Doug Macuch: Drums
About DA | Kris Pettit Fath | Doug Macuch | Marc Musser | Bill Baker | Ed Brown
Started Playing
"In 4th grade. I wasn't allowed to beat my little sister anymore, so I naturally gravitated toward drums."
Motivation to play
The Beatles 1st performance on Ed Sullivan. "I thought it was sooo cool that these guys could make girls faint without having to do something mean to a cat."
Performance
Olney elementary drum student, member of the Farqhuar Middle School concert band, and the Sherwood High Marching, Stage and Concert Bands. Started playing for friends' parties "in a band with no name and no singer!" in junior year of high school. "I worked in a couple of Top 40 bands during my late teens, then decided it wasn't cool to make money playing, so I played music I loved for free or worse for the next several years."
Formed Rock group "Rave" with Spiro Theodore, Paul Terry, Wade Price and John Owens playing "all the dirty Rock Club dives we could find" on the east coast. Started new band, "The Bomb Squad" with Harry Folsom, Spiro, and Wade. Released one single (Messin' Me b/w Work) that "had enormous success - until we pressed the second batch of 500 copies. Anyone need a black Frisbee with a hole in it?" Formed Diamond Alley in 1987 "with the idea of making a few bucks for Christmas. Now what?"
Favorite Musical Memories
Dancing to and meeting the "Four Tops" before we played at a show they headlined. The big New Years shows we used to do at the Hyatt on Capitol Hill. Watching Berk choke on whiskey that he accidentally inhaled. Chasing Berk with a video "sting" camera when we played on the road (and I will put the bathroom shots on the internet one day). The radio and TV shows we got to do. Meeting and working with guys like the late Larrie Londin, Louie Bellson, and Joey Kramer of Aerosmith. Being blessed with the "band mates" I have for the entirety of this group's life.
Musical Preferences and Influences
Zepplin, Beatles, AWB, Rolling Stones, James Brown, Aerosmith, Bob Fagel and the High Octane Texas Jigsaw Horns (who are "proudly" sponsored by a mailbox company I don't know…) Diamond Alley High Point
See: Marc Musser, Low Point
Photos By Diane Williams
Diamond Alley Low Point
Realizing how lame my high point is
Other
I love reminding my Dad of his words of wisdom to me as I sat in his lap watching the Beatles for the first time…"eh, in five years nobody will even remember these longhairs."