Gabriel Douglas had an eventful weekend. On Friday, his band 4ontheFloor had a gig at the Truck & Tunes at City Park Event in Detroit Lakes. On Sunday, he attended the sold-out Foo Fighters concert at Target Field, after a pregame get together with fans. “It was chock-full of music all around, so it was a good weekend,” he said.
On Saturday, Gabriel and his partner found themselves up north. They’ve been looking for a home on the north shore and took the rare opportunity of a day off for both of them to look at a slew of homes. They did not find it to be “cooler by the lake.”
“It was one of the rare north shore weekends where it was 92 degrees when we got out of the car,” he said. Though they didn’t find a home that checked all the boxes for the couple, he hopes to find one in the area that will.
“I actually love the north shore. It’s one of my favorite places in the world,” said Gabriel, who hails from Stephen, MN.
He moved to Duluth to attend UMD as a music major. After going through orientation, he was advised that he’d need to pass a piano proficiency test. Having no experience with piano, he was forced into a different major (graphic design) but didn’t abandon his musical interests in the least.
When Gabriel met James Gould, as the legend I found online goes, the two bonded over Led Zeppelin. They were fast friends who played in a cover band together throughout their last 3 years at UMD. Gabriel played with musicians along the way that are still good friends and band mates.
“It’s funny because there are guys who are on my call sheet who are all from the UMD music department scene,” he said.
James and Gabriel ended up in Minneapolis and the scene began to be set for the future formation of 4ontheFloor.
“I lived in a house of musicians, and they were doing a holiday show. I usually played those shows solo and I said I have a band this year,” he said. “Which was not really a lie but also not really true.”
The two friends were able to form a four-piece band in time to save the day. Gabriel told me that was the specific show that was the beginning of 4ontheFloor.
“The band started in the name of fun,” he said. “We had been in a ton of original bands and a ton of cover bands and we just wanted to make songs that we enjoy, and we thought people could move their body to.”
If you go to the band’s YouTube channel, you can see that they certainly do make songs that people can’t help but dance to or at least stomp to. It’s easy to keep the beat. The band’s namesake is more about keeping that beat than about driving a stick shift.
“It can mean anything that somebody wants it to mean,” Gabriel said of the band’s name. “For us, it’s the old jazz term because when we started writing songs, I wasn’t smart enough to write songs in other key signatures. So, it’s in 4/4 time with the 4 on the floor tap of my foot.”
The band has played up the North Shore before, at Papa Charlie’s in Lutsen and at the Harbor Rail Pub in Two Harbors. “Anywhere there’s a songwriter stage, I probably played or have plans to play there,” Gabriel said.
He feels like music is his way of connecting with others, saying, “That’s what got me into music. It was the first communication where I felt like I could communicate with people, and I could understand other people better. It’s kind of a universal language, you know?”
The band is looking forward to playing in Silver Bay at the Music in the Park series on Friday, August 9th at 7 PM and the benefit house concert the following night.
“We’re all staying up. We’re all fans of the north shore so we’ll take as many days as we can get,” said Gabriel, then added, “Just looking at the list of performers it’s just A-list Midwestern musicians. So, we’re happy to be part of that list.”
It is quite a list. The second half of the season includes Erik Koskinen, the Jayhawks, John Ellison & the Carpenter Ants, and Martin Zeller & the Hardways. Though the Jayhawks benefit house concert tickets are sold out, at the time of this writing there is still opportunities to see 4ontheFloor, Erik Koskinen, and John Ellison & the Carpenter Ants. If you are reading this one hot off the press, there may still be time to see the Joyann Parker band on Friday August 2nd and the following night at the benefit house concert.
“We play high octane stomping blues,” Gabriel said, encouraging music lovers to attend the event. “We’re happy to have people sing along and stomp along. You don’t even need to know the words or the beat. You just get to move your body and have a great time, that’s the idea.”
4ontheFloor can be found on Facebook and other social media, including a YouTube channel that I highly recommend if you haven’t heard their music before (and of course even if you have!).
For more information on Silver Bay’s Music in the Park free concert summer series and benefit house concerts visit rockywallproductions.org.
