David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and score composer from Belfast, born in 1969. He begins as a club DJ in Belfast, playing in pubs from the age of 15, and later becomes associated with trip hop and downtempo electronica.

Early career in Belfast

Holmes starts out as a DJ in his home city and, in the early to mid-1990s, runs two club nights at the Belfast Art College, Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain. He also works before his music career as a hairdresser and chef, and briefly owns and runs a café called Mogwai near Queen’s University Belfast.

Early releases and club work

His first hit is DeNiro, made with Ashley Beedle in 1992. In 1995 he releases This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats, an album noted for its cinematic feel and for mixing atmospheric and chaotic dance music. One track from it is used in the soundtrack to Pi. The opening track, “No Man’s Land,” is inspired by In the Name of the Father. In the same year, he contributes ambient links between the songs on Therapy?’s album Infernal Love.

Film and soundtrack work

Holmes develops a strong connection with film music throughout his work. Let's Get Killed, released in 1997, is described as resembling the soundtrack to an imagined film and includes street recordings from New York captured with a dictaphone. He composes the score for Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight in 1998 after a commission from Danny DeVito. He later scores another Soderbergh film and contributes material from Let's Get Killed and Bow Down to the Exit Sign to the remake of Ocean's Eleven. His soundtrack credits also include Resurrection Man, Buffalo Soldiers, Analyze That, Code 46, Stander, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen.

Later solo and group work

After Bow Down to the Exit Sign in 2000, Holmes releases the mix album Come Get It I Got It in 2002 and then David Holmes Presents The Free Association in 2003, a shift from his earlier solo work. The Free Association includes four other bandmates who tour with him after the album's release. His later albums also include The Holy Pictures in 2008.

Collaborations and remixes

Holmes works with Steve Hillage and Jah Wobble on This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats. As a remixer, he reworks tracks by U2, The Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream, Page and Plant, and Ice Cube. He is also credited with the song “Belfast” after Orbital play Sugar Sweet.

Other names and memberships

He is connected with the groups Disco Evangelists, Scubadevils, Four Boy One Girl Action, The Free Association and Unloved. The name Dave Holmes is also used by trance and hard trance producer Mustafa Alici.