Although his childhood obsession had always been drawing (he was an avid comic book collector and cartoon artist), music was always his primary passion. As a guitarist, he cites Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Edward Van Halen (Van Halen), and Ace Frehley (Kiss) as his major influences. At 14, his uncle took him to his first concert – "It was Joe Walsh and Charlie Daniels in 1975", David says, "From the first note played, I was hooked! After that, I saw pretty much every show that came to (Phoenix)".