David Mark Pearce (born 23 May 1972) is a British guitarist, songwriter,
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...
and record producer.
History
A native of
Penzance
Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...
(Cornwall, UK), David Mark Pearce began playing the guitar in earnest at the age of 15 after first learning to play the drums. His first experience as part of a band came at 18, followed by several more until he left to attend the
London College of Music and Media
London College of Music (LCM) is a music school in London, England. It is one of eight separate schools that make up the University of West London.
History
LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at Gre ...
. Upon completion, he received a diploma in Music Technology and began his career as a much sought-after engineer and producer. His band affiliations include the UK melodic indie band Union Jane and the Cornwall-based folk rock group Naked Feet. He left the group in the early 2000s.
In 2002, when one of his Allen and Heath colleagues, who was a friend of keyboardist
Oliver Wakeman, asked Pearce to listen to some of Wakeman's tunes, he was impressed. He jokingly inquired as to whether Wakeman needed a guitarist, to which the answer was a surprising yes. After submitting his own work, in addition to several ideas he had for the band, he was hired. The first project that he and Wakeman worked on was the Anam Cara album mix, upon which he also contributed acoustic guitar support.
It was the first of many projects with Oliver and the band; other projects have included: mixing and electric/acoustic guitar support for the CD single "The View from Here"; mixing Oliver's last commissioned album ''Angels'' and the relaxation albums ''Purification by Sound'' and ''Enlightenment and Inspiration''; as well as electric guitar support on the OWB’s latest release, ''
Mother’s Ruin''.
Since his debut with the band at the Oakwood Center in December 2002, his association with the band has taken many interesting twists and turns, including support work with
Arjen Luccassen's band Stream of Passion, appearing at the prestigious Fordhamfest and an appearance with Oliver at one of the UK Classic Rock Society's acoustic evenings, where he showed off his talent on classical guitar. A big highlight was the 2008 performance and filming of the Coming to Town – Live in Katowice DVD and cd (Metal Mind Productions) at the Wyspianski Theater in Katowice, Poland. Of his live performances it has been stated that Pearce "through his poseur look and attitude stole the show that evening" and that he "often stole the spotlight with a colorful outfit and impressive solos". Another seminal event for Dave was supporting
Steve Howe
Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist and backing vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, London, Holloway, North London, Howe d ...
at Oliver and Lisa Wakeman's wedding reception.
Pearce wrote and recorded his own EP, ''1997'', which was also included on his debut album ''Pleasure Palace''. He has been co-producer, sound engineer and provided guitar support to keyboardist
Lisa LaRue on her album ''Lisa LaRue Project 2K9 World Class'' (Finger Woven Records), released in November 2009. He also co-wrote the song "There Are No Words" with LaRue for the project. His own tune on the album, "Tell Me Why", will also be included on his own melodic rock album entitled ''Strangeang3ls'', (Pleasure Palace Records) released in 2010.
John Payne provided the vocals. It will be available as an EP in November 2009, along with the EP "Shelter Me from the Rain", released earlier the same year.
Recognition
David Mark Pearce was also named 2008's eighth "Best Guitarist'" by Classic Rock Society Magazine in the UK for his work with the Oliver Wakeman Band.
Discography
* ''Strange Ang3ls'' (2011)
* ''Tell Me Why'' (single) (2009)
* ''World Class'' (Lisa LaRue Project 2K9) (2009)
* ''Shelter Me From the Rain'' (EP) (2009)
* ''Coming to Town – Live in Katowice'' (Oliver Wakeman Band) (Live CD) (2008)
* ''Coming to Town – Live in Katowice'' (Oliver Wakeman Band) (Live DVD) (2008)
* ''Mother's Ruin'' (Oliver Wakeman) (2005)
* ''The View From Here'' (Oliver Wakeman and Rachel) (EP)
* ''Enlightenment and Inspiration'' (Oliver Wakeman) (mixed by David Mark Pearce)
* ''Purification by Sound'' (Oliver Wakeman) (mixed by David Mark Pearce)
References
External links
Official websiteDavid Mark Pearceon
MySpace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
(Mother's Ruin, Oliver Wakeman Band)on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, David Mark
1972 births
Living people
People from Penzance
English rock guitarists
English male guitarists
English male songwriters
English record producers
21st-century British guitarists
21st-century British male musicians