Douglas R. Docker

Last updated

Douglas R. Docker
Douglas R. Docker performing in Saluzzo.jpg
Douglas R. Docker performing live (May 2012)
Background information
Birth nameDouglas Ralph Docker
Born (1967-06-16) 16 June 1967 (age 56)
Auxerre, France
GenresRock and others
Occupation(s)Musician, singer, songwriter, composer, producer
Instrument(s)Piano, keyboards, bass, vocals
Years active1977–present
Labels Lion Music, Massacre Records
Website Docker's Guild Official Website

Douglas R. Docker (born 16 June 1967) is an American-French musician, singer, songwriter and producer known for his work with Docker's Guild, a progressive-metal space opera, and as a member of Cheap Prick, an Italian Cheap Trick tribute act. He has also worked with artists including Shining Line and Tony Mills. Docker is also the founder and owner of the Black Swan Rock School of Music, a music and ESL teaching facility located in Italy. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Biography

Classical music (1977-1999)

From 1977 to 1981, Docker performed as a second violinist in the orchestra of the Istituto Musicale Corelli of Pinerolo. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] From 1978 to 1988 he competed as a pianist in about a dozen international classical piano competitions (Senigallia, Stresa, Bardolino, Torre Pellice, Capri), receiving two first prizes. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] He also performed in recitals as a classical pianist throughout the 1980s. [23] [24]

In September 1989, he obtained a BA in Classical Piano at the Conservatory of Cuneo. [25] He was then hired to play piano and organ on the album Ave Maria by Italian tenor Antonio Caffaro. [26]

In June 1996, Docker briefly returned to classical music with a recital called "Paesaggi Esotici", performed at the Turin Museum of Natural History. Featuring Mio Nakamura on vocals, the program included operatic arias and traditional songs linked by the common theme of "the exotic" (particularly Asia). [27]

In November 1999, he performed Allegro de Concierto by Enrique Granados at the SFI-Västertorp in Stockholm for its yearly Kulturdagen (Culture Day). [28]

Docker's Guild (2008–present)

Docker returned to Italy in January 2008. In 2011 he published an article cataloging the Waldensian musical heritage. [29] [30]

In 2008, Docker began a project named "Docker's Guild". Its album The Mystic Technocracy – Season 1: The Age of Ignorance was released in 2012 on Lion Music, described by the artist's record label as a progressive rock space opera. [31] Performers on the album included Tony Franklin, Guthrie Govan, Jeff Watson, Greg Bissonette, Goran Edman, John Payne, Tony Mills, and Amanda Somerville. Docker did not know any of the performers personally, and did not interact in person with any of them. Rather, he solicited their services on the internet. [32] In 2016 Docker released a crowdfunded sequel entitled The Heisenberg Diaries – Book A: Sounds of Future Past. Aside from Docker, all special guests appearing on the album were women from the rock and metal world.

A Season 2 – "The Age of Entropy" – was planned but has no firm release date. Docker stated[ when? ] that: "Season 2 is in the works, but the format will change. The age of rock operas has passed and it's time to focus on the music rather than on the names." Despite this, he has confirmed that Anna Portalupi (Hardline) will be playing bass on the album and that drumming duties will be handled by Elisa "Helly" Montin (The Anunnaki, Cattivator Of Death, Übermensch). [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] In 2020, Docker released a track from Season 2 "Die Today" as a pre-production demo on the project's blog. [40] In 2021, Docker launched an unsuccessful campaign to crowdfund the album. [41]

In September 2019, Docker organized and headlined the Tony Mills Festival. The festival was intended to honor his recently deceased collaborator Tony Mills, as well as raising funds for the Mills family and cancer research. The show marked the first live appearance of Docker's Guild in four years. [42]

In December 2019, Docker announced that The Docker's Guild would be performing a rare live performance at Entropy Fest IV in Pinerolo, Italy. However, Docker later cancelled the entire festival, for several reasons including inter alia "the chronic absence of public at the evenings despite the constant online and printed promotion". [43]

In 2023, Docker announced the formation of Event Horizon, a melodic rock project of which Docker says, "Today I will begin recording the preproduction demos for a new project called Event Horizon - Melodic Rock Band. The band was actually active a few years back as a melodic rock tribute band (Asia, Journey, '80s Yes, Kansas, Styx, etc). I am reviving the project but with original music. And the first album will be something very special to me: there is a batch of songs that I wrote back in 1983/84 when I was only 16 years old. They are the first rock songs that I ever wrote. The direction was still vague, with country music, rock, metal and new wave among the styles of music. A little window into the origins of my songwriting." [44]

Cheap Prick

In the 2014, Docker formed Cheap Prick, a Cheap Trick tribute act that has performed live shows in Italy. [45]

Vivaldi Metal Project

In 2013, Docker was hired as an arranger and as the official lyricist for the Vivaldi Metal Project. [46] [47]

In 2019 it was announced that Docker had left his position. [48] [49]

Discography

Reliquay de Spleen

Anatema

Antonio Caffaro

Douglas R. Docker

Biloxi

Area 51

Rustfield

Docker's Guild

Shining Line

Last40Days

Tony Mills

Frantic Amber

Oniricide

Vivaldi Metal Project

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazoo</span> Toy musical instrument

The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of mirliton, one of a class of instruments which modifies its player's voice by way of a vibrating membrane of goldbeater's skin or material with similar characteristics.

<i>The Four Seasons</i> (Vivaldi) Set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi

The Four Seasons is a group of four violin concerti by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, each of which gives musical expression to a season of the year. These were composed around 1718–1720, when Vivaldi was the court chapel master in Mantua. They were published in 1725 in Amsterdam, together with eight additional concerti, as Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione.

The trio sonata is a genre, typically consisting of several movements, with two melody instruments and basso continuo. It originated in the early 17th century and was a favorite chamber ensemble combination in the Baroque era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinerolo</span> Comune in Piedmont, Italy

Pinerolo is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary between Pinerolo and San Pietro Val di Lemina.

Johann Gottfried Walther was a German music theorist, organist, composer, and lexicographer of the Baroque era.

<i>Lestro armonico</i> Set of 12 violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi

L'estro armonico, Op. 3, is a set of 12 concertos for string instruments by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, first published in Amsterdam in 1711. Vivaldi's Twelve Trio Sonatas, Op. 1, and Twelve Violin Sonatas, Op. 2, only contained sonatas, thus L'estro armonico was his first collection of concertos appearing in print. It was also the first time he chose a foreign publisher, Estienne Roger, instead of an Italian. Each concerto was printed in eight parts: four violins, two violas, cello and continuo. The continuo part was printed as a figured bass for violone and harpsichord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregg Bissonette</span> American drummer

Gregg Bissonette is an American jazz and rock drummer and vocalist. He is the brother of bassist Matt Bissonette, with whom he frequently collaborates. He has played on albums by dozens of recording artists, including David Lee Roth's first three solo albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Folia</span> Type of musical composition

La Folía (Spanish), or Follies (English), also known as folies d'Espagne (French), La Follia (Italian), and Folia (Portuguese), is one of the oldest remembered European musical themes, or primary material, generally melodic, of a composition, on record. The theme exists in two versions, referred to as early and late folias, the earlier being faster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fabio Biondi</span> Italian violinist and conductor

Fabio Biondi is an Italian violinist and conductor. He is a specialist in Baroque and early music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Somerville</span> American singer-songwriter

Amanda Somerville is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Mills (singer)</span> British rock singer (1962–2019)

Anthony Paul Mills was an English rock singer, best known for his work with Shy and TNT.

A triple concerto is a concerto with three soloists. Such concertos have been composed from the Baroque period, including works by Corelli, Vivaldi, Bach and Telemann, to the 21st century, such as two works by Dmitri Smirnov. The most famous example is Beethoven's Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano. His combination of solo instruments, a piano trio, was often used also in later works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Slowik</span> American cellist, viol player, conductor, curator, and artistic director

Kenneth Slowik is an American cellist, viol player, and conductor. Curator of Musical Instrument Collection at the National Museum of American History and Artistic Director of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society. He took an interest in music and organology from an early age. He studied at the University of Chicago, the Chicago Musical College, the Peabody Conservatory, the Salzburg Mozarteum and, as a Fulbright Scholar, the Vienna Hochschule für Musik, guided by Howard Mayer Brown, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Antonio Janigro, Edward Lowinsky, and Frederik Prausnitz.

Rockets is a French space rock band that formed in Paris in 1974 and relocated to Italy in 1978. Some of the former members had played together since 1970 in a local band called Crystal. In their most successful era (1977–1982) the line-up comprised vocalist Christian Le Bartz, bassist and vocalist "Little" Gérard L'Her, guitarist and keyboardist Alain Maratrat, drummer and percussionist Alain Groetzinger, and keyboardist Fabrice Quagliotti. The band went through a number of name changes, being known as the Rocket Men and Rok-Etz, among others. In the year 2000, Fabrice Quagliotti decided to reform the band, but with a totally different line-up. This brought to an anomalous situation, as far as none of the former members agreed to hold a reunion. In fact, the last former member to leave the band was Alain Maratrat, in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cello sonatas (Vivaldi)</span> Chamber music by Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi composed several sonatas for cello and continuo. A set of six cello sonatas, written between 1720 and 1730, was published in Paris in 1740. He wrote at least four other cello sonatas, with two manuscripts kept in Naples, another in Wiesentheid, and one known to be lost.

The DeMUG Baroque Ensemble consists of twenty musicians including singers, instrumentalists and composers from the Department of Music at the University of Guanajuato in central México. The group is dedicated to the study and performance of Baroque music including the playing of period instruments and the reading of music sheets from that time. The group was founded in 2008 as a result of an interdisciplinary workshop on the performance of Baroque music given by Dr. Fabrizio Ammetto at the University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nita Strauss</span> American guitarist (born 1986)

Vinita Sandhya Strauss is an American rock musician. She is currently a touring guitarist for Demi Lovato and Alice Cooper and has a successful career as a solo artist. Strauss was the first female signature artist with Ibanez guitars and is regularly featured on the covers of worldwide print magazines including Guitar World and Guitar Player. She was ranked No. 1 on Guitar World's list of "10 Female Guitar Players You Should Know".

Ugo Orlandi is a musicologist, a specialist in the history of music, a university professor and internationally renowned mandolinist virtuoso. Among worldwide musicians, professional classical musicians are a small group; among them is an even smaller group of classical mandolinists. Among members of this group, Ugo Orlandi is considered "distinguished." Music historian Paul Sparks called him "a leading figure in the rehabilitation of the eighteenth-century mandolin repertoire, having recorded many concertos from this period."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organ concerto (Bach)</span>

The organ concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach are solo works for organ, transcribed and reworked from instrumental concertos originally composed by Antonio Vivaldi and the musically talented Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. While there is no doubt about the authenticity of BWV 592–596, the sixth concerto BWV 597 is now probably considered to be spurious. Composed during Bach's second period at the court in Weimar (1708–1717), the concertos can be dated more precisely to 1713–1714.

Andrea Ciaz Chiarotti was an Italian ice sledge hockey player and coach. He was a three time Paralympian who was named a flag-bearer in 2014.

References

  1. "Tony Mills Page". Battlegod Productions (Official Website). Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. "Tony Mills". Tony Mills (Official Website). Archived from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  3. "Finalmente il rock protagonista nel pinerolese. Entropyfest 201. Roletto" (in Italian). Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  4. "BLACK SWAN - ROCK SCHOOL OF MUSIC - News & Eventi". www.blackswan-musicschool.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  5. "Buon Natale dal "Corelli"". L'Eco del Chisone (newspaper) (in Italian). 15 December 1977.
  6. "Successo del "Corelli"". L'Eco del Chisone (newspaper) (in Italian). 22 December 1977.
  7. Bocchino, Osvaldo (24 December 1977). "Il concerto degli allievi del "Corelli"". La Lanterna (newspaper) (in Italian).
  8. Santero, Giovanni (7 June 1979). "Da Pinerolo: orchestra - coro - pianoforte". L'Unione Monregalese (newspaper) (in Italian).
  9. Prone, Giorgia (8 June 1979). "L'attività dell'Istituto musicale "Corelli"". La Lanterna (newspaper) (in Italian).
  10. Bo, C. (8 June 1979). "Bravura e modestia dei giovani (110) del "Musicale" di Pinerolo". Provincia Granda (newspaper) (in Italian).
  11. Maiolini, Vivetta (14 June 1979). "Concerto dei giovani allievi dell'Istituto musicale "A. Corelli"". L'Eco del Chisone (newspaper) (in Italian).
  12. "300 giovani concorrenti al festival "Città di Bardolino"". Strumenti e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. 33, no. 7. July 1980. pp. 66–67.
  13. "Oltre mille concorrenti al "Città di Stresa"". Strumenti e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. 34, no. 6. June 1981. p. 98.
  14. "Successo del Festival "Città di Bardolino"". Strumenti e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. 34, no. 7. July 1981. p. 34.
  15. "Grande successo a Torre del concorso 'Karl Czerny'". Il Pellice (newspaper) (in Italian). Vol. LXXI, no. 18. 7 May 1982.
  16. "Torre Pellice: i risultati del Concorso "Czerny"". Strumenti e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). No. 6. June 1982.
  17. "Festival "Città di Bardolino" - Premio "Montani"". Strumenti e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. 35, no. 7. July 1982. p. 54.
  18. Baudissone, Bruno (19 May 1983). "Più di cento pianisti al concorso di Torre P.". L'Eco del Chisone (newspaper) (in Italian).
  19. "Torre Pellice: i risultati dei concorsi". Strumenti e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. 36, no. 6. June 1983.
  20. "Torre Pellice". Musica e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. 1, no. 2. July 1983.
  21. "Festival "Città di Bardolino": ancora una netta affermazione". Strumenti e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. 36, no. 7/8. July 1983. pp. 42–43.
  22. "Vivo successo del 7° Festival "Città di Bardolino"". Strumenti e Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. 38, no. 7/8. July 1985. p. 120.
  23. "Conclusa a Palazzo Italia la Mostra "Porte e portali"". La Pagina (newspaper) (in Italian). 3 November 1982.
  24. "Concerti di primavera del "Corelli" a Pinerolo". L'Eco del Chisone (newspaper) (in Italian). 19 May 1983.
  25. "Cuneo - Conservatorio di Musica "G. Verdi"". Il Mondo della Musica (music magazine) (in Italian). Vol. XXVIII, no. 33/34. Maria Elisa Tozzi. January 1990.
  26. 1 2 Pellice, Gianfranco (21 December 1989). "Serata d'onore per il tenore Caffaro a Bricherasio". L'Eco del Chisone (newspaper) (in Italian). Vol. 84, no. 49.
  27. Osella, Leonardo (6 May 1996). "Musica all'insegna del naturale". La Stampa (newspaper) (in Italian). Vol. 130, no. 123.
  28. "Kulturdagen". På väg (newspaper) (in Swedish). No. 2. December 1999. pp. 4–5.
  29. "La catalogazione dei beni musicali del patrimonio veldese" (PDF). La Beidana n. 70. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  30. Docker, Ralph (February 2011). "La catalogazione dei beni musicali del patrimonio valdese". Beidana (La): Cultura e Storia Nelle Valli Valdesi. 27 (70).
  31. "Docker's Guild – The Mystic Technocracy". Lion Music. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  32. jason. "10 Q's with DOUGLAS DOCKER". Get Ready to ROCK!. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  33. "Interview with Douglas R Docker (DOCKER'S GUILD) | Ytsejam.com". Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  34. "Lion Music Official Page". Lion Music. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  35. "Docker's Guild: "The Heisenberg Diaries – Book A" Album". PledgeMusic. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  36. ""The Mystic Technocracy - Season 2: The Age of Entropy"". www.dockersguild.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  37. "Docker's Guild – Forum". Dockersguild.com. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  38. "Docker's Guild - The Mystic Technocracy - Season 2: The Age of Entropy". www.dockersguild.com. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  39. "Elisa Montin (18+) | Hit Like A Girl". Hit Like A Girl. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  40. "Die Today – New Docker's Guild Song!". Dockersguild.com. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  41. https://dockersguild.com/crowdfund
  42. "Black Swan – Tony Mills Festival". Blackswan-musicschool.com. 21 September 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  43. "COMUNICATO UFFICIALE CHIUSURA TOTALE E DEFINITIVA DELL'ENTROPY FEST" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2020.
  44. https://www.facebook.com/eventhorizonaor/
  45. [ dead link ]
  46. "Docker's guild | Vivaldi Metal Project". www.vivaldimetalproject.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  47. admin, V. M. P. (26 April 2015). "Douglas R. Docker official lyricist". VivaldiMetalProject. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  48. "Vivaldi Metal Project | Overview". Vivaldi Metal Project | All-Metal Star Symphonic-Metal Act. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  49. "Vivaldi Metal Project | News". Vivaldimetalproject.com. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  50. "Various - Genti Emergenti 2". Discogs (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  51. "Various - Suonomodo". Discogs (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  52. 1 2 "Beloit Italia - Applied Technology - Innovation Not Imitation". Discogs (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  53. "Biloxi - Let the Games Begin CD. Heavy Harmonies Discography". heavyharmonies.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  54. "Cd Area 51 "In the Desert" - Docker's Guild". dockersguild.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  55. ones (3 December 2019). ""Musica dal vivo", il 19/12 Noello e Mazzà presentano l'"Appendice"". GROOVIN' (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  56. 1 2 "Rustfield Official Website - Discography Page". Rustfield Official Website - Discography Page. Rustfield. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  57. "Massacre Records - Rustfield Page". Massacre Records - Rustfield Page (in German). Massacre Records. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  58. "Recensione Docker's Guild The Mystic Technocracy Preproduction Demo - truemetal.it". True Metal (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  59. "DOCKER'S GUILD - The Mystic Technocracy - Season 1: The Age Of Ignorance (2012)". Progarchives.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  60. "DOCKER'S GUILD - The Heisenberg Diaries (Book A: Sounds Of Future Past) (2016)". Progarchives.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  61. "Volcano Records & Promotion". volcanorecords (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  62. "DouglasDocker". Scuola APM - Saluzzo (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  63. "Last40Days - Lost and Found". Discogs (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  64. "Battlegod Productions". Battlegod Productions Official Page. Battlegod Productions. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  65. "Tony Mills Official Website". Tony Mills Official Website. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  66. "Frantic Amber - Burning Insight". Discogs (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  67. "Oniricide - Revenge of Souls". Discogs (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  68. 1 2 3 admin, V. M. P. (26 April 2015). "Douglas R. Docker official lyricist". VivaldiMetalProject. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  69. "Vivaldi Metal Project - The Extended Sessions". Discogs (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2020.