Bay area singer-songwriter David New picked up guitar as a kid, but never really got serious about being a musician until he was in his mid-20s.
“At the time, I was bored, hating my job really bad and just kind of searching for something else,” New told me last week when we chatted at the St. Pete Beach loft apartment-cum-recording space where his band, The Hip Abduction, spends much of their time. Bassist Chris Powers actually lives there, but the rest of the band members reap the benefits of the place, likely getting much inspiration for their vibrant tropical sounds from the scenic view of the Gulf off the third-floor porch.
Back then, New was working as an environmental scientist and it wasn’t anything like he’d imagined. “I thought I was gonna be green and save the world straight out of college, but it ended up that I was working for the oil company and standing up for big oil, which was awful. Writing took me somewhere else.” New says he endured it for about two years before he bailed. Then he spent a few years soaking up the sounds and culture of the Caribbean. “I ran a sailing program and taught marine biology and diving on the side. A lot of my lyrics come from what I experienced there. I grew up in Virginia, so I never listened to reggae very much. Then I really, really got into it down there and I’ve never been able to shake it.”
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.