ON THE TUBE
There are many reasons why The Doug And Pat Show stands out amid the congested world of guitar-related YouTube channels. There’s no denying its hosts are somewhat older than most other guitar YouTubers and they have a collection of vintage guitars and amplifiers that’s bewildering in its quality and scope. They can also be laugh-out-loud funny, but a serious and analytical approach underlies their equipment tests, and the gear is always the star of the show. Doug begins by telling us how he met his partner in tone.
DISCO DISGUST
“Back in ’71 or ’72, I was playing in local bands and working in a music store and Pat walked in one day,” he recalls. “I had really long hair at the time, but Pat’s hair was down to his butt and he came over and asked, ‘Are you the guy with the ’56 Les Paul Custom?’. I got the guitar out, and we started talking about guitars and music.
“At the time, disco was starting to get popular, and we detested it, so we decided we’d put together a band that played Les Paul guitar music. We called it ‘The Heavy Metal Thunder Band’, you can see one of our posters in the background on the show. We played around Portland, and we used either Les Paul Juniors or Sunburst Les Pauls through 50-watt Marshall Plexis.”
At that time, the
