THE DOUGHBOYS’ AGE FOR RAGE!

At one time during the 60’s, The Doughboys were one of the most popular bands in central New Jersey. Then, after going separate ways for 35 years, the band chose to reunite for one fateful night and saw those old sparks fly. Since then, the Doughboys have been schooling today’s modern rock youth with their second album entitled Act Your Rage. Fronted by Mike Scavone, formerly the lead vocalist of the 70’s band Ram Jam whose known for their massive top 20 hit “Black Betty”, and armed with praise by Little Steven and his listeners of the Underground Garage show, the Doughboys want to show how rock and roll used to be – and still should be done. Our man Gavin spoke with Mr. Scavone and was left with a newfound belief in a little thing called destiny.

After 35 years, how does a band reunite?
We never decided to reunite, that’s the funny part about all this. Our drummer Richie Heyman’s wife had been hearing Richie talk about the Doughboys – He would always tell these different stories about things that happened with the band, like my fight with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. So, for his 48th birthday, she called me and she asked if I knew where the other guys were. She wanted to do a surprise birthday party for him. We get to the club and it was like we had never stopped playing. It was like everything just came together. The club owner liked us and asked us if we wanted to come back. We played there and one thing led to another, then we’re playing the Sidewalk Café, and all these different places in the city.

Did your last album IS IT NOW achieve everything you wanted from it?
Truthfully, the only reason why we did the first CD, and why we threw in five live songs, was because people were asking us if we had a CD that they could take home with them. So we only did it to have when we played gigs. We weren’t thinking about anybody actually playing this stuff, that was the furthest thing from our minds. Next thing we know Little Steven has got it on his radio show Underground Garage.

You mention Little Steven’s Underground Garage. The Doughboys have garnered a lot of support from his show.
We put out “I’m Not Your Man” and that was the one that made number 3 on Little Steven’s “Coolest Song In The World” list for all of 2009. But the year before that “Black Sheep” was the number 2 “Coolest Song In The World”. And then “Why Can’t She See Me” was picked as the “Coolest Song In The World” for the first week of the new decade. These are fans calling in and voting. So to me, it’s like the people’s choice awards.

What was the main creative growth for the new album ACT YOUR RAGE?

What made the biggest difference for us was when we added Gar (Francis) to the band. He’s the only one whose not an original member, but he’s certainly original. Gar really pushed us into doing original material. And what drove me to want to make this happen was doing an interview at WBJB and when Rich Robinson, who was interviewing us, looked at me and said “Is this one and done or do you have anything else in mind?” “One and done,” I couldn’t get that phrase out of my head. I thought, I don’t want to be one and done, so we thought let’s just go and do it. We had seventeen or eighteen songs cut for this and we only cut one or two out.

With all the culminated experience of the members , how is the actual writing process?
Richie has his songs all done and we just basically put our own feel to it. Gar writes a lot of stuff on his own. He’ll write a song or have an idea for a song but he has no lyrics. He usually gives it to me and says write some lyrics. The only collaborations you’re seeing are Gar and I, everything else is individually written. We’ve worked through everybody being comfortable with who they are and not worrying about each other individually, but being more concerned of the band as a whole. At our age, if we can’t control our egos, we’re in big trouble.

Having been involved in the music industry for so many years, how do you feel things are progressing in the current environment with more and more independent artists?
I think it’s great because it lends opportunity to so many more people to get their stuff heard. 30 or 40 years ago, if you couldn’t find the right person to be connected to, you didn’t have a prayer. The whole industry is upside down from what it was back then, but there’s a lot of good things about it.

You’ve had major label experience, so do you see these changes continuing down a positive road?
I don’t think the record companies will ever have the power that they used to have. There’s always going to be people that don’t know any better, like myself when I was with Ram Jam I signed a bad contract. The record companies and producers make all the money, you never see a dime. That can’t go on that long; it’s too easy to make your own records now. It’s too easy to get them out there and too easy to promote yourself with the internet. There’s no reason why we should ever revert back to where we were.

What’s next for the Doughboys? Are you happy with where you are at now or are you looking to make the Doughboy experience larger than life?
We’re not thinking a whole lot about it. I think we’re happy with where we are but we are definitely, at least in the back of our minds, thinking about what to do for the next CD. Right now we’re concentrating on getting ourselves out there to promote this CD. And we’d like to just be able to get in front of a national act and open up so we can get in front of bigger audiences. Overall, the liveliness of the band on stage is far more entertaining to watch and I’ll just keep doing this as long as I’m having fun!

Can we look forward to seeing the Doughboys in Canada?
Canada is one of the more likely countries outside the United States that you’ll probably see us. Personally I would love to go, and I know there are a lot of people that are starting to hear our music up there and it would be great!!! We would really love to just travel and get in front of new people.

To Learn More about the Doughboys visit their website:  http://www.thedoughboysnj.com/

Or myspace page:  http://www.myspace.com/thedoughboysnj

Whether it’s on a novel, short stories or a screenplay, Gavin can be found constantly writing. However being a generous man, he gives up some of his limited spare time doing interviews for The Tuesday Guide. Otherwise he’s checking out new flicks, new music or putting his  feet up with a new book. Gavin Hughes lives with his wife in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.