I'm David McCarthy and music is my thing

Left school... wrote for UK weekly music paper Melody Maker... played guitar and sang in a band... recorded a Peel session... ten years touring UK and making records... wrote a couple of books on music published worldwide... invented, promoted and DJed the biggest indie/dance club in the UK... pioneered the UK bootleg/mashup scene as a producer... ten years as international club and festival headline DJ... international airplay and sync placements for solo dance/electronic artist releases and remixes...

five years of writing review section and features in DJ Mag... featured Music Week 'Tastemaker'... multi-genre music maker... add various exploits along the way as a radio show host for the first UK DAB license on Virgin Radio, being shortlisted for the international Peugeot Design Awards as a chair-maker, playing in a band with Pete Shelley for a year, getting called 'a genius' by DJ Mag and being the owner of what BBC 6music calls ""one of the UK's most consistent labels" and you've got a small snapshot of my musical life so far...

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Adventures in Noise

Music making...

packshot sleeve art for the single shake the tree by The Rockerati

The Rockerati is my thing. It lets me indulge my love for Dave Edmunds/Nick Lowe style poppy rock'n'roll, has had a lot of radio airplay in the USA and some big love in Sweden! The second album is on the way and I'm really loking forward to getting it out there...

"Original, over-driven rockers totally hit the spot"
Vive Le Rock

packshot sleeve art for the sun is always shining above the clouds album by IDC david mccarthy

As IDC I released a couple of well reviewed albums and a selection of singles, one was made Mixmag 'Tune of the Month' and DJ Mag called me "a genius"!

Worldwide radio airplay and DJ mixes, a 'live band' session for XFM and sync placements all opened doors for headline DJ sets at some of the world's best clubs and festivals too.

packshot sleeve art for the single red bill blues by Bluesmundi

I did the inevitable 'lockdown album' - a one-off solo acoustic set as Bluesmundi which got me in the venerable pages of 'Blues In Britain' for a really nice review - and another genre ticked off the list for critical acclaim... if not commercial success!

packshot sleeve art for penthouse affair single by Casino

With a couple of other great musicians and singers I had Casino, a Northern Soul influenced outfit that merged all the classic elements of the genre with a little bit of 21st century production. We had some great reviews, lots of radio support in the UK and even played live to an audience of more than 2 million people with a Radio 2 session, amongst other things.

packshot sleeve art for here we go again by Adventures in Noise

Over the years I've released music under different names and guises. Adventures in Noise is another name that has had big support from John Kennedy on Radio X who called it "superb stuff!"

packshot sleeve art for the riot pictures album by Pop Icons

Going right back to the start, you can hear my first band Idiot Dancers on 6 Music now and again when the John Peel session we recorded gets repeated. There's a live album from the legendary Marquee in London's Wardour Street too. The band later morphed into Pop Icons and we toured the UK for a few years, had loads of music press reviews and put a few singles out.

I've also had a great deal of fun writing a song with Davy Henderson, a particular musical hero of mine, spending the best part of a year working with Pete Shelley and having Lo Fidelity Allstars legend Phil Ward sing on some of my own tunes.

And it's all out there online somewhere if you want to listen!

Writing about music...

portrait of music maker and music writer david mccarthy

I began writing for legendary UK music weekly Melody Maker while I was still at school studying for 'A' levels. Since then many words have appeared in print and online with my name attached to them, including two books on 'pop culture' published worldwide.

More recently I had my own review section in the world's biggest dance music monthly DJ Mag and contributed major features and interviews too. I've also been a 'Tastemaker' for UK trade mag Music Week and continue to air my thoughts and views on where music has been and where it might be going in various places online and off...