Tom Johnston says The Doobies Brothers will release new music soon that's "different than anything we've ever done"

Posted By: Staff
July 25, 2019 @ 6:00 am
Music News

Credit: Mark Weiss

The Doobie Brothers haven’t released any new original tunes since their 2010 studio album, World Gone Crazy, but founding singer/guitarist Tom Johnston reports that the band has nearly completed work on some new music.

“We have recorded five songs,” he tells ABC Radio. “And they’re pretty much done…as far as the writing and the recording of the tracks and vocals and everything.”

Johnston says he believes that the tracks will be released “at the beginning of next year, possibly earlier.” He also describes the tunes as “very different than anything we’ve ever done musically, and I find that exciting.”

How are the songs different? “We have a certain sound, and…the harmonies are still there and all. It’s just the style of the music is not a rubber stamp of everything The Doobie Brothers have always put out,” Johnston explains.

He also reveals that The Doobies are planning to issue the tunes as an EP, rather than as part of a full-length album.

“We only did five songs for a couple of reasons, first one being nobody buys albums anymore,” Johnston maintains. “The physical sale of recordings is pretty much close to nonexistent…[T]he bulk of everything is either downloaded or is on streaming, and as a result, if you make a whole album you might just waste a bunch of songs. When I say waste, I mean nobody’ll ever hear ’em.”

Tom says all of the new tracks were co-written with veteran producer and songwriter John Shanks, who’s previously collaborated with Stevie Nicks and Bon Jovi, among many others. Johnston adds that he co-wrote three of the songs with Shanks, while fellow Doobies co-founder Patrick Simmons co-penned the other two.

The Doobie Brothers are currently touring with Santana.