A Band of Brothers

Thursday, September 16, 2010 (updated , 2010 3:00 am)
By Carole Perkins

Mark Dougherty reaches over the table to pet an 80-pound mutt as the three members of his band, The Lake Isle, sit politely waiting their turn to speak.

Dougherty, a Greensboro-based singer/songwriter has declined a one-on-one interview. He has performed alone too long, finally finding peace and unity in this band of brothers.

After years of playing Greensboro as a solo act, Dougherty yearned to be in a band.

Once his music label fell apart, Dougherty began playing with an acoustic group that saw early success.

So Dougherty moved on with a firmer resolve to take his music more seriously.

That eventually led to Dougherty reinventing himself.

“I gave myself a rebirth under the name The Lake Isle, after Yeats’ poem about a man searching for his inner peace in a world of chaos — the theme of all my music,” Dougherty says.

He had a band name. Now, all he needed was some members. And on a night last spring, he found the first one.

That’s when Dougherty met Shawn Smith, drummer for Filthybird, which was playing its last gig together.

One of the band members mentioned that Dougherty was looking for a group so Smith approached him, and they started playing.

Smith recorded Dougherty’s guitar and vocals and later added drums, bass and keyboards.

“I had no real direction in mind, just trying to let things float out of me, and we kind of created a sound,” Smith says. “We tried a few guitar players, but they weren’t willing to take that leap into that sonic realm.”

Hoping to make the songs more interesting, Smith decided to play guitar himself.

Andy Foster, formerly with the Raving Knaves and Manamid, came on board as a percussionist. Chris Micca, a longtime bass player and backup vocalist to bands such as Crystal Bright, completed the group.

During a recent rehearsal, Foster can’t constrain himself between songs, ripping his drums every chance he gets.

“Andy’s a loud drummer and we will have to base everything behind that,” Smith deadpans.

Foster’s sticks clack as Dougherty steps to the mike to sing the lyrics to the haunting “Steel Rails,” the first track on the band’s new album, “Wake Up.”

“I should know, oh I should
that it’s all about letting go
but these old ways, oh they burn
these lies that come over and over me.”

With Micca’s expansive harmonies and tight thumping bass, the band is creating the “warm, sonic pallet,” that fuels Dougherty.

Micca and Foster exchange smiles as the song ends.

“The songs get better and better all the time, especially the new ones,” Smith says. “It’s working, it’s really working.

“S’working,” Foster says, nodding.

Dougherty says the difference in being in a band like The Lake Isle versus playing solo is that there is no agenda other than to play the music.

“It’s about looking around at every person practicing music in this room and seeing a look in their eyes that says they love this music.

“I call it a brotherhood. It’s something really magical and great.”

Contact Carole Perkins at CPGuilford@aol.com