David Lovering

David Sullivan Lovering (born December 6, 1961) is an American musician and magician.

After graduating from Wentworth with an associate degree in 1985, he took a job building lasers, and continued to drum in local bands such as Iz Wizard and Riff Raff.

A number of different genres of music have influenced him, including bands Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin, and Devo.

On Memorial Day 1985, Lovering attended Murphy and Kim Deal's wedding service.

Lovering and the band wrote and rehearsed material throughout 1985 and 1986 and performed at small venues in Boston.

He is best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Pixies, which he joined in 1986.

In January 1986 Deal was hired to play bass in the newly formed Pixies, an alternative rock band formed by Charles "Black Francis" Thompson and Joey Santiago.

Murphy suggested that Lovering audition for the band – who were still without a drummer.

Lovering had stopped drumming by this point and was at first unimpressed by the trio's performance of the band's songs.

However, after playing along he agreed to join.

The band decided to record 18 songs for a demo tape in 1987.

Lovering co-wrote one of the tape's songs, "Levitate Me" (his only major writing contribution to any Pixies song) and appeared on the cassette's front cover, jogging naked with his back turned to the camera.

"Levitate Me" later appeared on the band's first release Come on Pilgrim, which included seven other songs taken from the demo tape.

The Pixies entered the studio again in 1988 to record their second album Surfer Rosa.

Lovering's contribution on songs such as "Bone Machine" – which begins with a 10-second drum solo – "Break My Body" and "River Euphrates" established his steady, accurate style.

Doolittle, the band's major label debut, followed in 1989.

During the album's recording sessions, Thompson convinced Lovering to sing on "La La Love You", which had been written as a "dig at the very idea of a love song".

The album's producer Gil Norton later said that during the sessions Lovering "went from not wanting to sing a note to 'I can't get him away from the microphone'. He was such a showman".

In addition to drums and vocals, Lovering played bass guitar on the album's penultimate track, "Silver".

After the release of Doolittle, the relationship between the band members became strained because of constant touring and the pressure of releasing three albums in two years.

After the final date of the Doolittle "Fuck or Fight" tour in November 1989, the band was too exhausted to attend their end-of-tour party the following night and shortly afterwards announced a hiatus.

After the band reconvened in mid-1990, Lovering moved to Los Angeles along with the rest of the band.

The Pixies released two more albums, Bossanova (1990) and Trompe le Monde (1991).

Lovering sang lead vocals on the "Velouria" B-side "Make Believe"; a song about his admitted "obsession" with US singer-songwriter Debbie Gibson.

The Pixies toured sporadically throughout 1991 and 1992.

They eventually broke up in 1992, mostly due to tensions between Thompson and Deal, although it was not publicly announced until 1993.

Following the Pixies' breakup, Lovering drummed with several artists, including Nitzer Ebb, but turned down an invitation to join the Foo Fighters.

Lovering then joined Santiago's band The Martinis, appearing on their song "Free" on the soundtrack of Empire Records.

However, he soon left the band to become a touring drummer for Cracker.

After the band's breakup in 1993, Lovering drummed with several other acts, including The Martinis, Cracker, Nitzer Ebb and Tanya Donelly.

He also pursued a magic career as the Scientific Phenomenalist, performing scientific and physics-based experiments on stage.

When the Pixies reunited in 2004, Lovering returned as the band's drummer.

As a drummer Lovering was inspired by bands from a variety of genres, including Rush and Steely Dan.

David Lovering was born in Winchester, Massachusetts and grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts.

He learned to play drums during his teenage years and joined his high school's marching band.

According to his friend John Murphy, Lovering was always very "drum oriented" in his musical taste.

In his high school yearbook entry, Lovering stated his three main ambitions: to be in a rock band, to be an electrical engineer, and to tour with Rush, his favorite band.

After graduating from high school, Lovering studied electronic engineering at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.

He got a job at a Radio Shack store with Murphy, and the pair often played practical jokes while at work.

One such incident involved Lovering wiring the store toilet to a fire alarm.