David is the founding member of Blue John. He was Head of Music at Hope Valley College (Derbyshire) in the mid-90s when the idea came following a school trip to see ‘The Commitments’ live at Buxton Opera House. The rest, as they say, is history…
David comes from a brass band background, having been a member of one band or another since he was 7. Eventually, this led to him studying music at Huddersfield University and leaving with a first-class honours degree and consequently a teaching diploma.
His love of guitar began at a similar time, when his Uncle Terry showed him a few chords as a youngster. Beyond that he is completely self-taught; learning his craft by imitating the licks of Knopfler and Clapton and forming bands as a school student.
David is a multi-instrumentalist and has been known to play bass guitar, keyboards and sax with the band. It’s been known for him to play the drums in the earlier years too… just for rehearsal mind!
Almost exclusively, David arranges the horn parts for Blue John and guides the rehearsals (which doesn’t take much effort since the band is an incredibly talented bunch of musos!)
Nowadays, he enjoys his chosen profession as a brass instrument technician and can be seen conducting brass bands from time to time.