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02/05/01 And in other stories we're following, www.scottydoubtband.com made a debut appearance on a screen of a different type earlier this month. Instead of its usual home on the desktop monitor, all the news and blues of the Ottawa band were featured for the first time on television, as part of the daily High–Tech Report on the NewRO. As reported by Robert Lemire, host of the segment "Navigating the Web" airing every Wednesday, the site is an excellent example of good design and well planned development. Pointing to such features as the all important "3 click" rule, where any piece of information can be accessed in 3 clicks at the most, he explained that there are several things to keep in mind when building an effective site. As manager of New Media Corporate Training and Contracts for Algonquin College Media Centre, Lemire noted that www.scottydoubtband.com follows other important web neccesities. These include maintaining small file sizes for each page in order to facilitate faster download times and a prominent and consistent interface system for easy navigation. The site was designed and developed by Jeremiah Doubt of
For a closer look at the NewRo television feature on this site,
download the QuickTime video by clicking the following link:
Ever wonder what it's like to be a young blues musician opening for B.B. King? Scotty Doubt can tell you. On Feb. 1, Doubt, a student in Algonquin's fast track graphic design program, opened a show for the blues legend at the Molson Centre in Montreal as a member of the Steve Hill Band. The show also gave him the chance to meet the 75-year-old guitarist. "It was a great experience. He's very generous," said Doubt. "I got him to sign my guitar and got a quick photo with him. He really made everybody feel welcome." The Molson Centre show was one of the biggest indoor gigs Doubt has played. "I was excited, but it didn't really kick in until the day of the show," said Doubt. "I got down to Montreal and it really hit me when I walked on stage to do the sound check. It's weird when all the lights are up and you look out and see this massive wall of seats. It was exciting." Doubt has been playing guitar since he was eight-years-old, but he didn't start playing seriously until about six years ago while he was a student at Carleton University."I found that I was spending more time on guitar than I was on schoolwork," said Doubt. In the summer of 1999, he formed the Scotty Doubt Band along with singer T.S. Harpoon, bassist Nigel Troop, drummer Billy Brennan and keyboard player Billy Mitchell. The band garnered nominations for best new artist at the 1999 and 2000 Maple Blues Awards, and was a winner in the 2000 Toronto Blues Society National Talent Search. Currently, the band is taking a bit of a break as all the members are fairly busy. "Because of school, I'm definitely not playing too much right now," said Doubt. "This program (graphic arts) is very intensive and the bookings are on hold for now." However, once summer arrives, the band will be back out in full force. Doubt said they will be hitting the Ottawa and Kingston blues festivals, and possibly Toronto as well. It might surprise people to know that the Ottawa festival is the largest in Canada, as well as being one of the largest in North America. "Ottawa has a really talented blues scene," said Doubt, who added that this year's Ottawa Blues Festival will have five stages and over 100 artists. "The growth of the Ottawa scene is proportional to the growth of the festival, I find," said Doubt. "It's doing a lot for the city." Currently, the band is working on a full-length CD to be released in the near future. "Right now it's really a matter of finding the time and getting the guys together," said Doubt. "It's a work in progress." Those looking to catch the Scotty Doubt Band this summer can usually find them at the Rainbow Room. Don't miss them.
The band was all smiles as we hit the road to take part in Toronto Blues Society's 5th Annual National Talent Search. Selected from applicants across Canada, we were happy to be one of the seven finalists. Those smiles were about to get a lot wider! Each band performed one set in front of a panel of blues and entertainment personnel and was judged on Blues Content, Performance, Originality and Entertainment Value. After a two-night showdown of competing bands hosted by the Silver Dollar Room, the Scotty Doubt Band emerged as the final victor. It remains a source of recognition and achievement, putting us in the company of such previous winners, the Rockin' Highliners. For our winning set, we were awarded an appearance at Harbourfront Centre's Great Canadian Blues and BBQ Festival. Held in the Brigantine Room to a capacity audience that spilled outdoors, the band kicked out a memorable performance. That set was recorded by CBC Radio and heard nationwide during a broadcast of Saturday Night Blues that aired November 18, 2000. Thanks to all those true-blues fans who made it and can be heard cheering on that recording. You guys were great!
Doubt says what attracted him to the blues as a genre is the breathing room. An Eddie Van Halen approach to the guitar never held much appeal. "That wasn't hard for me at all because I never came from a rock background," he explains. "When I was 15 or 16, I wasn't tapping all those notes. I'm not considered a speed player. That's never what I wanted to be." Doubt moved from Guelph to Ottawa to study communications at Carleton University. "It's purely by chance," Doubt laughs. "I came here to go to school and I ended up playing guitar." He began performing with the encouragement of the Mighty Popo about five years ago at the open-stage nights at the Whipping Post. Having played with Tony D, the Fat City 8 and the Johnny Russell Band, Doubt now tours with his own Band. The next step, he says, is developing his skills as a songwriter. "I'm really just getting into writing songs and for me it's two pronged: How do you write a song and how do you do something original? "You can't recreate the blues, but you can reference it. There's got to be a way to piece together these references so that it is new."
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