Biography
Since the 1980s Doug Gillard has ranked among indie rock’s most reliable and active session players, carving out a reputation as a guitarist and composer equally at home with concise pop melodies or straight-ahead rock & roll. Born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 23, 1965, he first attracted notice locally as a member of the glam-tinged indie/punk outfit Death of Samantha, which issued its debut recording in 1983 and followed with three full-length albums from 1986 through 1989. When that group disbanded in 1990, Gillard issued his first solo effort, the cassette-only collection It’ll Be Such a Thrill, drawn from material he had written in childhood. Two years later he and former Death of Samantha colleague John Petkovic launched Cobra Verde, whose initial album, Viva la Muerte, appeared in 1994; around the same time Gillard started the side project Gem alongside Scott Pickering of Prisonshake and Tim Tobias of Four Coyotes.
In 1996 Cobra Verde gained wider exposure after Robert Pollard, following conflicts with his Guided by Voices bandmates, replaced the entire lineup with Cobra Verde members for the 1997 GbV release Mag Earwhig! and its supporting tour. One track Gillard had originally composed for Gem, “I Am a Tree,” was featured on that album. Although Pollard soon parted ways with the rest of the Cobra Verde personnel, he retained Gillard as lead guitarist, a role the latter held until Guided by Voices disbanded in 2004. During lulls with both Cobra Verde and GbV, Gillard released the 1999 solo EP Malamute Jute and, as the latter project concluded, the full-length album Salamander.
Relocating from Ohio to New York City in 2007, he took on session work with Richard Buckner, the Hold Steady, and Pollard’s Boston Spaceships side project while also scoring film music later compiled on the 2009 album Call from Restricted. In 2010 he joined Nada Surf, contributing to If I Had a Hi-Fi and the 2012 follow-up The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy. The next year Gillard, Mark Rozzo, Eric Papparazi, and Ira Elliot formed the Beatles tribute ensemble Bambi Kino, dedicated to recreating the raw rock & roll and rhythm & blues the Fab Four performed in Hamburg prior to stardom. Death of Samantha reconvened in 2013 for several concerts and the album If Memory Serves Us Well, which revisited selected songs from the band’s early years. Reflecting on his earlier catalog, Gillard returned to new material with the 2014 solo release Parade On.
In 1996 Cobra Verde gained wider exposure after Robert Pollard, following conflicts with his Guided by Voices bandmates, replaced the entire lineup with Cobra Verde members for the 1997 GbV release Mag Earwhig! and its supporting tour. One track Gillard had originally composed for Gem, “I Am a Tree,” was featured on that album. Although Pollard soon parted ways with the rest of the Cobra Verde personnel, he retained Gillard as lead guitarist, a role the latter held until Guided by Voices disbanded in 2004. During lulls with both Cobra Verde and GbV, Gillard released the 1999 solo EP Malamute Jute and, as the latter project concluded, the full-length album Salamander.
Relocating from Ohio to New York City in 2007, he took on session work with Richard Buckner, the Hold Steady, and Pollard’s Boston Spaceships side project while also scoring film music later compiled on the 2009 album Call from Restricted. In 2010 he joined Nada Surf, contributing to If I Had a Hi-Fi and the 2012 follow-up The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy. The next year Gillard, Mark Rozzo, Eric Papparazi, and Ira Elliot formed the Beatles tribute ensemble Bambi Kino, dedicated to recreating the raw rock & roll and rhythm & blues the Fab Four performed in Hamburg prior to stardom. Death of Samantha reconvened in 2013 for several concerts and the album If Memory Serves Us Well, which revisited selected songs from the band’s early years. Reflecting on his earlier catalog, Gillard returned to new material with the 2014 solo release Parade On.
Albums
