Dave was born to modest parents in a modest hospital in the modest city of Silver Spring, Maryland. The youngest of three siblings, he caught “performance fever” at an early age. Dave put on musical/theatrical shows with his older brother Rick, utilizing Legos and household items as props. Many a night, the Taylor brothers entertained their older sister Lisa, and parents with adolescent beat poetry and character monologues.
Some of Dave’s less-than-bright childhood moments came when he constructed a parachute out of bed sheets and attempted to jump off the roof of the house. Fortunately for everyone, Dave’s parents pulled up right as he was getting ready to plunge to the ground. And pretty much the whole neighborhood was glad when Dave abandoned his idea of making a roller coaster out of rope, an old go-kart, and trees.
Young Dave enjoyed all types of music, especially disco and late 70’s rock and roll. At the age of eight or so, his grandparents bought Dave a guitar and he enrolled in lessons. While he enjoyed the lessons (he especially loved practicing “When the Saints Go Marching In”), Dave drifted away from playing music until high school. It was then that Dave and Rick reunited musically to collaborate once again. They formed “Numbskull,” a heavy metal outfit (Rick preferred the term “sewage metal”) consisting of friends from Montrose Christian School. Rick was the frontman and served as the main songwriter, exploring themes such as politics, theology, and the mistreatment of the elderly. Dave also helped establish Professor Funk and the Disco Kids, a classic rock/funk cover band made up of classmates from school.
In college, Dave played bass guitar in his brother’s Christian death metal band, “The Risen,” but focused mainly on writing comedic songs. Throughout his college years and beyond, he played at coffee houses, open mics, churches, birthday parties, and clubs. The subjects of Dave’s songs ranged from unrequited love and Q-tips to pets with bladder control problems. It was in his late twenties, however, when he realized how much he loved playing music for kids -- his nephews and nieces in particular. This was also when Dave realized that in a way, he had been writing and performing kids’ music all along.
