Music

CHECKING IN WITH: Doughboys

by Nicole Villeneuve

In April, when we got word that Rusty, one of our favourite long-gone bands of the 90s Canadian indie boom, would be reuniting for NXNE, we wondered: what other bands from that era would it be nice to see on the stage again? An obvious choice was the Doughboys, one of the best and most visible Canadian bands of the late 80s and 90s, and in May, when the Foo Fighters announced a few summer arena shows in Canada, guess whose name happened to be on the bill? Well, okay, yeah, Fucked Up‘s name was also on there and people’s heads spun at the thought of the local-punk-band-done-good in an arena, for some reason. But it was ultimately the Doughboys that had us seriously considering shelling out for an Air Canada Centre show.

The alt-punk Montreal band fizzled out by 1997 and scattered, remaining involved in various music projects, and eventually, band leader John Kastner moved to Los Angeles, where he’s still based. A Doughboys reunion might have seeemed just a fraction closer when, in late 2010, Kastner would return home to reunite with famed pre-Doughboys punk band the Asexuals, and then, when Kastner himself orchestrated the Rusty reunion that got us pining over the Doughboys in the first place (he’s the music programmer for NXNE).

Now in Montreal again for a short round of rehearsals (only six practices) with the band—the classic line-up of Jon (Asencio) Bond Head on bass, Paul Newman on drums, and Jonathan Cummins on guitar, and of course Kastner on vocals and guitar—before their two arena shows on Tuesday, August 9 in Toronto and Wednesday, August 10 in Montreal, Kastner tells us about how the band came back together, and whether or not there’s any chance they’re going to stay that way.

Tell me how the Foo Fighters gigs came to be?

Well, it started with Elliot Lefko [a one-time major Toronto indie show promoter, now with Goldenvoice] phoning me up and asking me if we would do these shows. And I think that because we were friends with some of the Foo Fighters crew, and Dave [Grohl], and a few people in their organization, that as soon as it was an option, they seemed to be very supportive of it. And then the local promoters got involved, and it snowballed into us doing these shows.

Were you guys excited at the notion of reuniting from the beginning?

I don’t think it’s anything any of us sat around and put much thought into. I think that we always kind of thought that one day we would do something when it made sense and it felt right, and all of a sudden it just kind of crept up real fast. It made sense, and it felt right. That’s why we’re doing it.

You mentioned you guys have already started rehearsals—how was it being back in a room and playing together again?

It’s fun. It’s fun seeing everybody. It’s a bit of work, because some of the guys in the band don’t really play music anymore, so they’ve sort of had to re-learn how to play. But it’s fun hanging out with everybody and seeing everybody, and that’s a lot of it right there.

I would imagine it’s a different feeling entirely, being in a band for fun in situations like this as opposed to it being your main focus.

Well the main difference is that Doughoys then, we lived off the band and we had done that for ten years. Now everybody’s moved on, we all do different kinds of things, and so the pressure on the band is only coming from the band, and not management, and record labels, and accountants, and bank managers and all the other shit that goes along with being in a band.

Is this something you think you’d like to do more of, going forward?

I think we’ll see. We’ve been offered some huge things from Europe and America and Canada, and I think that we’re just going to do what we’ve always done. If it feels right, we’ll do it. We’re going to get through these shows. If we have fun and these shows are good and we feel like we’ll do it again, then maybe we’ll entertain some of these big offers that people have offered us. But I think right now we’re just concentrating on playing these shows and we’ll see how they go. We’re not making any big plans for the future at this point.

Was the not-so-secret show at the Bovine in Toronto on Monday meant to be a small warm up, or more for fun for the band?

The idea was that we would play these arenas, and then we’d play these secret club shows in the cities that we’re playing these arenas, and somehow the Bovine one just got out. So it’s not a secret anymore, but the other ones are kind of secret still. We’re playing a secret show in every city that we play.

Any special secret-show guests or tricks?

We’re going to play lots more old songs, that’s for sure. And I’m sure there will be a few guests involved, and that kind of thing.

As the music programmer for NXNE, I’m assuming you can take credit for the Rusty reunion that happened this year?

Yeah, I’m directly responsible for the Rusty reunion this year. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t phoned each guy and made it happen.

Any reason you thought it was a good time for it?

I’ve been trying to get Ken [MacNeil, vocalist] and Scott [McCullough, guitar and former Doughboys member] and everyone to do it for years. I think they’ve seen that, every year I seem to get bands back together for NXNE, and so they thought they should. I think that there’s a some internal issues there, so with me dealing with all the details, it was more doable.

Current Whereabouts

Jon Bond Head (bass): “Jon works for UPS,” Kastner tells us. He also stayed active in the Montreal music scene, including, after the Doughboys, playing in the band that the internet seems to have forgotten, indie space-pop band Pest 5000.

Paul Newman (drums): “Paul works for Live Nation,” Kastner says.

Jonathan Cummins (guitar): “Johnathan is a music writer,” Kastner tells us. Originally from Toronto, Cummins still resides in Montreal and writes for alt-weekly the Montreal Mirror.