When Doug Burton & Chris Layton formed The Cooties in 1985, along with guitarist David
Smith, few would have given the duo much chance of still making music together 20 years
later.  But 20 years is exactly what it’s been and for those of you who are just now joining us,
you’re a little late.  But no worries, we’ll start at the very beginning.













The Cooties formed in 1985 in Williamsburg, Virginia and consisted of Doug Burton (bass,
vocals), David Smith (guitar, vocals) and Chris Layton (drums, vocals).  Operating on the
outskirts of the local music scene, the band played 6 gigs during the years 1986 & 1987,
among them a High School Homecoming dance, a couple of birthday parties, and a gig at
a bar in Norfolk that they weren’t even old enough to get into.  Did I mention the High School
Homecoming dance?  The funny thing about that, as it turned out, is that “Anarchy In The U.
K.” was not exactly what their audience had in mind to dance to that night.  

When David Smith moved to Texas in 1987, rather than fill his spot, the band called it quits.  
And then out of the ashes of The Cooties, rose a most unlikely and genre-blurring ensemble,
Que’st ce que C’est?  Chris had been preparing 4-track demos with Jeremy Rushing
(keyboards, guitar) during Fall 1987 and the line-up swelled to a quartet in January 1988 with
the addition of bassist David Kirshner and a guitarist named Doug Burton, whose name by
now should be at least somewhat familiar to those of you who have been playing attention
thus far.  Hey, wake up, we’re getting to the really good part now.

To be perfectly honest, well there’s no way around it, I lied.  This part of the story can hardly be
called the “good part.”  I’m afraid to report that Que’st ce que C’est was doomed from the
start.  Before ever playing a proper gig, the band was over by Fall 1988, at which point higher
education came calling.  Chris answered the call at The College of William & Mary in
Williamsburg and Doug had a brief conversation with George Mason University in Fairfax,
Virginia.  

During the years 1988-1992, Doug & Chris went their separate ways, musically speaking.  
While at William & Mary, Chris played drums in a band called The Wallflowers. [insert your own
Jakob Dylan joke here, it’s OK, really, we’re used to it] While at GMU, Doug didn’t catch on with
a band, but in between naps he did manage to play quite a lot of guitar in various dorm
rooms on campus.  And by 1992, when he was notified that his presence was no longer
required at school, Doug returned home to Williamsburg with a collection of music he’d written
with no lyrics to accompany them.  Sources tell me it was at this point that Doug thought back
to a day in Geometry class in his 10th grade year in high school.  Chris was also in this class,
and at some point during Mrs. Alexander’s lesson, he gave Doug a piece of paper which
contained lyrics to a song he’d written.  Conveniently, Doug had a piece of music sitting
around with no words, so the two were fused together and the result was “Stare,” The Cooties’
first original song.  So Doug made a crude cassette recording of his instrumentals and gave it
to Chris to see if the ‘86 experiment was repeatable.  The results of the ‘92 experiment were
called “Lifeless,” “Little Fairy Tales,” “Feel So Happy (Silver Lining)” and the band, ultimately
Gunston Midas, named after the unlikely combination of a chicken residing at the Jamestown
Island historical site and Chris’ gold VW Beetle.  

As it is with most bands just starting out, a fairly rudimentary demo tape was made and
passed around to friends, who all said things like, “it’s very good,” and “I like it,” with delusions
of grandeur not far behind.  Doug & Chris did a studio session in 1993 and sent it out to every
record label they could think of, but they must have neglected to include a return address,
because they didn’t hear back from any of them.  So off to graduate school went Chris in
1993 and although a few more demos were made during the next two years, the band’s
output slowed considerably.  Fortunes would greatly improve in 1998 however, with the band’
s long-overdue investment in their own 4-track recorder.  I suppose I should have noted earlier
that until this time, all of the band’s demos had been recorded with borrowed 4-tracks, and
thus they had little time to do much more than lay out sketches of the songs they were writing.  











Musical highlights of this era were songs like “Vancouver,” “A Girl Named Forgiveness,”
“Monuments,” & Babydoll.”  Within these four numbers, influences ranging from Power Pop,
Country, and punk were easily discernable and made the classification of the band’s music
difficult to pinpoint from then on.  2001 would prove to be a watershed year as all of these
influences merged together to create The Ladybug Room, the band’s first full-length CD.  And
shortly before the album’s release, the band also debuted as a live act at the first Benelux
Music Festival in Providence Forge, Virginia.  









In 2002, the band unleashed This Dog Kills Fascists into the ears of all who would listen, and
although it continued the eclectic sense of creativity begun with The Ladybug Room, a
harder edge to the sound began to emerge, as evidenced by tracks like “Lifted,” “I
Empathize,” & “Face Of The Earth.”  But it was in 2004 when Doug & Chris’ mug o’creativity
spillethed-over because that year’s My True Design proved to be light years ahead of their
previous output in all aspects of the process.  The sound was crisper and clearer due to an
upgrade to digital recording, the songwriting was direct and inspired, and the musicianship
had evolved to its highest point yet.  











2005 dawned with the band beginning a relationship with Richmond, VA indie label Digitone
Records .  Digitone released promotional singles for the tracks "Great Lake Deep Sea" &
"Sometimes It Seems" on March 31, 2005.  Bassist Scott McCaulley joined the band in May,
2005 and the new 3 piece unit played their first show on September 9, 2005 in Williamsburg.  
The trio played shows throughout 2005 all over the Hampton Roads, VA area, including dates
with some of the local area's top acts like Action Habit & Hallelujah Boy, and culminating on
December 9 at the Norva in Norfolk opening for The Violent Femmes.














The band spent 2006 writing new songs and completed their most recent album, Upstart
Princes of Shoddy in September 2007.  Post-production on Upstart Princes has begun and
the band plans to release it in October 2007.
Gunston Midas
www.gunstonmidas.com
History
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