Many bands these days have a niche that they seek to fill or be placed into. They modify their music, looks and lives to portray a certain image that their target audience is looking for. While the music they play may be catchy or relatively “original,” the tragedy here is the death of originality. There’s something to be said for standing on the shoulders of giants to be sure. However, simply putting a fresh coat of paint on “Guernica” by Picasso wouldn’t be considered art, so why does it fly in the music industry?
In 2005, Dramatic Oil Company, or Doco for short, formed with the express purpose of avoiding the aforementioned scenario. The band consists of three friends from Winston-Salem: John and Trevor Booth and Dave Burkart. Dave and Trevor played together in Bigger Than You and brought in Josh to play bass. Originally, while Josh was at Columbia University in New York, he would come back to play with the band on breaks. Josh eventually left Columbia and the band decided to take their music more seriously, deciding upon a name change.
The name of the band is an allusion to Josh and Trevor’s ancestor, John Wilkes Booth, the now infamous assassin of Abraham Lincoln. The association has nothing to do with John Wilkes’ politics or beliefs, but rather it is used to show the fickle nature of fate.
John Wilkes was originally a successful actor known in the South for interpreting Shakespearean villains. The Dramatic Oil Co. was a failed oil venture in Pennsylvania headed by the actor, which failed due to an inexperienced prospector who supposedly knew how to “open” oil wells. The result of this hire was a collapsed well (due to misused dynamite) and complete loss of John Wilkes’ investment.
When asked about the meaning of the name, Josh said, “It is interesting to see in history who wins, who loses and where they would be if things had turned out differently.”
Truly, it is an interesting thought, especially considering if the well had been a success, the actor would have ended up with an oil fortune to supplement his acting career.
The trio got into music to make their own individual mark on music. As Josh said, “We got into Rock & Roll because it’s fun to stick your middle finger up at authority.”
The band has played in Raleigh and the surrounding areas at places like The Brewery, The Pour House, Lincoln Theatre and Cat’s Cradle. Dave, a 2007 alumni, also mentioned that the band enjoys playing at Farmhouse Pizza since “[Farmhouse] has kind of a close-knit group of people that hang out down there.”
The band’s style changes from song to song and can be anywhere from reggae to hip hop to rock.
“It’s gotten a lot more hip hop and less reggae,” Trevor said. “[We] find a good beat and write a song over it.”
Dave also added, “When we try to come up with a song, what I’m into at the time influences the song. We try to make it pretty diverse.”
Dave, Josh and Trevor have always sought to invent their own style of music, but originally played a lot of covers at their shows.
“We started out playing a lot of covers,” Josh said. “Our sound kind of showed that, and we started getting offers to play specifically cover shows.”
When the cover offers started coming in, the band reacted against the offers because they wanted to play their own music.
“We always try to make it something different,” Dave said. “I’ve embraced the strange because it’s a good way to spawn originality.”
Josh agreed and said, “Reaction against convention is what we play for.”
“There’s a graveyard of songs that we’ve recorded that don’t really sound like Doco,”Josh said.
On The Fossil Record, the band added a voicemail titled “Rock N Roll Eulogy” to emphasize their efforts at originality.
“That’s what we are trying to do; take Rock & Roll in a new direction,” Josh said. “People don’t necessarily like that. They want to hear what they know.”
One thing that the band emphasized was that they are a live band. To get the true Doco experience, listeners need to be at their shows.
“Raleigh has a fantastic live music scene and everyone should get involved in that,” Josh said. “Live music is the solution to the isolation caused by technology. You have to bump into sweaty people at shows, show everyone that you got your hand stamped. You only have one life, why not do something with it.”
Dave also added, “Everyone is more than welcome to join the Doco party.”
The band’s new album, The Fossil Record, is their first studio CD and is available at local CD stores and on Itunes. It is a great addition to anyone’s music library who enjoys a fresh look at rock, reggae and hip hop. Also, 96 Rock has recently added some of their songs to their local playlist and 88.1 WKNC has the album in archives for any fans that want to request a song.
On Dec. 11, the doors will open at 8 p.m. at The Pour House Music Hall, hosting Doco with Grove Stain. For fans of their music, this will be a must-see show as The Pour House is the band’s favorite local venue.
Until then, do yourself a favor and check out The Fossil Record and get ready for the show.