SAY, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO TAD DOYLE?

Noise rock and the phenomenon known as “grunge” have intertwined histories, with seminal acts like the Melvins and Big Black serving as tremendous influences on many of the latter subgenre’s heavyweights. And none weighed more than the ubiquitous Tad Doyle, a behemoth of riffage and physical girth that rocked the fuck out with his band TAD.

Over the course of the Seattle act’s handful of raw albums for Sub Pop and the subsequent major label releases such as Inhaler, TAD evinced the menace, might and mangled melody of metal-influenced contemporaries like Alice In Chains and Helmet. Yet the group’s unpolished, unconventional image (even by grunge standards) relegated them to a cult act while their admiring peers in Soundgarden and Nirvana soared to rock stardom. The group broke up sometime following the release of 1995’s Infrared Riding Hood.

Earlier this year, the documentary Busted Circuits And Ringing Ears was released much to the delight of TAD fans as well as those for whom grunge was an important part of their lives. Check out the enticing trailer below:

So what’s Tad Doyle up to now? Well, thankfully he’s got a new project that’s been making waves in Seattle. While no mere TAD retread, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth should seem simultaneously and comfortably familiar to Doyle’s fans even as it delves deeper into doom/sludge metal. Here’s a recent interview with the happy lumberjack:

Considering that there are no plans for TAD to reunite, I’m just happy to hear that he’s still out there making great tunes.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is a byproduct of the New York City public school system. He also writes for Brainwashed and has attempted to manage the consistently off-topic No Yoko No.]