New York’s M. Doughty was an aspiring music critic and poet until he decided to get ambitious and start a band. He recruited several musicians from his personal group of friends and started up the band that came to be known as Soul Coughing.
Doughty didn’t enlist the help of mere amateurs, though. Sampler Mark De Gli Antoni earned his Masters degree in music composition, and both drummer Yuval Gabay and bassist Sebastian Steinberg could hardly be described as newcomers.
The band sat down and decided that something had gone wrong with funk. Gone were the deep frequencies that got showgoers to dance, and gone with it was funk’s dark mystique. Dubbing its sound “deep slacker jazz” the quartet began playing shows at New York’s Knitting Factory and CBGBs.
While initially not very popular, drawing as few as 14 audience members to its first shows, Soul Coughing quickly broke out of its art-geek cult status and began packing clubs with listeners.
With that popularity came offers to record, and eventually the band settled on Warner Brothers Records, heading into the studio to record what would later be known as Ruby Vroom.
Named after Suzanne Vega’s child Ruby Froom, the album met with great critical acceptance after its 1994 release date. The album was produced by Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Los Lobos, Sheryl Crow, Cibo Matto), which lent the band much needed credibility. Ruby Vroom also served to get much-needed attention, selling more than 150,000 copies and quickly being labeled a classic by fans.
Soul Coughing took its act on the road, touring with acts like Jeff Buckley, Sunny Day Real Estate and Cop Shoot Cop. After returning from a rigorous bout on the road, Soul Coughing headed back into the studio to record 1996’s Irresistable Bliss.
Doughty’s fragmented lyrics in particular were awarded great accolades, as he sang cryptic lines like, “When all the limbs are numb and clean / and you’re in transit, dream to dream / I’ll drift there to meet you, lazybones. / When all the world has lain and sank, / and money sleeps inside the banks,” in Irresistable Bliss’ “Lazybones.”
It was “Super Bon Bon” and its sense of exuberant energy that made the album sell, though. The single helped boost the band to over 250,000 copies sold and secured them a place in the volatile nineties music industry.
Not to be overlooked were the other band members’ contributions to Ruby Vroom. Thanks to Steinberg’s frenetic bass lines and De Gli Antoni’s expansive samples, the band managed to capture the sound it had been aiming for — every bit as dark and strange as what Soul Coughing had hoped for.
It wasn’t until 1998’s release of El Oso, a sarcastic reference to the California flag, that Soul Coughing really hit the big time. Songs like “Circles” and “Rolling” were inescapable, playing everywhere from MTV to the Cartoon Network.
El Oso also brought a welcome boost in production value with Tchad Blake again at the project’s head. Other tracks like “Misinformed” and “Blame” bring out jungle influences that went unnoticed on earlier efforts.
With its newfound success, Soul Coughing began touring with bigger and bigger acts. Bigger isn’t always a better match, however, as SC found itself touring with groups ranging from Redman to Everclear.
All good things must come to an end, and so it was with Soul Coughing. Sampler De Gli Antoni had a new addition to his family and postponed his musical duties to raise the child. Deciding that De Gli Antoni was simply too integral to the group’s sound, Soul Coughing officially split in May 2000.
Members quickly got themselves involved with new projects. Doughty began touring as a solo act under the new moniker Michael Doughty. He released a book of poetry titled “Slanky” and an unofficial record, available in mp3 format, titled Skittish.
De Gli Antoni released an album called Horse Tricks, highlighting his expertise as a composer. Steinberg and Gabay began working together as a drum-and-bass combo, calling themselves UVRay, still touring, but without Steinberg’s presence.
One way or another, Soul Coughing’s songs got less and less airplay. Eventually, even college stations dropped the group from rotation. Now copies of every album have found their way into used stores, just waiting to get picked up again.
