One Time Angels - rock musician Doug Sangalang - Brief Article - Interview

Thrasher Magazine, August, 2001 by Ryan Henry

MEET DOUG SANGALANG: ONE THIRD OF One Time Angels, ex-member of seminal bands, manager of Oakland watering hole The Ruby Room, lover of fine guitars and finer rock; East Bay. His band just put out a slab on Adeline called Sounds Of A Restless City, a well-crafted document of rock and punk and roll. He may not be lopping off the noses of the front row kids with his head-stock anymore, but the sounds that Doug and his friends are conjuring these days still work over the ears in fine style.

Were you scured of Russia as a Idd?

Not really, but that movie The Day After freaked me out. Remember that shit? I lived in Martinez; one week after it aired the Shell oil refinery blew up. My friends and I were playing football in the street when it blew. There was a huge orange mushroom cloud. We thought we were done.

Russians make the best tubes, right?

NOS Teslas if you can find em'; they're Czechoslovakian. Try Univibe.

Any irony in that?

"Harry Truman was a kick-ass president..."

Still have your own recording studio?

Kind of; I'm in the process of moving it.

Did you do any of the stuff on this record at home?

Just pre-production. There's a "Sidetracked" demo on our website.

So how'd the full length turn out overall?

It could possibly be our best one yet! (Note: This is their first full length.)

Hella guitar overdubs?

Oh yeah. We slaved 26 Marshall stacks with four mics on each one for a total of 104 guitar tracks.

If you could have any guitar you wanted...

My mom's Guild acoustic. It was beautiful. She traded it for my first electric--some sort of strat copy--and the bastard at the shop totally ripped her off.

Who've you worked with production-wise?

AFI and Fury 66. I've also recorded The Pattern, San Geronimo, Jesse Michaels, Agent 51, Brady Caesar from Black Cat Music, and a bunch of others.

What brought about the collaboration with Jesse this time around?

Jesse's one of my closest friends and I've always admired him. He's all heart and soul. I was having trouble with lyrics on a few songs and he gave me a huge stack of poems, excerpts, and stream of consciousness-style rantings to thumb through. On "Decorated Memory" I had the motivation down and had already started the lyrics but I was stumped for the hook. I asked Jesse if he had any ideas--I guess he was inspired because he re-wrote a whole new set of lyrics in 15 minutes that captured my exact motivation, only better. What could I say? It was a gift. Thanks Jesse. Incidentally, that song is probably my favorite.

Does Adeline treat you well?

Adeline is great. All of the bands have total freedom and all of the budgeting is very realistic. I doubt that there is one release on Adeline that won't recoup.

Does being on Adeline constitute all--access to Jim's ramp?

Yeah, there's a pool in his backyard too. Hop his fence and check it out. OK. down to brass tacks. Aren't you afraid-with Mickey playin with his fingers and whatnot combined with the fact that he's from Santa Cruz-that he's gonna start bustin' out with the heavy rasta rhythms?

No not really, actually that never even crossed my mind.

Mickey (OTA bassist) wanted to talk about surfing and bands and his record collection, but only got the following. Sorry Mickey.

For the sake of rock and roll you moved from beautiful surf city Santa Cruz to the cold waters of the East Bay; one of SC and Berkeley, which is the more PC town?

Definitely a big fat fuckin' tie. Luckily for some of us there is still a healthy amount of hostility and disdain in both of these lovely little cities to balance things out. After all, anger is an energy (Rottensim). Seriously?

Just hippies and scenesters, right?

Correct, nothing but hippies and scenesters. But hey, am I to sa?

We're all guilty. I won't lie; I liked Primus and the Chili Peppers back in the 80s and you fuckin' liked em' too.

Still Do. Which of the ave's is scarier? Telegraph or Pacific?

Both have plenty of cretinous, dangerous types-however, the creeps in SC are less threatening and are actually fun to watch. I don't hate walking down either but I'm more comfortable down on Pacific. No offense to Berkeley. Leave me alone and stop forcing me to say mean things. Fine. Here's a hypothetical: You and the bros are chillin' at a kegger in SC. Someone shours out "Westside!" What do you do?

Pretty much just hope that the party I'm at is on the west side. I'm quite non-partisan; more of a mid-towner geographically speaking. Get the rest of the skinny at www.onetimeangels.com.