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Doughty gets melodic with new songs and old 'soul'

Thomas Rippe

Media Credit: Thomas Rippe | Daily Trojan Singing and strumming. Mike Doughty, former singer of Soul Coughing, took the stage at the El Rey Thursday to play songs from "Haughty Melodic," his first album with a band since 2000.

Hipsters and hippies gathered at the El Rey Theatre Thursday for a show by the Mike Doughty Band. Faux-hawks and dreadlocks bobbed and swayed to a solid set of Doughty's solo material, favorites from his former band Soul Coughing and offbeat covers.

The show opened with "Tremendous Brunettes" from Doughty's new album Haughty Melodic. The album version features a duet with Dave Matthews, whose ATO label released the CD earlier this year.

After a few more new songs, Doughty went back to his first album with Soul Coughing for "True Dreams of Wichita." The crowd sang along most of the night, notably to "American Car," in which Doughty yearns for normalcy ("I'm done with elephants and clowns/ I want to run away and join the office").

Doughty also put down his guitar to jump on a sampler for a song that conjured up the sound of his former band. Later in the show, Doughty and his bandmates tore through covers of Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf," Guns n' Roses' "Paradise City" and a very funky version of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler."

One thing that sets a Mike Doughty show apart from others is the singer's strong rapport with the audience. "People of Southern California ... You're looking very healthy tonight!" he said to open the show. He also asked the audience to let him know if there was anything he could do to enhance their rock 'n' roll experience.

Later on he waxed philosophical on the virtues of blue Gatorade. "Blue is the best flavor ever. Red could be strawberry or cherry, orange is orange, yellow is lemon, green is lime. But blue is just blue. It's very post-modern."

Doughty has always been known for breaking the mold. The sound he crafted with Soul Coughing combined elements of electronica, jazz and hip-hop, wrapped around Doughty's highly personal lyrics and spoken-word-style delivery.

Doughty's first two solo albums, Skittish and Rockity Roll, are very stripped-down in comparison with his earlier work, with a strong emphasis on Doughty's songwriting skills. Haughty Melodic is his first album with a band since leaving Soul Coughing in 2000. The sound gives the album a fullness that puts a solid foundation under Doughty's lyrics without detracting from or overpowering them.

Doughty said he plans to continue working with his current band. "I like the idea of being kind of like Duke Ellington, in that I would write songs specifically tailored to these guys' musical personalities." He also said that the next album would be "more gritty, down and dirty."

Equally at home playing New York clubs or the jam-band festival at Bonnaroo, Doughty doesn't worry much about trying to fit into a scene. "I'm not really much concerned about who the audience is, just that there is an audience," he said. Is he worried about being pigeonholed now that he's on Dave Matthews' label? "Nah, I'm prone to sharp left turns. F--- 'em if they don't like it."

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