INTRODUCING THE BAND:
MOD HIPPIE
This time, it’s personal.
Full disclosure:
1. Mod Hippie main man Doug
McGuire is a longtime friend – his first words to me 40 years ago were, “I
don’t like little brothers.”
2. He has played with my
brother Mike Schnee on and off for
many years – The Leeks and Volkwood Ghost (who put out a pair of
albums in the '90s) are just two of the bands they were both members of.
3. I collaborated with Doug on
one track featured on BIG WOW.
With all of that being said, my closeness
to this project will certainly make people think I’m being biased when I say
that Mod Hippie’s sophomore album, BIG WOW, is one of the best albums
of 2017. So, let’s get one thing perfectly clear: from a musical standpoint, I’m
much more critical of friends’ music than I am of music created by people I’ve
never met. I pretty much figure that if they hang out with me, they can’t be as
talented as “Timmy Tagalong” from Australia or wherever. Boy, was I wrong. Doug McGuire started out as a good songwriter
30+ years ago and has only gotten better over time. When the first Mod Hippie
album – TOMORROW THEN – was released in 2015, I was more than
impressed. Even the fact that he used a song with my worst lyrics ever did not
sour my opinion of that album. When he
began working on BIG WOW in 2016, I was anxiously awaiting the results. What I
was not expecting was something far more cohesive, melodic and powerful.
BIG WOW is like a time-travel album –
it is very much of the here-and-now but it manages to incorporate bits of
pieces of Alternative Rock’s history in ways that are inspiring. From Psych and Garage Rock through New Wave,
Mod and Ska with some tinkly indie bits from the ‘90s, BIG WOW is just that – a big
WOW! I suppose it doesn’t hurt that McGuire manages to pull inspiration from
some of my favorite eras of music, yet never making it sound retro or
dated. In fact, the album’s influences,
production and focus make it timeless. McGuire’s songs work well with the great
tracks he managed to pull from Mike Schnee’s immense back catalog. While the cover of Elvis Costello’s “Night Rally” is fantastic (and timely), the 11
originals on the album have a much deeper emotional impact. Not a stinker in
the bunch. This is an album packed with
more hooks than most bands can manage in a career. Adam Marsland’s production
is inventive and the musicianship is top notch. Albums don't get much more fun than this.
But enough about my thoughts. Now, I’d
like to introduce you to Doug McGuire AKA Mod Hippie... in his own words!
STEPHEN SPAZ SCHNEE: Please introduce yourselves!
DOUG MCGUIRE – acoustic guitar and lead vocals, I’m sort of a solo
artist who makes albums with different musicians under the Mod Hippie umbrella of sound, as it were. BIG WOW, the new album includes:
Adam Marsland from Adam
Marsland’s Chaos Band and Cockeyed
Ghost produced the record, played keyboards, guitar, percussion , arranged
the trickier vocals and probably did a dozen other things I’m forgetting to
list.
D. J. Bonebrake from X
played drums
David Marks from the “Surfin’ USA” - era Beach Boys played lead guitar on 6 of the 12 songs.
Teresa Cowles from Adam Marsland’s Chaos Band, EZ Tiger, Ben Vaughn Trio
and the movie LOVE AND MERCY played bass and sang most of the harmonies
Mike Schnee played guitar, sang harmonies
Matt Zook played lead guitar
Connor Claxton played lead guitar
SPAZ: Can you fill us in on this new little platter of yours?
DOUG: BIG WOW is my second
album under the Mod Hippie Moniker. We recorded at Adam Marsland’s Karma Frog studios. It took a year to
finish. Adam calls it “Post punk garage pop.” There are 12 songs in all. 11
originals and a cover of Elvis
Costello’s “Night Rally,” This is the best album that I’ve ever been
involved with. I was very lucky to be able to play with such a gifted group of
musicians who all seemed to intuitively grasp the retro psychedelic pop record
I was trying to make. It was marvelous getting to meet David Marks and D.J.
Bonebrake, two of the nicest and most talented people I’ve ever met. I had no
idea that David Marks could play guitar like that – crazy and imaginative with
melody just bursting out of his fingertips.
SPAZ: Which song off of the album do you feel best defines the essence of the album and/or what the band is all about, musically?
SPAZ: Which song off of the album do you feel best defines the essence of the album and/or what the band is all about, musically?
DOUG: Today, I would say that “Up and Away” defines the essence of
what I started out to do with Mod Hippie which was to have a folksy/poppy
acoustic guitar type song injected with a strong lead electric. “Up and Away”
has both of these elements. Connor’s and Matt’s guitars growl around the edges
of what is otherwise an acoustic pop song. I also like the way that the drums
drop out at the beginning of the chorus. Also, it is a song about how memories
are here and gone and I think the group did a marvelous job of capturing the
joyful melancholy that I was trying to write. If you ask tomorrow, you’ll very
likely get a different answer.
SPAZ: In this age of streaming, the concept of the album as an art
form seems to have been lost in the digital shuffle. Did you approach this project
as a whole piece of work or do you view it more like a collection of individual
songs that you felt work together well?
DOUG: Definitely this is a group of songs that work together well. I
have a number of songs waiting to be recorded. Mike (Schnee) has a large
backlog of songs. I really love Mike’s songs and wanted to make sure I recorded
a handful of them on this album. I tried to pick songs that I thought were
strong and a bit different from each other, and then we tried to sequence and
segue the group of songs into a cohesive album.
SPAZ: When you began the
songwriting and recording process, did you already have a fully-formed idea of
how you wanted the end product to sound like or did it come together
organically?
DOUG: Lots of things about this album were surprising. Connor was
supposed to handle all the lead guitar for the entire album. I really love his
playing. Unfortunately, he lost interest after three songs and left to pursue
other interests. That’s when Adam suggested that we have David Marks come in
and lay down some lead guitar. That changed the whole sound of the album. He
played his nylon stringed acoustic on “Gone All Day” and it came out
wonderfully sad and beautiful. It’s a
more rhythmic and pop album with David Marks than with Connor. Matt Zook also
came in and played some fantastic lead guitar, especially on the title track.
Without Connor all the way through, it is a very different album than I
originally envisioned.
SPAZ: As a songwriter
working in a group with equally talented writers and performers, is there a lot
of give and take involved with making an album or were you all on the same
wavelength with this batch of songs?
DOUG: Well, as far as this goes, I’m basically a solo act. I chose
to do 4 or 5 of Mike’s songs because I absolutely love Mike’s songs. I could
have made it an album of just my songs, but I don’t think it would have come
out as well. Everyone’s on the same wavelength because I get to have my way
about which songs are going on the album. We’re also on the same wavelength
because I don’t tell the players what to play. All of them are such marvelous
players. The real joy for me is listening while these musicians turn my little
folk pop songs into psychedelic garage rock musical statements. They seem to
have such fun getting to play retro and I get to have even more fun listening
to them do it
SPAZ: Given the opportunity, an artist could tinker with an album
for years before finally releasing it to the world. Are you happy with the release of the album
at the moment or are you still in the ‘I wish I could go back and add this or
change that’ stage?
DOUG: Oh, given the opportunity, I would tinker endlessly. I’m
happy with the way the album sounds, really happy. But there are lots of things
I would tweak a little. But then music needs to be heard, so you have to be
finished sometime.
SPAZ: Listening to an album,
one can decipher some of the main musical influences that helped shape that
artist. However, there can also be some surprising influences as well. Who would you pick as your chief musical
influences on this album?
DOUG: Kinks, Monkees, The
Jam, Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets, the XTC Dukes of Stratosphear album .
Adam is way into the Beach Boys
and 70’s pop and I think that comes through as well.
SPAZ: Did you have any non-musical influences that inspired you
during the making of the album?
DOUG: A few years back, I went to see a friend play in downtown
L.A. I walked out of the club and right into the middle of the Occupy L.A. eviction. It was pretty
scary with the police really bearing down on the protestors. It made me think
of Elvis Costello’s “Night Rally.” Then, with the ugliness of the election this
year, I again thought about that song and decided to record it. Is that a non-musical
influence?
SPAZ: Was there a particular moment during the writing or recording
when you realized that you were definitely making something special?
DOUG: I’m not sure, in the
big scope of music, that we made anything special, but there were certainly
some special moments while making the album. D.J. Bonebrake sitting down for
the first song and nailing “Guatemala” on the first take. David Marks’ playing
my Jazzmaster for the blistering guitar on “Night Rally,” Adam putting in the
video game sounds into “Big Wow, or Matt’s beautiful solo on “It Ain’t Like
That No More. Overall, I wasn’t very happy with the way things sounded until we
were near the end. Then it all came
together nicely and in ways I hadn’t expected
SPAZ: What is next for the band?
DOUG: I would love to do some live shows. A showcase backed by a
band that featured David Marks, DJ Bonebrake, Adam Marsland, Teresa Cowles and
Mike Schnee would be more than this songwriter has ever hoped for. Other than that, we’ll start a new album
soon. I’m hoping I get to record at least one more album with Adam producing. I
was thinking maybe a shorter, acoustic album? Maybe we record a whole band
album, but with acoustic guitars only where David could really go to town on
his nylon stringed classical. I was also thinking about doing a way-reverbed
out album – something like the Jesus and
Mary Chain or the Raveonettes. Maybe we just record another regular album
where we do some rockers, some spooky songs and attempt to write some pretty
songs. I’m going to have to make that
decision pretty soon and get started. I know I’ll be looking through and
recording some of Mike’s back catalog of songs as long as he’ll let me. Plenty
of songs are already written, it’s just deciding which ones to record and how
to present them
SPAZ: What are you currently spinning on your CD and record
players?
DOUG: Rob Martinez, Pacific
Soul Limited, Jason Berk, Sylvia Juncosa’s
WANNA
GOTTA album. I recently put Chissum
Worthington back into regular rotation on my car iPod. I just read the Replacements bio and the Pete Townshend bio so I’ve revisited The Who and The Replacements’ albums. My favorite show of 2016 was the Iggy Pop tour with Josh Homme, Dean Fertita and
Matt Helders backing. I bought the Blu-Ray of their Royal Albert Hall Concert
and I’ve been playing that over and over. I’ve been transfixed by the Bowie clips that Mike Garson has posted nearly every day since Bowie died. And I
really love the final Oasis album DIG
OUT YOUR SOUL from 2008. I love
every song, the sound and I think there are a million hooks. I’m also the only
one I know who loves that album.
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