VANDIVER SHARES ‘SINCERE’ PASSION FOR MUSIC
By Maggie Davis
April 29, 2010
The lights are almost blinding and your heart beats in your chest. The microphone is inches away from your mouth and slowly you begin to play a few chords on your guitar. Soon, chords are joined with bass, playing low and steady; eventually the drums beat behind you. You open your mouth and the words just flow, telling tales of pain, love, happiness, mystery and more. When the music stops, you’re standing there in front of everyone, vulnerable. The crowd cheers and your heart leaps. While not everyone experiences this, some people are lucky enough to, and one of them is Hiawatha High school junior, David Vandiver.
“I’ve always loved music,” Vandiver said. “After high school I plan to be a musician while taking religion courses at a college for a year then going to the Musician’s Institute (MI), a vocational college in Hollywood, California.”
Vandiver plays guitar, bass guitar, drums, piano, violin, baritone saxophone, a lot saxophone, some ukulele and, of course, he sings.
Growing up, Vandiver always had a strong connection with music.
“It started with poetry in fourth grade as well as piano, then guitar,” Vandiver said. “In eighth grade, I started my first band 3N1, then it changed to Driven 2 Paradox and now it is Sincerely Yours.”
Driven 2 Paradox, which was formed during Vandiver’s freshman year, ended this past summer when their former drummer moved to Texas.
Members of Sincerely Yours, which was formed in 2009, are different from the past two bands. Vandiver plays many parts in the band such as guitar, vocals, bass, drums, and some ukulele. Josh May plays lead guitar and writes the guitar music, Trey Christian plays is the drummer and does some backup vocals, and Bryton Shulenberg plays bass and sings back up vocals. Talon Erdley also helps out on ukulele.
Vandiver’s previous bands played shows in the area including Sabetha, two in Falls City and six in Hiawatha. Vandiver also plays and sings for the youth band at the First Baptist Church almost every Wednesday and has been doing this since seventh grade.
Vandiver believes that being on stage is all about the fans.
“The people are what make it exciting,” Vandiver said. “I don’t stand up there for only me; it’s the people that make it fun because they’re adrenaline fuels my adrenaline, and it’s the crowd that makes it so great.”
Getting to the point in which he felt comfortable playing in front of crowds has been a long process. During seventh grade, Vandiver took guitar lessons from Larry Lang and learned the basic chords, and then he taught himself everything else. He has gone to Trevveca Nazarene University in Nashville for a camp in order to study under professional musicians such as Memphis Jones from the band Altered. Violin lessons come from Libby Pierce and Vandiver is beginning vocal lessons. He is also a member of the Hiawatha Headliners and sings tenor.
Vandiver and May will return to Nashville this summer for a week-long guitar camp called Camp Electric taught by famous Christian artists.
Although he hasn’t taken any writing classes other than creative writing his sophomore year, Vandiver helps write songs for the band.
“I love songs with stories,” Vandiver said. “One song my old band wrote called ‘Daddy’s Fist’ was about a girl who was beaten by her father.”
Vandiver admits that most of his songs have been about girls, situations he’s been in and just what he sees everyday.
Much of his inspiration has come from rock legend Jim Morrison.
“He was the head of a revolution,” Vandiver said. “His lyrics and stories were wonderful; the guy was a visionary.”
Vandiver feels strongly about using music for anything other than pure enjoyment, entertainment and getting ones message across.
“Music is not something to get you fame and fortune,” Vandiver said. “It’s a life style. I might not be the best, I don’t have the greatest voice, I can’t play super fast on the guitar, and I couldn’t care less about any of that because I have something better. I have my own experiences, my own rhythms, my own melodies and I have something to say. I’m not in it for anything but so that people might listen to what I have to say and because I feel called to play music to use my gift.”
