Rabid In The Kennel Artists
Doug Gillard
Now mostly solo, Gillard, guitarist and contributor with Guided By Voices, Death of Samantha, Cobra Verde and Gem (and touring/studio guitarist with Richard Buckner), was born in Sandusky, Ohio, and spent most of his years in Cleveland, Ohio. He has recorded and released songs under his own name, including the EP Malamute Jute, the LP Salamander (Pink Frost), and his latest, Call From Restricted (347 Records).
Death Of Samantha was an underground rock/punk/psych band that came to prominence in the mid-80s, and had 3 LPs on the seminal Homestead Records, plus many compilation tracks and singles. DoS included John Petkovic, Steve O, Dave Swanson, Dave James and Marky Ray.
Gem formed in 1992, with Doug and Tim Tobias as principal songwriters, original lineup being TT and DG-guitars, vox, Chris Burgess-bass, Scott Pickering-drums. In 1995, Gem released the full-length, Hexed (Restless records). The band was also featured on 3 CLE magazine CDs, (including the original version of the song “I am a Tree”) released a few 7“s, one EP (I Am A Tree EP [Scat]), plus the 2001 full length Sunglare Serenades (Pitch-a-Tent). Other band members included Jeff Curtis, George Collins, the longest lineup featuring Eric Vogt on drums and Todd Tobias, bass.
Cobra Verde was formed in the early 90’s by John Petkovic, Gillard, and Dave Swanson. Don Depew soon joined as bassist and studio recordist. Doug played and co-wrote on Viva La Muerte (Scat), Vintage Crime (Scat) Egomania (Scat) and Nightlife (Motel), departing in 1998.
Doug’s tenure in Guided By Voices, 1996-2005, encompassed 6 official LPs, many singles, EPs, also providing the music for 2 related LPs: Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Dept. (Fading Captain Series) (under the name “Robert Pollard With Doug Gillard”) and the Lifeguards LP, Mist King Urth (FCS). Doug entirely composed the music for 4 songs on Speak Kindly (including the song “Pop Zeus”), and all the music on the Lifeguards LP. The song “I Am A Tree” from the LP Mag Earwhig! was written by Doug and recorded by Gem in 1993. (The ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy named an episode for the song early in its 2006-7 season.) “Avalanche Aminos” was co-written by Doug and Bob for the LP Do The Collapse, but ended up on the Hold On Hope EP. (Pollard-lyrics, Gillard-music).
During these years, GbV released 6 LPs, many singles, appeared on TV shows (Conan O’Brien, Late Show with Craig Kilborn, others), and embarked on many tours, taking bands such as My Morning Jacket and The Strokes on their first nationwide club tours. (GbV appears in the Strokes music video for “Someday”). Gillard was in Guided By Voices for over 8 years until the band’s breakup in 2005.
Since 2002, DG has been composing film scores and soundtrack music, most recently for the controversial feature length documentary “American Cannibal: The Road to Reality” (Acme Pictures), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Another feature length, “Donnybrook,” premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival in 2006, and the short “Creative Process 473” has enjoyed worldwide festival play since 2003. Doug was granted permission by the Gershwin estate to submit a version of a George and Ira song (“A Foggy Day”) for their 2004 Gershwin film contest at the Vail Film Festival. The film “Blackout” (n7 Productions) was set to that version, taking second place at the fest.
