAR BELLS (THE EXORCIST)

His Favourite bands are:

THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND

DREAM THEATER

RAMMSTEIN

TOTO

BROTHER STRUT

AVERAGE WHITE BAND

STEVIE WONDER

MICHAEL JACKSON

STRANGEWAYS

MSG (MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP)

DEEP PURPLE

BLACK SABBATH

DIO

LED ZEPPELIN

and many more...

FAVOURITE ALBUMS:

ROCK DRILL - (THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND)

SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE - (STEVIE WONDER)

TOTO IV - (TOTO)

ASSAULT ATTACK - (MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP)

FIRST STRUT IS THE DEEPEST - (BROTHER STRUT)

LIVE IN VERONA - (JAMIROQUAI)

SONG REMAINS THE SAME - (LED ZEPPELIN)