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Dr Mastermind, began in 1983 with Matt McCourt of Wild Dogs and guitarist Kip Doran who was like a brother of mine- as an only child I took on "family" like most kids of that background, the two started jamming in high school, KIp was the HOt Rod player of his area 'Beaverton' the next suburb down the hiway. I was the all around guy , who could play bass, guitar and whatever else slackers I played wiith would leave at the now infamous basement for months at a time!"i really want to thank them , but theses guys i hardly knew or met for the first time! wold leave brand new ludwig octoplus kits, or amps, keys, guitars, which i would play . .
and with kip jammin at parties all over the city - once we started driving, we took our gear everywhere- one night we ended up at an indian reservation doin havin sex in one of the teepees,- it was 100 miles away from home... and we were trippin on acid at the time. i had some fun times that year... once we got stuck iun between a couple semni trucks and ended up at the paramount theatre downtown portland, it was the band america, and their roadies!..(we would have been happier if had been KISS).
so getting together after a long spell with Kip prompted me on to how much we enjoyed playing cuz WILD DOGS wasnt really all that fun fun the crew were but thats who deen and i would ride with with FUN truck,
it was a great musical team but the guys were so worried about everythingto the point that it was really stifling..(i should have kept all the magazines and reviews to myself) a simple case of novices, trying to please critics-and critics if they could play - would..!ive always tried to please myself first i learned eary on form the ravers session that you cant predict a trend or taste - you build itand see if anyone shows up! so i was onto building a new "hot dog stand" with a band of rough and ready blokes with a fuck all attitude my way or the hiway, and we started in as a 3 piece, with this cool guy named chon carter on drums he plater played for the motels or somebody luike that and i never saw him again we were big fixtures on the downtown punk/new wave scene if you can pbelieve that.. but i was puttin a metallic spin on it.) i was also goin through what most "teenagers experience but me at 22 iwas gettin the ol . get out of the house you cant stay here anymore form the mom..had acquired a groupie from the bus of van halen (who later became mrs mccourt for a while..) so after the intitial sessions and writing binges the metal group HAVEN who contained singer Chris ackenhausen(RIP 1998) lent us their drummer rick bagget(who was a young guy when he auditioned for wild dogs.
form an ad we placed we found Ben E Linton and something we didnt expect a Goldstein! now for those of you who dont know what a goldstein is its a grumpy young old man with a hnit of mioschief inthe eyes and loads of aggro form the mouth area/directed towards the pearly listeners of others,, or simply the fixed glazed stare that burns the eye..now tis excellent bassist
was the nrpother (the quieter brother of one mouthy young jerry lewis lookalike...SETH.. who astounduingly was the emcee at my first gig, the jewish community center spagehtti dinner and talent show"(produced by selma duckler- a rainbow of knish knoshing broadway failure come to the nw to be what else? a prominent doctors wife!..( imy partner bill hoffman and i were a 2 guitar team age 11,... and played bits of cream hendrix, and a few other tunes before some hebrew hooligans pulled our plug as a joke(needless to say were the only ones there sporting blond hair, blue eyes and generally looking the part of the master race, complete with fat belly and ignnorance of world war 2 persecution of oour audinece(but hey we were 10 and 11 years old!) back to the damn story.
seth had a reputation that Ken goldstein could not live down . but once he picked up that bass and started wailing- (instead of sitting directly in front silent drinking a 40 pouncer of cheapo beer and smoking these long ciggies - i couldbnt wait to have him in the band.. BEHIND ME!. so 4/5 of the band was there... Photographer Paul Kaearney relocated form boston ..where im sure he gets his accent shipped in dailyform knew of chris jacobsen( a 2nd string memeber of teh mentors, who we were big fans of)
so chris comes over and takes fast to kip and gos about arranging some killer double lead lines. in no time weve gotthe album ready to record and a few gigs under our belt- now the funny thing about this band. is.. I got so much crap for bein MY size and my "look" (hsort or bald head... that we decided in the fuck you tradition wed all wear the exact same wigs!..
that in itself was entertaining and looking like the band the way outs in a flintstone episode,.and wlawys taking limos to gigs
couldnt mess our hair we had a full crew borrowed from the dogs, mayhem and SF band blood bath!. we recorded an 8 d or 9 siong demo album whicvh i will be releasing sometime this year. that has so-me magnificinet playing and somgs and the UN censored versions of the songs that appropriated the mastermind studio album. again the reviews killed the band.. excpet it was labels shrpanel in general liked the "concept" and the music and the fact i had a name ..but.. we had to drop the band get deen and another guitarist- so i mentioned this to the guys and once again i should getmy mouthglue out... they headed for the hills,, it shows you havbe to be more tactful than honest in some cases.. so that blew the band out.. and we left the band house for " starnger places...THE VILLA...Angie and i used to joke about this apt house wed pass on the way to this dpdgy fillin station we worked at
as in WED NEVER LIVE THERE.. but lo and behold.. teh fillin station magers also magaed apts and we saw fit to get free rent as well and guess where we end up?. at the villa the same place the song is about and the names are all real people that "dwelled " at the place wouldnt call itliving- they made speed there, criminals all came to live in this place, fresh out of prison(the iwner would post signs at the parloe office!) he was a real winner so cheap he wiped his ass with his hand and licked it clean as to not waste water or paper i let him use the paint with skull and cross bones he got at the dump- not me!..
so.. about this time im offered a singin part in the mayhem band, a thrashy speed metal outfit making a name for itself on new reinascance and metal blade and fetauring a drummer by the name of slayer hippie who has roduced records by many famous people even though he is a junkie deluxe- and quite a savvy liar as well about it...and at the same time Mr Varney is needing a drummer for his fabulous new "black guy" who shreds like a white guy-Tony Macalpine so part of my deal was.. i trade deen for a record deal!.. and thats how Deen moved to san francisco- he also had just gotten married likethe same month and his wife had to be left at home..if it hadntbeen for dr mastermnd he'd stil be there in salem oregon waiting for his 20 dollars a week allowance for weed from jeff mark! haha..... so i make the deal with the devil steal the money form the apartments(cuz the owner stiffed me and told me he couldnt afford the 500 dolars a month for me to paint clean refurbish and be scurity all nite and that wage was for my wife too! both of us on that )the stipulation that i re write the harsher lyrics (the relaly poetic decriptive lyrics that mean something t9o the song- you see DR MASTERMIND/ EVIL GENIUS was all written with fiery emotions of a young man growing up, frustrated poor, misunderstood, and dumped by his wild dogs bandmates...( but i saw that coming) every gig id have MY friends and Theyd have Theirs, and im outrageous- They are copy cats of whatever works- like for instamce oif a guy has "luck" picking up girls cuz he has a "vette" then thats what car theyd get to do same- deen is the worstof this one and admits it!
IT'S THE DRIVER - NOT! THE CAR!!!. so when certain people would turn up at gigs... id know what was up!.. so i started gettin my own thing together... - hooking up with ron chick anoter local hot player(kip disowned me after shrapnel had said teh guitarists were FAT) i was too but that was alolright but i did have to lose 30 p[unds OR MORE or the deal was off. and wear a wig, anmd makeup and not reveal my true identity... well whatever it takes.. ron chick didnt make the cut and varney offered me paul GIlbert who hadnt moved to LA yert still in pittsburgh.i worte some lyrics for what became the racer x album.. he went to hollywood i wnt to THE VILLA! circumstances beyond my finances!. sao kurt james is paired up with me and via a love fo rjimi hendrix and jamming we made a great brotherly friendship that lasts to this day- anothe ronly child Kuir is a remarkable talent and lie myself our honest portrayal of our selves turns alot of insecure rockers off! Kurt was with Driver before the aforementioned tony macalpine was even considered ,he has played violin on the rooftops of bel air, auduitoned for a milliion bands dio was one stryper, not to mention making a name a s a killer jazz bassist ala jaco pastorius of weather report - Including chicken bone!.
and representing me in Japan on the frfretboard masters tour of 88 kurt came up for one show iwwith deen while he was tsill with macalpine(tony made quite a fuss about it- loosen up tightwad ! shortly after that deen joined bad english with neal schon who was rehearsing next door- as you know theyve been Mutt and Jeff for a long time now- and still doing the journy deal...
so we recorded the album partially in portland under rick mcmillans greddy eye who "forgot to tun the tape machine on
costing shrapnel most of my budget allowed just for basics! whgen we got to ca . there were no drums in places!....
so we stayed at the farm called prairie sun at the studio lodging and had a great time jamming all night gettin high with commander cody and some famous rasta reggae guys not being a reggae know it all i forget by i did recognise the name when we introduced.
that was a fun jam... one of the northern cali girls had more mushrooms like the wild dogs incident(it went hand in hand there.. )
something was always popping up as a "way to pass the time" while we waited for our sessions...
and mike varney to go house hunting... i had made my costume begfore we left - the one on the cover, jacket studs everything i made from scratch.. (necessity is the mother of invention ya know and i had no cash!..) but lived in a better part of the city boring as hell but we had a pool ! and lots of "friends living there- " again apartmanet manager by day .. .rocker by night..
after the gig we did we had a huge as party there, it was right before i got "fired!" ha go figure! it was like a 52 unit cocktail party with all the compliments.. ahh athe aching 20's.... im glad to be alive today!
form 1987- present, dr masetrmind has performed numeruos times with the constancy of matt mccourt, who continues the band today..-thats me your humble narrator) the latest offering is SIN SANDWICH, besides also keeping the fabulous stuido album and live cuts as well as a dvd recolection in stock - as of sept 1, 2005 a completely brand new studuio album is halfway done. and will feature the guitar playing of Kurt James and matt mccourt and spirit the hard egged progressive metal that the band was known for, Defender of Metal Bryce Van Patten is the drummer, and the trio appeared at the CMF FEST 5 in chicago this past spring(2005) before kurt took off for a huge festival with neil turin incluing megadeth, motorhead, metal church and wasp!.bryce van patten owns man in black music which compiles the defenders of metal series a worldwide union of old skoolers.Bryce has also been the drummer for many of the church of el duce music that mccourt is on and was a contender for the drum throne in wild dogs 1982 shortly before Deen castronovo took over.today, dec 3 i finished some mixes featuring a crafty guitarist that is local and will have to do until Kurt returns form S[ain or we get him a KORG.