Brian Doherty (drummer)
Encyclopedia
Brian Doherty is best known as a drummer for groups like They Might Be Giants
, XTC
, Freedy Johnston
, and Ben Folds
, as well as television and movie soundtracks.
Born in Brooklyn
, Doherty began playing drums at the age of seven. Growing up in Randolph, New Jersey, he cut his teeth playing in high school marching band, percussion ensemble, and in garage rock bands. He attended the Manhattan School of Music
where he studied with Paul Price and Fred Hinger, and earned a Master of Music degree. Brian pursued the trap set as he then began touring with Jonathan Butler
and jazz pioneers like Noel Pointer
and Lonnie Liston Smith
. A master of several genres, Doherty joined RCA Records
' The Silos. The band was a critic favorite and earned the title of Best Band in America (Rolling Stone
magazine). Brian spent the next few years as a session drummer, recording with Freedy Johnston and working with Ben Folds, while joining the faculty at NYC’s Drummers Collective, where he remained for the next thirteen years. In the early 90s, Brian was recruited by They Might Be Giants, replacing their drum machine. For three years they recorded several albums, co-wrote songs, and relentlessly toured the world. After leaving They Might Be Giants, Doherty went on to work with M2M
, Frank Black
, Twyla Tharp
, XTC
, Madderose, Simone Hardy, Chip Taylor
, John Linnell
, Mono Puff
, John Platania
, Sol Seppy
, Guy Davis
, The Last Men, Vaneese Thomas, Gary Lucas
, Haruko Nara and Jon Langford
of The Mekons. In addition to the good gigs, there were endless auditions and close calls with R.E.M.
, Ani DiFranco
, The B-52s, The The
and Joe Jackson
. Doherty also produced several recordings including Ms. Lum’s Airport Love Song, which Billboard
Magazine described as “exsquisitely wrought.”
In 2000, Brian went back to graduate school and became a New York City school teacher as part of the New York City Teaching Fellows program. Currently, Doherty is a music teacher in the West Farms neighborhood of The Bronx. He remains professionally active playing recording sessions, private events and Broadway
shows. He’s worked on the Broadway productions of RENT
, Hairspray
, The Times They Are A Changin’ and Little Shop of Horrors
. Brian Doherty’s ability to faithfully execute several musical genres, and his extensive knowledge of drumming, has made him a demanded drummer and teacher.
He should not be confused with the guitarist of Big Wreck
, with whom he shares his name.
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
, XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
, Freedy Johnston
Freedy Johnston
Freedy Johnston is a New York City-based singer-songwriter originally from Kinsley, Kansas.Having scored several minor hits since the early 1990s, Johnston's songs are often about troubled loners, and cover topics like heartbreak, alienation and disappointment...
, and Ben Folds
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...
, as well as television and movie soundtracks.
Born in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, Doherty began playing drums at the age of seven. Growing up in Randolph, New Jersey, he cut his teeth playing in high school marching band, percussion ensemble, and in garage rock bands. He attended the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
where he studied with Paul Price and Fred Hinger, and earned a Master of Music degree. Brian pursued the trap set as he then began touring with Jonathan Butler
Jonathan Butler
Jonathan Butler is a singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music is often classified as R&B, jazz fusion or worship music.-Biography:...
and jazz pioneers like Noel Pointer
Noel Pointer
Noel Pointer was an American jazz violinist and record producer.He was nominated for a Grammy award in 1981. Pointer's reputation as an outstanding jazz musician and literary advocate garnered him honorary citizenship in cities across the United States...
and Lonnie Liston Smith
Lonnie Liston Smith
Lonnie Liston Smith, Jr. is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with important free jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion / Quiet Storm /...
. A master of several genres, Doherty joined RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
' The Silos. The band was a critic favorite and earned the title of Best Band in America (Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine). Brian spent the next few years as a session drummer, recording with Freedy Johnston and working with Ben Folds, while joining the faculty at NYC’s Drummers Collective, where he remained for the next thirteen years. In the early 90s, Brian was recruited by They Might Be Giants, replacing their drum machine. For three years they recorded several albums, co-wrote songs, and relentlessly toured the world. After leaving They Might Be Giants, Doherty went on to work with M2M
M2M (band)
M2M was a pop music duo formed by two Norwegians, Marion Elise Raven and Marit Elisabeth Larsen. They released three albums under Atlantic Records and Warner Music: Shades of Purple, The Big Room, and The Day You Went Away: The Best of M2M, a greatest hits album released by their record label after...
, Frank Black
Frank Black
Black Francis is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black...
, Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.-Early years:Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.she spend hours working on it to help her...
, XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
, Madderose, Simone Hardy, Chip Taylor
Chip Taylor
James Wesley Voight , better known by his stage name as Chip Taylor, is an American songwriter, who is noted for writing the songs "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing." He is the brother of actor Jon Voight and geologist Barry Voight...
, John Linnell
John Linnell
John Sidney Linnell is an American musician, is known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants...
, Mono Puff
Mono Puff
Mono Puff is a New York City band and a side project of John Flansburgh, one of the Johns from They Might Be Giants.The main band consisted of Flansburgh, the vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist, and songwriter; bassist Hal Cragin; and drummer Steve Calhoon of Skeleton Key, Enon and Pretendo...
, John Platania
John Platania
John Platania is a well-known session musician, guitar player, and record producer.Platania was born in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley, in Ulster County, near Woodstock....
, Sol Seppy
Sol Seppy
Sol Seppy is a British singer-songwriter and producer. Her real name is Sophie Michalitsianos, and she contributed to two albums of American indie rock band Sparklehorse. Her solo debut, The Bells of 1 2, was released by Grönland Records in 2006...
, Guy Davis
Guy Davis (musician)
Guy Davis is an American blues guitarist and banjo player, actor, and musician. He is the son of actors Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis.-Davis' roots:Davis says his blues music is inspired by the southern speech of his grandmother...
, The Last Men, Vaneese Thomas, Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...
, Haruko Nara and Jon Langford
Jon Langford
Jon Langford born October 11, 1957, Newport, Monmouthshire is a Welsh-born musician and artist who is presently based in Chicago. He is the younger brother of science-fiction author and critic David Langford...
of The Mekons. In addition to the good gigs, there were endless auditions and close calls with R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
, The B-52s, The The
The The
The The are an English musical and multimedia group that have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer/songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member.-Early years :...
and Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson (musician)
Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...
. Doherty also produced several recordings including Ms. Lum’s Airport Love Song, which Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Magazine described as “exsquisitely wrought.”
In 2000, Brian went back to graduate school and became a New York City school teacher as part of the New York City Teaching Fellows program. Currently, Doherty is a music teacher in the West Farms neighborhood of The Bronx. He remains professionally active playing recording sessions, private events and Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
shows. He’s worked on the Broadway productions of RENT
Rent
Rent may refer to:*Renting, a system of payment for the temporary use of something owned by someone else ; the payments for such use are typically referred to as "rent"...
, Hairspray
Hairspray (musical)
Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues...
, The Times They Are A Changin’ and Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
. Brian Doherty’s ability to faithfully execute several musical genres, and his extensive knowledge of drumming, has made him a demanded drummer and teacher.
He should not be confused with the guitarist of Big Wreck
Big Wreck
Big Wreck is a rock band formed by Ian Thornley in 1994. They disbanded in 2002 and Ian Thornley went onto a successful solo career with his own band Thornley. In 2010, Ian Thornley and Brian Doherty reunited for a cross-Canada tour, playing both Big Wreck and Thornley songs. Doherty then...
, with whom he shares his name.