David - Lead Guitar

David is an extraordinarliy talented guitarist and being left handed as well, put's him in a special class! Not happy with the stock standard guitar amplifier David being an Electrical Engineer by trade designed and built his own valve based amplifier. He also has several guitars which include acoustic, open tuned electric, and bog standard Fender guitars. The combination of the David's guitar work and the qualities of the amplifier creates a magic sound, particuarly in instrumentals and lead breaks. Performing songs as diverse as Chris Issac's Wicked Game or classic instrumentals Apache, Bombora or Status Quo's, Down Down brings out the very best in Davids' talents. From subdued ballads to full on hard core rock, David can handle it all in his stride.

David is the spiritual leader and the founding member of The Ripchords along with Andrew (Bass Gtr). Their friendship goes way back to early school days and the boys have been musically involved ever since. David started off as a rhythm guitarist in a band called 'Soroas' and shortly after this he formed the first version of the band R.I.P. playing lead guitar and vocals. His partner in crime Andrew joined up with R.I.P. in the mid 70's playing bass. The band reformed after a break with a new line up and throughout the 80's and 90's various abberations of R.I.P. came to pass. Some name changes for the band included "Structual Damage", "R707" and "Smith White & Young". It was from these early bands that the seed for The Ripchords was finally sown.