INTERVIEW: Takin' It To The Beach With Doobie Brothers' Patrick Simmons
By Casey Moffitt in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 20, 2014 9:05PM
photo courtesy of the Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers will play Montrose Beach Saturday night. We caught up with founding member, guitarist, singer and songwriter Patrick Simmons earlier this afternoon to discuss the tour, the band's mark on American culture and what's next for the act.
Simmons said the Doobie Brothers will be performing about 80 shows this year all over the globe.
"Normally we do about 100," he said. "We're cutting back a little bit to spend some time with our families and such. We've been doing this a long time, so we just think we deserve a few weeks off here and there."
Although the band has been writing, recording and touring regularly since 1970, Simmons said it's still exciting to hit the road and perform live.
"I think we enjoy doing it and playing," he said. "We've got a good core audience and it's kind of maintenance thing, too. We want to stay connected to our audience. This is something that we all dreamed about when we were younger - to be able to go out on the road and play every night - and we don't take it for granted."
The Doobies still can draw audiences from around the world. They recently returned from a tour through Australia and New Zealand, which they visit regularly. Simmons said the band is also popular in Japan and will tour occasionally in Europe. Simmons said the band even had the chance to tour places like Russia and China, which he never thought would be possible when the band first got together.
"People in those places are somewhat familiar with the music," he said. "We rock pretty hard, so people can get into it even if they don't know the songs. But even if they don't know them, a lot of them say, 'Oh, I think I've heard this somewhere before.'"
The Doobie Brothers' music can be heard just about everywhere - on the radio, in a grocery store, at a sporting event. Simmons said he still gets a kick out of hearing his music being played wherever he is.
"It's always cool to hear your music on the radio. It's a big deal," he said. "There's so much work that goes into it before that happens. When you're writing a song it takes weeks, months to get it together to the point where you're ready to record it. Then there's the technical aspects of getting the song put together in the studio. Then you have wait for it to get to format, whether it's a CD, or a download, or back in the day on vinyl. It takes months and months and years and years to get it to the point where it's ready for the radio and when you hear it, it's like you can breathe at that point."
Recently, the Doobie Brothers were invited to play at the Grand Ole Opry, a venue to which he was introduced as a youngster by his grandfather.
"I remember sitting in his house, listening to his wooden radio and he said, 'This is what real music sounds like,'" he recalled. "Of course the first thing I heard was 'Hooow-dy!,' you know, Minnie Pearl doing her thing. It kind of freaked me out because I was so young."
"Later when I got my first guitar, I took it to my grandfather's house, and he pulled out his old fiddle. I had no idea he even played," Simmons continued. "We started jamming on some country chords, and that's kind of my introduction to music. I've been blessed to have the support of family members who reinforced everything I've felt about music. That it is worth putting your efforts into it."
The Doobie Brothers are coming back to some of those country roots with their upcoming album. The band collaborated with a number of country stars to record new versions of old Doobie Brothers hits. Artists like Blake Shelton, Vince Gill, The Zac Brown Band and many others.
"It didn't take us a long time to do it," Simmons explained. "It was really enjoyable to do it. It's got great energy and the tracks are a little different than what people are used to, but I don't think we over-countrified it."
It also reunites the band with Michael McDonald.
"Michael and I are still very close friends and we've continued to do some work together," Simmons said. "It was really cool to bring him in and work on this project."
During this leg of the tour the Doobie Brothers share the bill with another powerhouse rock act who hit it big in the 1970s—Boston. Simmons said it's been a lot of fun touring with that act.
"I'm a fan, too, and I think it's a great pairing," he said. "It's a real treat to be able to sit back and listen to another great band every night. A lot of the times we're just touring by ourselves so it's really great to be able to do that."
"(Boston bandleader and founder)Tom Scholz is a great innovator, both from a technological standpoint and in his style of playing," Simmons said. "I own an original Rockman amp. It's great. I don't think I've used it in the studio, but I have one."
Simmons said people coming to hang out on the beach and hear some Doobie Brothers tunes should have a good time Saturday night.
"We've cut a few songs, just because we're playing with Boston," he said. "But we've got songs ready from all the different eras of the band. We've got a strong band with a lot of great players. It's going to be high energy and a rocking show."
The Doobie Brothers will be performing at 6:30 p.m. Saturday June 21 with Boston. $37.28 - $106.50.