* En anglais uniquement
One of the best and busier sidemen in indie rock since the 1980s,
Doug Gillard has established himself as a guitarist and songwriter who is just as comfortable with hooky pop tunes as full-on rock & roll, and has released a handful of solo recordings in addition to collaborating with a wide variety of well-respected acts.
Gillard was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 23, 1965, and first made waves in Ohio as a member of the glam-influenced indie/punk band Death of Samantha, who made their debut in 1983 and cut three albums between 1986 and 1989. After Death of Samantha broke up in 1990,
Gillard made his solo debut, releasing a cassette-only album called It'll Be Such a Thrill, consisting of songs he wrote as a child. In 1992,
Gillard and his Death of Samantha bandmate John Petkovic formed a new band,
Cobra Verde, who made their recording debut in 1994 with the album
Viva la Muerte;
Gillard also launched a side project, Gem, with Scott Pickering from
Prisonshake and
Tim Tobias of Four Coyotes. In 1996,
Gillard and
Cobra Verde found themselves playing for a considerably larger audience when
Robert Pollard, after a series of disputes with his bandmates in
Guided by Voices, fired the rest of the band and hired
Cobra Verde en masse to serve as his band for the 1997
GbV album
Mag Earwhig! and subsequent touring. A song
Gillard originally wrote for Gem, "I Am a Tree," was included on
Mag Earwhig!, and while
Pollard soon moved past the
Cobra Verde lineup, he kept
Gillard on as lead guitarist, and he remained in the band until
Pollard opted to retire
Guided by Voices in 2004. During some downtime with
Cobra Verde and
Guided by Voices,
Gillard cut a solo EP, Malamute Jute, in 1999, and as
GbV was winding down in 2004, he made a full-length album,
Salamander. In 2007,
Gillard left Ohio for New York City, and was playing sessions with the likes of
Richard Buckner,
the Hold Steady, and
Pollard's side project
Boston Spaceships, as well as recording film music that was collected on the 2009 album Call from Restricted. In 2010,
Gillard became a member of the band
Nada Surf, and appeared on their album
If I Had a Hi-Fi, as well as 2012's
The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy. In 2011,
Gillard teamed with
Mark Rozzo, Eric Papparazi, and
Ira Elliot to form an unusual
Beatles tribute band,
Bambi Kino, which specialized in replicating the rough and tumble rock & roll and rhythm & blues that were the Fab Four's stock in trade when they played in Hamburg before becoming stars. In 2013, Death of Samantha reunited for a handful of live shows and an album, If Memory Serves Us Well, in which they re-recorded some of their favorite material from their salad days. After taking a look at his musical past,
Gillard swung back into the present in 2014 with the release of another solo effort,
Parade On. ~ Mark Deming