David S. Bowen

David Samuel Bowen, A Spanish-American born on March 28, 1987 in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the two current Lead Guitarists for North American technical death metal band Beneath the Shadows. David is best known for his clean and precise sweep picking as well as his lightning fast finger speed. He spent the past few years practicing power metal and progressive metal to one day join fellow musicians in a technical/progressive band. BTS proved to be well suited to his tastes, and when he heard the music written by Ian Kitchen (fellow guitarist of BTS), he decided that this was the band to join.

Biography
David started playing the piano around his 5th birthday. At a young age, he quickly became frustrated with difficult tasks, and when he quit piano at age 8, it proved to be no exception. Having musically talented siblings; his sister being a talented opera and more recently rock vocalist and his brother being a former a Capella vocalist, David decided that he would like to follow in their footsteps. His first interest in the rock genre came Christmas of 2001, when he received his first music CDs of Less Than Jake, Creed, and Billy Joel. He quickly began taking a liking to the speed of LTJ, as well as the heaviness of Creed and the originality and melody of Billy Joel. His interest in all three of these would evolve over time with his musical taste up until he found the New York based progressive metal band: Dream Theater in early 2004. David received his first guitar Christmas of 2002 but did not learn how to play until around August of 2003 due to frustration with the instrument. Shortly afterwards, a friend of David's decided to start a grunge band and wanted him to pick up the guitar and join in. A better guitarist was found, however, and was chosen instead. This was the beginning of a number of times that that would happen. Each band that dropped him or said no caused him to practice more and after listening and practicing to nothing but his new idols, Dream Theater for over a year, David's technique improved drastically. It continued as he was introduced to European Power Metal and Extreme Metal with bands such as Children of Bodom, Ensiferum, Rhapsody of Fire, and Sonata Arctica.

Beneath the Shadows
In late 2006, David found BTS and contacted them about coming for a tryout. The tryouts went well, however, school became increasingly difficult and he was forced to quit. During Summer 2007, David once again contacted BTS and they decided to make it work. Bringing his friend and long time band-mate Mitch Moore to fill in the drumming position, BTS once again had a full set and was back in the rehearsal room. The new line-up proved even deadlier than before and BTS quickly began making a name for themselves.

Influences
David's early influences for guitar were Kirk Hammett and John Petrucci. David started getting more into metal and as he found new bands, began learning new techniques and started a few bands of his own. Jari Mäenpää, Alexi Laiho, Luca Turilli, Jani Liimatainen and Michael Romeo are David's biggest influences. Because of them, he was able to learn classically influenced techniques such as arpeggios and soloing with a melodic, classical flare.

Goals
David's goal is to bring a generally European style of music over to America and to show the USA that harmonized guitar melodies and lightning fast guitar solos are not dead. He mainly wants melodic, harmonious music to make its debut in America and to push its way back into the mainstream for the first time since the 80s.

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