Diggin' Dr. Boogie

I love me some snarling guitars with catchy riffs and a solid back beat that's right on the mark. Dr. Boogie is just the band to hand it to you on a plate. This foursome from Southern California get it and got it good. Their honest passion for straight up Rock n' Roll is prevalent throughout their songs, giving a nod to those who came before yet fantastically crafting a new sound all their own.

Dr. Boogie played a couple of months ago and it was the first time I saw them live. With The Blessings and Hollywood favs The Crazy Squeeze at El Cid in Silverlake, I was floored by their presence on stage and authentic sound. I hear hints of Faces, Chuck Berry, Bay City Rollers, Stones - were talking serious Rock and Roll! Here's a link to them playing "Queen of the Streets" I filmed live at El Cid and you'll see what I mean! 

Down This Road is an instant classic produced with keyboards, piano, harmonica and sax to round it out. Having just broken out back in late 2014, I'm looking forward to seeing what these boys have in store. 

Here's to dancin' to Dr. B!

Julie Green
April 25, 2015

Julie Green: How did the band form?

Jeff Turpin:  Around the beginning of 2014 Chris hit me up asking if I wanted to play bass on a couple of tracks he was working on and possibly entertain the idea of playing out with him.  Luis, Dustin, and I were, at the time, looking for a singer/guitar player.  I think I threw the idea out there to Chris, or maybe it was the other way around, about all four of us getting together since Luis, Dustin, and I had pretty much decided we were sticking together.  We liked the idea so Chris, Dustin, and myself got together to jam on a few songs at my place. Chris had a couple of songs and Dustin, Luis, and I had a couple.  It might have been the first song we jammed that night but when we played "Queen Of The Streets" together, we all kind of knew immediately that we were going to be able to keep writing songs together for years to come. So about after an hour or so we basically made the decision right then and there that this was the band we wanted to be in.

JG: How did you guys meet each other?

JT: Although Dustin and I went to different high schools we met around that time through some mutual friends.  We hit it off from the beginning and ended up starting a band together a few months later.  Our band at the time started playing out and used to play shows with Luis' band and that's how we met Luis.  Then Luis, Dustin, and I started playing in a band together and did a few shows with Chris' band.  So I guess we all ended up meeting and running into each other through a mutual love and respect for the same type of music.

JG: Where did you grow up?

JT: I grew up in the suburbs. Chino to be exact.  Moved out when I was 18 and then moved to Los Angeles when I was 20. 

CHRIS P.: Born in LA and grew up in the San Gabriel Valley.

DUSTIN JAMES: Born and raised in Riverside, Ca. Moved to Los Angeles about 7 years ago.

Dustin James - Guitar/Vocals

LUIS HERRERA: Bell Gardens, CA 

JG: What was the first record you ever bought?

DJ: Oddly enough it was AC/DC High Voltage, still one of my favorite records to this day. It's also one of many records that Turpin and I really bonded over in the early days of playing together.

JG: Vinyl, radio or download?

CP: I really prefer to download a Vinyl Record then listen to it in my Car Radio.

JG: When it comes to fashion and musical style, who is your biggest influence?

DJ: I can pretty much speak for the band when I say that glam rock is not the center of the universe by any means for Dr. Boogie. There are definitely some really cool 70's glam bands that we all might vibe on and maybe our music suggests hints of it here and there, but it's certainly not what we set out to re-create or look like for that matter. 

Chris P. - Lead Vocals/Guitar

While we might be influenced by bands like the Dolls or the Berlin Brats, for me they were just another no bullshit meat and potatoes rock n roll band and that's what we love most. Truth is we didn't set out to try and re-create anything.  We're just merely a bunch of punk kids who grew up listening to a lot of early 70's punk and pub rock bands like The Dead Boys or Eddie and the Hotrods as teenagers and were more inspired to start playing music by that stuff.


We are also huge fans of early Aerosmith and The Stones and all sorts of Soul and Rhythm and Blues that dates far before any of that shit.  As far as a look is concerned, I guess we're just another Rock N Roll band that wears what we can afford.  Just take a look at Turpin, the kid hasn't changed his damn clothes since we've started this fucking band.

Jeff Turpin - Bass/Vocals

JG: Satin, denim or leather?

JT: Denim.

CP: It all depends on what she's into.

DJ: Polyester!

LH: Leather.

JG: If there is one band you would want to play with (past or present), who would it be?

CP: Ike and Tina Turner around 1970-1973

LH: Screamin Jay Hawkins. Dude came out of a coffin on stage!  But since you said band, hands down, The MC5.

JG: Who is the artist creating your characters and fonts?



DR. BOOGIE: Adam Turkel has been the man behind the scenes since day one. He really ran with our music and came up with the logo, T-Shirt design, and is currently working on the artwork for our LP.

Luis Herrera - Drums

JG: "Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not." Tell use about his quote.

JT: When taken within the direct context of the song, the character "Sidewalkin' Suzie" has to face the fact and come to terms that some days are easier than others to get out there and sell herself but in a larger scope this is an implicit line that refers to the struggle I think all working class people face on a daily basis.  Some mornings you can wake up and not have a problem heading off to your construction job, or off to go flip burgers for 30 bucks a day and other days you just want to tell your boss to go fuck off.  Chris has a real knack for slipping these types of lines into the songs, it’s a simple line lyrically that Chris delivers with this sense of conviction and attitude that really causes it to carry a lot of weight in the song.

JG: Who produced your debut EP?

DR. BOOGIE: We produced it alongside Gabe Lowry who engineered and mixed the sessions as well.




JG: Tell us a story behind your song "Queen of the Streets".

JT: I had more or less a skeleton of the song lyrically that I had laying around for a few years.  I like the lives that lay in the shadows and behind the curtains.  I think the whole band does, it's intriguing because I think we all live a lot closer to that side ourselves.  There's a lot of hookers around where we live. 

DJ: Yeah we have this alleyway below our complex where all these queens, drug dealers, and homeless people hang about that we like to watch out over for entertainment.  One afternoon we watched this kid, I don't know, couldn't have been more than 15 years old, take this 300lb hooker in the alley as an initiation test for some gang and watched the whole thing from my kitchen window. 

JT: So I wanted to write about them but I didn't want to berate what they were doing.  I thought, you know, what if one these gals actually ran the block and had respect and control and people looked up to her, even the cops, pimps and Johns. 

DJ: So around early 2014 just before meeting up with Chris I had this intro riff kicking around and some chords written out for a thing we wanted to call "Queen Of The Streets" and at our first jam with Chris we played him what was an unfinished idea. He seemed super excited on the idea and started tuning up his guitar to open G. He instantly came up with this great rhythm part and melody that had us all goin'. He finished the lyrics off and immediately there seemed to be this instant vibe and chemistry in the air and I think we all felt right off the bat that we should continue writing songs together and do a band.

JG: When is your next gig?

DR. BOOGIE: We're playin' El Cid Saturday May 30th at midnight!