[ WM ] Hey David ! Thanks for hanging out with us today ! Tell us how you got to music and what led you to the guitar ?
[ David Hislop ] Hey Jemm , thanks for having me ! I come from a big musical family , so I was around music all the time growing up . My Dad plays some guitar and shreds the organ , my Mom plays piano , my two sisters are singers / songwriters / worship leaders , and my two brothers are drummers . When I was 11 or 12 , I picked up my Dad ’ s bass and started learning how to play it so I could jam with the family and eventually play with them on worship teams . One of the earliest songs I can remember learning from my bass teacher was “ The Happy Song ” by Delirious . Good ‘ ole 1 , 5 , 6 , 4 , progression . I picked up guitar when I was 14 and that quickly became my primary instrument . It just felt more challenging at the time , and I loved all the different ways I could express myself through it either by playing , crafting tones , or manipulating effects . So much fun . Fun fact : Brandon Lake and I played in youth group together growing up and he was actually the first person to show me some things on guitar when I wanted to make the switch from bass . He can out-sing me , but I can out-shred him now , so we are even . ( laughing )
[ WM ] Who are some of your musical influences and guitar heroes ?
[ David ] Man , I have been inspired by so many bands and players it ’ s hard to put a finger on only few . I enjoy all kinds of genres of music and playing . Eric Johnson has to be one of my all-time favorite guitar players . I have always been a huge fan of his playing and his tone . It ’ s immaculate . I ’ ve seen him live once and hearing him shred ‘ Cliffs of Dover ’ through his Marshalls and Twins was a magical experience . Delirious and Stu G are OG ’ s . The album Glo and My Glorious was all the rage when I started playing guitar and it was so much fun . They pioneered so much for us in regards to pushing the limits of creativity in worship music . The Edge feels like a cliché worship guitar answer , maybe for how he inspired dotted 8th delay to trail throughout churches globally for decades , but if you don ’ t have respect for his ability to create and dial in tone or write guitar parts that take a song to the next level , there might be something wrong with you ( joking … but maybe ?). When I first learned that Joshua Tree came out in the 80 ’ s I was so surprised because it sounds so ahead of the rest of the music in that era .
Speaking of the 80 ’ s , I took a deep dive into 80 ’ s music the past couple of years ( I was born in the 90 ’ s so sadly missed it ) and there is so much good music that came out . Some highlights for me would be the tones and playing from pretty much all of the 80 ’ s Def Leppard albums , Bryan Adam ’ s Reckless , Van Halen , Toto , Tom Petty , Dann Huff , etc . Too much great tone and playing to list ! The music of my coming of age was all the mid-late 2000 ’ s punk / emo / screamo / hardcore / metalcore , so I was into a