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YES WEEKLY: Funkster's Doco Share Their Music And The Stage
By Ryan Snyder
The family tree of Josh and Trevor Booth is filled with artists of all breeds. Most recently, their father was a member of Backyard Tea, which found some regional success in the '60s and'70s. The lineage, however, began with a great, great, great uncle by the name of John Wilkes Booth who was an acclaimed actor in his time. Oh, and he also killed Abraham Lincoln. His resume, however, also boasted oil exploration alongside stage performance and political assassination, which brings us back to present day and its influence on his descendents. Dramatic Oil Company, or DO Co., was an ill-fated prospecting venture that the elder Booth dabbled in and the name lives on with the brothers' Raleigh-via-Winston-Salem's Doco.
Their influences are both interesting and highly uncommon, particularly those of drummer Dave Burkart. You don't often hear underground producer and bassist Bill Laswell bandied about as a major stylistic influence, though those with their ears to the ground should eventually come across the venerable world-music guru. The signature funk and go-go rhythms of drummer Bryan Mantia, a frequent Laswell collaborator, are also dotted all throughout Doco's music. Even Laswell's own deeply subsonic bass tunings seem to have crept their way into Josh Booth's playing, though he also looks to hip hop for his influence.
Burkart refers to their style as "funk gone bad" with layers of punk and metal, but let's just get the Sublime comparison out of the way right now. You almost can't help but think of them upon first listen to Doco. From the dub-heavy drum and bass right down to singer/ guitarist Trevor's own voice, Doco bears plenty of resemblance to the punk-funk pioneers. But put both under the microscope and you'll see that Sublime's punk-leanings aren't so evident in Doco. Rather, the latter owes a debt to the avant-garde funk scene that has proliferated under bassist Les Claypool's many projects since the mid-'90s. They have the kind of groove that is just a little weird — not Claypool-weird, mind you — but just enough out of the ordinary to ensure that you may not ever hear it in the clubs or on mainstream radio. But then again, there's nothing wrong with that. There's something sublimely reassuring to have tastes that aren't embraced by the unwashed masses and then share them with a small contingent of like-minded people.



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