While navigating academia, Doing became engulfed in the freak folk scene in Ithaca, New York. The scene harbored a raw punk rock spirit through rough-and-tumble versions of Woody Guthrie songs. In that world, being a “freak” and being “cool” were one and the same.
The same upstate scene is where Doing met Johnny Dowd, alt-country frontman of the Johnny Dowd Trio. The two have been playing together since the 1990s, with Doing occasionally contributing vocals and melodica. Ahead of a 10-city tour with British post-punk legends The Mekons, Johnny Dowd Trio — along with Park Doing playing solo — is making a stop in Dayton. It will mark the first time Doing has officially performed in his hometown.
The free show is July 12 at Belmont Billiards, 820 Watervliet Ave.
After undergrad, Doing was busking on the streets and sidewalks of Paris, France, in an acoustic duo, playing Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly covers for francs. The incessant public performing allowed Doing to hone in on winning over passerby.
“When you perform, you have to give people a reason to pay attention to you. Paris did ingrain that in me,” Doing said. “So I tend to jump around and make myself look ridiculous. But that’s the show. You’ve got to put on a show.”
Doing’s European musical education continued in Germany, where he immersed himself in the experimental techno and electronic scenes. Leaning into the troubadour trope, Doing stepped off a bus in Berlin with a guitar in hand, scouting for inspiration. In 2023, after years of searching, he eventually arrived at the sound for his first full-length solo album, “The Origin of Radar,” a record he describes as lo-fi glam trash techno. Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard designed the cover.
There’s space to breathe across the album. A conscious decision was made to reduce the amount of guitar typically found on rock records. While there’s plenty happening, the instruments — electronic beats, keys, sparse riffs, and doubled vocals — are distilled into clean, autonomous parts, letting listeners explore without clutter.
“I love guitar rock — the power of rock — that’s what I grew up with,” Doing said. “But just pounding out guitar chords takes up so much room, sonically, and kind of hovers over everything.”
So he scaled back the guitars to make room for the nuances. Drawing from Ithaca’s freak folk tradition, he coined his own style: freak atomique, a trance-dance techno hybrid with a punk spirit.
His technical background also feeds into the sci-fi themes of the album. Drawing inspiration from technical manuals — aptly including ones explaining how radars work — Doing weaves the poetic and psychological potential of technical language into his lyrics.
Over the years, Doing has experimented with cowpunk, freak folk, avant-garde, and more. That crossover approach spills into his academic and professional life, too. The genre-bending, semi-scientific sound of “The Origin of Radar,” rooted in lo-fi post-punk-flavored techno, might just represent the most complete fusion of his worlds so far.
Listening to tracks like “Numbered Sky” or “Electro Sky Rocket” might make you feel like you’re surfing a desktop motherboard or splitting an animated atom. His music doesn’t require a Ph.D. to enjoy, but it does make a strong case that science and art can collide and spark together like particles in a synchrotron.
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.
How to go
What: Johnny Dowd Trio / Park Doing
When: 6:30 p.m., July 12
Where: Belmont Billiards, 820 Watervliet Ave., Dayton
Cost: Free
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