Daddy-O playing patios in UK
By Kara-Leah Grant
If there is no such thing as a Whistler apres without Guitar Doug, then it is fitting that the man they call The Daddy-O of the Patio is to make a guest appearance at The Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard Show in London this October.
"There is a British rugby team that comes over every year and show up at Merlin’s every apres and they knew the words to every song," explains Guitar Doug over the phone after a morning gym session. "It built into a fairly substantial number of Brits who were coming to my shows."
The e-mails started flying back and forth between Britain and Whistler – could Guitar Doug make it out to London for a show? After a discussion with Whistler-Blackcomb, which has a booth at the Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard Show, Guitar Doug finally got confirmation he was to play at the show.
"My proposal went through and Whistler-Blackcomb is going to hang a banner behind me and fly the Whistler flag," said Guitar Doug.
"I’m playing a bar called Brew Ski’s, and doing two shows there and a show up in Glasgow through a musician friend of mine."
He’s also heading to Belfast for a show at an army base, hooked up through members of the rugby team, who are also in the army.
"It’s called the Fall Sociable Tour and it’s going to be insane and rowdy and loud," he said. "I asked other musicians to join me but they were only interested if they could make money. Unfortunately that is the state of the art these days, if you can’t make money, why bother? But I don’t care if I make any money, I’m just writing songs and living life like an artist."
For Guitar Doug life as an artist is frantic. In addition to his own highly energetic stage show as Guitar Doug, he plays in a myriad of different bands, including Sky Dog, Big Up, The Hairfarmers and his new entity, Bowed Strings.
"I’ve got about 20 songs I’m going to finish off over in London. If I was into it for the money I would have burned out a long time ago, like everybody else," said Doug. "I’ve been doing it a long time and I get a lot of energy from it. Some guys do steroids, I do music."
