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Indie Blues Rocker David A announces release of new full-length album “Lit”

By Kath Galasso on May 4, 2023

Seasoned Indie Blues Rock Musician and professional outsider David A has announced the release of his new full-length album “Lit”, due April 17, 2023 through his artist-run Mediavenger label. “Lit” showcases David’s rock n’ roll vitriol in truly sleek form throughout it’s lean, raw collection of 10 new tracks. Tracks such as “Glamour Slain” (reached #4 on KOR Radio’s UK chart) and “Prodigal Bastard” (reached #13 Radio Indie Alliance world-wide top 75 chart) deliver plenty of groove, attitude and snark, earning David A charting positions on several independent rock charts worldwide. “Balustrade” rose into the top 10 of multiple indie radio stations’ charts around the world, including #1 on Music Expo Radio (UK), #2 on Radio Candy (Los Angeles) and #5 on Pop Radio UK.

“Lit is my most cohesive album to date, and that’s by design. I’ve had more players on some previous individual songs than are on this whole album! As much as I’ve loved recording with a variety of great players on previous outings, the results lacked the cohesion, immediacy and sheer power of this album. Keeping the same partnerships throughout Lit has delivered a unified energy that’s palpable.”

“My lyrics are word pictures meant to incite mind movies. I seek always to meld earthy human reality and simple ideas with fresh verbal expression, free of cliches and predictable outcomes – to express the familiar themes of life with fresher and more vivid colors, no retreads allowed.”

Fans of artists like Mark Lanegan, Iggy Pop and John Mellencamp should find something to love in this immersive new rock release. It seems David A‘s own inner feeling of being an outsider is paying off creatively, as to many this theme is a critical touchstone when it comes to rock, punk and metal music. This is music for outsiders and vagrants.

David explains his philosophy: “I’ve been called an outsider, and I embrace that, but I also think that’s only half the equation: I’m outside looking away, not in.

A lot of people seem to think trash culture and the end of standards don’t matter or affect life’s bigger issues. I beg to differ. I look at America today and see what happens when a country forgets how to rock.”

Listen or purchase “Lit” on Bandcamp.
Spotify
Apple iTunes

Musician Names/Instruments:
David A: vocals, keyboard on “Prodigal Bastard,” rhythm guitar on “Just Ask Gloria”
George Harris: electric and acoustic guitars, pedal steel guitar, sitar
Robert Wegmann: electric bass, acoustic upright bass
Angelo Collura: drums
Producer Name(s): David A and George Harris

Tracklist:
1. If I’m So Strange
2. Fasting
3. Glamour Slain
4. Balustrade
5. Eastertown
6. My Dark Love
7. Prodigal Bastard
8. Couer d’Alene
9. Daily Bread (Metairie)
10. Just Ask Gloria

Websites:
Official Website: https://www.davidalpha.net/home-1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RockDavidAlpha
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealDavidAlpha
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ubHVbVyGHwU3TDQN6wxlH
Bandcamp: https://davidalpha.bandcamp.com/
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLA1E1LhNJ7ALPcNGmYiVKA

Artist Biography:
INDIE BLUES-ROCKER DAVID A (formerly David Alpha) TOOK THE LONG ROAD TO LAUNCHING HIS VISION OF ROCK RE-IGNITION EMBODIED IN HIS BOLD NEW ALBUM, LIT

Cool, innovative musicians are often called “cats” simply because it’s a hipster phrase, but the wild musical journey of David A has got the whole “nine lives” thing going, as well. The Tampa Bay Area-based alt blues-rocker self-described as “irresponsibly eclectic” has enjoyed many musical incarnations throughout his career, earning commercial airplay and critical acclaim for his two bands, The Fons (pronounced fones) and the Dharma Bums, and numerous solo recordings. He’s walked out on music on a few occasions, but a creative renaissance in 2012 spurred some of his edgiest tracks and most insightful songwriting, resulting in his powerhouse 2014 album Sacrilege 2.0.

David’s catalog is vast and eclectic enough to warrant two full compilations, as well: 2018’s Rockin’ Roulette – by design a showcase for the lighter side of his songwriting and artistry; and 2019’s Chameleon Wheelhouse, featuring songs that are thematically darker and musically more esoteric. Both brim with hooks infused with what then Tampa Tribune music critic David Okamoto noted as “unusual lyrical couplets.”

“My lyrics are word pictures meant to incite mind movies,” David A explains. “I seek always to meld earthy human reality and simple ideas to fresh verbal expression, free of cliches and predictable outcomes — to express the familiar themes of life with fresher and more vivid colors, no retreads allowed. I’ve been called an outsider, and I embrace that, but I also think that’s only half the equation.” The other half? “I’m outside looking away, not in.”

The Ark of Music named “Universalon,” which leads off Rockin’ Roulette, one of the ten best singles of 2019, at #4. The surreal More Blue Than You, David’s biggest video success yet, amassed more than 116,000 views after being featured on the cover of The Cool Noise music blog, followed by a near match for Little Liberty (featuring East Bay Ray) after feature stints on Billboard Sound and three other influential blogs.

David’s journey into, out of and ultimately back into music is one many indie artists can relate to and be inspired by. Even after breaking through the commercial radio barrier in Florida, packing many of the state’s sweaty, smokey rock bars and garnering the praise of Iggy Pop, his mounting frustration with the ups and downs of indie music life prompted him to return to grad school, where he eventually earned master’s degrees in English and journalism. He put his talent for wordsmithing to great use, working over the years as a college English and journalism instructor, then magazine editor and public information writer for the University of Tampa, all while publishing short fiction and poetry in literary journals and writing opinion pieces for the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers, plus editorials in Florida’s Bradenton Herald and weekly features for its Neighbors magazine.

But unable to keep new songs from imposing themselves in his head, David returned in 2014 with fresh energy embodied in the aforementioned Sacrilege 2.0, featuring original college-days cover art and a list of guest musicians including legendary Dead Kennedys founder and guitarist East Bay Ray, who co-wrote and co-produced the song “Sacrilege” and brought in two highly regarded San Francisco Bay Area sidemen, bassist Chuck Lindo and drummer Robert Wolffe. On the Florida side of the production are numerous revered central Florida musicians including bassist Robert Wegmann, drummer Mark Prator and guitar wiz Tim Mulaly.

Genya Ravan introduced the single “Sacrilege” to the world on XM Radio’s Little Steven’s Underground Garage. The song, a high-octane romp through the emotional minefield of a breakup, lit up community and college radio and a got a spin by Genya Ravan on SiriusXM’s Underground Garage. The hard-driving “Jeans,” which finds David juxtaposing hot fantasies with the humdrum of day-to-day life, was #1 for all genres in Florida and #1 on the national power-pop chart on the live online radio outlet N1M, where David’s songs have topped 100,000 plays.

Explaining the creative resurgence that brought him back some years after he left (for what he thought was for good), David says, “New songs just started dropping into my head. The lyrical and poetic instincts of my early works were regenerating themselves with a new freshness and an undeniable insistence that I acknowledge them, and the intensity level of the music itself was driving home the point like never before. At a time when most songwriters likely settle into something gentler or easier — or in the case of those who have laurels they can rest on, stop writing altogether — I feel an increasing desire toward greater intensity and a more urgent need to record and perform again.”

In 2021, David opted to condense his name to simply “David A.” His new, most cohesive and already most successful album to date, Lit, began reaping consistently positive reviews while amassing impressive airplay stats on hundreds of indie radio stations, programs and music blogs around the world — more than a year before its release. Late in the year, the album’s first two advance offerings scored early and often. “Balustrade” rose into the top 10 of multiple indie radio stations’ charts around the world, including #5 on Pop Radio UK, #2 on Radio Candy (Los Angeles) and #1 on Music Expo Radio (UK). “If I’m So Strange” also enjoyed jaunts into several stations’ top 10s.

David’s first full-length album of all new songs in eight years features more high-stature musicians in guitarist/sitarist/co-producer George Harris (Greg Billings Band), drummer Angelo Collura (Lady Antebellum, The Torpedoes) and longtime bassist Robert Wegmann (an accomplished solo artist in his own right), as well as a pair of tracks featuring saxophonist Ronnie Dee (Ronnie Dee and the Allstars).

The momentum carried into and through 2022 as two more songs from the album were released to radio ahead of the album’s eventual release on Oct. 3. “Glamour Slain” reached #4 on KOR Radio’s (UK) chart. “Couer d’Alene” reached #3 on Australia’s Valley FM and vaulted to #12 on the Radio Indie Alliance world-wide top 75 chart, while “Just Ask Gloria” and “Prodigal Bastard,” released in November, rode it together to #13 late in the year and into 2023. While working to assemble a touring band and secure live bookings to perform Lit live, David already has begun work on another new album for 2023, tentatively titled Vagrant Soul, as well as planning production of a new video as the spring of 2023 dawns.