Hydropods : John Dooley and Gary Glover
“Dooley is a very bright, whacked out pod-hopping, sarcastic, eyebrow-lifting poet. He possesses a scalpel-sharp wit that comes across very, very well in this, his band of words. And the Hydropods are a spoken word band at the core. Gary Glover’s guitars and keyboards are carefully set back from Dooley’s poems / stories. Sometimes that seems a shame, but most of the time it is enough to keep a toe tapping just slightly, enough to keep you going when you don’t feel like concentrating on the words.”
HYDROPODS : Dog
2011 release - Hydropods are Gary Glover and John Dooley
Spoken word with music played.
DOG Bios
Henry Hankendoodle (Milwaukie, Oregon) appears on Speak Intro/Outro.
Henry doesn’t speak English, but the half dachshund half golden retriever is the non-human star of DOG.
“Woof. Howl, woof, howl. Bark,” Henry says, which roughly translates to “I’m very pleased to be on this, my first guest appearance on an album. My part (in spite of what some listeners have said) was done in a single take, with no fake dogs used whatsoever.”
Emily Block (Beijing, China) illustrated the Hydropods DOG logo, and the graphic novella, DOG.
I'm a Portland, Oregon native fresh out of college and 'living the dream', of sorts, in Beijing, China, where I translate computer games at a Chinese company. At night I return to my little house just north of the Forbidden City, where I live with my boyfriend and cat, and draw pictures and comics late at night. I hope to return to Portland one day and pursue a comics, illustration or animation career full time, but in the meantime I don't really mind having a paying day job - and a fun day job, to boot!
Suzanne Bakker (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) plays ukulele on Chilly Willy and Notes on Smiling.
As an actor, I combine music with my theatre work whenever I can. I learned to play the piano when I was 6, the guitar when I was 16, and the ukulele when I was 26. Although the instruments I play get smaller throughout the years, my style has grown by influence of Americana and old-fashioned Dutch music. You can listen to my music at www.myspace.com/suzannebakker. (Suzanne’s photo credit: David Eeles)
Scott Docherty (Portland, Oregon) plays keys on I Like to Fuck, Prayer Poem, and
I have been writing and playing music for over 30 years. I made my debut with the "Alternative Chorus Songwriters Showcase" at the world-famous Improvisation on Melrose in 1976. I worked with the late, great Jack Segal (who wrote "When Sunny Gets Blue", among many other Tin-Pan Alley favs) at the "American Guild of Authors and Composers" while Segal was the west coast president. I was first published in 1982 by Kin Vasey, for an ill-fated Motels cut. I have played on scores of recordings and in countless venues since. I has been fortunate enough to have played with great artists, such as Edgar Winter, Tony Award winner Scott Waara, Jason Wade from Lifehouse, international opera star, Juliana Gondek, Nashville recording Artist, Kate Miner, internationally acclaimed bassist, David Miner (Leon Russell, producer of Elvis Costello's King of America), Ron Aniello (producer), Jack Kelly (internationally acclaimed drummer), the late, great Dave McKelvy (one of the top harmonica players ever), Mitchell Sigman from Berlin, British rocker, Steve Counsel and many more. In 2003, I played keyboards on tour with Mary Ramsey and John Lombardo, original members of 10,000 Maniacs and John and Mary and with Ted Mason, of Modern English, The Blue Mocking Birds and president of Mi5 Records. I played keyboards in 2007, gigged with Latin heart-throb, Roberto Enrique. More recently, I have recorded for Brett Mikels and play with various artists around the Portland area.
Joe Cronin (Salem, Oregon) wrote and performs vocals on Hold on a Moment.
HYDROPODS : Gorilla
2009 release. Hydropods is John Dooley and Gary Glover
“These are great tracks. These tracks they’ve released as a preview to the album, they kind of up the bar on Hydropods’ already edgy and stellar reputation for that kind of trademark funny irreverent insightful poetic blast that they do. I think of Hydropods as kind of like the I.E.D.s (improvised explosive device) of poetry.” -Wess Mongo Jolley, President The Performance Poetry Preservation Project
HYDROPODS : Vulture and Other Stories
Hydropods are a ‘spoken word with music’ duo from Portland, Oregon, touring to promote their new album, Vulture and Other Stories. Hydropods feature former slam poet and freelance writer John Dooley, and musician/instructor Gary Glover. Both are former residents of Portland and Humboldt County.
Vulture and Other Stories is a full length audio CD that comes with a book, in a white DVD box. Vulture is Hydropods’ 4th album of musical poetics preceded by Lost Chance Sessions, Ruth, and Racecourse Exit. Albums are available at www.hydropods.net. Vulture is the first in a new series of albums embellished with the artwork of Eureka artist Mike Stengl.
Cuts from Vulture are available on numerous poetry and music podcasts, including Sundown Lounge, Indiefeed Performance Poetry, Mystic Babylon, Slam Idol, and others. Selected cuts are also featured on current and upcoming compilation albums, Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka—Porn Music for the Masses (Weirdo Music, Netherlands), Pantheon: The Poetry Compilation (Amerrickan Revolution Records) and others.
HYDROPODS : The Lost Chance Sessions
HYDROPODS
Spoken words with music played
"Be warned! There's stuff in here that will make your mother wish we could go back to the days when she couldn't understand the lyrics.” -- Jonathan Nicholas --
HYDROPODS : Racecourse Exit
1995 Hydropods first album
Hydropods uses spoken word and music that electronically "presents a certain historical irony by returning to poetry's pre-Gutenberg origins: words set to music and chanted around a campfire," said one reviewer.