Performing Friday, November 28 at Schmidy’s Tavern
By Tracy Dietlen
It doesn’t matter if you’re a punk rocker or a metal head. If you are a true desert rocker (born here or have lived here for 20 years or so) then you know that Mikey Doling is a certified hometown musical hero. Not only is he known for his bands Snot, Soulfly and Channel Zero, but he has also made his mark as a highly in demand producer with credits that include Gemini Syndrome along with local bands Remnants of Man and Se7en4, just to name a few. He is currently working with famed producer Dave Fortman (Godsmack, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Evanescence) co-producing the band Sunflower Dead.
This Friday night at Schmidy’s Tavern, Mikey Doling’s band Snot will take the stage for his second hometown performance, with the first show being last March at The Hood. This event was dialed in by Ming Bob Productions and is proudly being sponsored by CV Weekly.
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with Doling, his beautiful wife Kaori and their 2 year old son Jaxx. During that time I got to know Doling as a man who loves his family, his bands and his life. He is full of stories from the road as he has opened for too many major bands to list here and has headlined many a tour with his own bands.
Doling and his family currently split their time between Japan (where he is part owner of the Roxy Tokyo) and LA, however they are considering a possible move to the Coachella Valley. Here are a few things that Doling had to say.
CVW: Last March was the first time you ever did a show with Snot here in your hometown. How did that feel and what will be different this time?
MD: Last year was totally fucking awesome. It was so cool to see all my friends that I grew up with rockin out with me. It was like coming home. This time will be the same good time. The only thing different is that we will have a new lead singer Carl Bensley. Tommy won’t be touring with us on these dates. It’s nothing personal or anything like that. I mean we only had one singer and that was (the late) Lynn Strait and we’ve had some great people fill in for us.
CVW: So after this do you have more Snot tour dates?
MD: Yes we have 22 shows in the US, 30 shows in Europe in February, and 11 shows in Australia, and one in New Zealand, then we go to Southeast Asia to Jakarta, Singapore and Thailand.
CVW: In our last interview you mentioned that you almost enjoyed producing more than performing live. Do you still feel that way?
MD: I can’t say more than performing live it’s just that I have performed live a lot in the last 25 years and I’ve done it so much but I’ve only been producing for 10 years and now I’m producing on a much higher level so that’s why it’s so exciting being in the studio. But I will always love playing live shows.
CVW: Can you talk about some of your new projects?
MD: Well I just released 2 albums with my band Channel Zero where I played guitar and wrote the songs. I have a record out right now on Metal Blade Records called Kill All Kings and I’m super proud of that record. At the moment I’m co-producing a band called Sunflower Dead with Dave Fortman who has produced so many amazing bands. We’re recording it at Brad Garrow’s studio (from Brain Vat).
CVW: You mentioned that you might move back here. Is that a possibility?
MD: Well let’s just say I’ve been spending a lot more time here in the Coachella Valley and I’ve fallen back in love with it. I moved from here in 1986 and I ran from here because there just didn’t seem to be possibilities for musicians here. And while I was gone all kinds of music came out of the desert (laughing). And I got to watch from a distance of course starting with Kyuss and then QOTSA so I was totally proven wrong about being able to make a music career from the desert but I was already out there touring the world and admiring the music scene here. Now that I’m spending more time here I’m definitely considering buying a home and raising my family here and then touring from here. I feel like I’ve come full circle in the last 30 years.
CVW: Can you tell our readers about being in the 9th grade with Sean Wheeler and Mario Lalli and when you first started doing music?
MD: I know that Mario is the Godfather of desert rock even the guys from Queens know that. We all look up to him. But before that in the 9th grade we were in math together and he would wear his jacket with Black Flag on it and I had a shirt with Judas Priest on it and it was really cool for us to share our takes on music then. It was cool to watch him from a distance, go from there to taking all the guys into Rhythm & Brews and developing this total music scene here.
Sean and I went to elementary school together and we hung out at a skate shop on Palm Canyon and we went to our first concert together, Black Flag, in Palm Springs in 1980.
CVW: When we were hanging out last night you shared so many cool stories from being out on the road but the ones about the late Dimebag Darrell from Pantera were very touching. Can you share that with our readers?
MD: I was fortunate enough to tour with Pantera more than once. I did Ozzfest with them and then I did their last tour which was Reinventing the Steel which was a full-blown American tour. And every night Dime insisted on me partying with him which I didn’t mind but every now and then I would need to take a break and he would come and personally grab me off the bus and take me into the bar and one night we were drunk and I said ‘Dimebag, my life would be complete if I could jump on stage and jam with Pantera, and the next day I was up on stage crossing guitars with him and that lasted for the next 11 nights.
If you missed Snot’s last desert show in March then you do not want to miss this one. If you were at the last show then you know why you should tell all your friends to be at this one.
Snot with Brain Vat and Thira perform Friday, November 28 at Schmidy’s Tavern. Starts at 9pm. 21 & over. $15.00 at the door.
