David Baker is an American musician best known as a founding member and the former lead singer of the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Mercury Rev Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York.
Original personnel were Huggett, Stuart.
From Mercury Rev To Variety Lights: David Baker Interviewed
. '' The Quietus'', 12 June 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2021 formed in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

in the late 1980s, and after as vocalist for Variety Lights. After leaving Mercury Rev in 1994, he released the critically acclaimed album ''

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

'' under the alias Shady which featured contributions from members of a variety of leading British and Irish alternative acts, including

Rollerskate Skinny Rollerskate Skinny were an Irish band formed in 1992 by singer and guitarist Ken Griffin, guitarist Ger Griffin and bassist Stephen Murray, and were later joined by Jimmy Shields. They released two critically acclaimed albums, ''Shoulder Voices' ...

Th' Faith Healers Th' Faith Healers were an English indie rock band who were originally active between 1990 and 1994. The members of the group were Roxanne Stephen (vocals), Tom Cullinan (guitar and vocals), Ben Hopkin (bass), and Joe Dilworth (drums). They rec ...

The Boo Radleys The Boo Radleys are an English alternative rock band who were associated with the shoegazing and Britpop movements in the 1990s. They originally formed in Wallasey, England in 1988, with Rob Harrison on drums, singer/ guitarist Simon "Sice" Ro ...

and Swervedriver. Later, he formed the band Variety Lights, a collaboration with Will MacLean.Michaels, Sean.
Former Mercury Rev singer forms new band Variety Lights
. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 2 March 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2021

Career

Mercury Rev

He is prevalent on Mercury Rev's first two (according to '' The Quietus'' "heavy psychedelic") albums ''

Yerself Is Steam ''Yerself Is Steam'' is the 1991 debut album by Mercury Rev. The title is a malapropism of the phrase "Your self-esteem," and is taken from a recurring lyric in the opening "Chasing a Bee." "Car Wash Hair" was released as a single to follow the ...

'' (1991) and ''

Boces The Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES //) is a program of shared educational services provided to school districts by the New York State Legislature. History BOCES owes its origin to a state legislative enactment authorizing the f ...

'' (1993) and all of the concurrent singles and Peel Sessions. When the band became popular in the UK after the success of ''Yerself Is Steam'', Baker became their main spokesman when dealing with both British music journalists and record labels.McNay, Iain.
Jonathan Donahue: The Mercury Rev Story
.

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as well ...

, 26 January 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2021 According to fellow band founder

Jonathan Donahue Jonathan Daniel Donahue (born May 6, 1966) is an American rock musician. He is best known as the frontman and a founding member of Mercury Rev, with whom he has released nine studio albums since 1991. He is also a former member of The Flaming Lips ...

, "it was David Baker who really helped us navigate the press, we hadn't done interviews before...David was really the one who helped us understand what actually was happening o usin '91". Unhappy with the band's more melodic and conventional musical direction after ''Boces'', Baker left Mercury Rev sometime before 1994. Mercury Rev's sound changed considerably after the departure of Baker, whose deep voice and unconventional style was replaced by Donahue's much higher-pitched vocals. Although there were tensions with Donahue at the time, they remained on good terms, and Donahue continues to speak highly of him. In a 2013 interview with ''The Quietus'', Baker said that he "had been wanting to leave, to be happier. So it wasn’t like some big fall out. It’s a hard one to talk about, but we’re fine, ven ifwe’re not making records together."

Shady

Baker produced the album ''

'' under the name Shady. The album featured contributions from artists such as Adam Franklin from Swervedriver, Martin Carr from

, Jimi Shields from

, Bill Whitten from St. Johnny and Grand Mal, and Sooyoung Park from Seam. A music video for the song "Narcotic Candy" was directed by

Jim Spring Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

and Jens Jurgensen. He then moved to Chicago, where he is a studio

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, and has produced a number of bands, such as

Mazinga Phaser Mazinga Phaser was a psychedelic space rock group from Denton, Texas active during the latter half of the 1990s. History Formed in 1993, the initial line-up was Jessica Nelson (vocals/keyboards), Cole Wheeler (bass), Mwanza "Wanz" Dover (guitar/p ...

from Denton, TX, Comet, from

Mesquite, TX Mesquite is a suburban city located east of the city of Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Most of the city is located in Dallas County, though a small portion extends into Kaufman County. As of 2019 census estimates, the population was 140 ...

, and

Marvelkind Marvelkind is an eclectic electronic rock band from Chicago, Illinois, USA. Their music is described by rock critic Jim Derogatis as "Gonzo Electro Noise Pop" and they have been compared to bands such as Devo, The Faint, Brainiac, and Mercury Rev. ...

from Chicago.

Variety Lights

Baker formed the band Variety Lights with electronic musician Will MacLean, and released their debut album Central Flow on Fire Records in June 2012. That August, their video for "Feeling All Alone" was released. This was followed by a UK tour in 2013, including headlining slot of Chicago Psych Fest V in 2014. According to ''

'', Baker and MacLean "bonded over their love of analogue synths, making music with effected guitars, vintage keyboard, and chained "80s-era

Midi MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

expanders".

References

External links

Variety Lights official website

Variety Lights live in Chicago
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, David Living people American rock singers Year of birth missing (living people)