Magheralin songwriter impresses

David's songwriting talent first came to the attention of the 'MAIL' back in 2006 when he was part of promising young band Lovechild.

The 28-year-old has been pretty quiet on the recording side of things since Lovechild split up but he explained he hasn't fallen out of love with music.

"I've kept writing for years, but it's only recently I've got back into recording," he said.

"I'm always thinking about writing songs.

"I could be sitting in work and I could get like a line or a melody in my head. An idea could come at any time. Inspiration is everywhere. That's why I have to get it taped into a dictaphone straight away."

David recently got a major boost when four of his songs made the semi-finals of the UK Songwriters Contest run by the Brit Trust. Three of the tracks were from his band Oracle's debut EP - 'Lost and Lonely', 'Stagecoach' and Ecstacy' - and the other was called 'Merky Morning'. Each song received an amazing seven points from the independent judging panel.

There were over 5,000 entries to the UK Songwriting Contest, the directors and judges of which include some of the world's top producers who have worked closely with such artists as Paul McCartney and Britney Spears

David said: "I just put them in to see how they would do. I didn't expect to get four songs in the semi-finals."

He added: "When I was in Lovechild we had dreams of touring the world, but it's not the same now. For me it's all about the song."

The Magheralin musician's biggest influence is Marc Bolan. He said: "I remember I saw a video on 'Music in the Round' of him. Once I saw that with Gibson Les Paul that was me hooked."