TAD | Interview | Thomas Andrew Doyle | Releases His 9th Solo Full-Length ‘Forgotten Sciences’
‘Forgotten Sciences’ is the ninth solo full-length by the “Grunge Grandfather” Thomas Andrew Doyle (aka Tad).
From the pioneering grunge-era band TAD, the punk aesthetics of Hog Molly, and the heavier doom-metal of Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, on this new release, Doyle continues to go back to his symphonic roots, to begin a new musical chapter in his already impressively successful career. Flexing his musical prowess yet again in a never-before-utilized way, ‘Forgotten Sciences’ showcases Doyle’s many vocal and multi-instrumental talents. The songwriting and lyrical content delves into the darker side of human existence, yet the underlying message is a positive one. Doyle states, “This album is a note to self to stay in the moment and clear of the trappings of time. It is an affirmation that everything important happens in the present moment. Everything is an inside job, and there are no solutions to be found outside our indomitable spirit.”
“I always like people to make their own conclusions as to what my music means to them”
We are very excited about your newest solo album, ‘Forgotten Sciences’. It’s your 9th already. How much time and preparation went into it?
Tad: A little over two years went into the making of this album. It took that long mostly because I was working on other peoples music at my studio during that time. Witch Ape Studio is a full-service recording facility, where I have recorded many different kinds of bands, and mixed their music as well as doing mastering for many people.
Where was the album recorded? Would you like to share some further words about the writing and recording process? What about production?
Again, everything was recorded at my studio here in Seattle. The recording process usually goes quicker, but like I said, I had to work on it in between working on music for paid clients. As far as production goes, it is basically a reflection of what I want to hear out of the raw material that I had. It’s all personal taste.
Tell us what kind of effects, pedals, amps did you use?
I have a custom amplifier of which there are only two in the world. It was made for me by a friend who made the other one for a friend of his. It was made by a fellow named Doug, who is a math professor at a college in northern Seattle. I don’t remember specifically which pedals I used but some of the effects were done in the recording software that I used to record.
The album seems to be a reflection of the ever dooming society. Was there a certain concept you were trying to express through the tracks?
I always like people to make their own conclusions as to what my music means to them. However, for me, it was a way for me to channel the depression that I suffer from, and the anxiety that I was experiencing at the time. I wanted to use the opportunity of a condition that I was going through at that time and use that energy to turn it into a constructive and positive expression of music. The overall message of the record is to stay in the present moment, and to not worry about the past or the future.
You’re a multi-instrumentalist, do you feel that helps you to realize what you have in your head easier or it just complicates things when it comes to songwriting?
I would say that it definitely helps me to write the music because I have a more clear picture and vision of what I want the music to do.
I’m excited to discuss your upbringing and how you first got interested in music. You were born in Boise, Idaho. What was life like there back in the 60s and early 70s?
The only experience I have growing up is where I did in Boise, so I don’t know how I would compare that to any place else. It was a relatively small city, and not very ethnically diverse. Both of my parents were in the United States military. I was the youngest of three children. My mother and father had me at their age of 40 so when I had friends come over, they would ask if I was living with my grandparents.
Was there a certain moment in your life that you knew you would become a musician? What were some of the first instruments you played?
I have always been hearing music in my head for as long as I can remember even as a very very young child. My older brother had a set of drums that he would play. He was 14 to 15 years older than I was. I would listen to AM radio (when it was good), and not be filled with advertisements all the time. I heard a lot of good music over the radio when I was very young at night. I would turn on my Clock radio very quietly, so my parents wouldn’t know that I was awake and listening. I would say that my brother was a big inspiration for me wanting to play drums. But when he left the house, he took the drums with him. I expressed to my parents that I wanted to play drums and they said that we had a flat tuba in the attic and then if I learned that and showed commitment, we could talk about drums later, so I did the best I could with the tuba and learned it as well as I could for two years. After that time, my grandmother happened to get a good deal on a set of drums and bought them for me. That started my road into music even deeper. Since then I learned how to play bass and guitar as well as keyboards.
I guess the drums are your biggest love? What are some of the most important players that influenced your own style and what in particular did they employ in their playing that you liked?
I listen to a lot of different types of music from classical to jazz and rock. There wasn’t any one specific drummer that really influenced my playing. However, I was a big Rush fan and I thought that Neil Peart was an amazing drummer. I guess I always saw music as a whole thing instead of just analyzing it for its parts. The analysing of individual parts came later in my career.
“I decided that what I wanted to do wasn’t being taught in school so I began experimenting”
How do you remember studying music composition and performance at Boise State University? You were mentored by the nationally known and respected Dr. John Baldwin.
I went straight into college after high school, which was probably a big mistake. I did learn a lot from my mentor ship, and certainly about a lot of different styles of music. I quickly discovered that going to school to learn these things wasn’t where my heart was for making music. I decided that what I wanted to do wasn’t being taught in school so I began experimenting…
What were some of the very early bands you were part of?
I was mostly playing with jazz musicians in school and eventually I did get into a rock cover band by the time I was out of high school but that band didn’t last very long. The first notable band that I really felt good about was H-Hour.
Tell us about H-Hour that was active around 1986, what kind of material did you play? Did you do a lot of shows? Are there any recordings aside from the 1987 tape?
H-Hour was a band before I joined as a drummer.
H-Hour formed in Boise, Idaho in early 1981 by Bob Harper, Mike Fortin, Jack Helton, Doug Weide and Roger Bishop. The early years were spent playing shows at various all-ages venues with the original lineup changing instruments during the set. By the time the last version of H-Hour came together, none of the original members were present. These songs are dedicated to Bob Harper (R.I.P.) and the other original members.
In 1986 the last incarnation of the band H-Hour had solidified into a formidable sonic force to be reckoned with. The members picked up their instruments and meager belongings to move to Seattle from Boise, Idaho where the group originally formed. After a few months, they had made ready an LP’s worth of material and went into Reciprocal Recording studio to record their songs with a fellow named Jack Endino. Endino, who was still early on in his recording career, instantly connected with the band musically. Together, they captured the energy and aesthetic of what was to become one of the heavier pre-grunge pioneering sounds, and precursors to what was to take the music world by storm. H-Hour had a heavy guitar feel with tribal drums and percussive bass that laid the foundation for the melodic vocals and style they all delivered. All of the elements coalesced to take shape into a congruent powerful entity completely unique to the band.
What about Bundle Of Hiss?
Bundle Of Hiss was another band that I joined after they were already established and had a few recordings. I was originally going to join the band as a second drummer. However, my drumming style didn’t mesh very well with their current drummer, and I was starting to play guitar on my own. I shared that I was having a lot of fun teaching myself to play guitar with the band, so they asked me if I would like to play guitar. They agreed to have me play guitar and see how it would go and it went well.
That’s how I wound up being on the recording. Bundle Of Hiss fell apart shortly after we recorded together and coincidentally, that’s about the same time that I started the band TAD. Kurt Danielson was the bass player in the band Bundle Of Hiss and wound up being the first person I asked to join my vision for the band TAD.
When did you move to Seattle? What was the early pre-grunge scene there?
I moved to Seattle with my band H-Hour in 1986. There was a good cross section of musical styles from the early eighties that you may have found in other cities at the time and there were a bunch of bands that were playing out at the few places that the city had at that time.
Was there a certain band that hasn’t recorded much, but were fantastic live?
One of the first bands that really piqued my interest was a band called The Blackouts. They were notorious for having a really spirited and chaotic live show. I don’t think that they had that many recordings. A few of the members went on to be in other more successful bands.
What led to the formation of TAD? Can you elaborate the beginning and how members formed the group? What was the original overall vision of the band?
January 1988, shortly after leaving the band H-Hour, the band I had played drums in for many years, I went into Reciprocal Recording Studio with Jack Endino and recorded the first three songs that I had written solo. I played all of the instruments myself. Two of the songs, ‘Ritual Device’ and ‘Daisy’ were released on the first 7” in April. The third track, ‘Tuna Car’ remained unreleased until now.
After the Ritual Device b/w Daisy 7” release, I decided to assemble a live band based on the musical direction I had taken. I was becoming good friends with the bassist from a band called Bundle Of Hiss. Enter Kurt Danielson. We both had similar music tastes and would play shows together in our respective bands, me in H-Hour as the drummer and Danielson playing bass in Bundle Of Hiss. I was asked to join Bundle Of Hiss as a second drummer but I really wanted to play guitar, so they added me as a second guitarist. Bundle Of Hiss disbanded a few months later. Danielson and I decided that we wanted to continue to work together. We began to think of other musicians that would fill out the band. I had a drummer in mind that had played in other Seattle area bands. Steve Wied, whose current band at the time, Death & Taxes, was coming to an end and we both thought him a perfect fit for the band. Danielson knew of a guitarist that had played in a band with our mutual friend and Sub Pop co-founder, Jonathan Poneman. Gary Thorstensen was originally from Chicago and played guitar in the band Tree Climbers with Poneman. We contacted Thorstensen and asked him if he would be interested in getting together and playing the framework of what was that year to be the first TAD LP, ‘God’s Balls’.
TAD was among the first bands to be signed to the independent label Sub Pop Records, how did that come about?
I got a job at a company called Muzak (yes, the elevator music company) with the help of a friend by the name of Jon Hale who I grew up with in Boise. A lot of the music scene people were working in various departments there and my direct supervisor was Bruce Pavitt (Sub Pop founder). I had a refund from my tax return in 1987 and went into reciprocal recording to record some songs that I have been working on by myself with Jack Endino. I played the drums, guitars, bass and vocals. All in separate takes by myself, and that is what wound up being my first demo that I took to work with me and played for my coworkers at break time. I remember Bruce being very excited. Sub Pop was in its infantile stage then, but he felt confident about what I had done and wanted to put out a 7-inch single of two of the three songs that I recorded. That wound up being the first TAD single. Sub Pop was in its infantile stage then, but he felt confident about what I had done and wanted to put out a 7 inch single of two of the three songs that I recorded. That wound up being the first TAD single entitled ‘Daisy’/’Ritual Device’. That was the beginning of our musical relationship that lasted to this day.
After releasing your first single, ‘Daisy’/’Ritual Device’ you went to the studio to record your debut album, ‘God’s Balls’. What are some of the memories from working on those songs and from the time you spend in the studio? How did you enjoy the record?
I assembled the band and we had only rehearsed together for a little over two weeks before we went straight into the studio to record with Jack Endino at a little recording studio that he had put together with his friend Chris Hanzsek. It was a really exciting and inspiring time for the band TAD and we felt that we had a special chemistry together and everyone in the band was into experimenting and trying new things musically. We finished up the recording in two weekends and shared the songs to Sub Pop to listen to and they were excited as well.
Did you do a lot of shows after the album was released?
Yes, from the beginning of the band after the first recording we started touring instantly. We were very much interested and committed to touring all of our music and put in six to nine months out of every year touring the United States, Canada, and of course Europe. Our first tour was with Pussy Galore who was coming back from Japan. They wanted to use our backline. We drove from Seattle to Hoboken, New Jersey before we had our first show. If memory serves correctly, we drove four full days and five nights straight without stopping except for gasoline stops and an occasional grocery store to buy fresh bread and bologna so we could eat. The tour started on the east coast and went to most of the major cities of the lower 48 states.
‘Salt Lick’ was your second full recording with the band. Can you share some thoughts on how that went?
We decided to work with Steve Albini as I was a fan of the music that he had made. With the help of Sub Pop, we flew into Chicago and rented musical gear to record with Albini for two or three days. We worked really fast and recorded and mixed ‘Salt Lick’ in record time. The studio that we recorded in is the one that Albini eventually bought and became Electrical Audio. It was somewhat of a blur because of the speed that things were happening. I remember that we stayed at Albini’s house and didn’t get much sleep.
I was first introduced to your band through the ‘8-Way Santa’ album. How do you remember working on it?
‘8-Way Santa’ was another recording that we traveled in the vans playing shows here and there so we could record in Madison, Wisconsin with Butch Vig who owned Smart Studios. We were the first band from the Pacific Northwest to work with both Albini and Butch and as a result many other bands traveled to work with these engineers at their studios. Our drummer Steve quit the band during the recording and I had to talk him into finishing the recording and the tour that we had scheduled afterwards. Touring took its toll on Steve and he didn’t care much for all of the traveling and being in the van for the long drives. Overall, this was another record and experience that was amazing. I actually wrote the song ‘Jinx’ in the studio while everyone else went to get food and when they all came back, I showed it to the guys and we recorded it right then and there.
What was going on at the time you went to the studio to record ‘Inhaler’?
We had a new drummer that we liked. Josh Sinder came from the splatter-metal band The Accused. His style was markedly more metal sounding. We had just left Sub Pop and got a recording deal with Giant Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Records. We finally had a good recording budget and enlisted J Mascis to help produce the record. We had booked some recording time in a studio south of Seattle near Tacoma and the Studio had a lot of gear problems and not being up to snuff for our recording engineer. Mascis made a suggestion to travel to Sausalito, California to record at Studio D. So once again, we loaded up a van and a trailer and headed south to record. We spent a few days recording all of the basic tracks and finished the recording. Then, we went back to Seattle and started to mix the record. J Mascis’ father died during that session, and he had to leave town to go back east to be with his family to deal with the funeral arrangements. We wound up mixing the record with a very talented engineer by the name of John Angello who was from New York and had worked with a lot of bands including Sonic Youth. So even though J Mascis’s name is on the record for being co-producer along with the band, it was really our vision and John Angello’s work that helped finish ‘Inhaler’.
I always thought that ‘Infrared Riding Hood’ was overlooked. It’s a truly fantastic record.
There were a couple of reasons that ‘Infrared Riding Hood’ wasn’t able to be released properly because our A&R representative at East West Electra was fired, and when that happens, a major label doesn’t really care enough to follow through on commitments that they had made. As a band, we felt very strongly about ‘Infrared Riding Hood’. We had basic ideas that we were throwing around and auditioning with rehearsal space recordings. We decided that we wanted to develop the songs in the studio setting, so we booked a whole month in a Robert Lang Studios in North Seattle, with our friend Jack Endino and wrote the record there while recording it. It was a lot of fun and I think that shows in the recording.
What would be the craziest gig you ever did?
Probably playing with our friends Soundgarden and Jeff Buckley’s band somewhere in the Midwest at an outdoor show to 20,000 plus people. It was completely surreal to see all of those people and also to play shows with our friends during the daylight hours.
What about the ‘Jack Pepsi’ artwork controversy?
We had a song that we made called ‘Jack Pepsi’ and for some reason the Christian corporate cola company didn’t like that we associated their drink with the lyrics that were contained in the song.
How did Hog Molly come about in 2001?
The band TAD had officially disbanded in 1999 and I had a friend that I would hang out with back then by the name of Tyson Garcia. Tyson had a bass guitar and we both liked Jason “Slimmy” Jacobs drumming and so we procured a rehearsal space and started writing songs. They were more punk rock and up tempo than TAD was and it was really a fun thing that we did together more than anything. Before we knew it, we had a bunch of songs and were asked to play a show by our friend and metal champion of the Seattle area, Jeff Gilbert. Hog Molly was a band that was first and foremost a few friends getting together to play music and enjoying each other’s company. We had no big aspirations or goals. We just wanted to have fun and play music together.
What about Hoof?
After Hog Molly disbanded, I had another friend that I’ve known for a long time. His name is Ben Rew, and he was putting together a band and asked me if I wanted to join him. It was another bunch of friends getting together and having fun, enjoying each other’s company and making music. Hoof put together a few songs and we started playing live shows and playing live shows and having a lot of fun. We were joined by a friend by the name of Tannar Brewer, who joined as the bassist. Ben had the idea to have one of the last drummers for the band TAD join the lineup. Josh Sinder and I had a synergy with working together previously in TAD so it was a really great idea that Ben thought of for having Josh join the band. Hoof put together a few songs and we started playing live shows and having a lot of fun. We were joined by a friend by the name of Tannar Brewer, and one of the last drummers for the band
I hope Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth will play again as your 2015 was insane!
We are all super pleased that you checked us out. At this point, the band hasn’t been active for a few years. I am not ruling out getting together again as a band, but I am getting so busy with scoring soundtracks for film and TV that I’m not sure I have time to do something like that again.
What are some future plans?
First and foremost, I am looking forward to creating more film scores and working on new film projects with directors. If any directors are looking for fresh perspectives and scores for their films, I am open to speaking with you about that. Most of all I am looking forward to creating my best music ever. I would love to collaborate with talented composers and musicians and learn from each other to sharpen each of our strengths and skills.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favorite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
This is not necessarily new, but I have rediscovered the amazing body of work that is Todd Rundgren and specifically his Utopia band and his productions on The Tubes records.
Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.
I have moved into scoring for film and television. I definitely want to closely collaborate with sci-fi and horror projects and film directors to forge and develop something that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Currently I am super excited that I will be starting work on the score for “a new kind of horror film,” with director Hayden Hewitt with Black Octopus Productions on the film Cara. I am also getting ready to work on the score of the stop motion sci-fi series created by director Michael Lavine entitled The Dark Odyssey. I have already done the score for the trailer for The Dark Odyssey II – The Ice Nexus.
Klemen Breznikar
Headline photo: TAD promotional photo
Thomas Andrew Doyle Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube
TAD Facebook / Instagram / YouTube
Brothers of the Sonic Cloth Facebook / Instagram
Incineration Ceremony Recordings Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp
