David Baker

David Baker is an American musician best known as a founding member and the former lead singer of the indie rock band Mercury Rev, formed in Buffalo, New York in the late 1980s, and after as vocalist for Variety Lights.

After leaving Mercury Rev in 1994, he released the critically acclaimed album World under the alias Shady which featured contributions from members of a variety of leading British and Irish alternative acts, including Rollerskate Skinny, Th' Faith Healers, The Boo Radleys and Swervedriver.

Career Mercury Rev He is prevalent on Mercury Rev's first two (according to The Quietus "heavy psychedelic") albums Yerself Is Steam (1991) and Boces (1993) and all of the concurrent singles and Peel Sessions. When the band became popular in the UK after the success of Yerself Is Steam, Baker became their main spokesman when dealing with both British music journalists and record labels. According to fellow band founder Jonathan Donahue, "it was David Baker who really helped us navigate the press, we hadn't done interviews before...David was really the one who helped us understand what actually was happening [to us] in '91". That August, their video for "Feeling All Alone" was released. This was followed by a UK tour in 2013, including headlining slot of Chicago Psych Fest V in 2014. According to The Guardian, Baker and MacLean "bonded over their love of analogue synths, making music with effected guitars, vintage keyboard, and chained "80s-era Midi expanders".