The Doobie Brothers’ latest album, “Walk This Road,” is just four months old, though it was a couple of years in the making. But Michael McDonald says he is ready to start working on the band’s next record.
“I think we’re looking at maybe, possibly doing another record, and there’s a lot of things about that we’d like to try,” McDonald told Ultimate Classic Rock. “Walk This Road” is McDonald’s first album as a full-time member of the Doobie Brothers since 1980’s “One Step Closer.”
It is also the first time since 1976’s “Takin’ It to the Streets” that both McDonald and founding member Tom Johnston have worked together on an album. More than anything, McDonald said, the band is considering a return to the way they used to record.
“There are some benefits to recording these days with all the technology and everything that’s available to make records,” he said. “The writer kind of gets to formulate the track, find the tempo the songs work best at, and flesh out a lot of arrangement ideas, then bring the band in, sometimes individually, to put their take on it. That’s pretty much how we made ‘Walk This Road,’ and it came out great.
“But we kind of miss sitting on a floor together, laying the song down and capturing that moment of the band playing together and sending the idea around the circle. It’s going to change and be a new expression of the idea, and by the time it gets back to the original person, they almost don’t recognize it. That can be torturous at times, too. But we’ve dedicated ourselves to the idea we’re going to at least do some of that if we do another album. We feel that would be appropriate.”
McDonald said he does not know when the process for a new album might begin. The Doobie Brothers toured Europe and North America over the summer, with the late Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band opening the North American shows.
The band has one more show scheduled, Dec. 5 in Lincoln, California, and McDonald said the group is discussing tour dates for next year.
“But at this age the first question that comes to mind is, ‘Am I going to be alive then?’” he said.
McDonald said he has been pleased by the audience’s response to the four “Walk This Road” songs the band played during its shows.
“Back in the day, you’d start playing new material early, and it was always a good excuse for the audience to go to the bathroom because they really wanted to hear the hits and the songs they’re familiar with,” McDonald said. “So we’re always cognizant of that. This is the first time in a long time we’ve noticed that people kind of know ‘Walk This Road’ from the streams we’ve been lucky enough to get. They’re familiar with it. That’s a nice feeling after all these years, to feel that the audience has an affinity with some of the newer stuff. It’s something that’s kind of unique to this record.”
Although this is his third tenure with the band, along with several short-term stints and one-off appearances over the years, McDonald — whose last solo album, “Wide Open,” was released in 2017 — said he now considers himself a Doobie Brother for good.
“It’s been a wonderful experience for me to be back in the band,” he said. “I’ve always missed playing that songbook — the Doobies songbook, Tommy’s and Pat’s songs. And with the Doobies, I kind of fall into the position of being the keyboard player more than I do with my own band. Although I do play keyboards with my own band, I keep it to a minimum so I can concentrate on singing the songs and talking to the audience. There’s a guy who comes out who does the heavy lifting as far as playing organs and synths, who does a much better job at it than I do.
“But with the Doobies, I really enjoy the playing and living up to the challenge, and I don’t really get to do that anywhere but in the Doobies. It allows me to play a few other instruments; I get to play a little guitar, accordion — none of those things I do well, but I indulge myself when I can and get away with it without embarrassment.”
