Ted Davis Interview
Ted Davis is the music editor at Merry-Go-Round Magazine and ambient columnist at Bandcamp Daily, with bylines at Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Resident Advisor, and elsewhere.
How did you get to where you are today, professionally?
My infatuation with music started when I was six years old. I’m from Northern Virginia, so there was a ton of 18th century history around me growing up. I was kind of a weird kid, and I got into Revolutionary War reenacting, playing the snare drum and fife. I was honestly a pretty good percussionist at a young age, and received some local recognition for that in elementary and middle school.
When I was 11, I think my dad started to realize that reenacting was a little unusual, and would probably lead to me getting bullied as I entered my formative pre-teen years. He took me to see Tom Petty live, and that concert totally changed my life. All of a sudden, I was a huge rock head. I weaned off of the rudimental and swing drumming I’d been doing, and started playing in alternative bands. In high school, I gigged heavily around D.C.’s all-ages DIY scene with an experimental punk project. I worked my ass off “managing” that band, which sparked a deep interest in music blogs. I pretty much spent my entire high school career sitting in the back of the classroom reading Pitchfork, Gorilla Vs. Bear, and Brooklyn Vegan. My grades took a toll, but being super online allowed me to develop a pretty deep musical knowledge before I’d even hit puberty.