Doug Yoel

Doug Yoel has spent his life in music. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that he was born atop a stack of vinyl LP’s with a guitar in one hand, and a tape recorder in the other. He’s an accomplished singer/songwriter and guitarist, with several indie albums and hundreds of performances to his credit. He’s also a record producer with several Grammy Nominated projects under his belt. Doug’s been on all sides of this thing called music, and he’s got the scars to prove it.

Doug’s music is informed first and foremost by the groups and singer/songwriters of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Laid back, countrified rock, with some folk, and even psychedelic leanings. He also heard a lot of black music in his formative years, classic r&b and soul. He started writing songs around age 10, in the midst of musical hodgepodge of the 80’s. Punk and new wave caught his ear, as did the fringe music he heard on college radio.

When he hit his teens, Doug was in full swing as a writer and performer, playing local venues and events, and recording his songs at home on a cassette 4-track. He still plays many of his earliest songs (such as "Yellow Light" and "Prayer for Return"), which hinted at the emotional depth that was to come from this young troubadour.

Through high school, Doug played guitar, bass and sang professionally in local club date orchestras and rock bands. He began a concept group called Broken English Poem in 1990 with an ever-changing roster and sound. Backed only by a drummer (and overdubbing all other instruments), Doug released the first Broken English Poem EP in 1991. An expanded version of the group achieved success in the hard rock clubs of New York's East Village in the early 90's.

In the Mid-90's, Doug worked his way through music school, playing the coffeehouses and working as a DJ on a Long Island rock station. Under the name Doug & The Ballbusters, he gained notoriety as the principal song parodist on "The Opie Show" (later to become the controversial "Opie and Anthony Show"). Watching up close how radio was playing an ever-narrowing array of music, his own tastes became more eclectic. An experimental and indie rock habit led to the hard stuff: jazz, avant-garde, bluegrass, and world music. Combining these influences with his folk and classic rock roots, Doug began to develop his own uniquely offbeat yet accessible style.

The coffeehouses turned out to be a worthwhile training ground for the young performer. There he found audiences ready and willing to hear original music mixed in with traditional folk, blues, obscure rock and interpretations of classic tunes. A prolific writer with over 100 songs to his credit, he watched his own material evolve and mature in front of the audiences. After touring the New York coffeehouse circuit for three years, Doug culled the best tunes of the period for his independent solo acoustic album, "Coffeehouse Tour 98."

Inspired by the freedom he experienced as a solo performer, Doug put together a project studio and began recording "Doug Yoel/Broken English Poem." The completely self-produced seven-song album features songs written in various periods of his career with a wide variety of themes: longing, loss, escape, independence, love, hope, and of course, the dizzying life of a music man. Recorded in a darker period of his life, Doug's solo album evokes emotional highs and lows through a combination of musical styles: bluesy rock, psychedelic folk and country, r&b and experimental rock.

In 1999, Doug formed Now Forward Music, a production, publishing and grass roots promotion company whose mission is to expose all alternative genres of music. He’s released over 100 albums – all by other artists - specializing in jazz, blues, electronic, folk and world music. Many of these albums achieved critical and commercial success (in indie terms, of course), and several have received Grammy nominations (including Roy Haynes’ Fountain of Youth, co-produced by Doug Yoel).

Doug recently finished a new single with producer Noah Simon (Joey Ramone, Greta Gertler, Reuben Butchart). “So I Want You”/“On My Hands and All” will be released later this year through Now Forward Music, and a full CD is being planned.