machfive

Mike Doughty, purveyor of the small rock, has it pretty good these days. After creating some fabulous sounds with Soul Coughing throughout the 90s as their singer/songwriter and guitarist, he's been touring extensively for the last 3 years as a solo artist. With 3 releases under his belt already and another on the way, he certainly hasn't wasted any time in the limbo that so many artists enter after leaving a successful band.

Formerly known simply as Doughty to the majority of his fans, he has reclaimed his first name and stripped away the heavier side of the Soul Coughing sound in favor of a sparse and jangling one man show. He slips old SC standards in amongst the new material, banters with the crowd and tells stories. In truth, he has never been more relaxed on stage or as commanding a songwriter.

The great thing about Doughty is that he's a sincerely friendly guy who loves what he does and loves that you love what he does. He's one of the few truly positive and optimistic rock stars you're liable to find. And though he's standing up on stage with only an electric guitar and a tiny amp to keep him company, he still rocks like nobody's business.

Check him out online at Superspecialquestions.

Mike Lyon

Mike Lyon: I guess the big question on everybody's mind is when the new album is coming out?

Mike Doughty: It's pretty much done at this point - having had some months to listen to it, there's small changes I think I want to make here and there, but essentially, it's soup. That said, I don't really know when it's coming out. I'm talking to some labels here and there, trying to figure out if anybody wants to put it out, and if so, whether I want to be on a label at all.

ML: Does it have a title yet?

MD: There's a working title in my mind, but I don't want to reveal it just yet.

ML: What are some of the songs we can expect on the record?

MD: I've been playing most of them for the past year and a half or so. "Madeline," "Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well," "White Lexus," "Unsingable Name" - that batch of tunes.

ML: You worked with a full band on this record unlike your first solo release Skittish. How was it collaborating again after so many years solo?

MD: It was a beautiful experience. They were really great players. I like players that really have a thing that's their own thing, and I tend to trust them a lot. I've been trying out musicians for a couple years now, but these guys were the first that really came to what I was doing and brought something of their own, and yet really were concerned with the song, the nature of the song, the world of the song.

Dan Wilson [lead singer/guitarist for Semisonic] was my primary collaborator - he produced, and, just as importantly, played piano. I love the sound of the old Wurlitzer electric piano, that's a sound you'll hear on my music a lot more in coming years. He's a great musician, and a great thinker about music, which I think, perversely, was obscured by the fact that he had a gigantic hit song in "Closing Time." We spent a lot of time talking about and drawing influence from Cannonball Adderley's mid-60's recordings, a lot of indie rock, and old Jamaican rock-steady singles.

ML: Will the new record be under your name or the new band name [the aptly titled Mike Doughty's Band]?

MD: It'll just be under Mike Doughty. The Mike Doughty's Band thing was just the most succinct way to say that I'll be playing with musicians in club ads for this upcoming tour. I like the name, it's kind of teasing, in a good way.

ML: It's funny, your whole career with Soul Coughing and solo you've always had a huge draw in Minneapolis, and now you're working with one of the city's golden boys, Dan. And in your new live band John Munson who is the bassist for Semisonic will be rocking with you as well. How did you guys hook up?

MD: Munson? Just through Dan. As long as I've been making music, I've tried to use boomier, stranger instruments for low end; I find it difficult to work with the electric bass - the sound of the instrument is like a weird foam that fills up the entire frequency. I don't like it. So, of course, I've been working with upright bass players throughout my career. Dan and Munson and I have the same manager, Jim Grant, who's been suggesting Munson for years, but not 'til I was in Minnesota working on the album did we actually get together.

ML: You're also playing with Andy Thompson, which is funny because I went to high school with him. We have about a hundred mutual friends. When I saw him on stage with you for the first time I hollered like a maniac! Are Andy or any of the other guys co-writing material with you?

MD: Andy is just beautiful, the way he plays - he does those gorgeous, long fills - his sound has this big, shambling feel, like a long rambling melody. I'm very into that; it's extremely different from the breakbeat type stuff I liked when I put Soul Coughing together.

Dan and I have co-written a little, which has been fabulous. I haven't really done a whole lot of that, in the traditional sense, where two guys are passing a guitar around. It was great for writing bridges and that sort of thing. He's a very Beatlesy kind of writer, he likes the chord to change; I'm more coming from hip hop and dance music in my musical roots, I can hang out on the same chord for an hour.

ML: Your banter with the crowd during live shows has become a big draw. How much of it is rehearsed?

MD: I spent a lot of time watching alternative comics in New York - guys like Todd Barry, Louis CK, Marc Maron - and I kind of got over the idea that you can't repeat banter and jokes from night to night. I saw a real craft to it. So there's jokes that I'll keep for a tour or two, and there's jokes that I'll come up with before the show.

ML: With the new dynamic of having a full-time backing band, will there still be time for lengthy stories?

MD: I saw Chocolate Genius' "Songrider" show in New York this year, and loved the way he told long ridiculous tales with a musical backing. I may try to adapt some of that style for my own band shows.

ML: Let me ask about some past producers and collaborators. You did a track with BT called "Never Gonna Come Back Down", and had mentioned that you had recorded more material with him including a song called "The Heat and the Hate". Is that stuff pretty much shelved now or is it still in the works?

MD: Other than "The Heat and the Hate," we really didn't do that much outside of "Never." The song is pretty much shelved - it wasn't a very developed song, to be honest. But a fantastic title, I think.

ML: Your style with Soul Coughing was often described as kind of proto-rap. You did some great work with Common on a track called "Needle to the Bar" - what do you think about hip-hop collaborations
now?

MD: It wasn't Common, it was Casual. He's part of the Hieroglyphics, out of Oakland - Del, Souls of Mischief, etc - and he's one of the greatest rappers, certainly one of the most slept-on rappers, of all time. Really. There were bureaucratic issues, so the song didn't come out.

I would love to work with a rapper that great again, absolutely. Casual is truly a rare talent.

ML: You did a lot of world traveling between tours these past couple of years. What did Laos and Argentina mean to you as a musician?

MD: Also Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Shanghai, China. I've just picked up a hobby of traveling to strange cities alone in the past few years. It's kind of an exotic date with myself. I write when I'm travelling, but I find that the real creative benefit of those journeys is more abstract.

ML: You had a serious battle with drug and alcohol addiction. How did sobering up affect your music?

MD: I was pretty stuck, as a writer and a musician, for the last maybe three years of my using. Once I was clean, there was some time where my mind was really pretty blown, and it took a lot of labor to get back to a point where I was really writing songs again. From that point forward, the music has really deepened and become more special. I'm a better songwriter than I was ten years ago, which I realize is a rare position.

ML: Were you pretty wild as a kid or did that all come out once you achieved Rock Stardom?

MD: I was never wild, at least in terms of appearances. I always wanted to keep my vices quiet, so I could keep 'em going.

ML: Some of your recent songs are quite religious in nature. Was part of finding God your recovery or have you always been a spiritual person?

MD: I've always been fascinated with spirituality. Maybe not in the worst days of my using. But throughout my life.

ML: Your set lists change with wicked regularity. You've said you only play the songs you love to play at that moment. So what are the songs
you love to play right now? Are there some songs you just hate?

MD - I love "Madeline," "Looking," "I Hear the Bells," and "White Lexus," right now. I worked out a solo version of "Never Gonna Come Back Down," and I love playing that a lot. I'm sure there are songs I dislike, but I don't focus on negative stuff.

ML: You were one of the first artists online to moderate their own BBS. After about 4 years it got to be too much for one person to handle, though. But you've always been marked as a net-friendly artist. Any big online plans in the future for special content like unreleased songs or exclusive singles or even a return to a less centralized BBS?

MD: I've recently been trying to come to grips with the fact that maybe albums are not going to be around sometime in the next couple of years. I like albums - I don't really listen to albums, but I like making them. I think small batches of songs put up online is gonna be the way it goes. And I'm basically cool with that - I think it'll allow me to release stuff more often. The BBS phenomenon is something I've become less interested in participating in in the past couple of years. I'm sure I'll always maintain one in some form, but I think message boards are better without the artist's interference.

I've thought a lot about doing some heavy blogging, for a tour, or a record cycle, or something like that. Take weird pictures on the road, write snapshot paragraphs about this or that. Could be fun. In the future, maybe.

ML: You have a fanatically loyal fan base that's only grown as you've been out there touring so relentlessly. One interesting thing is that you have *cadres* of female fans. Legions. What makes you such a sex magnet, Mike?

MD - I don't know, man. It's fun to sing to women. I'm thankful for it, for whatever reason there's so many women in the audience. It's fantastic that the crowd has grown so much in the past few years of touring. I'm truly grateful for it.

ML: Ever dated a fan? Low blow follow-up question, sorry.

MD: Yeah, for lack of a better term, fans. What can I tell you, I've met women at work.

ML: So, how's New York treating you? What are some of your favorite places, places that have that unique something you dig?

MD: New York is just lovely these days - I love the Autumn. Lately I've been uptown on the West Side a lot - between 100 and 125th street. I really like it up there. Good food, too.

ML: You've got some tattoos - what are they like, and any plans to get any more?

MD: I have four: a picture of Louise Brooks, with the ee cummings caption, "The Moon Rattles Like a Fragment of Angry Candy"; the number 7 in a circle; the word "Today" in Khmer (the Cambodian language); and the number 27 with a caption saying "Twenty Seven" in Khmer. They're all in blue/black on my upper arms.

I've fantasized about getting my sleeves fully done - don't know if I'll do it. I'd like to get Apsaras - heavenly Cambodian nymps from the walls of Angkor Wat - tattooed on my arms at some point. I'd have to find the right art, and the right artist.

ML: Do you like the pornography?

MD: Yeah. I don't like fake boobies; I like porn where women look like actual women. I also prefer more amateur-ish porn where the women actually get off--there's nothing sexier.

ML: Again, thanks, it was certainly a pleasure. I'll look forward as always to the new material! Now that I'm in NY I'm certain to run into you at more shows!

MD: Aw, the pleasure was mine. Thanks Mike!