David Sancious just wrapped up a year that would have been enviable to even the biggest names in the music world. As a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, David not only received the “Award for Musical Excellence,” but he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Peter Gabriel was inducted in 2014, as well, and David joined him on stage, too. Last year, Sancious also spent a good portion of his time traveling the world with Sting, Paul Simon, and Peter Gabriel. He came home for the holidays, had a brief break, and then hopped on a plane and went to New Zealand, Australia, and Europe with Sting and Paul Simon for the next leg of their “On Stage Together” tour, which started yesterday (Friday, January 30).

AXS talked with David shortly before he left for New Zealand. Hoping to hear how the musical juggernaut had enjoyed his brief time off, AXS was saddened to learn how the artist had actually spent his precious downtime.

“I had knee surgery,” Sancious related. “I had a real problem with my leg on the Peter Gabriel tour last summer, so I went through six months of physical therapy, which didn’t really help. I started out okay, but the longer the tour went on, the more painful it got, so I scheduled the surgery for January 6 and I’m just about finished recovering. It was important to get the surgery done before this next project with Sting and Paul Simon started up. Luckily, it fit in great! I’m just about fully healed, and I’m certainly ready to start the tour.”

A life on the road isn’t something that everyone can handle. The constant travel, irregular sleep, and not always the best food options are all very hard on the body. It takes a special person to thrive under these often adverse conditions. How does David manage?

“Every night is enjoyable!” he expressed. “That’s one of the things I love most about playing music. When I was little, my parents told me, ‘If you make your life’s work what you love to do, then it won’t really be such hard work, at all.’ Truth be told, this is incredibly hard work! But because I’m so in love with it and I find such enjoyment from the most simple things to the most complex things, my life has just been one long series of degrees of enjoyment.”

When David said his life, he meant his entire life. The artist knew by age seven that music was what he wanted to do.

“There are only two other things that I’ve ever lost myself in like I can lose myself in music — where hours go by and I don’t even realize it because I’m so enthralled. The first is painting. Abstract painting because I’m not a skilled or schooled painter, at all. Just doing oil on a canvas for my own pleasure, that same kind of world comes up where I just totally fall away. That time-based person who has concerns and all of that, it just melts away and I’m left with only the sensation of what I’m doing.

“The other activity that I have lost myself in is gardening,” David informed. “But music definitely trumps everything.”

Sancious went on to state that doing music is at once soothing and fascinating. He compared it to being on a river in that creativity has a pull and a force all it’s own, and you sort of just ride along, excited to see where it’s going to take you.

“I really do think that music and art have an energy that has its own life,” David elaborated. “It sort of comes through us and we become the instrument. It is just like when we use a musical instrument in our own hands, we become the physical, three dimensional instrument for that music to come into the world. It is such a fascinating process, you’ll be sitting there and you’ll be thinking, ‘I’m thirsty, I’d love to get up and get some water.’ But you won’t! That will wait for 20 minutes or more because you are too immersed in what you’re doing. You can even put off going to the bathroom,” he laughed, “because you just have to see where this moment is going to take you!”

David thought for a moment, then decided, “You know, they should teach this in schools. It ought to be something that goes along with career counseling. And it is something that should be done early on to get people in touch with whatever it is in life that their particular personality resonates with. What their interest is. Where their energy is. Find that thing that you get lost in and don’t ever lose touch with it!”

Besides his non-stop touring schedule, this year David promised AXS he would finally complete his ninth studio album, The Treehouse Sessions. “That’s my first priority,” he stated. “Everything else takes second priority to that. My touring will probably take me to the summer of this year. Then, I’ll have a little break before going back out with just Sting — I think we’ll be in Europe for about six weeks in late June… so my apologies for the delay on the record, but it will certainly come. Just like the sunrise, on one fine day, it will be there,” he laughed.

And on that day, AXS will be there to tell you all about it. For more information, visit David’s website and follow him on Twitter.

Article by Allen Foster
AXS Contributor
http://www.axs.com/a-talk-with-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-inductee-david-sancious-38898

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Website:  davidsancious.com
Twitter: @DavidSancious, @AllenJFoster

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lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

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World Renowned Keyboardist and Musician David  will be touring with Peter Gabriel on “Back to Front” Tour after recently touring with Sting and Paul Simon “On Stage Together”

David along with other members of the E Street Band will receive the Award for Musical Excellence at this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, April 10, 2014 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

David Sancious, long-time solo keyboardist, guitarist and composer, is having an exceptionally busy year in 2014 touring with three of the most sought after musicians of our time.  He just completed touring with Sting and Paul Simon “On Stage Together” then is back out touring with Peter Gabriel throughout Europe in April and May. Peter Gabriel is also being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

David joins Sting and Paul Simon, two of music’s most renowned and enduring artists who are performing “On Stage Together” throughout North America. For more information on the tour and tickets please visit sting.com.

David will then join the other original members of Peter Gabriel’s band again to tour throughout Europe on Peter Gabriel’s  “Back to Front” tour.  The tour begins in Frankfurt on April 14^th and finishes in Berlin on May 14^th. For more information and tickets please visit petergabriel.com.

Capturing the attention of Bruce Springsteen in the seventies at a jam session in New Jersey, David’s career as a musician kicked off at the young age of seventeen. An original member of Bruce Springsteens’ beloved E Street Band David was invited to join a new band Bruce was forming. The group recorded three albums together and toured the country before David was offered a recording contract and left the band to form his own group Tone, where he would showcase his abilities as not only a sensational musician, but as an equally talented composer, producer and synthesist. David recorded multiple albums with Tone and the accomplishments of these albums led him to become one of the most talented and sought-after keyboardists in the industry.

David re-united with Bruce Springsteen and joined other musicians including Billy Joel, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Rufus Wainwright and Will.I.Am  at Sting’s sixtieth birthday to perform some of Stings most recognizable songs at New York’s Beacon Theatre.

The notable artist has since worked with many musicians including Eric Clapton, Seal, Aretha Franklin, Santana, Jeff Beck and many others. David has performed on more than fifty albums since his 1973 debut album “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.” with Bruce Sprinstein and the E Street Band. The versatility of his sensational career has made it difficult to categorize his music.  David, however, considers his art a mixture of harmony and melody from the jazz and classical traditions combined with rhythms from the rock and R&B traditions. David is well respected by his peers, considered by many as a “musician’s musician”.

It can often be difficult to center oneself when surrounded by the stress and chaos of being an artist. Yet, somehow, David always manages to find his center and inner peace. At a mere ten years of age, he began his journey into the world of spirituality. David practices meditation and yoga.

David is touring with Sting and Paul Simon “On Stage Together” throughout North America until mid March then out again with Peter Gabriel’s tour “Back to Front” in April and May 2014 throughout Europe. 

Social Media Handles

Website:  davidsancious.com
Twitter: @DavidSancious, @officialsting, @itspetergabriel, @paulsimonmusic
YouTube: Behind the Scenes with David Sancious for Yamaha

vancouversun.com/entertainment/music/David+Sancious+Street+Band+member+Sting+touring/9526081/story.html

rockhall.com/inductees/the-e-street-band/

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People