1984

Dave's first instrument was the piano. He started to learn to play it when he was about 6 or 7 years old, but stopped after about 3 years. Dave's father, James "Mike" Raul Navarro, bought him a guitar. Dave's cousin, guitarist Dan Navarro (who is one half of Lowen & Navarro), gave him some tips on how to play when he was 11 or 12 years old.

At that time he was very much impressed by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. This led him to playing in his first band called South Dakota Railroad. He also happened to be dating Eric Avery's sister Rebecca at that time. In 1984, he met Stephen Perkins in his Notre Dame Catholic High School's marching band, and soon after they formed Dizastre, a speedmetal band! Dave said "Later on I met Stephen in high school in a metal band called Dizastre - which it was". At the same time he got kicked out of high school, for assorted youthful mischievous acts, many of which were drug-related.