Thomas Andrew Doyle Interview
We sat down with Thomas Andrew Doyle (aka the "Grunge Godfather" TAD) around the release of his 9th solo full-length album 'Forgotten Sciences'. With this new release, Doyle goes back to his symphonic roots, to begin a new musical chapter in his already impressively successful career. Flexing his musical prowess yet again in a never-before-utilized way, the album showcases Doyle's many vocal and multi-instrumental talents.
- Your latest album, "Forgotten Sciences", explores symphonic roots and showcases your vocal and multi-instrumental talents. What inspired you to delve into this musical direction at this point in your career?
My previous band, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, wasn’t getting together as frequently as we used to. So, I had a bunch of ideas and plenty of time to explore them. The first solo recording that I did was Incineration Ceremony. Incineration Ceremony was also put out on vinyl by Sub Pop Records and it has completely sold out. Since then, I have written, recorded, and released eight more full-length records, and Forgotten Sciences was the ninth full-length that just released this year. You can find all of my solo work here.
- The songwriting and lyrical content of "Forgotten Sciences" digs into the darker side of human existence while carrying a positive underlying message. How did you strike a balance between these contrasting elements?
Out of bitter experience, I wanted to shine a positive light on a potentially catastrophic experience and make a choice to move forward instead of being negative and paralyzed by situations that many of us face in life. I have a choice and will not be a victim to anything in my life and I wanted to share that strength with other people so that they can see that there is a way to move forward in life without giving up.
- You mentioned that everything important happens in the present moment and that everything is an inside job. Could you elaborate on the underlying philosophy or concept behind these ideas and how they influenced the album?
I have had a lot of depression in my life and the months leading up to completing Forgotten Sciences was probably the most acute. I started to have problems sleeping and was going to bed and waking up about four hours later. I wasn’t getting good REM stage sleep. As a result, I was also suffering from heavy anxiety. I decided that something had to be done because I couldn’t live like that anymore. So I sought out a mental health professional, who helped me in counseling and to get to the bottom of what I was going through. It turns out that I was thinking about getting older and having so much music that I wanted to get out. I didn’t want to be on my deathbed and regretting that I didn’t do as much music as I could. But that also added to my anxiety. So, after going through counseling and increasing my spiritual practice of meditation, I was able to stop worrying about the future and reliving bad experiences of the past. The past is just that, it is over and done and can’t be changed. The future never comes, so worrying about what can and cannot be done is a waste of time and energy that takes away from the awareness of being in the here and now. It wasn’t until having these experiences with severe depression and anxiety that I fully realized that everything that matters is in the present moment. I was finally able to internalize that after having read it many times. Now it is something that I have joined with. I decided that I was going to take these potentially life destroying conditions and take the energy and make something positive out of it. It is my hope that I will remember that this is the truth and not fall back into the trappings of negative egoic thinking.
- Throughout your career, you have been involved in various musical projects spanning different genres, from 70's metal to punk and even punk/doom-metal and now symphonic compositions. How do you approach each project differently, and what drives you to explore new musical territories?
I feel that as an artist, musician, creator that it is my goal to make something unique and not to keep rehashing the same music over and over. I feel that as artists, we should challenge ourselves to step out of the norm to push ourselves further away from monotonous uniformities associated with regurgitations of the past. One of the goals for the songwriting, if you could call it that, was to color outside of the lines so to speak, and to move beyond any constraints that many artists’ works stay within. As a creator, I care enough about what I do to move in directions less traveled and to blaze new paths through aural terrains
- What role did your past experiences and influences, particularly as part of other bands, play in shaping your musical style and approach on this album?
I feel that everything we go through in life is an influence. Relationships with friends and with other people as a whole are defining to an extent. My experiences have been helpful to me to move forward in my journey both personally and musically. I look at all events as successes because they have all led me to where I am on this path now. Even things that one might interpret as failures have turned into valuable assets and experience for making better decisions in all aspects of living.
- Looking ahead, what are your aspirations or goals for the future? Are there any other musical directions or collaborations you would like to explore?
Yes, I am moving into scoring for film and television. I would love to collaborate with talented composers and musicians and learn from each other to sharpen each of our strengths and skills. I definitely want to closely collaborate with sci-fi and horror film directors to forge and develop something that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Currently, I am super excited that I will be starting work on the score for “a new kind of horror film”, with director Hayden Hewitt with Black Octopus Productions on the film CARA. More info here.
I am also getting ready to work on the score of the stop motion sci-fi series created by director Michael Lavine entitled The Dark Odyssey. More info here
I have already done the score for the trailer for The Dark Odyssey II - The Ice Nexus. You can get a taste of that here:
