I AM PANTS.
It’s about time I posted an official update in terms of what’s going on in the Pants-verse. There’s actually at least one thing that I’m NOT going to talk about in this post, because I don’t want to spoil it. I may allude to it, but you’ll have to wait for details.
This time last year, I wrote a blog post talking about how I needed a break from Dr. Pants. I said that you (the fans, family, and friends) could call it a “hiatus” if you felt you must. We played 2 shows in 2014, and at this point, it appears that is all we will play. We were petitioned by outside sources to do both of them, and we capitulated because we felt they were both good shows to do.
Earlier this fall, I had plans to do a Dr. Pants 15th anniversary celebration some time in November; this did not come to fruition for a number of reasons. There is a possibility it will still happen in the spring, but I am holding on to it loosely. I was very intent on it at one point, but I don’t feel it to be as necessary now.
A couple of weeks ago, Kenneth and I received a text from Josh Daffron saying that he was moving to Nebraska shortly after the new year and would no longer be a part of Dr. Pants. Devin Donaldson, our bass player, has been living elsewhere (first in Dallas, now in Tulsa) for about 18 months. He has joined us for gigs since he moved away, obviously, but it is not the optimum situation.
I may have said this in my post a year ago (I haven’t looked at it in a while), but the truth of the matter is that Dr. Pants has always been MY baby. It began as a way of presenting my music and songwriting to the world, and that hasn’t ever really changed. We did write the two songs on our Doctor Who-themed single as a band, but that is the one and only time. That being said, I do acknowledge the fact that without Kenneth, Devin, Josh, Dustin Ragland and Aaron Vasquez, the last six or seven years of Dr. Pants music would not have been what it was, and their talent and skill allowed me to write things for Dr. Pants that other musicians would not have been able to execute so phenomenally.
But I’ve always called the shots, for the most part, and I’ve worked my ass off. People identify and call me “Dr. Pants,” and I feel as though I have earned that. I hope to always have great people to play with if I need them; I hope to play with people like Dustin, Devin and Aaron in the future, and perhaps I will. Kenneth is still on board, officially, and in the immediate future will be a part of whatever we’re doing. But the pictures of the 4-piece Dr. Pants are going away for now, and I’m officially declaring our performance setup to be “flexible.” You may see a Dr. Pants gig that’s just me. You may see a Dr. Pants gig that’s just Kenny and me. You may see one that is me, Kenny, and some sort of percussionist. You may also see a full, 4-piece rock band Dr. Pants gig, should the need arise. But it no longer has to be one way, and this gives me an incredible sense of peace. I can relax; Dr. Pants is whatever Dr. Pants needs or wants to be in the moment. And this could lead to some wonderful things.
If you want us to come play for you, please drop an email or a tweet or an FB message. Acoustic or electric, we’ll figure it out. Maybe the option of an acoustic setup will give us more options in terms of coming and playing in your town. Maybe not, but it’s nice to think so. I always want to hear from you, and still dream of coming and performing for so many of you who have been loyal for years now.
Going to try and get some regular YouTube posting up and running again as well.
One last thing: this peace has finally allowed me to think about writing some songs again--at least, writing songs that are similar to SOME aspect of what Dr. Pants has done in the past (I have done a little writing for another project lately…one that is not Dr. Pants OR Weird Files…this is what I mentioned at the beginning of the post. More on that soon). So that’s going to happen, too. When there are some new songs to play, I’ll make sure and find a way to play them for you.
Hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving and a good weekend. I am thankful for so much; I’m thankful for the music, and I’m thankful for all of you.
-David Broyles