Mike Doughty with Sons of Hippies at First Avenue 10/25/13

Tour Dates

Friday night Mike Doughty gave an ecstatic sold-out First Avenue crowd what they’ve been craving for so many years. The singer/songwriter is currently in the midst of a nationwide tour revolving around the re-imagining of songs he wrote with his former avant-garde 90s band Soul Coughing and he’s not beating around the bush about it: the trek is billed the “Mike Doughty used to be in Soul Coughing” tour. As someone who grew up with Soul Coughing (I bought El Oso with my Christmas money when I was 14 years old and kind of worked my way back with their catalogue) and who has followed Mike Doughty’s successful transition from weird rocker to reformed junkie to acoustic-oriented songsmith, I was eager to experience this part of Doughty’s musical history.

 

Florida-based psych-metal band Sons of Hippies opened the show with a surprisingly awesome blast to the senses. Think Hawkwind, early Deep Purple, the sweet rumblings of late 60s/early 70s hard rock. Now, throw in some space-rock compositions over crazy time signatures and a lead singer whose theatrical pipes are the love child of Siouxsie Sioux, Missing Persons vocalist Dale Bozzio and a little Axel Rose. Sons of Hippies are probably the coolest, loudest thing from Florida since Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids wreaked havoc in Ft. Lauderdale all those years ago.

Doughty took to the stage a short time later to spaghetti-western style intro music with his bandmates drummer Pete Wilhoit and bassist Catherine Popper (who played upright bass!!) Overall, the setlist favored songs from Soul Coughing’s first two records, 1994’s Ruby Vroom and 1996’s Irresistible Bliss to the delight of hardcore fans who were joyfully singing along. Under the streams of blue stage lights, Doughty played those terse opening guitar chords to “Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago” and in his fantastic trademark drone sang, “A man drives a plane into the Chrysler Building.” Following that was the ultra-cool “Sugar Free Jazz” where Wilhoit really shined with his tight and precise drumming. When the loop to Raymond Scott’s sinister cartoon-y “Powerhouse” signaled the beginning of “Bus to Beelzebub,” the place went bonkers. It’s hard to resist the hook: “Get on to the bus that’s going to take you back to Beelzebub!”

After the great, uptempo b-side “Unmarked Helicopters,” that saw Popper rocking a moog bass, Doughty’s bandmates slipped off the stage. Armed with a sampler and a pair of turntables, Doughty sang a few tracks from Ruby Vroom like “Uh, Zoom Zip,” and “Mr. Bitterness.” Fan favorite “Screenwriter’s Blues,” a stream-of-conscious radio dialogue where Doughty assumes the role of disc jockey overseeing a surreal LA drive-time commute, deviated slightly from its original sound; Doughty traded in the sampled horns and piano for a starry, dance-y drum loop.

Despite a really enjoyable first half, the last four songs were what I was looking forward to the most. El Oso is my favorite Soul Coughing record so hearing “Monster Man” and “So Far I Have Not Found the Science” (which detoured into “Moon Sammy”) were quite exciting. My only complaint (and it isn’t even a complaint!) was the direction Doughty took with “St. Louise is Listening.” On the album, the song has a moody, echo-y atmosphere that crescendos with Doughty passionately singing, “I could be your baby doll/I could be your doll, baby.” The live interpretation lacked some of that erratic intensity. That said, being able to hear this song as well as the sublime “True Dreams of Wichita” (another one close to my heart) was thrilling.

Doughty kept the chatter to a minimum, but was in fine spirits; he chuckled at a small mosh pit that had developed at random points in the night and handled a heckler calling out for Doughty solo tunes with good humor (“I just can’t please you guys!”) Clearly, he was enjoying himself.
To the cynical, this tour could be misconstrued as a simple money-grab, a ploy to cash in on nostalgia. But to Doughty, like the writing of his 2012 memoir The Book of Drugs, it’s therapy. This is how he’s making peace with his Soul Coughing past and I, along with that sold out crowd, was glad to be a part of it.