David James

by Tim Wenger

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 David James strives hard to keep his fans from getting bored. Aside from countless hours spent putting songs together and keeping his breathtaking voice from getting too battle-hardened, he is developing a reputation for keeping his shows unpredictable. At The Walnut Room in September, he shuffled a guest horn section and guest vocalist on and off the stage throughout the evening. “We had rehearsed with them a couple times,” he says. “I generally try to change our shows up, so people can have a new experience each time.”

Drawing from the styles of artists such as John Mayer and Ben Folds, the band presents a unique blend of piano Pop Rock and Jazz, with a bit of a Swing influence. His song “Alcohol.edu” won James the BMI John Lennon Scholarship while studying in Boulder, but don’t let the name of the tune tell you too much about James himself. “It was written in college about my college experience, and the lifestyle of everyone who is incredibly boozed at parties,” he says. “I wrote a song poking fun at it, but admitted that I had taken part in it as well.” Definitely an appropriate song for a college student to write, but still James admits that he was caught off guard by actually taking home the award. “I was definitely surprised,” he says.

His band put out an album called Street Performer in 2010 after a number of recording sessions. “We hadn’t planned on putting an album together, we started off recording one or two tunes at a time just for fun,” he says. “We got to the point where it was like, why don’t we just put an album together?”

James was a Classical piano major in college, something that has helped shape his identity as a song writer and performer. “I have the chops to play more technical things,” he says. “I can’t improvise this killer solo, but I can take the time to write something out or learn something impressive.” Sounds good enough for most musicians, but James plans on continuing to work at improving. “Sometimes I get frustrated because I’m not this killer Jazz musician,” he says. “But (school) gave me the chops to play what I need to play.”

The band has some new tunes that James says are stepping out from what they had done earlier, and may record an EP in the near future. Stay tuned to their FaceBook and CMB for details! The album is available for download at TheDavidJamesBand.com  on a donation basis, and can also be picked up from the band at one of their shows.

FaceBook.com/TheDavidJamesBand

Category: The Rock