Member Since: 5/12/2005
Band Website: http://www.docotunes.com
Band Members: Trevor Booth - guitar and vocals
Josh Booth - bass
Dave Burkart - drums
Sounds Like: Press
YES WEEKLY: Funkster's Doco Share Their Music And The Stage
By Ryan Snyder
The family tree of Josh and Trevor Booth is filled with artists of all breeds. Most recently, their father was a member of Backyard Tea, which found some regional success in the’60s and’70s. The lineage, however, began with a great, great, great uncle by the name of John Wilkes Booth who was an acclaimed actor in his time. Oh, and he also killed Abraham Lincoln. His resume, however, also boasted oil exploration alongside stage performance and political assassination, which brings us back to present day and its influence on his descendents. Dramatic Oil Company, or DO Co., was an ill-fated prospecting venture that the elder Booth dabbled in and the name lives on with the brothers’ Raleigh-via-Winston-Salem’s Doco (www. myspace.com/doco).
Their influences are both interesting and highly uncommon, particularly those of drummer Dave Burkart. You don’t often hear underground producer and bassist Bill Laswell bandied about as a major stylistic influence, though those with their ears to the ground should eventually come across the venerable world-music guru. The signature funk and go-go rhythms of drummer Bryan Mantia, a frequent Laswell collaborator, are also dotted all throughout Doco’s music. Even Laswell’s own deeply subsonic bass tunings seem to have crept their way into Josh Booth’s playing, though he also looks to hip hop for his influence.
Burkart refers to their style as “funk gone bad†with layers of punk and metal, but let’s just get the Sublime comparison out of the way right now. You almost can’t help but think of them upon first listen to Doco. From the dub-heavy drum and bass right down to singer/ guitarist Trevor’s own voice, Doco bears plenty of resemblance to the punk-funk pioneers. But put both under the microscope and you’ll see that Sublime’s punk-leanings aren’t so evident in Doco. Rather, the latter owes a debt to the avant-garde funk scene that has proliferated under bassist Les Claypool’s many projects since the mid-’90s. They have the kind of groove that is just a little weird — not Claypool-weird, mind you — but just enough out of the ordinary to ensure that you may not ever hear it in the clubs or on mainstream radio. But then again, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s something sublimely reassuring to have tastes that aren’t embraced by the unwashed masses and then share them with a small contingent of like-minded people.
KIRKSVILLE SOCIALITE: Doco In Kirksville
by Casey
Doco (Dramatic Oil Company), a band from North Carolina, played a house party here in Kirksville last night as part of their Science of Funk 2009 tour and pretty much grooved the place into oblivion. (An attendee was grabbing onto the basement ceiling pipes and doing something he called the “horizontal stripper pole.†I’ll let your imagination take over.) I had gotten a tip from a friend that there was going to be a good show in town and that the band playing kind of sounded like Reel Big Fish. In all honesty, I was expecting a decent college jam band that sounded exactly like Reel Big Fish. Not so, happily.
There are some bands you see play and you know that they just get it: they get what a show is supposed to be, they get what music is supposed to sound like, how all the different elements that make a song work together within the span of a few minutes; they just get music. Doco’s in that camp. They’ve got a stage presenence that could teach a great number of bands out there a thing or two (makes me think of the The Black Keys) and a delivery M.O. that makes it easy–irresistible, even–to like them. My impression of their style was that it didn’t particularly fall into any genre; it was a blend of bluesy-reggae-rock, though I also picked up on some psychedelic and Mexi-border influences. I walked in just as bassist Josh Booth began laying down a heavy hand on “Dirty South,†a Hendrix-tinged bluesy groove that might have been my favorite of the night. His brother, guitarist and vocalist Trevor Booth, clearly has his wits about him when it comes to playing and singing; there was a lot of love coming from that guitar last night. Doco’s vocals are an asset, too: a lot of times the vocal stylings of the lead singer don’t match the attitude or sound of a band’s music, but Trevor’s works quite well. Their drummer, Dave Burkart, successfully works the drums into becoming more than a mere background or stabilizing element; it should be noted that he had a fantastic solo last night during one of their songs.
Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me, so I didn’t get any good pictures of them playing. You can check out their MySpace Their album, The Potato Gun Massacre, is available for free download here, and you can purchase their latest album, The Fossil Record, and listen to some of their new stuff by visitng their MySpace page (I say make it on your list of websites to surf while avoiding homework today).
THE TECHNICIAN: Dramatic Oil Company Focuses On Originality
by Dan Porter
Many bands these days have a niche that they seek to fill or be placed into. They modify their music, looks and lives to portray a certain image that their target audience is looking for. While the music they play may be catchy or relatively "original," the tragedy here is the death of originality. There's something to be said for standing on the shoulders of giants to be sure. However, simply putting a fresh coat of paint on "Guernica" by Picasso wouldn't be considered art, so why does it fly in the music industry?
In 2005, Dramatic Oil Company, or Doco for short, formed with the express purpose of avoiding the aforementioned scenario. The band consists of three friends from Winston-Salem: Josh and Trevor Booth and Dave Burkart. Dave and Trevor played together in Bigger Than You and brought in Josh to play bass. Originally, while Josh was at Columbia University in New York, he would come back to play with the band on breaks. Josh eventually left Columbia and the band decided to take their music more seriously, deciding upon a name change.
The name of the band is an allusion to Josh and Trevor's ancestor, John Wilkes Booth, the now infamous assassin of Abraham Lincoln. The association has nothing to do with John Wilkes' politics or beliefs, but rather it is used to show the fickle nature of fate.
John Wilkes was originally a successful actor known in the South for interpreting Shakespearean villains. The Dramatic Oil Co. was a failed oil venture in Pennsylvania headed by the actor, which failed due to an inexperienced prospector who supposedly knew how to "open" oil wells. The result of this hire was a collapsed well (due to misused dynamite) and complete loss of John Wilkes' investment.
When asked about the meaning of the name, Josh said, "It is interesting to see in history who wins, who loses and where they would be if things had turned out differently."
Truly, it is an interesting thought, especially considering if the well had been a success, the actor would have ended up with an oil fortune to supplement his acting career.
The trio got into music to make their own individual mark on music. As Josh said, "We got into Rock & Roll because it's fun to stick your middle finger up at authority."
The band has played in Raleigh and the surrounding areas at places like The Brewery, The Pour House, Lincoln Theatre and Cat's Cradle. Dave, a 2007 alumni, also mentioned that the band enjoys playing at Farmhouse Pizza since "[Farmhouse] has kind of a close-knit group of people that hang out down there."
The band's style changes from song to song and can be anywhere from reggae to hip hop to rock.
"It's gotten a lot more hip hop and less reggae," Trevor said. "[We] find a good beat and write a song over it."
Dave also added, "When we try to come up with a song, what I'm into at the time influences the song. We try to make it pretty diverse."
Dave, Josh and Trevor have always sought to invent their own style of music, but originally played a lot of covers at their shows.
"We started out playing a lot of covers," Josh said. "Our sound kind of showed that, and we started getting offers to play specifically cover shows."
When the cover offers started coming in, the band reacted against the offers because they wanted to play their own music.
"We always try to make it something different," Dave said. "I've embraced the strange because it's a good way to spawn originality."
Josh agreed and said, "Reaction against convention is what we play for."
"There's a graveyard of songs that we've recorded that don't really sound like Doco,"Josh said.
On The Fossil Record, the band added a voicemail titled "Rock N Roll Eulogy" to emphasize their efforts at originality.
"That's what we are trying to do; take Rock & Roll in a new direction," Josh said. "People don't necessarily like that. They want to hear what they know."
One thing that the band emphasized was that they are a live band. To get the true Doco experience, listeners need to be at their shows.
"Raleigh has a fantastic live music scene and everyone should get involved in that," Josh said. "Live music is the solution to the isolation caused by technology. You have to bump into sweaty people at shows, show everyone that you got your hand stamped. You only have one life, why not do something with it."
Dave also added, "Everyone is more than welcome to join the Doco party."
The band's new album, The Fossil Record, is their first studio CD and is available at local CD stores and on Itunes. It is a great addition to anyone's music library who enjoys a fresh look at rock, reggae and hip hop. Also, 96 Rock has recently added some of their songs to their local playlist and 88.1 WKNC has the album in archives for any fans that want to request a song.
On Dec. 11, the doors will open at 8 p.m. at The Pour House Music Hall, hosting Doco with Groove Stain. For fans of their music, this will be a must-see show as The Pour House is the band's favorite local venue.
Until then, do yourself a favor and check out The Fossil Record and get ready for the show.
Record Label: none
Type of Label: Unsigned