Remember When The Doughboys Played at Gilman And They Broke Up On Your Lawn

A lot of people would say the Doughboys are the best Canadian punk band ever. I prefer Slow or Chixdiggit myself, but then I'm not the expert, the guys with the Tragically Hip and Barenaked Ladies tapes are.

Anyway, this EP collects three songs that the Doughboys demo'ed in 1987 and then re-recorded for their first LP, "Whatever". I like these versions much better; arrangement-wise, the two songs I'm posting here aren't all that different from the versions that ended up on "Whatever" (the demo of "Stranger From Within" has an additional acoustic guitar intro), but sonics-wise they're a hell of a lot crunchier.

This record has the thickest vinyl I've ever seen for a 7-inch-- it's like a dinner plate, for crying out loud. It would be cool if it was glow-in-the-dark vinyl, too, like that M.O.T.O. 7" which is almost the same color, but you can't have everything, I guess.

I posted a bunch of vinyl rips from "Whatever" back in March, by the way; you can find them by clicking on the "Doughboys" tag at the bottom of this post.




Doughboys -

"The Forecast"

"Stranger From Within"

(these files are now listen-only)

I Wish The World Revolved Around Me

The first time I remember the Doughboys playing in Connecticut was at the Anthrax in Norwalk, in maybe 1987 or so, and just about everybody was blown away by them (they jumped around a lot, as I recall, which was a big deal for some reason). "Pop punk" or whatever you might call it wasn't as widespread in those days, so any sorta-punk band with big hooks instantly drew a lot of attention and the inevitable comparisons to The Replacements and Husker Du; I'm thinking of bands like The Nils, The Lemonheads, Doughboys, Goo Goo Dolls, etc.

Fast forward to 1988 and Toad's Place in New Haven, which is where I saw the Doughboys opening up for The Godfathers. The Doughboys had already started their desperate grab for the brass ring by then; you can't get any less punk than being the support act for The Godfathers, other than being the pastry chef on a Ryan Adams tour or something.

That show remains one of the worst shows I've ever paid to see. The Godfathers completely sucked, rubbing salt into the wound with horribly misplaced cover of the Beastie Boys' "Fight For Your Right To Party", and the Doughboys were pretty weak as well. I only went that night because I had told one of my new-wave friends how great the opening band was going to be; by the end of the night I was shaking my head and saying "I can't believe I used to like these guys," like Otto in "Repo Man".

One of the annoying things about commercially-pressed LPs is that the last track on each side always sounds a little fuzzier than the others, just from the smaller physical space that the grooves are pressed into. Not every pressing is like that, but this one is, so "No Holiday (From Living)" and "I Don't Wanna Know" suffer a bit accordingly. All that aside, if you liked anthemic punk rock back in 1987 and hadn't already heard "Burning in Water" a year earlier (which sorta leaves me out), then you probably thought "Whatever" was pretty goddamn great.




Doughboys -

"The Forecast"

"You're Related"

"Tradition"

"Stranger From Within"

"I Don't Wanna Know"

"No Holiday (From Living)"

(these files are now listen-only)