doug’s blog page

12/03/09 First gig of the December Tour

View from Hotel Room in Evergreen, CO

I woke this morning to one of the most beautiful views I have yet to personally experience in my life. I took pictures with my iPhone and posted to facebook, but the pics just don’t do the view any justice. It’s gonna be a great day! Well, as I expected but was trying not to admit to myself, my blog has not been coming along very well. Touring is such a combination of excitement and boredom that it has left me confused as to what to blog about. When I have time to blog, I start something and then think to myself, “No one wants to read about this stuff.” Then when we’re ripping and running, I’m thinking, “This is the STUFF,” but then when I have time to blog again, it feels again like stuff no one would really want to read about. Enter Kaija, one of my many new friends, and long time friend of the Tab Benoit outftit. Kaija sent me a whole bunch of questions that she wants to read about and that many of my students are probably wanting to know about too. She also sent me a few pics for the video posted below, which is also very helpful, because I realized that I have hardly taken any pics or video while on the past 2 tours. She makes an appearance in the vid. Thanks Kaija!!!! I’m waiting for the guys to get up, (already saw Harry in the lobby) so we can go to wal-mart for some much needed supplies, ESPECIALLY thermal bottoms, and warm socks! What was I thinking?! Help me! I have no idea how to dress for this kind of cold weather! I feel like I one of the guys in “Dumb and Dumber” when they road the scooter into Aspen, CO. Ok, here are the questions sent to me by Kaija. I didn’t get a chance to ask all the guys all of the questions, so some of their answers are out of my mouth from my perspective.

Does everyone hang out in the living room area of the bus, tell jokes, play games, catch up on family matters before arriving to the first hotel or venue?
Traveling on the bus, often times we hang out together playing video games or watching movies, but we spend a lot of time doing our own things, whether in the same room or in our bunks. We read each other socially just about as well as we do musically, and can non-verbally communicate when it’s time to hang out and joke together, and when it’s time to leave each other alone. It’s really smooth. Mostly before the show, we do hang out a little bit together. It’s not uncommon to find Corey or Tab playing video golf on the bus literally minutes before show time. I think that was the weirdest thing to me at first about “getting ready” for each show. There’s not much “getting ready”. It’s just kinda like one minute we’re watching a football game on TV back stage, or telling jokes, or playing video games, or jamming on any random instrument that happens to be back stage, far far away (mentally) from being on stage jamming for a sold out crowd, then literally minutes later we ARE on stage jamming for a sold out crowd. We can be wanting to watch one more play of a game on TV, and look at the clock and see that it’s one minute to show time, and someone will say, “Awe yeah we’ve got time to watch one more play.” The flip switches about 2 seconds before we walk on stage, sometimes, right when we hit the first note.

Do you ever use the bunks to sleep or do you stay in hotels every night while you are away from home?
Oh yes. The bunks are always there when you need them. Oh bunks, sweet bunks. I have slept many hours in my bunk no matter what time of day or night. They’re pretty comfy, and as a matter of fact, I’ve gone to sleep in my bunk after a few gigs and opted to stay on the bus when we got to the hotel in the wee hours of the morning just because I was too comfortable to get up. When we are making a long haul between states (20 hours +) we’ll sleep on the bus at truck stops, but when we’re gigging night after night or have short drives on our days off, we’ll sleep at hotels, mostly hotels. AND we each get our OWN hotel room everywhere we go. That’s the best part about the lodging part of this job. We occasionally stay at a band house together, but it’s always a nice big house where we have our own personal space.

When you are in between gigs (days off built into touring schedule) what do you do?
There haven’t been too many days in between gigs where we actually stay in one place. If there are days between gigs, we’re usually traveling. But when we do get a day or two:
Me – Check in with BRMS and take care of business. Email BRMS staff and clients, as well as friends and family. Call friends and family. Work on my blog. Wash clothes. Walk around and look at whatever town we’re in. Hang out with the guys. Listen to Tab music to keep learning the material. Rest.
Harry (bus driver) (my answer for him) – likes to window shop. Definitely calls family. I know one time he went test driving Harleys.
Adam (road manager) – Golf. Work on Tab stuff and other stuff he’s got going on in New Orleans. Go out for a nice sit down meal that’s not rushed. Catch up with friends, and hang with locals he’s met over the years. Laundry. Hang out with the guys.
Corey – Rest. Practice. Read. Study. Laundry. Golf sometimes. Return phone calls. Check up on friends. Hang out with the guys.
Tab – (my answer for him) Golf. Rest. Make phone calls to business peeps, friends, and family.

Tab and Adam Playing Golf - Pic Courtesy of Kaija Langley

What’s the funniest thing that’s happened on the road so far?
As much as we laugh on the road, I can’t really come up with the FUNNIEST thing that’s happened. Although we laugh a lot in the bus, I think I laugh more on stage to the same stuff Tab says to make the audience laugh, especially when he’s go them on a roll and decides to see how far he can take it.

Top 3 Funniest Memories I can think of right now:

1. Tab’s story about the “smoking, bowling monkey.” There’s no way to replicate it, you’ll just have to be there when he breaks it out.
2. Tab imitating drunk people at a frat party we attended in Missouri, and comparing their exiting the building to ice-skating novices holding on the side rail in a skate rink. You had to be there, but it was so funny that I almost ruptured something internally.
3. Hanging out with Tab and Corey in the greenroom of the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City, MI. There was a piano, and we took turns playing stupid songs and singing really loud, making up words when we didn’t know them. Adam told us that he was outside the door minutes before show time, when the stage manager approached him to ask if the band was ready. He said they could both here us in the green room singing the theme song from “Cheers” really loud, and he said “Oh yeah, they’re ready.”

What’s the most memorable thing that’s happened on the road so far?
The most memorable thing for me so far happened on my first tour. We were in route to Missouri from Massachusetts and stopped in Ohio. Instead of pulling into a truck stop to sleep, Adam made a phone call to a friend of the band who set us up at a little house in the middle of nowhere. When we pulled up to the house, it was 1am and pouring down. We got off the bus and were invited to go four wheeling in the local hills. With the rain coming down, and slightly to the friend’s dismay, Tab really wanted to go rain and all. He bet the club owner that by the time we got to the four wheelers, not only would it not be raining anymore, but we’d be able to see the moon. And crazy enough, Tab was right. The moon came out and brightened up the landscape and we four wheeled until 5am. It was an incredibly cool experience and the land was so beautiful in the dark that I’d love to see it in the daylight.

Thanks again Kaija for giving me direction to start my blogging! Check out this video recap of living on the road, set to one of my current favorite Tab songs “Power of The Pontchartrain” (which can be purchased on iTunes by the way). And please everyone, send me more questions so that I have material!! Blog to you soon!

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10/29/09 Time to start blogging.

Well, the cat is out of the bag, and I’ve promised several hundred people that I would start blogging to keep everyone up with my adventures, so…there’s no time like the present! I hope to make this a regular part of my routine, and with a huge portion of my plate gone, I think it’s realistic. Please spread the word to all of your family and friends to sign up for my newsletter. Next week I am starting a separate blog site and will be adding specific email addresses (those who I know I won’t annoy by constantly sending newsletters to) to my BLOG newsletter instead of the BRMS newsletter. But for now, stop my here once a week and check out what’s up with me! And drop me a line to let me know what’s up with you! As soon as Mark Wilson sends the fair well video to me, I will post it below.

9/19/09 A long overdue documentary posting of my trip up north for rehearsals and session work with Flame Shark.

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7/11/09 A Goldwings Production! Thanks Mike for posting this to my Blog Page!

Last March, Chicago-based band Flame Shark came to our beloved state to do some recording with yours truly at Piety Street Recording Studios in New Orleans. Erin, Justin, Mike, and Rusty spent 2 or 3 days rehearsing at my house, then 2 days at Piety Street to track drums, percussion, and whatever bass, guitar, keys, and vocal tracks they would consider “keepers.” Turns out that in the first 10 hours, we got A LOT of keepers! The guys were incredibly well-rehearsed and knew exactly what they wanted, all the while with the open minds to “let the chips fall where they may” musically. Musically, we clicked well, and personally we formed some really great friendships. Be on the look out for Flame Sharks new LP “Raw Flowers” to be release July 21st. Can’t wait to get my copy!!! I haven’t yet heard the finished product.

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Bonus Video – A Doug Gay Mini-Production - I filmed the video below when we were wrapping things up.

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7/06/09 Finally a 1st Video Blog of my Talking Head!

BRMS has a lot of stuff coming up, as do I personally in my professional career. So, I’m starting now to blog so that those of you who are interested in the happenings of Doug can be kept up to date. Does that sound egotistical of me?? I hope not.

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3/06/09 Loading Demo into Garage Band and Recording Drums

The following video will take you the process of setting up a session in Garage Band, pulling the demo into the session, then recording drums onto it. After this is done, I listen to the parts and decide which parts I like. After re-recording my selected parts, I send an mp3 to Flame Shark so they can send back notes on what they think can stay and what needs to be changed.

3/05/09 Hardware Set Up
Well it’s getting really close to game time, so I guess I ought to post something! I was waiting to structure my blogs and record some great takes, but I realize that I won’t be happy with any take, so I might as well just start posting. I hope you find them interesting and educational. I am going to keep them as short as possible in hopes of keeping your attention. Here’s my first video blog on how I put drums on the demo mailed to me from Flame Shark. Enjoy!

2/19/09 Why I am Posting These Video Blogs
Hi all. It recently occurred to me when booking some session work with Chicago-based band Flame Shark, that I have had many opportunities to give my students (and, yes I consider ALL BRMS students MY students whether I am their personal instructor or not) a glimpse into what I do as a professional musician. Most of my students have not seen me play live, and only a handful of close friends are privy to all the studio work I do year to year. Even those who know the vast scope of my professional career do not get to see how I prepare for session work and/or execute my parts throughout the process. SO, I have decided to post video blogs over the next few weeks and hopefully (band willing) IN the studio so my students can see effective ways to prepare for the sessions AND most importantly GET A CALL BACK FOR MORE WORK because of attitude, preparedness, humility, and being a team player.

These first introductory videos are to give you an idea of WHO I am recording for. I’ve been friends with the lead singer for quite some time, used to play with him and was on an album from a previous bands of his somewhere around 2004 I think. Justin is a GREAT song writer and what he has done with his band mates in Flame Shark takes his old stuff to an entirely different level. The band has a great style and sense of humor. I thoroughly look forward to these sessions, and am blessed to have received a call from them requesting I play on their next album. Enjoy getting to know this band through the following music videos!!! Talk to you soon!

(To see more work by the videographers visit www.scrubbrushproductions.com)