Re: Let's talk about THE DOUGHBOYS
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:59 pm
Doughboys random recollections:
I saw the Doughboys for the first time on that FinALL / MIA / Doughboys tour (June 12, 1987) at an "all-ages nightclub" in Tampa (Chances). I remember being amused at the flying wall of HAIR from the headbanging hairfarmers. In an age and culture of skinhead and "hard" shorthaird bands, these adorable muppets bouncing around was refreshingly cool!
There was a lot of talent in that band. It didn't show through as much on the early work, but by Happy Accidents there was some pretty darn talented and unique music getting laid down. As a guitarist, I find that when I listen to someone else's music and have no idea what the chords or progressions are, that makes for interesting music. Chugging along D-G-A chords is great when you want to listen to the Ramones, but when you hear that dual-attack, sitar-like weirdness, winding melodies, legit solos, and interchange between twin guitars that they did and realize that they're putting that stuff out while also bouncing around like ping-pong balls all over the stage... fun!
I think I only saw them a few times after that, until they played at Gillman when they broke up on your lawn
(Yep. Samiam lyrics / namecheck! )
("Remember when the doughboys played
At Gillman's and they broke up on your lawn?")
A freaking amazing song in it's own right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrZ8tpu_VCQ
As a weird sidenote, I was hanging out with the guys after a show somewhere... we were all sitting in their van... or someone's van... and John was rolling a joint. He politely offered me a drag, but I don't smoke the sensimilla. He was untangling his dreads, and broke an errant one off and wordlessly handed it to me. Not sure, entirely, what I should do with this offering (Say "Ick" and delouse? Start a shrine??) I stuffed it in a jacket pocket. Later, at home, I had a stuffed animal toy cow on a shelf, and I walked up, threaded the 7" dread into it's horns, and there it lived for decades afterwards, my dreadlocked cow. Decades later, my child asked me about Micro The Cow's weird hair, and I fished up a Doughboys video on YouTube, and turned the kids onto that Canadian music. It was about a 80/20 grossed out-to-impressed ratio there, IIRC.
I'm a sucker for pop covers played by punk bands, and Doughboys had the harmonies and chops to put things together. In Tiffany's heyday, doing "I think we're alone now" was better than the original Tommy James) or the mall queen's 80's take.
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fldwi2lN8X0 forward to 8:12 ) They seemed to have a new cover every year/tour. The Pere Ubu Final Solution cover didn't mean much to me, but I still appreciate it. One year they did "Real, Real, Real" by... whotheheckwasthat... Then Talking Heads on the last reunion.
There has been a mess of Doughboys live concert footage show up on YouTube in the past three years for some reason, a lot of footage that wasn't there ten years ago. I guess people must be cleaning out their VCR tape collections... Unfortunately, the clips that were posted of their reunion shows with Foo Fighters from a few years back got deleted. Which is sad, because those shows were in recent higher definition and good sound. Reference the above covers: They covered a Talking Heads song and really rocked it. There was footage with better, undistorted sound filmed at the big Foo concert, but it's now-deleted, but there's at least one clip from the secret show at the Bovine Club warmup and aftershow somewhere. At least it exists in any form:
(Cummins: "I hope I don't see this on YouTube...") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnTe1BsVyfU
Bonus footage of Brock making a guest appearance at the secret show! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSss3zJGK7I
I saw the Doughboys for the first time on that FinALL / MIA / Doughboys tour (June 12, 1987) at an "all-ages nightclub" in Tampa (Chances). I remember being amused at the flying wall of HAIR from the headbanging hairfarmers. In an age and culture of skinhead and "hard" shorthaird bands, these adorable muppets bouncing around was refreshingly cool!
There was a lot of talent in that band. It didn't show through as much on the early work, but by Happy Accidents there was some pretty darn talented and unique music getting laid down. As a guitarist, I find that when I listen to someone else's music and have no idea what the chords or progressions are, that makes for interesting music. Chugging along D-G-A chords is great when you want to listen to the Ramones, but when you hear that dual-attack, sitar-like weirdness, winding melodies, legit solos, and interchange between twin guitars that they did and realize that they're putting that stuff out while also bouncing around like ping-pong balls all over the stage... fun!
I think I only saw them a few times after that, until they played at Gillman when they broke up on your lawn
(Yep. Samiam lyrics / namecheck! )
("Remember when the doughboys played
At Gillman's and they broke up on your lawn?")
A freaking amazing song in it's own right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrZ8tpu_VCQ
As a weird sidenote, I was hanging out with the guys after a show somewhere... we were all sitting in their van... or someone's van... and John was rolling a joint. He politely offered me a drag, but I don't smoke the sensimilla. He was untangling his dreads, and broke an errant one off and wordlessly handed it to me. Not sure, entirely, what I should do with this offering (Say "Ick" and delouse? Start a shrine??) I stuffed it in a jacket pocket. Later, at home, I had a stuffed animal toy cow on a shelf, and I walked up, threaded the 7" dread into it's horns, and there it lived for decades afterwards, my dreadlocked cow. Decades later, my child asked me about Micro The Cow's weird hair, and I fished up a Doughboys video on YouTube, and turned the kids onto that Canadian music. It was about a 80/20 grossed out-to-impressed ratio there, IIRC.
I'm a sucker for pop covers played by punk bands, and Doughboys had the harmonies and chops to put things together. In Tiffany's heyday, doing "I think we're alone now" was better than the original Tommy James) or the mall queen's 80's take.
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fldwi2lN8X0 forward to 8:12 ) They seemed to have a new cover every year/tour. The Pere Ubu Final Solution cover didn't mean much to me, but I still appreciate it. One year they did "Real, Real, Real" by... whotheheckwasthat... Then Talking Heads on the last reunion.
There has been a mess of Doughboys live concert footage show up on YouTube in the past three years for some reason, a lot of footage that wasn't there ten years ago. I guess people must be cleaning out their VCR tape collections... Unfortunately, the clips that were posted of their reunion shows with Foo Fighters from a few years back got deleted. Which is sad, because those shows were in recent higher definition and good sound. Reference the above covers: They covered a Talking Heads song and really rocked it. There was footage with better, undistorted sound filmed at the big Foo concert, but it's now-deleted, but there's at least one clip from the secret show at the Bovine Club warmup and aftershow somewhere. At least it exists in any form:
(Cummins: "I hope I don't see this on YouTube...") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnTe1BsVyfU
Bonus footage of Brock making a guest appearance at the secret show! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSss3zJGK7I