Dr. Pants

Members

David Broyles

Role / Instrument:

Guitar, Vocals, Mastermind

Influences:

Beatles, Led Zeppelin, They Might Be Giants, Phish, R.E.M., Beck, Ween, Robyn Hitchcock, Run-DMC

Kenneth Murray

Role / Instrument:

Guitar, Arguments

Influences:

Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Van Halen, Weezer, Rage Against the Machine

Dustin Ragland

Role / Instrument:

Drums, Philosophy

Influences:

Beatles, Sufjan Stevens, Jimmy Eat World, Spoon, The National

Devin Donaldson

Role / Instrument:

Bass, Vocals, Gratitude

Influences:

Deftones, not sure who else (he just joined the band, people)

Media

Audio

Move So Slow The Trip, Side 1: Illusion & Truth Play → Buy

Gas Planet The Trip, Side 1: Illusion & Truth Play → Buy

Bowling With a Genius The Trip, Side 1: Illusion & Truth Play → Buy

Hipster Kid/Sexy Beards The Trip, Side 1: Illusion & Truth Play → Buy

Instant Insanity The Trip, Side 1: Illusion & Truth Play → Buy

Make The Midnight Hang The Trip, Side 1: Illusion & Truth Play → Buy

It All Depends The Cusack-Loggins EP Play → Buy

Bootyfest The Cusack-Loggins EP Play → Buy

Cusack Prelude The Cusack-Loggins EP Play → Buy

If I Were John Cusack The Cusack-Loggins EP Play → Buy

Kenny Loggins The Cusack-Loggins EP Play → Buy

Sweet Natasha The Cusack-Loggins EP Play → Buy

Sarsaparilla Girl Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

Away From This Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

The Gift Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

Hey Abe Lincoln Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

I Retreat Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

The Hexagon Song Gardening In a Tornado Play →

Doppelganger Rock Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

Catherine Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

When You Come Back Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

Baby Don't Cry Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

Shine Through Me Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

Gardening In a Tornado Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

Donuts Gardening In a Tornado Play → Buy

Lovepig Feezle Day Play → Buy

My Pants Feezle Day Play → Buy

Under The Lights Feezle Day Play → Buy

Bughouse Feezle Day Play → Buy

Press

“ Tight pop songwriting with a sense of humor Stephen Carradini June 1st, 2011 The cumbersomely named “The Trip Side 1: Illusion & Truth” by Dr. Pants suffers no such songwriting problems in its six tracks. The Oklahoma City-based quartet plays straightforward pop songs here, relying on vocals and lyrics to carry the release instead of the ear-crushing, distorted guitars of Weezer, to which the group is often compared. This is made clear from the onset, as “Move So Slow” is played primarily on an acoustic guitar and hangs on a lyrical device instead of a musical one. The clever song uses the ubiquity of driving and playing in a band as a metaphor for losing sight of loved ones in the tedium of life. There is a rock-out section, but the focus is thoughtful as opposed to “bashing it out in a garage.” (Be not afraid: There’s still plenty of rock to go around, as “Instant Insanity” proves.) But even thoughtful people can be hilarious, and the best humor is clever. “Bowling with a Genius” is a smile-inducing bit of absurdity that masks deep questions, while “Hipster Kid/Sexy Beards” is an ironic joy, poking fun at a subgenre that Broyles and the rest of Dr. Pants fall near, if not exactly in (there are Weezer glasses and an excellent beard on display in their lineup). It’s witty fun — I dare you to not hum along with the phrase “Sexy beards” and its corresponding “ah-oo-ah-ah-oos.” The tight pop songwriting of “The Trip” contains excellent lyrics and a firm grasp on the line between irony and parody. If you’re not listening to Dr. Pants yet, you should be. —Stephen Carradini

— OKgazette.com (Jun 1, 2011)

“ Can you ‘Trip’ like Dr. Pants does? For the Oklahoma City nerd-rock outfit, that means splitting its new release into four. Joshua Boydston, Oklahoma Gazette June 1st, 2011 Having too much good material isn’t the worst problem to have, but it does present a few challenges. Oklahoma City nerd rockers Dr. Pants didn’t know what to do with the 20-plus quality songs they had amassed for a new album. Their first thought was to pile them together, but a double-disc release seemed too big. “A full double album can be a little overwhelming to take in at once,” bandleader and vocalist David Broyles said. “For the moment, it seems like music is moving toward being digested in smaller chunks.” But a full-length followed by another one seemed too dismissive of the tracks that didn’t make the first cut. So they settled on splitting the album, titled “The Trip,” via four EPs over the course of a year, the first of which, “Side 1: Illusion & Truth,” will be released digitally on Tuesday, after a release show on Saturday. “This arrangement was the only thing that gave all the songs equal treatment without overwhelming everybody,” Broyles said. “They get to be on equal footing with each other this way. We didn’t want people to think the other release was leftovers.” By the end, “The Trip” will have assembled itself into a standard double album, although Broyles very much enjoys the band’s clever and deliberate release method. “I liked the idea that the small chunk emphasizes you were listening to one side of the album, almost like a double-sided vinyl record,” he said. “There’s a little regard for the now and what happened in the past.” For him and the rest of Dr. Pants — guitarist Kenneth Murray, bassist Aaron Vasquez and drummer Dustin Ragland — this huge undertaking has been fun and rewarding on every level. The songs and the EPs operate less as an overarching story and more as a summation of what the band does. “Each of the four EPs is like a little Dr. Pants mixtape in a way,” Broyles said. “Even before they were finished, we had rough demos of each one, and it was fun moving them around, playing around and finding the perfect order. I think there will be continuity between all four, but that they will all still have their little, personal vibe.” The act is confident that the fun, loose bunch of songs, which immediately recall Weezer and further beg comparisons to They Might Be Giants and R.E.M., are some of its best. Considering tracks from the last album, “Gardening in a Tornado,” landed on television programs as huge as “Jersey Shore,” that’s promising. The whole release is still taking shape; the second side is currently being worked on in the studio and has grown into something different than Pants first might have imagined. It looks to be a continually evolving project, although the destination remains predetermined. “The whole project being called ‘The Trip,’ the further we got along into it, the more appropriate it seems,” Broyles said. “There’s a journey aspect to all four, and the last one will definitely feel like an ending place.”

— okgazette.com (Jun 1, 2011)

“ “Dr. Pants gained my love by introducing their drummer as Disco Pony. Their power-pop did even more to gain my love once they started singing about young men who love John Cusack (guilty), bearded hipsters (guilty), Firefly references (guilty), donuts (guilty) and ironic rapping (guilty). This band seems as if it were scientifically engineered for me to like it. Their power-pop tunes split the difference between Fountains of Wayne and Weezer, albeit with ironic rapping every now and then.” –Stephen Carradini, OKGazette.com, 05/05/2011

— OKGazette.com (May 5, 2011)

“ “Dr. Pants are like bacon. Not turkey bacon. Awesome bacon.” –Jenny Lawson, TheBloggess.com

— thebloggess.com (May 1, 2009)

“ The world of facetious wit has always numbered musicians among its residents, and one band has gentrified the neighborhood with its latest release. Combining superb pop craftsmanship with a hyperactive sense of caprice, Dr. Pants new release The Cusack-Loggins EP is a trajectory of surreal ideas and a catchy cataract of fun. If you have seen anything by John Cusack or heard anything by Kenny Loggins you will catch the subtle innuendo to culture and identity that is immersed with dulcet intelligence and a clever phrase or two. Produced by band members David Broyles and Dustin Ragland, the six-song EP is a fiery mix of all the elements that make Dr. Pants a blast to see live; power poppy, Weezer-esque guitar rock, funky, jammy suite-like compositions that would make Phish jealous, and the quirky sense of humor that recalls the best work of Ween and They Might Be Giants. Careful not to burden the listener with stuffy instrumentation or ponderous lyrics, this release is, simply stated, a stone groove. The best example may be the song “Bootyfest”, a funky bass-infused jam that interpolates eclectic whimsy without taking itself seriously. Following the rocking fan-favorite “It All Depends”, which kicks off the album with a wisp of subtle seriousness, “Bootyfest” launches beyond its suggestive title to carve a realistic life mask from the conceptual clay of : “You gotta spend some to get some.” It is indeed an inspiring ode to the fine art of simply finding a platonic yet sexual relationship, or for lack of better nomenclature – chasing tail. The memorable “Cusack Prelude > If I Were John Cusack” duo couches its elation in lyrics like “If I were John Cusack I would make High Fidelity 2 and I’d make it totally awesome – it would be the greatest movie ever made”, and it’s chorus “Lane Meyer and Lloyd Dobler, Martin Blank and Rob Gordon” which is a kaleidoscope of some of Cusack’s most loved movie characters and feels amazingly like a song Jack Black would improvise on the set of “High Fidelity”. Maybe these guys collaborated with Black through www.SonicJive.com! Note To The Band: I’d close every show with “If I Were John Cusack” and let the crowd continue the refrain in a crescendo of a Capella love as the band leaves the stage to a sea of Bic lighters and encore extravagance. Note To The Band, II: (From the “I never saw THAT coming” constituency) Surprisingly stunning guitar about 40-seconds into “Kenny Loggins”, surprising only because it is completely unexpected and so damn good. “Cusack-Loggins” is a convivial and wry lesson in perceptions and particularity. Its unpretentious and well-crafted, artsy grooves work because they avoid the bombastic approach that worked against some of the latter works by They Might Be Giants or some of the forced efforts of The Barenaked Ladies or The Conchords, songs that actually try too hard to be a little too artsy. Which begs the question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away? Likely, the performances of these songs in a live setting is far better. But even with the limitations of studio reproduction, the songs are quite good. As I said, “Bootyfest” is such an amazing song that were it released by a successfully mainstream artist (like Beck for example), it would probably be an instant hit. Grab the CD for eight bucks and if you still need convincing, you can download “Bootyfest” on SonicJive for free this Friday. –Michael Canter, Sonicbytes.Blogspot.com, 11/03/2008

— sonicbytes.blogspot.com (Nov 3, 2008)

Gigography