All my Good Charlotte memories are blissfully etched across the back of my mind, almost as if I had Sharpied them on yesterday. I may be biased, but they are one of the most iconic pop punk bands of the era, and I used to belt out “I Just Wanna Live” at the top of my lungs.
With that being said, even I would know that the closest I could ever see the boys, now men, of Good Charlotte in person, was if I went to their concert. One Malaysian recently one-upped me and got a chance instead to play video games in their latest music video, ‘Makeshift Love’.
David Chua was able to snag the once in a lifetime opportunity, but he isn’t merely adding a cameo appearance in the bands’ video to his repertoire. The 23-year-old full-time musician is in fact the Malaysian blood representing our country in the music forefront.
Drumming To The Sounds Of Success
Currently based in Los Angeles for the past 10 months, David holds several job positions to his name. As a sound engineer, he makes pop records and has been with Good Charlotte’s production team for the past 5 months. “Besides working on their own album, I got to work with them on albums that they’ve been appearing on as a producer or a songwriter,” David told Vulcan Post.
As a drummer, David has been able to play the drum sections in YouTube star, Alex G’s latest album. He has also been able to work with several renowned names in the music industry thus far. “To name a few, some of the artist we’ve been working with are Jessie J, Chase Atlantic from Australia, One Direction, UsTheDuo, Andy Grammer, Rachel Platten and many, many more” David said.
On the film side, he works as a sound mixer and is currently with a film company named Jubilee Project. Hence, David definitely has his hands full, but he still sees himself as someone slowly but gradually climbing up the ladder in the entertainment industry. He shared, “I’ve only been out here since January 2015, but I’ve been more than blessed to be working with some of the most amazing people out here!”
Making His Way Up
David’s passion was first developed within the four walls of church. “I was always given an opportunity to help out my church by serving young people, the kids and also with old people by playing music with them,” David said.
His stepping stone to success had been a place of faith and it helped as well, that his parents had faith in their son whom was the first in the family to pursue music as a career. Coming from a typical Chinese familial background where lawyers and doctors are the stereotyped expected profession, David knew it would be tough convincing his parents otherwise.
It did not happen overnight, but they saw the burning passion in him and finally gave David the green light. Still, pursuing music was really hard, David agreed. “No one believed in me that I could do it ‘more than just a hobby’. I had a really late start, and I knew no one in the industry growing up,” he shared.
A Heart Bleeding With Passion
However, if a desire is so deep-seeded within a person, they will most definitely find a way to allow their passions to bloom, and it all starts by doing some groundwork first. “I wanted to take music as my career further, so I did my homework and checked out grade 8 drum exams and ABRSM piano exams to further my musical theory knowledge as it was the only thing available,” David said.
David went on to pursue two majors , performance & music production and engineering, at the Berklee College of Music. Having wrapped up his 3 and a half year study in Boston, he now resides in Los Angeles where he pursues his career full-time.
Whilst he is engaging with many people within the industry these days, there was actually a time when he wished he had not done music. This is for the fact, that David is not one who has not seen the face of failure up close.
Chalking It All As Experience
“I had to apply for Berklee twice, went back to my music production major 3 times, after getting 2 rejections back to back, and I could go on talking on how my failures were the ones that kept me being who I am till today,” David said.
What made all the difference was that he took it all in and just kept rising from the ashes, by working harder. He used his failures as fuel to keep on going, and now David is the proud owner of his own personal recording studio in Los Angeles.
Nowadays, David busies himself working with a lot of people, ranging from artists to record labels and producers. On any given day, he would be spending time with an artist writing songs, and another day he would be recording with a band.
In between all of that, he also juggles tons of production meetings and more production sessions, jumping from one project to another. It really is all in a day’s work—and the best part of all, as David puts it himself, “Everyday is a surprise.”
