Doug Gillard is known (rightly so) for his guitar wizardry in bands such as Guided By Voices, Cobra Verde, Death Of Samantha and, for the last few years, Nada Surf, but that notoriety sometimes overshadows the fact that he’s an accomplished solo singer/songwriter. With his third LP, Parade On (Nine Mile), Gillard continues to show off his virtuosity—solos like the one on “On Target” are just ridiculous—as well as his knack for catchy, folk-inflected power pop. Gillard will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him. To see more photos corresponding to these entries, go here
Gillard: For an East Coast or Midwestern band to do a West Coast tour without playing their way out, that only means one thing. Well, two or three. You fly out, rent a van and rent or borrow gear. As Death Of Samantha, we did that twice in the late ’80s. Arriving at LAX, we wait at baggage carousel for our luggage. Our drummer Steve-O didn’t have a proper suitcase per se, so he just throws everything he needs into a Hefty garbage bag. We see the Hefty bag slide down the conveyer, splitting open and clothes strewn about, followed by a lone pogo stick—Steve-O’s main stage prop for this tour.
We set off to stay somewhere for the first night, and pull up to Hollywood Center Motel on Hollywood Boulevard, its pepto-pink brickwork calling us homeward. John tells two of us to wait and hide in the tiny rented minivan while he checks us in to a room for two. He gets the room; then Dave and I get our bags and sneak in. Someone from the office sees us and comes to the room to yell at us. We shrug and pay the difference when we check out.
We had staked out a music store to rent amps from, called Betnun’s, owned by an older couple, and it had been there for ages. 8 x 10 promo shots lined the walls, including a mid-’70s longhaired Los Lobos shot—autographed. There was some confusion when we came in and said we called ahead about some amps and drums.
“Was it a girl?” asked Lillian Betnun.
“No, well, we’re called Death Of Samantha.”
“Oh that was it then.”
We end up with some 1×12 Crate combo amps, but they did the job.
I can’t remember the routing for that first tour, but I remember playing Raji’s with Celebrity Skin. John said a young Gin Blossoms were on the same bill, but I have no recollection of that. One thing that stood out in my mind though, was the sight of one of my heroes, Billy Bremner, hanging out at the front bar. I told him I loved his Pretenders work, but especially Rockpile. He seemed gracious, and I left him alone. Can’t remember much of that trip, but we played Covered Wagon in S.F., Satyricon in Portland, someplace in Ballard in Seattle, and drove back down the coast on Highway 1.
The next year, we got smart and just borrowed amps from our pal Falling James from Leaving Trains, who played with us on a couple dates. Our tour would take us to Huntington Beach, where poor John got punched in the face by the promoter who didn’t want to pay us, played a Rhino Records in-store, up to Berkeley for a Gilman St show with the Dwarves, a stop in Chico to play with the Fluid and meet guys from a band we loved called Thin White Rope, and up to Seattle and Vancouver.
We didn’t tour much, but when we did it was always memorable. Little Midwestern jaunts to Madison (opened for HR, and Steve-O got yelled at by HR’s crew for touching their congas as we exited stage after soundcheck), Chicago, more East Coast shows, including one where Nirvana opened. Steve-O, our archivist, videotaped most things and has footage of me talking to Kurt, which I don’t remember at all! Opened for the Replacements in 1984 on their Let It Be tour in Kent, Ohio, where Bob Stinson wore a cardboard box as a dress, nothing underneath. Paul and Bob told me they liked my playing, which to 18-year-old me was the highest of praise! Good times.
We played a lot in Columbus, but never in Dayton, where Robert Pollard was listening to and collecting all things Homestead, later singing one of my DoS guitar lines to me when we met in Cleveland in 1992.
Not sure what props Steve-O brought for that second West Coast tour, but I know the pogo stick wasn’t one of them.
Another photo after the jump.
