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French-American musician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Douglas R. Docker (born 16 June 1967) is an American-French musician, singer, songwriter and producer known for his work with Docker's Guild, a progressive-metal space opera, and as a member of Cheap Prick, an Italian Cheap Trick tribute act. He has also worked with artists including Shining Line and Tony Mills. Docker is also the founder and owner of the Black Swan Rock School of Music, a music and ESL teaching facility located in Italy.[1][2][3][4]
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 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (June 2020) |
Douglas R. Docker | |
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Douglas R. Docker performing live (May 2012) | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Douglas Ralph Docker |
| Born | 16 June 1967 Auxerre, France |
| Genres | Rock and others |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer, songwriter, composer, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Piano, keyboards, bass, vocals |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Labels | Lion Music, Massacre Records |
| Website | Docker's Guild Official Website |
From 1977 to 1981, Docker performed as a second violinist in the orchestra of the Istituto Musicale Corelli of Pinerolo.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] From 1978 to 1988 he competed as a pianist in about a dozen international classical piano competitions (Senigallia, Stresa, Bardolino, Torre Pellice, Capri), receiving two first prizes.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] He also performed in recitals as a classical pianist throughout the 1980s.[23][24]
In September 1989, he obtained a BA in Classical Piano at the Conservatory of Cuneo.[25] He was then hired to play piano and organ on the album Ave Maria by Italian tenor Antonio Caffaro.[26]
In June 1996, Docker briefly returned to classical music with a recital called "Paesaggi Esotici", performed at the Turin Museum of Natural History. Featuring Mio Nakamura on vocals, the program included operatic arias and traditional songs linked by the common theme of "the exotic" (particularly Asia).[27]
In November 1999, he performed Allegro de Concierto by Enrique Granados at the SFI-Västertorp in Stockholm for its yearly Kulturdagen (Culture Day).[28]
Docker returned to Italy in January 2008. In 2011 he published an article cataloging the Waldensian musical heritage.[29][30]
In 2008, Docker began a project named "Docker's Guild". Its album The Mystic Technocracy – Season 1: The Age of Ignorance was released in 2012 on Lion Music, described by the artist's record label as a progressive rock space opera.[31] Performers on the album included Tony Franklin, Guthrie Govan, Jeff Watson, Greg Bissonette, Goran Edman, John Payne, Tony Mills, and Amanda Somerville. Docker did not know any of the performers personally, and did not interact in person with any of them. Rather, he solicited their services on the internet.[32] In 2016 Docker released a crowdfunded sequel entitled The Heisenberg Diaries – Book A: Sounds of Future Past. Aside from Docker, all special guests appearing on the album were women from the rock and metal world.
A Season 2 – "The Age of Entropy" – was planned but has no firm release date. Docker stated[when?] that: "Season 2 is in the works, but the format will change. The age of rock operas has passed and it's time to focus on the music rather than on the names." Despite this, he has confirmed that Anna Portalupi (Hardline) will be playing bass on the album and that drumming duties will be handled by Elisa "Helly" Montin (The Anunnaki, Cattivator Of Death, Übermensch).[33][34][35][36][37][38][39] In 2020, Docker released a track from Season 2 "Die Today" as a pre-production demo on the project's blog.[40] In 2021, Docker launched an unsuccessful campaign to crowdfund the album.[41]
In September 2019, Docker organized and headlined the Tony Mills Festival. The festival was intended to honor his recently deceased collaborator Tony Mills, as well as raising funds for the Mills family and cancer research. The show marked the first live appearance of Docker's Guild in four years.[42]
In December 2019, Docker announced that The Docker's Guild would be performing a rare live performance at Entropy Fest IV in Pinerolo, Italy. However, Docker later cancelled the entire festival, for several reasons including inter alia "the chronic absence of public at the evenings despite the constant online and printed promotion".[43]
In 2023, Docker announced the formation of Event Horizon, a melodic rock project of which Docker says, "Today I will begin recording the preproduction demos for a new project called Event Horizon - Melodic Rock Band. The band was actually active a few years back as a melodic rock tribute band (Asia, Journey, '80s Yes, Kansas, Styx, etc). I am reviving the project but with original music. And the first album will be something very special to me: there is a batch of songs that I wrote back in 1983/84 when I was only 16 years old. They are the first rock songs that I ever wrote. The direction was still vague, with country music, rock, metal and new wave among the styles of music. A little window into the origins of my songwriting." [44]
In the 2014, Docker formed Cheap Prick, a Cheap Trick tribute act that has performed live shows in Italy.[45]
In 2013, Docker was hired as an arranger and as the official lyricist for the Vivaldi Metal Project.[46][47]
In 2019 it was announced that Docker had left his position.[48][49]
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