Basic Plumbing

Basic Plumbing is the name of Patrick Doyle's second solo project and like he did with the first -- <a href="spotify:artist:7ChgYww6FATlAkSgBLH2E7">Boys Forever</a> -- the former <a href="spotify:artist:0mgbAj6btHW215UxhLq1AV">Veronica Falls</a> drummer shows the influences of classic indie pop while also adding some grungy grit, '60s garage swagger, and even more melancholy in the melodies. The band's lone album Keeping Up Appearances was issued in 2020, two years after Doyle's tragic passing.

A long-time fixture on the U.K. indie pop scene from the time he was a teenager in the early 2000s, multi-instrumentalist Patrick Doyle provided support in a number of excellent bands later in the decade including <a href="spotify:artist:66FnYoBw4pFf9E25o80mRL">Correcto</a>, the Royal We, <a href="spotify:artist:0NUfngfqXycaIpypTcxKsv">Sexy Kids</a> and, most famously, <a href="spotify:artist:0mgbAj6btHW215UxhLq1AV">Veronica Falls</a>. When that band split in 2014, Doyle moved to the forefront at last and formed the group <a href="spotify:artist:7ChgYww6FATlAkSgBLH2E7">Boys Forever</a>, releasing a self-titled neo-grunge album in 2016 on the <a href="spotify:artist:4HdtZZffUwt0Y6wdeHNJnq">Amor Foo</a> label. After a move to the U.S. -- first to N.Y.C. then to Los Angeles -- he started working on a second album with <a href="spotify:artist:7ChgYww6FATlAkSgBLH2E7">Boys Forever</a>'s touring bassist Helen Skinner. They spent four days recording tracks with producer Andrew Schubert and captured a stripped-down trio sound. The first single released from the session, "As You Disappear," came out under the name Basic Plumbing in late 2017. Sadly, Doyle passed away in March of 2018 and the album they had finished remained unreleased. That was remedied in January of 2020 when Skinner and Doyle's family teamed to release Keeping Up Appearances. Proceeds from the album were donated to the L.A. LGBT Center and CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably.) ~ Tim Sendra