Since the spring of 2017, a group of Marquette students have been playing as a band named randomly for the doors to their practice space. The Red Doors is made up of: Colton Schroetter, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, Jake Grimes and Jon Fink, both seniors in the College of Engineering, Tim Fair ’18, a graduate student in the College of Engineering, and Matt Ricciardi ‘18. Each member brings their own style and talent to the band, and their musical abilities are particularly popular at Murphy’s Irish Pub, where the group often plays shows. The group also finds inspiration from some of their favorite bands as well as one of their favorite artists, Bob Ross.
So how did you guys first meet? When did this all start?
CS: Jon and I lived together in O’Donnell our freshman year and we found out that each other played bass and guitar respectively so we started jamming. We both knew Jake through engineering courses, so the three of us played starting junior year.
JG: Yeah we started playing regularly and we pulled in Tim and went through a bunch of drummers. I initially started on drums, but then I brought in my good friend Matt, who I know from running club, who happened to be a drummer.
MR: I’ve drummed since I was like 10, but I took a break in college before (Jake) pulled me in to jam. After that first rehearsal we took it from there.
Do you have any particular inspirations or people that have influenced you?
TF: Bob. Ross.
CS: Actually yeah, originally our name was Bob Ross and the Happy Little Trees before we changed it to Red Doors. We have a lot of varied influences within the band like The Rolling Stones and White Stripes. There’s some metal influence, personally I listen to a lot of alternative music.
JG: It’s very diverse music, we have some blues to countryish to alternative to rock to metal, so we play a wide variety of exclusively covers right now. We wanna play stuff that people know and that people can enjoy.
JF: A lot of times when people play their own stuff people can get lost or lose interest. Like even when we play stuff that we know but other people may not know they might be like “Oh we don’t know this let’s go.”
TF: Really though our biggest influence is Bob Ross and the magic he does with the paintbrush.
If you had to pick a favorite song what would it be?
CS: As of the moment it’s “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” by Tame Impala.
JF: One that I’ve been listening to a lot is “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” by Blue Rodeo.
TF: “Wonderwall” by Oasis.
MR: “Resistance” by Muse.
JG: Anything authentically by The Rolling Stones.
Do you have any upcoming shows or projects that you’re looking forward to?
CS: Oh yeah, we’re kinda a Murph’s house band at the moment so we’re playing Feb. 22, March 2 and April 2, then maybe something for senior week in May.
JG: I’d say our biggest goal is to really get off campus and get downtown a bit. We want to try and get some more exposure in the spring when there’s more outdoor stuff going on. We’re looking to get our feet in the door but right now it’s a little hard since no one wants to be outside.
How did you get the name?
TF: We practiced at a place with a red door.
CS: We all pitched like a million different ideas that we thought were good but everyone hated everyone else’s ideas. We were practicing in a house with a red door and someone was like, let’s do TheRed Doors, and everyone was okay with that.
TF: We should be called Bob Ross and the Happy Little Trees.
