Back in 2021 I took trip to Puerto Rico. I hung out with my buddy and long time collaborator Ian Cahill. His buddy Data texted him this beat, I sang over it, and Ian tied it together. Not a bad souvenir!
The Hermitage Hotel: 5 Star Top Shelf Bartending
One of the most difficult jobs I ever had was as a top shelf bartender at the Oak Bar in the Hermitage Hotel. I had experience prior as a beer and pizza guy as well as Mexican service. As a musician I’ve always worked in the service industry to fill the days with steady work. When I got the job this was a big opportunity for me. It was high volume and fast paced. I would serve at the bar and do tables during the day. It was the most money I had ever seen. My mentors were fiercely disciplined. I was under constant scrutiny. When my shift was over I would go home to study drinks for hours. I remember the lead nighttime bartender saying “ I want you to conquer this bar. If you can do this bar you can do any bar”. It was 5 star service all the time. I studied, practiced, was humiliated, and swallowed my pride every table I served. When I screwed up the crew would let me know. When my team was upset my nerves would get worse. Until, one day I got hard. My memory got better. My skin got thicker. My eyes got darker. Sure I made mistakes, but I got better. One day my manager called me into his office. I thought he was going to chew me up. He handed me an invitation to pick up this piece of paper. Sometimes you think you’re drowning, but hey, that’s the job!
Justin Conn and I were playing around in the studio. We were getting drum sounds. He pulls out the guitar to lay down this surf riff. We mapped it out. I played drums and produced it. Justin played guitar and bass. The music was tracked and I went downstairs to check something in my car. I hear this crazy voice coming from upstairs. Justin tracked the perfect vocal part for this Halloween track. Kudos!
I met Chuck at a Berklee meetup in Nashville. He was looking for someone to produce his songs. I told him I could. This was a song he wrote with a student called “Chicken Strips and Fries”. I dig it.
This is a song off the first record I ever produced called “It’s you”. It was written by Mark Wynegar and Dean Perry. Mark sang and played guitar on it. Dean played bass. I played Drums. Peter Rubbo engineered.
This was me at 21. It’s self explanatory. Give the Devil his due. God gave me a get out of jail free card.
I’m a white boy reggae rocker. My buddy Matt Simms helped to put this love song together. I played drums, bass, sang, and wrote the lyrics. Matt played some lovely guitar. We expressed love being a vine.
This was fun. Years ago I was experimenting with DJing my own music. I put together a mixtape of my own songs. This is where I started. It pairs well with a late night cruise in the car.
My day job is working at Trader Joe’s. My boss came up to me asking if I would perform for the 15th anniversary of the Green Hills/Nashville location. Hell ya. I wrote a collection of songs for Trader Joe’s. Miraculously the band made up of my coworkers fell right in line with the tunes. It left a cheeky smile on my face.
One day in my Junior year of High School History class, my teacher gave us 3 options on how we can submit our final grades:
1: Take a test
2: Write a paper
3: Re-Write a song with new lyrics about World War 2
I asked my teacher “ Hey!? Can we write our own song?” He replies “ Even better.” I think to myself “ This has got to be the easiest assignment ever. It’s almost too good to be true…” Then my teacher assigned us groups. He puts me with 3 shy girls and Derrick, who is flunking the class. I said to the team “ you guys sit back, look pretty, and act like you’re having a good time. I’m gonna sing this song and we’ll all pass this class. Derrick, just act like you love it!”
Presentation day comes. We are set to go last. The teacher says “Alright everyone! Here’s Doug Trasher’s group singing about World War 2!” All the pretty girls are there. The stoners, jocks, nerds, weirdos, geeks, popular kids, and seniors were there. We do our schtick. The shy girls bring some enthusiasm… Derrick acts like he’s having a good time… I sing the song… We stop…
Standing ovation! My teacher says “ That was the highlight of my teaching career!” The shy girls opened up, Derrick passed the class, and they had us back the next year. It was the easiest “A+” I’ve ever gotten! I’ve been doing it ever since.
I’ll see you out there,
-Douglas Alan Trasher
I was out at a party drinking beers. It was thanksgiving. We also had tequila. It was the first time somebody showed me the picture of an athletic African American man in the nude of which I thought was a corona virus warning. I was duped! A beautiful woman approached me and told me of her husband. “ You should play music with Justin!” A play date? Sounds jovial…
I went down stairs to familiarize my self with “Justin”. TJ, the host of the party, was downstairs with Justin. TJ said to me “ Hey Trasher! You should wrestle with Justin!” At this point I had plenty of courage so I said “ let’s WRASTLE!” Justin then grabbed my hands, bent my arms backwards, and continued to throttle me into the couch! TJ called the 5 second fight, “It’s over!”. I thought to myself “ Justin, a worthy man of respect! The play date is on!”
That play date turned into an idea. “What if we write a musical about Flat Earth?” Justin picked up his pen and guitar. I fired up the studio and lit a cigar. TJ put on his host hat. Jeremy gave us input. Aly chimed in from Los Angeles.
The result is the creative team of Lou Manati and the Chemtrails. We have been putting together a musical podcast series to follow Doug and The General to finally prove the earth is flat! This is a sneak peek at the Journey to come. Join us on our quest to prove the Earth is Flat! Hazzah!
I wrote these to be lyrics to a song I don’t want to finish.
Bob Freakin’ Barker, Spayed and Neutered/
When He’s Schoolin’ cats on games, Big wheel gets tutored/
Lovelies straight showin’ cost, White haired old man Playin’ boss/
I will bid one dollar on on a year supply of dental floss/
Slick man Slick man put that skinny mic up to your face/
I will be exactly right when I win the showcase/
I was on an internet rabbit hole chase for “Folk Music”. The reason was because I was trying to put myself in a marketing box for when people ask me “ What kind of music do you play?”. This is a tricky question because I’ve been doing music for 30 years now. I’ve done a lot! I write songs, sing, play guitar, play drums, and DJ.
How do I spit that out into one sentence? Usually the best thing to do is send people to my Spotify or website and decide for themselves. I thought the easiest answer was “ Folk” because I’m white, I wear a hat, I play acoustic guitars, so that’s enough. I looked up a wikipedia article to see if I was on the right track to label myself. I found a different story.
The article said that music can be broken down into 4 types: Tribal, Folk, Art, and Pop. Looking back at my career I’ve had involvement with all 4. They’ve worked with each other as a creative index fund. I’ve invested my time in all 4 of them to build my own portfolio.
My experience in drum circles has fulfilled my tribal investments. I played drums for West African lady killers in Massachusetts. There were trance sessions in fire drum circles at the backwoods summer solstice parties in Starks, Maine. There were polyamorist dance parties in the deep country mansions of Tennessee. I find when I need a kick to the system a tribal music music session is the remedy. All you need is your voice and something to bang on.
The world is full of folk music. Folk music is music passed aurally from generation to generation. It’s those Nashville pickers who slept in the clubs while their parents played a show. Now that kid is holding a residency at Robert’s Western World keeping the flame burning. It’s the open mic parking lot kids playing the spoons or screaming like Kurt Cobain for a crowd of 10. They smoke cigarettes and try to turn you into a communsist. It’s the dark lizard lounge spotlight showcasing a farm hand finger picking a Martin flat top singing a song about the rain in July. All of it is by the ear, feeling, and imagination. My contribution is Lyrics, Guitars, and Percussion. Folk is a way to inherit wisdom.
Art music is for those who study music through academics. I went to art school at Berklee College of Music. It’s where I trained my ears, eyes, and ascetics. We studied the measurements of Jazz, Pop, Classical, and World music. We took trips to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to study the masters. Art enriches me from every angle I invest my attention. I study art music because it cracks my brain open, then inspires me to compose, perform, and draw.
Finally there’s pop. Pop is the No Doubt concert I took my college girlfriend to. Pop is the music that keeps the writers churning on Music Row. It brings the group together to take shots at the Greenwich Village bar while the DJ cuts between Queen and Biggie Smalls. Pop is today. Pop is Nostalgia. Pop is the anticipation of tomorrow. My contribution is DJing. I do NHL, NFL,Parties, Broadway night clubs, Line Dancing, Events, and weddings. The pop stocks fluctuate, but it’s worth the risk.
All of these styles bleed into each other. House music is artistic, popular, tribal, and the word of the next show is passed around in the verbal folk style. Art rock is mixed into popular festivals like South By South West. Kids are taught aurally the Suzuki method then gradually crossfade into the art of reading and writing music. Those students may have a taste for jazz, dump loops into a sampler, rap, sing, send it to a DJ, the DJ mixes it at an Arab night club, and everyone busts out drums…. You see the vision? I have witnessed it. Come up with your own recipe for creativity.
Everyone goes through ups and downs in their music career. This is why I urge you to invest in the 4 kinds of music. Even If you’re doing them for free your soul will feel clean. Karma states: you must give to the things you believe in. Invest in yourself. Invest in music!
There’s an old cliché that writers/artists are afraid of a blank page. To me, as long as the pen is juicy I’m gonna hit that virgin territory. These were inspired while listening to a round table discussion on “Exodus” hosted by Jordan Peterson. Each page shows the rigidity of my stroke with the flow that wants to come out. While I listen to my thoughts answers come to me about artistic related strategies.
Examples: (thought) “This could be more smooth…” (answer) “ You’re only on page 24 with a book of 124 pages. the lines are moving like lava. Think where you’ll be on page 62…” thus I don’t get frustrated, fear the page, and stay consistently motivated.
(thought) “ Nobody is going to look at these. What’s the use?” (answer) “ You don’t even have to look at them! you can just fill up the page, then get on with life!” Thus I don’t get too narcissistic, I have something I’m going to look at later, and I can be buddhist about it by detaching myself.
I have come to accept that my hands will flow when the time comes for a creative volcano. While I wait for that I turn to the next page. Simple.
DT
