David Chapman (aka afrotree) learned the piano, his first musical instrument, after being inspired by his older siblings at the age of 6. At primary school he was given his first lessons on the trumpet, joining his first ensemble as a trumpeter in the school orchestra. His music teacher was also the director of a local church choir and soon joined as a choir boy. With inside knowledge of his trumpeting skills David began playing 'The Trumpet Voluntary' at weddings and 'The Last Post' on Memorial Day.

Over the next 15 years, David played in a number of competitions, big bands, brass bands, became a grade 8 pianist and enjoyed an invaluable 5 years in The Lancashire Students Concert Band with whom he toured all over Europe and beyond, gaining huge experience performing in concerts at magnificent venues such as Disney World in Florida.

TASTE OF SUCCESS

In his late teens while at college, David made friends with Marc Sunderland (Peter and the Wolf) where they shared their excitement in music. With a band in need of a new member, he decided to join Marc's pop band Waterfront playing the keyboard and singing backing vocals - with the occasional appearance on the trumpet.

Waterfront experienced a good run off success with singer/song writer Marc who lead the group to a final of 'Battle of the Bands' at Wembley in 1999. That same year David helped them launch their own single 'Metaxa', a single that achieved plays on Blackpool's local radio station Radio Wave.

OTHER EXPERIENCES

By 2004 after a GAP year in Australia and then back in England forming new bands 'numb', 'Nevermore' and 'Crome Yellow', David had gained a Popular Music and Recording qualification at Manchester City College under the guidance of Pete Whitfield (Real Strings). He was attending Salford University down the same path on a 3 year degree course when midway through his 3 years, David was approached by Manchester band Whiskycats who desperately needed a Trumpet player.

Whiskycats

Following a phone conversation with front man Matthew Whitaker, David accepted an invitation to watch Whiskycats play at Academy 3 in Manchester. He loved what he saw so much that he decided to put his course on hold and became a permanent member of the band. Within weeks he was whisked away on an exciting pre-scheduled tour of Cornwall playing to cheering crowds in streets, clubs and pubs. Over the next 6 years with Whiskycats, David appeared alongside bands and DJ's as diverse as Arctic Monkeys, Arrested Development, Mystery Jets, Misty’s Big Adventure, Bad Manners, Quantic Soul Orchestra, Vince Vincent and the Villains, The Proclaimers, Gilles Peterson and Norman Jay. With the band he gigged relentlessly all over the UK which included highlights such as a prestigious sell-out gig at the world famous Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in London (Read Review).

Whiskycats released their debut single In This Chair, in November 2005 on their own imprint Medical Records. David then turned producer for their following two broadly applauded EP’s 'Image N All The People' and 'Put Your Title Here'. Each release enjoyed airplay on several local and national radio stations followed by their eponymous debut album (Read Review) produced by Jim Spencer (Charlatans, New Order) in late 2007. 'Slipped Disco', the first single from the album, was released in March 2008 and earned them Shaun Keaveny’s ‘Band Aid’ Band of the Week accolade on BBC 6Music. The track picked up over 100 radio plays, with spins from station colleague Nemone and from John Kennedy on XFM London. Manchester legend Mani from the Stone Roses was a big fan of the band. They also appeared on Channel 4's Orange Unsigned Act where Blur's ex-bassist Alex James said "[Whiskycats] don't sound like anything else in the world!". The Whiskycats were the first unsigned band to sell out Manchester Academy 2 and to headline Academy 1 (Read Review).

Due to unforeseen circumstances, sadly in February 2010 Whiskycats performed their last ever gig to a limited audience of 900 at a sold out Academy 2 in Manchester. But now upon recent events, there are exciting rumours that the band will be getting together for a reunion gig in aid of charity in February 2012 (watch this space).

afrotree

Within weeks of the Whiskycats finale, David had set to work on his new project afrotree allowing him to combine all of his musical talent and experience as a producer into one challenging project. His primary goal is to record an album and with the proceeds travel around the world to visit and meet as many places and walks of life as possible. To help people understand his vision, he got to work on the track 'Around The World' which is currently available to buy from iTunes, Spotify, Amazon MP3, and Napster. Although this track has been digitally released, it has not been promoted in any way except through friends and family of whom made requests to purchase and assist afrotree reach his goal. On this website you can listen to the whole track on the Music Page and will be the second single by afrotree to be released in 2012. The first (debut) single is to be released will be 'We Bounce Off People' and is due to be official released in January 2012. This track will appear alongside 'Around The World' in the final album 'Around the World' which is also set to be released in 2012. Already there has been huge praise from producer Jim Spencer (Charlatans, Black Grape) who said "Wow, how good is your single Dave, I love it!!".

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