About Me:

Angst Ridden Doug

Here I sit, just lil’ ole me sittin’ here by my lonesome writing my condensed autobiography while listening to Anders Osborne’s lastest CD “Coming Down.” (Great CD!!) It’s cool though. Who knows me better than…well…me? I know me too well, but I trust me to keep all my deep, dark secrets off of this page.

I was born a into a crazy and loving family in Lake Charles, LA on Aug 28th, 1975. My parents, Sandy and Glenn Gay are great lovers of music, but more importantly to me, they brought me up to believe that I could do whatever in life I set out to do; not in a passive You can do it! Way to go! kind of cheerleading role, more in constant beating drum of Life is an amazing adventure that a lot of people sit out on. Your heart and soul are destined to be in the game, not on the bench. You will be great, and you will have a rich and wonderful life. Sometimes you will have to ask God for it to come, but most times God has already put it out there. You just have to go and get it… kind of way. And they backed up those words with action. I can’t count the number of times my mom sat up with me at night daring me to say one more time that I wasn’t smart enough or “just couldn’t do” my school assignments. She would wear down my lack of confidence (and sometimes laziness) and help me come up with amazing A material papers and projects. She didn’t do them for me. She showed me how to do them. I remember walking into class several times with other students saying “That’s not how you were supposed to do it.” and sinking in my seat wishing I was invisible. Shortly to follow would be my paper on the overhead projector as an example of creative writing mixed with accurate form of thesis, supporting information, restatement of thesis, etc. After a while, you just get confident in being different. My parents didn’t MAKE me believe the words and ideas that they preached. These were words and ideas that I already believed and my parents confirmed those beliefs; kinda the same way you laugh at a comedian who is joking about things you’ve thought of before so the idea has a bigger impact on you. And when I started to doubt, action stepped in to make me a believer again. These days I have a slightly more realistic view of achieving big dreams, but only about the planning involved in getting what I want out of life, not whether or not I CAN get anything I want out of life. Mom is the dreamer, dad is the planner, and I became a product that balance. I still lean towards the dream over planning, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Thanks mom and dad.

1979 ish – My earliest musical memories are that of my aunts playing music. I remember my hippy aunt, Patty singing “Puff the Magic Dragon” to my siblings and cousins in her trailer in West Lake and me climbing her guitar (I was a climber). My aunt Kathy also played guitar. I think I remember her playing in church when I was a wee tyke, but that may have been planted in my mind from old pictures around the house. But I mostly remember banging on anything thing that made a sound. After a few years of banging on pots and pans, my parents bought me my first Sears brand A-Team themed camouflage drum set. God, I wish I would have saved that thing!

Chuck the Tree Climber

1985 ish – My older brother Chuck was my biggest musical influence. Chuck had the largest record collection I had ever seen which eventually turned into the largest CD collection I’d ever seen. I remember visiting him in college and having to navigate around his CD collection to get from one spot to the next in his little crack house of an apartment. Anyhoo, Chuck introduced me to all the great rock and roll and metal artists from the 60’s – mid 80’s. It was the rest of my family, as well as my community around me who rounded out my exposure to music: cajun, boogie woogie, old country, new country, folk, etc. In middle school, one of my personal mixed tapes could easily consist of The Eagles, Ratt, Peter Paul and Mary, Edie Brickell, Michael Jackson, Clifton Chenier, Lyle Lovett, Twisted Sister, Midnight Star, The Cramps, John Denver, The Dead Milkmen, The Carpenters, Grand Master Flash, and Danzig, among others. It would take all day to mention all of my influences. Let’s just say that I was one musically schizophrenic kid.

Jimmy right after being stung by a jellyfish

1987 ish – My twin brother, James Bryan Gay (Jimmy B. Gay hahahaha!) and I started forming bands. He played guitar, I played drums. Most of my early bands were with Jimmy, not just because of the convenience of having two band mates under the same roof, but because I looked up to him immensely. Jimmy was more like my older brother. I loved annoying him (still do) and he looked out for me. He was a bit of a dark soul back then and had a quick temper; not good for me when annoying him, but good for me if he ever caught anyone bullying or making fun of me. Jimmy and I definitely cut our musical teeth together.

1993 – As a senior, captain of the Barbe High School drum line, and drummer of various teenage angst ridden garage bands, my path was leading me to college as a music major at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA. Long story short: college rocked, I partied incredibly hard and travelled a lot playing music but still graduated with a 3.4 gpa, met the love of my life, joined my first regional touring rock band, recorded the first of many LP’s, got my jazz feet wet, and got a degree in music education.

Voodoo Grove (formerly Invisible Plaid)

1996 – I took a break from college for a few years to live in New Orleans with my band Voodoo Grove. We actually formed my freshman year of college in 1993, but made the move to New Orleans in ’96. That whole period of my life was like one big coming of age movie. I had some of the best times of my life to date playing with Voodoo Grove, traveling from Texas to Florida over and over supporting our 1995 LP “Trippy Tele.” The band lived together in a two story house on Upperline. I remember riding my bike to Courtney’s house to eat making sure not to tell the guys where I was headed since they’d follow like hungery animals. I remember a LOT of cheap meat, Ramen noodles, dollar hot dogs, practice sessions in what would have been the dining room, my bed in the living room, traveling in Dave’s ford explorer, nickel beer night at Tipitina’s on Wednesdays, eventually all of us becoming employees of Tipitina’s, Aaron and I being completely oblivious to a convenient store robbery while we yapped our mouths and made hot dogs then wondered what the big deal was when the cops showed up, doing naughty things at the fly, Audobon park, doing naughty things in the French Quarter, the moment I realized we were not visitors anymore but actual locals…good times. We played a whole lot of gigs and learned how to be working musicians, our own managers, our own booking agents, etc. I delved deeper into Jazz, but realized how hard it is to break into New Orleans’ different musical circles, at least for the young punk I was back then. It wasn’t an easy time for many reasons, but I am forever grateful for all of the things my first band in our first big city taught me.

Doug and Courtney K-I-S-S-I-N-G

2000 – I married the love of my life, Courtney Bailey (now Courtney B. Gay hahahahah!) who unbelievably put up with my crap in the old days and still puts up with my crap to this day. She’s got a heart of gold and a will power like no one else. She has stuck with me through thick and thin and currently helps me run my business Baton Rouge Music Studios, LLC. She is crazy talented and loves to spend her spare time fixing up our house. She is in the middle of building custom cabinets for our kitchen, and recently finished redoing our floors. She takes care of everything while I live out my dream as a professional session and touring musicians. She is my biggest fan and supporter. She’s just plain amazing.

Shelly and her husband Lane

2000 – I allowed my soul to be chipped away little by little as I worked at a bank. That’s as much as I will allow myself to remember of the horrific experience, EXCEPT for the fact that my sister (and best friend) got me the job and we would carpool to work and drink at happy hour many evenings. She was the only thing that kept me alive at the job. Thanks Shelly belly!

2001 – An opportunity to teach presented itself to me. The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, LA was looking for a temporary teacher until they found someone full time. Easy hours, low pressure, good money. Screw the bank! I had time to keep nurturing what I hoped would become a career as a professional musician, all the while hanging out with cool kids and teaching them how to read and play music. That temporary job turned into almost 9 years of service at The Dunham School. In that time, our numbers in the band program tripled, and we created 3 new classes for the music department. The break up is still fresh, but we agreed to still be friends, and I feel that their door is always open for me. They understood that I had to follow my passion.

Doug and Tab

2009 – After playing in 10’s of bands, recording on 13-14 LP’s, and playing countless gigs in many genres, the opportunity to become a full time professional musician came a knocking. Tab Benoit’s manager, Rueben Williams, was looking for a drummer to tour with Tab. I called Rueben on unrelated business, and before I hung up the phone, I had an offer to take the job. There was no doubt in my mind that taking the job was the right thing for me to do, but after 9 years teaching, and after 15 years of working relationships with regional musicians who relied on me for gigs, much had to be done in order to drop all that for the Tab team. Long story short, I’m currently Tab Benoit’s touring drummer.

Well, that’s it in a nutshell. I figure my professional history can fill in the musical gaps. I really wanted you to know more about my journey in this section. It’s not too impressive if you’re looking for name dropping and legendary stories of me with this famous singer or that famous guitarist, but it’s my journey and I’m proud it. It’s long from being over. At 34 years old, I am just beginning my new journey at a higher level of the world of music business, and I have no doubt that I will continue to climb my ladder, create wonderful music, and live a rich life!