Dave Schools

American musician

David Allen Schools (born December 11, 1964) 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 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. Following Collegiate, Dave Schools attended the University of Georgia where he started his academic studies as a Journalism major. He quickly fell into the Athens music scene and as a freshman almost became the bass player for innovative art punk band The BBQ Killers. It was at the University of Georgia where Schools met John Bell (vocals/guitar) and Michael Houser (guitar/vocals) with whom he formed Widespread Panic. He eventually switched his major to English "because it was easier" and allowed more time for his band to travel for shows. "Then I switched to night school" he says, "and then night school started conflicting with gigs and I dropped out of college a few hours shy of my junior year." It wasn’t long until Widespread Panic was performing 200 shows a year. Widespread Panic is famous for their legendary live shows that stretch over three hours and are completely different every night. Their dedication to performing live has earned them Billboard Magazine's esteemed "Road Warrior" award and they are consistently one of Pollstar's Top 50 grossing live acts. They also hold the record for sold out performances at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre with 60 as of June 30, 2019, and Atlanta's Philips Arena with 20 as of May, 2017. The band is revered for their songwriting and has recorded 12 studio albums with combined sales well over 3 million. Widespread Panic was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Stockholm Syndrome is a rock band born from the relationship between Dave Schools and singer/songwriter/guitarist Jerry Joseph of Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons and previously Little Women. Joseph has collaborated with Widespread Panic since the very early days of the band and has written a few of Panic's most beloved songs, including "Climb To Safety," "North," and "Chainsaw City." The seeds for Stockholm Syndrome grew out of a tour Schools and Joseph did as a duo in Europe. Wanting to take the project further, Schools and Joseph enlisted an all star cast to create a full band including guitarist Eric McFadden (P Funk), drummer Wally Ingram (Jackson Browne, Sheryl Crow, Tracy Chapman, David Lindley), and German keyboard phenom Danny Dziuk who was later replaced by Danny Louis (Gov’t Mule). Stockholm Syndrome released its debut album, Holy Happy Hour, in 2004. The sophomore effort, Apollo, was released in 2011.

In 2010 Dave Schools began recording with Grateful Dead drummer and Northern California neighbor Mickey Hart in Hart's home studio. These sessions evolved into the Mickey Hart Band and led to extensive touring through 2011 and 2012 as well as the 2012 album Mysterium Tremendum.

Slang is an experimental project featuring Dave Schools and electronic musician/engineer/bass player Layng Martine III (best known for his work with Bill Laswell). With the help of various guests, including Eric McFadden (guitar), Pete Droge (guitar), Matt Abts (drums), Ray Paczkowski (keys), Knox Chandler (guitar/special effects), Vic Chesnutt (guitar), DJ Logic (turntables), and Jay Rodriguez (sax) amongst others, Slang released its debut album, The Bellwether Project, in 2001 and followed with More Talk About Last Night in 2004. There were a number of animated videos created for The Bellwether Project, including one for the song "Dirtwater Telegraph," which won an international animation award. American Express also used the song "What A Day May Bring" in a commercial featuring Tiger Woods.

Formed in 1995, Brute was a side project that featured singer/guitarist Vic Chesnutt and Widespread Panic members Dave Schools, John Bell, Michael Houser, John Hermann and Todd Nance. They released Nine High a Pallet on Capricorn Records in 1995 and followed with 2002's Co Balt on Widespread Records. The band played a handful of shows between 1995 and 2002 and Widespread Panic continues to play several Vic Chesnutt songs.

Acetate is a power pop garage rock band consisting of old friends Dave Schools (bass/vocals), Kevin Sweeney of Hayride and Sunshine Fix (guitar/vocals), and Ben Mize of Counting Crows and Cracker (drums/vocals). Acetate released its only album, This Band Makes Me Feel, in 2005.

In 2004, Dave Schools did two tours with Dinosaur Jr. guitarist/vocalist/leader J Mascis’ side project, J Mascis + The Fog.

Dave Schools toured with Gov’t Mule from 2000 to 2003 following founding member/bass player Allen Woody's death.

In 2013, Schools became a regular participant in Weir Here, a weekly webcast hosted by Grateful Dead's Bob Weir live from TRI Studios.

Also in 2013, Schools and Todd Snider formed the supergroup Hard Working Americans at TRI Studios. Also involved are guitarist Neal Casal, Chad Staehly on keyboards, and drummer Duane Trucks, who is also the current drummer for Widespread Panic. Their self titled debut album was released on January 21, 2014 on Three Tigers/Melvin Records