Have you ever seen the documentary “20 Feet from Stardom?” If you haven’t,  it’s a documentary that shines the spotlight on the hit making contributions of longtime back up singers like Darlene Love and Merry Clayton. I’d like to do something similar here and introduce you all to a man I feel deserves the spotlight and has been on world tours with notable bands, is a Senior Sound Engineer at an award winning studio and just an all around, cool dude that probably has enough stories to fill his own tour bus. Please let me introduce you to Mr David Parker as we finally shine the spotlight on him in this interview.

Amy: I’d like to start by saying thank you for taking the time to share some insight into the busy world of David Parker. Shall we start with the basics to get them out of the way, like where you hail from and how you ended up here in “smAlbany?”

Dave: That’s always tricky to answer and it’s been a long road! Haha. I was born in Savannah GA, spent my childhood in southern New Hampshire, moved to Woodstock NY then Kingston NY, and finally Albany. I’ve also lived in a few other places but those are the important ones. I have no idea where home is! I moved to Albany sometime in 2010 I think. This might be the longest I’ve lived anywhere so I guess I hail from here now! Long story short, I mostly moved up here to escape the small town nightmare and find better work. It’s funny to me that people call Albany smAlbany, try living in a real small town! My nickname for it is “alcohAlbany” honestly. No disrespect, just sayin!  

Amy: Your day job, Senior Sound Engineer at the award winning Overit Studios in Albany NY. Some may have even seen you accept the 2023 Eddies Award or seen the iconic umbrella photo from the event. Please walk us through what working as a “Senior Sound Engineer” at Overit Studios means in layman’s terms and maybe delve into some of the most memorable moments in doing so.  

Dave: Well, simply put I can record and mix whatever you need! I’ve done a very wide range of projects over here. People tend to hear recording studio and think music in terms of recording artists but honestly that’s just one part of the job for me. I’ve worked on quite a bit of music here over the past 5 years but I also work on podcasts, webinars, books on tape, sound design, recording famous actors doing voice over work, scoring for commercials and other video projects. I even scored an hour long documentary a few years ago. I recently helped sound design and score a commercial that will air regionally during the super bowl this year, which I won’t see because I’ll be too busy that day. Every now and then I’ll see a commercial on tv that I worked on,  point at the tv like the Leo Dicaprio meme and say “I wrote that music!”. The most memorable things are usually the most unusual, like recording hundreds of people saying phrases to aid voice recognition software, or recording very steamy adult podcasts!

Amy: You play a variety of instruments such as bass, guitar, keyboard, piano, programming (listed on Wikipedia – not quite sure what that means.) Am I missing any? And what would you say differentiates you from other musicians?

Dave: haha! Yeah, programming in basic terms means making music with electronic devices and computers. I can program/sequence drum machines, keyboards, etc. I usually make all my own synth sounds or presets. I’ll use a preset if I need something simple and straightforward (simple moog bass, a piano, organ etc) but mostly I sound design everything from scratch. It’s way more fun that way. Over the past few years I’ve been working with analog modular synthesis and that’s really fun and nerdy! It’s basically an analog music computer, wires everywhere! It’s a very unforgiving format. If you don’t know how to make it sound good it won’t. You don’t get presets! I think what differentiates me from other musicians is that I’ve spent a lot of time not just being a musician in a band with tour experience but also working as a live sound engineer, a studio engineer, I’ve dabbled in theater, lighting, video, band management, booking and a bunch of other useful things. I can think way beyond whatever role I happen to be playing in any given project. I’ve helped guide projects to both success and failure. I mean, you never win if you never go to the casino right?

Amy: According to your Wikipedia page, you are a multifaceted musician who has been in some notable bands, some of which have toured the world. Also noting that Wikipedia needs a little freshening up as it’s missing two of your most current projects Like the Astronaut and The Prize Fighter Inferno. Where should we start with this – past to present, or with your favorite(s)? Either way, walk us through your role in these bands and projects.

Dave: Yeah! My Wiki page. I have no idea who made it or how to edit it. It just exists. Idk! Someone please update it, lol! I think it’s against the rules for me to do it, not that I know how anyway. Man, I forget sometimes how many bands and projects I’ve been a part of. What a long road. There have been some really memorable moments along the way. The first time I played CBGB’s in NYC on a Saturday night was with my old band Divest, I forget which version of the name we had at the time. When I was about 22/23 years old or so, we were opening for a band called “Cycle Sluts From Hell” (featured on Bevis and Butthead and toured with Metallica). I met the singer Donna in college and we played several gigs together. We ended up getting banned from CBGB’s that night because our singer got too wild.. yeah let’s put it that way. We quickly became unbanned and asked back! Haha! That happened a few times at a few different venues. From banned to headlining!! That’s rock and roll for ya! When I was a teenager I always wanted to play Warped Tour but it never happened. Music that I wrote or produced was performed at Warped Tour a number of times however (MC Lars and Weerd Science). I guess some dreams only go partially fulfilled! Not that I’d want to do Warped Tour at this age. With Weerd Science I toured with Gym Class Heroes and Bane. With Coheed and Cambria I toured and played festivals in the US and Europe with a whole bunch of really awesome bands. I even played MTV’s TRL back in the day. I could go on a lot longer on this question but I’ll just move to current times. Like the Astronaut is a project I’m working on with John Glenn who I played with in Stellar Young. My role in that is pretty much in the studio. It’s a ton of fun and we plan on releasing more material later this year! The Prize Fighter Inferno is a new thing for me. It actually began many years ago as a side project of Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria but is just now hitting the road soon! I have been working as a tech with Coheed and Cambria for the past couple of years and we both have a love for electronic music. My involvement just feels like a natural progression considering how long I’ve known everyone in the Coheed camp, which is High School basically. I’m really looking forward to wherever this leads! 

Amy: You are hitting the road again come February 16th for The Prize Fighter Inferno, Before They Bury Me Tour 2024. I got my tickets for NYC, (readers please note, most dates have already sold out, so get your tickets today.) What can I and others expect on this tour and what are you most excited about for this tour?

Dave: Oh man! It’s going to be a lot of fun! Lots of Prize Fighter favs and a few special things! I’m not sure that we know what to expect. This will be the first time this project has been on the road. The fanbase is one of the best you could ever ask for and it will be a fun time for sure!  It’s true that most shows are sold out and they sold out quick! We even had to upgrade/change a few venues because of it. There are still tickets for the NYC show but idk how much longer they’ll be available. We’re basically taking the northern route across the US to California and I can’t wait for some Cali sun at this point in the winter! We also have some new material coming out soon! We drop something new on Wed. Feb 7th that I think is pretty special! Rehearsal begins soon and I’m ready to roll! Let’s go! 

Amy: What haven’t I asked you yet that you may want to talk about?

Dave: Well I could go on forever about music and production but I’ll change it up a bit and mention that I have a side hustle in genealogy! It’s not a normal side hustle but whatever! I usually end up working on a few trees a year for people and have found some seriously amazing things. I can also track down missing ancestors using DNA and I’ve solved unknown parents/adoption situations as far back as the late 1800’s. I’m sure you’ve seen articles about people solving cold cases with genetic genealogy. It’s exactly the same thing. I even found out that 2 people who worked here at Overit were related and not even distantly! This is something that I wish I had more time for, I obsess over it when I’m deep in it. I’ll contact other historians, researchers, library’s, old churches, and even hire people to translate old handwritten documents from other countries. A few years ago someone reached out to me because they wanted to use some of the family information and photos that I had collected in their town ghost tour book. Apparently some of my ancestors are still around! How fun!