Dr. Know (guitarist)

Last updated

Dr. Know
BadBrains.png
Miller in 2007
Background information
Birth nameGary Miller
Born (1958-09-15) September 15, 1958 (age 64)
Origin Washington, D.C., United States
Genres
Occupation(s)
Instrument(s)
Years active1977–present

Gary Miller (born September 15, 1958), better known by his stage name Dr. Know, is an American musician, who rose to prominence as the guitarist for the Washington D.C. hardcore punk band Bad Brains, who were critically acclaimed for their innovative musical style and are regarded as one of the greatest and most influential punk rock bands of all time. Critic Rick Anderson praises Miller's "ability to meld the raw directness of hardcore punk with an almost supernatural virtuosity without sacrificing the power of either approach". [1]

Contents

Personal life and musical career

Born in Washington, D.C., Miller has recorded or performed very little outside the group Bad Brains, though he has performed with Mos Def's group Black Jack Johnson. [2] He also performed a solo on the Coheed and Cambria song "Time Consumer" for their first album The Second Stage Turbine Blade , and he collaborated with Deftones on Saturday Night Wrist , although his contributions do not appear on the album. In early 2010, he made an appearance at the Trocadero in Philadelphia, PA, playing two songs with students from Paul Green's School of Rock Music at the Best of Season show.

In the 2012 documentary Bad Brains: A Band in D.C., Miller revealed that prior to forming Bad Brains the musicians were influenced by a wide variety of music, including disco and modern jazz. Performances by The Dead Boys and other underground bands turned them on to punk rock.

In the 2000s, he took on work at a Woodstock, N.Y.-area natural food grocery store, Sunfrost Farms. [3]

Health issues

Miller suffered a heart attack in November 2015 and his condition quickly progressed to multiple organ failure. He was on life support for almost two weeks and was given a 5% chance of survival. His bandmates asked fans to help via a GoFundMe campaign to pay his expenses for rehabilitation. After nearly three months in the hospital, he was transferred to a medical rehabilitation facility for the physical therapy and treatment that he needed to make a full recovery. [4]

Latest projects

In 2016, Miller formed the supergroup Saudade along with singer and guitarist Chino Moreno of Deftones, Team Sleep, Palms, and Crosses; jazz keyboardist John Medeski of Medeski Martin & Wood; bassist Chuck Doom, co-member of Crosses and Team Sleep; guitarist David Torn; and drummer Mackie Jayson of Cro-Mags and Bad Brains. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deftones</span> American alternative metal band

Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno, Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first five years, the band's lineup changed several times, but stabilized in 1993 when Cunningham rejoined after his departure in 1990; by this time, Chi Cheng was bassist. The lineup remained stable for fifteen years, with the exception of keyboardist and turntablist Frank Delgado being added in 1999. The band's experimental nature has led some critics to describe them as "the Radiohead of metal".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bad Brains</span> American rock band

Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of other genres like funk, heavy metal, hip hop, and soul. Rolling Stone magazine called them "the mother of all black hard-rock bands", and they have been cited as a seminal influence to numerous subgenres of heavy metal, including thrash/speed metal, alternative metal, funk metal and rap/nu metal. Bad Brains are followers of the Rastafari movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chino Moreno</span> American singer

Chino Moreno is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist and contributing guitarist of the metal band Deftones. He is also a member of the side-project groups Team Sleep, Crosses, and Palms.

<i>Around the Fur</i> 1997 album by Deftones

Around the Fur is the second studio album by American alternative metal band Deftones, released on October 28, 1997, by Maverick Records. The songs "My Own Summer " and "Be Quiet and Drive " were released as singles with accompanying music videos. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in June 1999, and was eventually certified platinum in 2011.

<i>Adrenaline</i> (album) 1995 album by Deftones

Adrenaline is the debut studio album by American alternative metal band Deftones, released on October 3, 1995, by Maverick Records. The majority of the album was produced by Terry Date, while a hidden track titled "Fist" was produced by Ross Robinson.

<i>I Against I</i> 1986 studio album by Bad Brains

I Against I is the third studio album by the American rock band Bad Brains. It was released on November 21, 1986 through SST Records with the catalog number SST 065. The best-selling album in the band's catalog, I Against I finds the band branching out from their early hardcore punk style to touch on funk, soul, reggae and heavy metal. It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The title track was a Paul Rachman-directed video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Team Sleep</span> American rock band

Team Sleep is an American experimental alternative rock/post-rock group led by singer/guitarist Chino Moreno. Moreno is better known for fronting the Sacramento-based alternative metal band Deftones. Other current members include guitarist Todd Wilkinson, turntablist CrookOne, bass guitarist/keyboardist Rick Verrett, drummer Gil Sharone and bassist Chuck Doom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medeski Martin & Wood</span> American jazz band

Medeski Martin & Wood is an American jazz fusion band formed in 1991, consisting of John Medeski on keyboards, Billy Martin on drums, and Chris Wood on bass. The band is influenced by musical traditions including funk and hip hop and is known for an unconventional style sometimes described as "avant-groove".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cro-Mags</span> American hardcore punk band

The Cro-Mags are an American hardcore punk band from New York City. The band, which has a strong cult following, has released six studio albums, with the first two considered the most influential. With a Hare Krishna background, they were among the first bands to fuse hardcore punk with thrash metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York hardcore</span>

New York hardcore is both the hardcore punk music created in New York City and the subculture and lifestyle associated with that music. New York hardcore grew out of the hardcore scene established in Washington, D.C., by bands such as Bad Brains and Minor Threat. Initially a local phenomenon of the 1980s and 1990s, New York hardcore eventually grew to establish an international reputation with little to moderate mainstream popularity but with a dedicated and enthusiastic underground following, primarily in Europe and the United States. With a history spanning over more than four decades, many of the early New York hardcore bands are still in activity to this day. Some of them have been continuously or almost continuously active since their formation as well as having reunion shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Medeski</span> American jazz keyboardist and composer

Anthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood. He plays the acoustic piano and an eclectic array of keyboards, including the Hammond B3 organ, melodica, mellotron, clavinet, ARP String Ensemble, Wurlitzer electric piano, Moog Voyager Synthesizer, Wurlitzer 7300 Combo Organ, Vox Continental Baroque organ, and Yamaha CS-1 Synthesizer, among others. When playing acoustic piano, Medeski usually plays the Steinway piano and is listed as a Steinway Artist.

Will Haven is a noise metal band from Sacramento, California. Formed in 1995, the group released albums through several labels and toured with acts such as Deftones and Soulfly before going on hiatus in 2002. They regrouped in 2005 and have continued to record and tour since. Throughout their history, they have released seven full-length albums as well as two EPs and a live DVD. Their musical style has been described as a combination of many metal and hardcore subgenres.

Todd Schofield, known as Todd Youth, was an American guitarist, best known for his work with Warzone, Murphy's Law and Danzig.

<i>Quickness</i> 1989 studio album by Bad Brains

Quickness, also known as With the Quickness, is the fourth full-length studio album by hardcore punk pioneers Bad Brains. At the time of its release, it was the best selling Bad Brains album and also featured an MTV video for the lead-off track "Soul Craft" directed by Paul Rachman who later went on to produce and direct the feature documentary American Hardcore. Drummer Earl Hudson, though pictured on the cover, does not play on the record, as drum parts were instead performed by Mackie Jayson of the Cro-Mags. In an interview with MTV, guitarist Dr. Know said that the album's title comes from urgency and swiftness.

<i>Rise</i> (Bad Brains album) 1993 studio album by Bad Brains

Rise is the fifth studio album by hardcore punk pioneers Bad Brains. It is the first Bad Brains album to be released on a major label and is notable for the absence of two original members: here, Israel Joseph I replaces vocalist H.R. and Cro-Mags drummer Mackie Jayson, who was a session musician on the band's previous album Quickness, replaces drummer Earl Hudson.

<i>American Hardcore</i> (film) 2006 film

American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980–1986 is a documentary directed and produced by Paul Rachman and written by Steven Blush. It is based on the 2001 book American Hardcore: A Tribal History also written by Blush. It world premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released on September 22, 2006 on a limited basis by Sony Pictures Classics. The film features some early pioneers of the hardcore punk music scene including Bad Brains, Black Flag, D.O.A., Minor Threat, Minutemen, SSD, and others. It was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on February 20, 2007.

Saudade traditionally is a Portuguese word, describing an emotion

Krishnacore is a subgenre of hardcore punk that draws inspiration from the Hare Krishna tradition. Although some hardcore punk bands had already made references to Krishna Consciousness in the 1980s, the subgenre was established in the early 1990s by the bands Shelter and 108. The name is a portmanteau of "Krishna" and "hardcore".

The Stimulators were an American punk rock band from New York City. Although they have a limited discography, they are notable for being consistently cited as an important transitional band between the late-1970s New York City punk rock scene and New York hardcore, and for being the musical entry point for future Cro-Mags founder Harley Flanagan.

Tinfed were an alternative rock group started in Sacramento, California. The final line-up consisted of vocalist and instrumentalist Rey Osburn, guitarist Eric Stenman, drummer Matt McCord, and bassist Rick Verrett. They released three studio albums: Synaptic Hardware (1993), Hypersonic Hyperphonic (1996) and Tried + True (2000).

References

  1. Anderson, Rick. "I Against I - Bad Brains". Allmusic. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
  2. "Music & Musician Forums: Black Jack Johnson" Archived November 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine . Sputnikmusic. Retrieved November 5, 2005.
  3. Bad Brains: A Band in DC. Documentary film, 2012. Directors: Mandy Stein, Benjamen Logan.
  4. Bad Brains are asking fans to help raise $100,000 for guitarist – who is expected to make a full recovery from heart attack, Team Rock, March 10, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  5. Pearce, Sheldon. "Deftones' Chino Moreno Forms Supergroup Saudade With Bad Brains, Cro-Mags Members, John Medeski". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 29, 2016.