Way Cool Music - Musician Interviews

Brian McDonald

When you imagine a successful career in music, you might envision being on a reunion tour of one of your favorite bands, or perhaps getting to meet your music idol, or maybe even opening for a legend like Elvis Costello. But you've got to be one lucky guy to experience all of those events. Bass player, Brian McDonald definitely has had luck on his side in the past few years. During a recent conversation, Brian talked to Way Cool Music about supporting Toad the Wet Sprocket in their 2003 reunion tour, meeting Brian Wilson, and the afternoon he opened for Elvis Costello at one festival, and then traveled to Summerfest in Milwaukee to open for The Wallflowers that same night. He is the luckiest guy I know.

WC:

Tell us a little bit about your background.

Brian
McDonald:

I grew up in a little town called Huntley, IL that is now being rapidly swallowed up by suburbia. It's a little farm town. I guess my first musical thing was high school chorus. It was a small school, so my music teacher from the third grade was my teacher up through high school chorus. The cool thing about her was that she'd teach us classical stuff like Bach and Mozart and all those choral pieces, and at the same time she'd also teach us the Beach Boys. That was kick ass for me because I was introduced to them by learning to sing them. So, when I really got into them and the production values, I could sing all the different parts to 'Surfer Girl.' I had that in my back pocket, which was great. So, I learned harmony from her and my mom, who was in the church choir. She would always be singing along to the harmony part and I would say, "Sing the melody!" So, I got sucked in that way.

A few of my friends in 7th and 8th grade bought electric guitars and it seemed like a few older classmen had them as well. It was great. And, they all needed a bass player. I had taken guitar lessons through the park district and learned basic chords, and my mom taught me the basic chords too. I could kinda fake it by ear and have been doing that ever since. You can't call me a real musician. I'm not going to play that! I had some great influences growing up. Out in farm-ville, it really is just Judas Priest and Def Leppard and all that crap. I didn't really get into good music on a regular basis until college. I was lucky to be introduced to The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, and The Doobie Brothers through my parents. When I was in college, Nirvana hit and the whole world changed. That's when I was really like, "Oh! I could do that!" Then, we started Shimmer (Pat Donahoe, Chris Gilmartin, Brian McDonald, and Aaron Modica) in college, freshman year, and we were at that for ten and a half years. We busted our asses and put together a couple of records and played everywhere we could to five or fifty people. It was awesome. I remember when we played Metro (popular venue in Chicago) for the first time, it was actually an Aware Records showcase, and to me, that was IT! I made it! Anything from there on was kinda gravy. And I've had a lot of gravy.

WC:

How many years after playing for five people did the Aware Metro show come about?

BM:

Six or seven maybe. But, we were fortunate enough that our drummer was in a fraternity, so we could drag those guys out. And it doesn't really matter how good you are, it matters how much beer they sell. That's the key. If you have a shitload of friends, you can be in a band. You can tell the ones that just have friends and the ones who pay attention to what they're doing. But I'd like to think we did both. We got a lot of use out of those people who were loyal to us and to what we were doing. We started out as a cover band and grew into what we were. Chris really emerged as a great songwriter and Pat's a great musician, just a pure, cerebral musician who knew exactly what he wanted from his guitar and how he wanted his band to sound. It was a great combination.

WC:

Were any of you studying music formally in college or did you just get together and think that it was fun?

BM:

Pat was a Jimmy Page fan, so that's where he studied. He studied Led Zeppelin records. Chris was originally the keyboard player and back-up singer. Aaron just liked to beat on drums and I could just kinda fake my way by ear. We never studied officially.

		WC:	Was bass the only instrument you were playing at that point?

		BM:	Yeah. I think I played guitar on one song at that point, but I was the bass player in Shimmer.

		WC:	What do you think some of your strengths and weaknesses are as a musician?

		BM:	I can't read charts, so that automatically takes me out of a lot of studio work. On the other hand, I know what sounds good. And I know my way around my gear. I don't have the theory background that sometimes I wish I had. But, a lot of people that are very entrenched in the theory background, some of them tell me it's a good thing that I don't have that hanging me up. I'm not going to the fifth when I'm supposed to, or I'm not doing those things that you might be taught to do. Maybe that's a good thing.

WC:

You've been in a number of different bands including Shimmer, Starch Martins, and Alice (Peacock). Describe the differences between those band experiences.

BM:

Well, they've all been great. I've never had a bad band experience. Shimmer was cool because there really were no rules. We could be a rock band or a pop band. Or we could be acoustic singer/songwriter or we would jam when we wanted to. And, we all had a vested stake in it. We all formed the band and when we put songs together, Chris would come with an idea, and Pat would dress it up, and we would all really collaborate. As your first band, you have amazing experiences with that. Any time you do something for the first time, you learn everything the hard way, and we learned everything the hard way. I think our first album cost $15,000 or something like that. We had to play gigs just to pay that back. It took us a good 3 or 10 years to pay that back. But, when we were recording it, we didn't want the snare coming through the tom mic. Looking back on it, what the fuck were we thinking? But, we were making our masterpiece and there are a lot of great memories around that. We thought that once we made the record, we'd be the biggest thing in the world.

Then we came to Chicago and things started to pick up a little. And then we just got shunned a little bit and jaded. When Aaron left, that was kinda my out. As it turns out, Chris is writing great stuff on his own; Pat is in the middle of a bidding war and will probably get signed with his band (www.redshirtmusic.com) soon; and Aaron owns his own business. So it all works out in the end. We all are very close still and chat when we can.

WC:

How many first bands, though, stay together?

BM:

Well, there are a few that have become successful. I think the testament to Shimmer is that we stayed together and we weren't successful. We stayed together and believed in what we were doing. We stuck to it because we really, really believed in what we were creating.

When I left Shimmer, I wanted to take a break and just not be in a band for a while. Then, I met Dick (Prall). I met him at some party and he had already finished tracking the bass lines for the (Starch Martins) album. Of course I met him the day after he finished! I was able to watch the record get the finishing touches on it. I was able to sit in the control room and have everything drilled into my head, so that by the time rehearsals came around, I was pretty versed in it and I was able to pull it off. Once again, I faked my way through it.

Ed (Breckenfeld) was there (on drums) and that's when I realized that there's a difference between professional musicians and guys that play. And Ed is a pro. We had a great time as the Starchies.

After awhile, though, Dick wanted to be on the road, which was great. But, you can only do that for so long without help and it got to be really hard. I was just burned out. So, what happened was that I started to get a little more into the recording stuff and heard this guy who lived below me, writing these songs I could hear through the floor vents, and sometimes he would sing me to sleep. Sometimes, I would think, "Oh! Go to a different change! You should really do..." So, that's how I met Cameron (McGill). He was my downstairs neighbor and I started recording with Cameron as a demo thing. We were going to make a little acoustic record and that kind of morphed into this production that was his record.

WC:

What was your role on Cameron's record?

BM:

At first, I was just recording. I was just the engineer guy. If I heard something, I would throw it out there and he would come in and hear it and like it or not. We didn't really discuss if I was going to be the producer or multi-instrumentalist or what. I had all of Paul Stebner's (Starch Martins) gear in my apartment and all of my gear and a shitload of different instruments. So I tried to use them in a way that was creative. And that was cool because I didn't play bass on that record. I like stepping out of that a little bit. And Cameron has this great thing going on. He's an amazing live performer first off and he's got a great voice, so it was a no-brainer for me.

As the record was kind of getting to a critical phase, I heard a rumor that Alice (Peacock) was looking for someone. I hadn't heard of her, but a friend of a friend told a friend of a friend and I just followed up on it. I was in a job that I hated, in a cube, like 'Office Space.' Yeah. I was hating life and then the Alice gig showed up out of the blue. At that point, she had already gotten signed and they wanted to get her out on the road, so she was looking to put something together right away. I was lucky enough to get in at the right time. That was cool.

I had never been in a band with a girl, so it was a whole new thing. My experience with Alice has been nothing but great. Once again, I had stumbled my way into a lucky position. I was the first band guy hired and then we did auditions for drummers and guitar players. We came up with Nick (Kitsos) and Danny (Howes). Nick was with us through the first Mellencamp tour, he was the drummer, and toured the majority of the Toad tour.

The whole Alice experience was amazing! We worked that record and now we have some down time and I'm back playing with Dick. And that's great because Dick is kind of like a good home base for me. If you like the Beatles and the Pixies, you like Dick. It doesn't take much to get it because the songwriting is so accessible and so easy to like. His melodies are great. He's one of the best writers out there, I think. He's miles beyond what you hear on the radio.

WC:

How did being in Shimmer and Starch Martins and playing with Cameron prepare you for being a touring musician and being on the road for such a long time?

BM:

First, I should say that Alice was on the road for a couple of years before I even joined her band. I'm still decompressing, but I'm glad to hear she's gardening and involved with other things in between records. She toured her brains out!

Nothing really prepared me for the arena thing. That's just a head-game and it fucks with your ego a little bit too. You've got to go on stage not paying attention to the people you're playing for because you've got to be on. Your head has to be totally on stage. But, when the lights go down and 50,000 people start screaming, then you've got to start thinking, "OK, do I deserve to be here?" even if you don't and even if it's just the music gods giving you a gift. That was just an situation where I had to block out the people and play to the band.

The rest of the shows were clubs and theaters. I had done that with Dick and Shimmer. But nothing really prepares you for what weird things happen during shows, like if you guitar goes out in front of 1,000 people or whatever. You just have wing that. You just do your best.

WC:

Tell us about playing in the Philippines.

BM:

That was a trip, man! Sony Philippines had been working 'Bliss,' and low and behold, it went to number one and they wanted us over there. So, when we got there, it was just gigs in Manila and it was lots of radio. We'd do six or seven performances a day. We'd be up at 7:00 or 8:00 and we'd go from radio station to radio station playing on the air. We did about three or four TV performances and four or five gigs. They worked us! It wasn't a vacation. It wasn't like I could see scenic Manila.

Manila is a wild place because you'll see these shopping malls that are monstrous and endless. It's a very consumer-y place. And, you'll see a guy outside with an Uzi guarding the place and then you'll go down the road and, if you look the right way, you'll see chickens and naked babies in the road. You get the third-world aspect and then the Americanized-consumerized-imported feel as well. The day before we left, the air traffic control tower got taken by terrorists and they all got shot and killed. They just mopped up the blood and planes took off again. It's a different world.

I had never been out of the country before, so it was very eye opening. I look forward to going to London or somewhere like that. It was intense, but it was very educational and great.

WC:

How long were you there?

BM:

A week or ten days. I think it was a week. It was just Manila. I hear that the country is a lot like Hawaii, but unfortunately, we didn't get to see any of that. I've never been to Hawaii, but we had to stop there to fuel up, so I saw Hawaii from the tarmac. I hear it's gorgeous.

WC:

Of all the tours you've gone on, what's the most exciting tour you've been on?

BM:

The Toad (the Wet Sprocket) tour was great. And, in the middle of that tour were four or five dates with Aimee Mann. I had a picture of Toad when I saw them when I was working concert productions in college. I was a runner and that basically entailed getting them what they wanted. We really just played volleyball backstage. I got a picture of me with the Toad guys. I was a huge fan and to play on their reunion tour... What are the odds of that happening to someone who just digs that band? Once again, I'm the luckiest guy I know.

And the Aimee Mann thing, I've always been enamored with her and her band was just great. She was great, too. This was right after 'Lost in Space.' What a band, what a treat to get to watch them every night. And the same for the Toad guys. It was just an education.

WC:

We've heard the stories about how crazy life on the road can be: the sex, the drugs, the rock and roll. What's the reality of life on the road?

BM:

I was the only single guy in the band and Alice's husband was the tour manager. So, it wasn't like we were Motley Crue. I wasn't shooting up heroin in the bus or levitating out of my body, but I had my moments. We were busy. What a lot of people don't realize is that... they think, "Oh, you must get a lot of chicks," but you get there three hours before you start, you sound check, you go to your dressing room, you change, you hit the stage, then you load out, then you either have to hit the road or get to the hotel. It never really works out to get the chicks. It's not like I can snap my fingers and a bunch of roadies are going to take care of my shit so I can go out and score. That wasn't the tour I was on. I was on the tour where you were inside a trailer trying to figure out how the piano was going to fit next to the bass rig. But, we had our time off and we had our fun. There are habits that are easy to pick up if you want to. And I'll just leave it at that.

WC:

What has been your biggest rock star moment?

BM:

There are too many of them. Too many of them for someone who's not famous.

WC:

Just pick one to tell us about.

BM:

One of my biggest rock star moments, I wasn't even playing. Alice's tour manager at the time used to tour manage Brian Wilson, so he took me to see Brian Wilson at the House of Blues. He introduced me to the band and then introduced me to Brian Wilson. So, I got to shake Brian Wilson's hand. He has like ten people in his band, so there were a lot of people in the dressing room and lots of chatter and talking. So, he ducked out and I think he was trying to get into his own pre-show mode. I actually didn't want to disturb anyone, so I went out, trying to figure out where my seat was. I walked out of the dressing room and there was Brian Wilson at the stairwell. And backstage at the House of Blues isn't the easiest to figure out. He asked me, "Do you know where the stage is?" And I said, "Yes, yes, I do." So, I got to walk Brian Wilson to the stage and watch the first half of the show from the wings and the second half of the show from the WXRT orchestra box. I got to meet Brian Wilson. To me, that's it. Who gets to do this shit? I've been really fortunate.

I met Elvis Costello right before he stepped out in front of thousands of people in Grant Park. I saw The Replacements on that stage for their last gig years before. I played that gig.

And the first arena show was a trip. The lights go down and the people start to cheer. OK, the people are cheering because the lights went down, but in my mind, I'm the biggest rock star in the world and I'm thinking to myself, "Oh shit! I better not fuck up!"

Meeting the Toad guys was great. The Aimee Mann thing was great. Playing in front of the Jayhawks in Minneapolis was great. I have so many amazing stories that it's hard to process it all. I can't look at my CD collection the same. Some of those CDs, I have intimate knowledge of that I never had before. As a fan, who gets that? I'm just a lucky fan in the first place. It's not like I went and took bass lessons and studied my ass off and turned out to be Mr. Bass Player. I've been playing by ear since I started and I'm just lucky enough to be offered the opportunity with Alice to be a part of these things.

And there have been great moments with Dick, too. We played at the Slow Bar in Nashville in front of the Pernice Brothers, who I was a huge fan of. That was a great rock star moment.

It's all relative to what you're used to. After a while, it's real easy to get used to the great gigs. That day we played with Elvis Costello, we had to leave towards the last few songs of Elvis's set because we had to go up to Milwaukee and play at Summerfest opening for The Wallflowers. Who has that day? "What are you doing today?" "Oh, I'm opening for Elvis Costello, but I can't hang because then I'm opening for the Wallflowers in Milwaukee."

WC:

But, some people expect days like that. You still have the attitude that it's all gravy.

BM:

Because it is all gravy. It could end today and I'd be happy with what I've done and what I've experienced. Who gets to say that? Like I said, I'm the luckiest guy I know. It's a weird feeling. When I say that I'm still decompressing from it, it's because of shit like that. When I think back to what I was doing last year at this time, it's bizarre. Now I'm starting to live a normal life. I have a day job and I play with Dick on the weekend. That's what bands do. That's what good bands do. Most bands that are better than the bands you hear about do that. This is where I'm supposed to be right now, and for me to have gotten that opportunity was incredible.