BIOGRAPHY
David's love of music began at the age six with a fan driven organ from Woolworth. Every day after school he would sit behind the "organ", playing "Silent Night" or one of the other 12 songs on the included book. However, during a family get together that included a friend who happened to be a professional pianist, the $32 starter toy had no chance. After about 4 hours of nonstop play on its almost brittle white plastic keys being heavily clacked on as if they were solid ivories, the boxy brown plastic instrument's motor finally gave out and no longer pumped air to produce any sound. David was saddened and annoyed but his older brother Joey maintained that it was not the fault of the pianist, but that the organ was just a cheap toy from Woolworth.
Between the time of the end of the Woolworth organ fiasco and the $45 Zim-Gar Drum kit that could barely hold itself up, he would use books, smallest to largest. He would jam out in this way to bands like The Police, Van Halen, and Rush. That left his older brother to explain to his teachers why there were so many pock marks on them while returning them at the end of the year.
David's drumming journey further continued when he and his brother Joey enrolled in a local marching band where they began to further their musical interests. Joey started guitar lessons and David watched him play and learn from him. Soon they started a band of their own with their cousin and they continued for several years participating in other musical activities, including the local NYC Drum Corps scene. He continued to participate in through college, where he majored in Performing Arts.
The world of Drum Corps exposed David to many other facets of drumming, particularly involving the use of rudiments and applying them in different musical environments. This was about the time when upgrading to a more "gig worthy" kit was right. In came the Pearl Export and a host of other Latin inspired instruments. From this point on he began hitting the music scene and began considering recording music. About six months prior to the recording of Alien Sun he had been gifted an instrument called an erhu. He wanted to incorporate the sounds of this wonderful instrument into the album but his only instructor at the time was an accompanying instructional video and two cassettes featuring traditional folk songs that were, as a friend put it, “as old as the wind”. With these as his only starting point he began to explore an interesting fusion with this and modern progressive rock. Alien Sun was the result. The recent release of Alien Sun (Remastered) saw an improved clarity of audio along with a more focused and refined drumming style from its earlier incarnation 14 years prior.
Since 2009 David has been exploring and performing Polynesian music, playing a stunning variety of percussion and string instruments, including the to’ere, which is a log drum and ukulele, a four stringed instrument originating from Hawai’i. His journey in this wonderful genre gave him a chance to meet many wonderful people and perform with them in throughout the Northeast, such as Atlantic City, Foxwoods, and Mohegan Sun Casino.
