The Speak-Easies

“Eclectic, would be something to describe the music and myself,” senior Devin Dougharty said.

About a year ago, Dougharty and sophomores Matthew Barber and Jacob Grissom formed a trio, later adding Dougharty’s brother, sophomore Darren Dougharty. They combined their mutual interests in music to form a diverse band that plays “all kinds of weird stuff:” The Speak-Easies.

“We just joke around about everything, so we came up with really terrible names,” Devin said about the origin of the band’s name. “Then someone just said, The Speak-Easies, and we were like, alright, that’s good enough.”

Ranging in all tastes of music, The Speak-Easies mix styles that unexpectedly fit together.

They play “rock, blues, funk, jazz, psychedelic, indie. A little bluegrass. We’re working on everything,” Devin said. “Everything except country or opera, or anything too far-out weird.”

The Speak-Easies play covers of popular songs, but also write their own material, which always features something a little different, such as in their single “Rhino.”

“We always throw in a bridge somewhere that, theory-wise, it makes sense and it sounds good, but it’s not the typical type of thing you’d listen to,” Devin said. “We have this song, “Flick It,” [where] we switch parts. We have a blue grass part and a hard rock part, and “Rhino” of course is really psychedelic. We just like to throw in aspects to it that just make it fun for us.”

Spontaneity shows up in the group’s music as well as their personalities and performances.

“My favorite time we’ve performed together was at Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie and we were closing the show. We had absolutely zero material ready because it was two hours and [we] just kind of decided we would wing it. At the end of the show we just made up this chord progression, and they let me solo on it for like ten minutes. That was probably my favorite thing ever,” Devin said.

Recently, sophomore Kate Bollinger from Tandem Friends School joined the group as lead singer, and with this addition, the group hopes to start officially recording their songs.

The group has posted videos from gigs on their Facebook page, but since venues can get loud, the quality is not always that great.

“If you’re going to record, that’s probably the worst place to record yourselves. If you’re nervous or if it’s cold and your fingers are not warmed up it can be really bad, or it can be totally great when you’re improvising,” Devin said. “I wish we had recordings of some of the songs we just improvised on the spot.”

Students and the public have the opportunity to experience The Speak-Easies at their upcoming gig at C’Ville Coffee on May 29. Dougharty says this is the best way to reach their music, but at the same time, the band looks forward to sharing more material online.

“I’d just say, when we finally get around to recording something, just give it a listen,” Doughary said.

Click here to find The Speak-Easies on Facebook!