Half Baked Outlaws

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Rich “Richie” Doucette was born in Boston, MA, where he lived until he moved to Mesa, AZ in 1993, when he was 18 yrs old. 

His father is a singer/songwriter and he grew up surrounded by music. Both of his parents were supportive of his interest in music and when cassettes came out, his parents gave him their vinyl collection- Beatles, Stones, Neil Young, etc. He also spent a lot of time at his grandmother’s house. She had a lot of 50’s rock ‘n roll records he listened to, especially Elvis, and was supportive of his interest in music as well. He wanted to play the drums at this time and she would make him drums out of empty containers, like coffee cans. She also had an acoustic guitar he would beat on. 

When he discovered KISS at around the age of 4 he became obsessed with them (his older cousin who was 8, turned him onto them) and from there it was Zeppelin, early Van Halen, Ozzy, Metallica, etc. He took drum lessons for about a year but was too obsessed with Eddie Van Halen to continue with the drums. He started playing guitar seriously at around age 14. 

Rich went to a junior high school called the Arts Magnet (a school for creatively gifted kids). While there he played guitar behind the curtain for an original-made and written play production. He was also asked to play at the graduation ceremony.

Rich mostly just jammed with friends until joining his first band, Head Rush at age 17. They did some hard rock and metal covers and some originals. He was in punk bands and metal bands but, although he loved it, that never made him any money. He also spent a significant amount of time in recording studios, mostly cutting demos.

 
One legitimate album he has under his belt was with a metal band called Parasite. They spent approximately $10k recording this album, as they had received a business grant. His stint in this band was brief due to creative differences and some personal issues.

Rich has been playing in the worship band at his church since 2014. He also got his first two steady paying gigs at around this time. One at a mega church in Tucson calmed Pantano Christian Church, the other with an indie/folk/rock band called Tyler. This helped Rich tremendously with tone and dynamics and gear knowledge. 

In 2016 Rich’s friend Matt Indes asked him if he’d like to make some money playing country. He then joined the Rick Lenzi band, cutting his teeth on old and new country in that band. He learned a lot from  playing in a country trio, like how to play fills all over the place while playing rhythm, to compensate for the lack of piano, fiddle, steel guitar and all that. He was in the Rick Lenzi band for 1 yr. until joining up with Matt Farris.
“I’ve been with Matt Farris for one year now and it’s been a whirlwind. I’ve never been so busy playing gigs in all my life. I’ve never been happier playing with a group of musicians and Matt is easily the best singer I’ve ever played with. I hope we all stay together for a very long time. I’m having a blast and growing as a player. I couldn’t be happier.” 

Rich is also the proud father of two incredibly awesome boys, Aaron and Jacob. 

 Hailing from the rural mountains of Eastern Arizona, Josh first cut his teeth musically in the many dives and honky-tonks across the state. He moved to Nashville and spent a year working at Blackbird studio before realizing that his heart was still in the hills and valleys of the Southwest. After returning to the desert he began playing as a session musician taking his small town sensibilities and combining them with the professionalism learned in Nashville. The hard work of honing his musical ability culminated in joining Matt Farris as bassist and harmony vocalist.
I like to slap da bass man! See you on the road! 

 Kerry was born in an unlikely place for a country music musician, New York City, and began playing drums at the age of 13 after being influenced by her drummer cousin who played/toured with a successful rockabilly band.  She would watch the band pack up and head out on the road for shows and immediately got the bug!!!

She started out as a hard rock/punk drummer and played most of the big N.Y. clubs and small dive bars before taking a hiatus from drumming to pursue a career in law enforcement and start a family.  She went on to raise two children and became a decorated New York City Police Officer.  She served in several specialty units including bike patrol and a plain clothes Anti-Crime Unit.  She was a first responder at the World Trade Center after the terror attacks of 9/11/01 and at the crash of Flight 587 in Rockaway, NY. 

She moved to AZ in 2005 and worked as a police officer there for 5 more years before being forced to retire after a line of duty knee injury and two surgeries.  The end of her career and a divorce were the opening for a return to music in 2009 playing several punk and hard rock bands before she finally pursued her dream to play country music.  She landed her first country gig playing for Matt Farris.  Her transition from rock to country had its growing pains and Kerry has played for Matt on and off since 2013.  Now she is settled in full time and is currently the band leader for Matt’s band.  She has also done fill-in work for many of the bands in the Phoenix valley.