Dave Schools

Dave Schools
Dave Schools performing with Widespread Panic
Background information
Birth name	David Allen Schools
Also known as	Schools, DAS
Born	(1964-12-11) 11 December 1964 (age 52) Richmond, Virginia United States
Genres	Alternative rock, jam band, rock, psychedelic, Southern Rock, Experimental, heavy rock, blues, jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Bass guitar
Years active	1970–present
Labels	Widespread Records, Capricorn Records, Sanctuary Records, Landslide Records
Associated acts	Widespread Panic, , J Mascis and the Fog, Gov't Mule, Mickey Hart Band, Hard Working Americans Slang, Brute, Acetate
Website	http://www.widespreadpanic.com

David Allen Schools (born December 11, 1964), known as Dave Schools, is a bass player and founding member of American rock band Widespread Panic. He is also a record producer, songwriter and journalist with articles published in a wide variety of music magazines. Schools lives in Sonoma County, California with his wife and two dogs; when not on tour he likes to garden.

Schools is an innovator on the bass with a non-traditional approach that has given him a unique voice on the instrument. With his primary band, Widespread Panic, he plays a six-string Modulus Quantum 6 bass that affords him a wide range of sounds that are further enhanced by an envelope filter and octave pedal. Influenced by an early desire to play drums and childhood piano lessons, Schools has deviated from, though not abandoned, the established rhythm role of the bass and created a more melodic, improvisational style that has been referred to as “lead bass.”

Dave Schools was born in Richmond, Virginia, United States. His dad bought him his first record when he was four years old, a 45 rpm of Deep Purple's cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman," followed by Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Who. At nine years old he proudly remembers purchasing his first two LPs: Elton John's Greatest Hits and Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy.

Initially Schools wanted to play drums, but living in an apartment complex made this impossible and his formal music training began in second grade with limited piano lessons. He eventually switched to bass, taking lessons from age 12 to 14 before joining two high school bands, Midnight Jam and Broken Cheri.

Dave Schools attended Collegiate School, a kindergarten through twelfth grade prep school in Richmond, Virginia. While at Collegiate he held down a sports column in the high school newspaper and was editor of the yearbook. There is now a scholarship in his name for aspiring musicians and in 2004 Schools was honored to receive the Distinguished Alum Award.