Volumen 2
Doug Smith
If Shane is the high school Physics Club treasurer of VOLUMEN, Doug is the affable, popular guy who toes the fine line between band dork and senior class president. Cheerleaders leak the info that they want him to ask them out, but he�s always genuinely nice to the less popular girls and boys, too. In addition to writing most of what doesn�t get written by his longtime friend and musical partner, Shane (in the platonic sense, that is�at least we THINK so), Doug�s signature wikkid lyxx and fine tenor are the yin to Shane�s yang, the butter to Shane�s muffin, the hot dog in Shane�s....well, anyway, the other half of the songwriting equation. Additionally, Doug is a beacon of calm and tranquility in his other bandmates� roiling sea of adolescent squirreliness, and a fine cook to boot. The last male bonding I did with Doug was undertaken when we spent two days in the Montana wilderness picking morel mushrooms. Oh, the magic he worked with those little morsels...
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Here's some articles and other random press for your viewing pleasure.
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| Missoula Independent 04/22/1999 |
| URL: View Actual Article |
| Title: Geeks unite! Volumen take nerdpop to new heights |
| Author: Sarah Schmid |
Shane Hickey and Doug Smith of the Volumen have been performing together since they were wee lads in Great Falls. Back when they were in fifth and sixth grade, they were in an ensemble called Rapper's Express, rhyming and breakdancing in shows at churches and the local Senior Citizens Center.
"I basically had no skills," Hickey remembers. "But Doug once did 21 consecutive backspins."
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Volumen, a refreshing breeze of fearless nerdpop on a local musical landscape littered with �ber-serious rawker types. Unabashed fans of Devo and retro bands with names like Capt. Groovy and his Bubblegum Army, the Volumen relish music that, as one colleague put it, "everyone else decided was gay a long time ago."
Now for some Volumen Fun Facts: Hickey and Smith are prolific keno players. The casino they frequent knows them so well they send the boys cards when they're sick. They also have a fairly long-running feud with Servotron, a Georgia-based outfit fond of the same musical style as the Volumen.
It seems Servotron played a show here years ago at the Moose, and after a rousing set they lurked around the stage with a case of the "Doesn't Celebrity Suck" mopes. Hickey, feeling no pain and wanting to boost the mood of the band, told one member that Servotron reminded him of what Devo would sound like had they been assimilated by the Borg. The comment went over like skinny ties in a biker bar.
"I probably came off as a drunken groupie," Hickey says a bit sheepishly.
The tale was posted on the Volumen's web site and the hateful e-mail from Servotron allies came flooding in. To add insult to injury, the Volumen were planning on covering the entire Valley Girl soundtrack until they heard you-know-who had already done it.
But that's just a small chapter in the larger Volumen saga. After living in Omaha and then briefly going their separate ways, Hickey and Smith both moved to Laramie, Wyoming, which they described as being similar to Missoula, except with more cowboys, less women and a pervasive mood of crank-and-whiskey-fueled aggression.
Smith fled Jackalope Country first, and not knowing a whole lot of people here, he played strange acoustic sets in coffee shops such as Java the Hut. He would tell the blankly staring audience that he was going to keep playing until someone told him where the punk rock shows were.
He eventually found Jay's and then Hickey moved up here. Some time later, they were tossing around band name ideas when someone fiddled with the TV remote. Switched to the "Espa�ol" option, the screen read "Volumen" and the name stuck.
Equipped with a home CD burner, the Volumen release their more than 25 hours of catalogued recorded music at will, the most recent one hitting Ear Candy two weeks ago.
They have plenty of plans for the future, including playing as a separate more acoustically-driven band and a tour with fellow locals the Good Word. Oh, and they plan to cover an entire K-Tel CD they have been obsessing over.
"It's the sappiest, sickest bubblegum music ever," Smith promises.
Volumen pop-rawk Jay's Upstairs, Wednesday, April 28.
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