Doni Underhill

Doni Underhill was twenty-seven years old and living in Toronto, playing for a band called Brutus when he first saw a live Trooper show. It was 1976 and Trooper had two albums on the shelves. After hearing through managers that the band was looking for a new bass player to replace Harry Kalensky, Doni flew to Vancouver where he auditioned, and was quickly given the gig. Within two weeks, he flew home, packed up his things, and moved to Vancouver permanently, leaving Cold, Cold Toronto behind. “I just thought it was a great deal,” he explains. “I liked the band, I loved the material, and everyone was nice to get along with.”

Unlike some bands, he feels there was a sense of direction with Trooper. “There was always a plan in motion. You know, like A-B-C to ‘there’. Some guys just don’t know how to put it together. They don’t have a plan, they say ‘okay, we’re gonna just go, gonna work, gonna be big stars.’ [Trooper] was very well coordinated and Sam [Feldman] was a great manager, so everything gelled well.”

It gelled so well in fact, that Trooper spent the next few years putting out hits, headlining huge shows and gaining widespread fame. Some of Doni’s favourite tours were around 1979, when they toured extensively from coast to coast. “Living on the road for four months, nobody to hassle you, bills get paid while I’m away, nothing to do but have fun everyday - it was great! There were a few tours that were way too much fun,” he muses. When he talks about the incredible night that they first headlined at the Coliseum, standing on stage, looking out over thousands of fans who held flames of tribute in the night, the magic and awe is still very much alive.

So time on the road was always great? Oh no, he says. He remembers a bus tour of the midwest United States that they did in December 1980 that was just terrible. Driving in an old 1950 MCI touring bus that had frequent breakdowns, Trooper limped from one show to the next. It was in -40°C weather that the heat gave out, and the guys had to spend two days with the oven door open to keep from freezing, taking turns hanging out the door scraping the windshield to see.

As far as Doni is concerned, playing live was probably the best part of being in Trooper. “All the big shows we did… were so much fun, so positive.” Of course, there was always the dubious benefits of “royalty cheques we could use in the McDonald’s drive-thru,” he joked.

For him, the hardest part was the studio sessions. “It was tough recording sometimes. It’s just long and tedious to make it happen. It’s hard to imagine it, then make it happen the way you imagined it. It was never the most joyous part for me.”

By the time “Flying Colors” came along, there was conflict within the band about what (and whose) songs should be recorded, making the time in the studio even more difficult. It was a big disappointment for Doni when the group members drifted apart. “We just weren’t getting along too much. We had so much fun… had a great crew, always had fun traveling, never really fought too much. [So when] it kind of went to the dump, it was a bummer all around.”

By the mid ‘80s, Frank Ludwig and Tommy Stewart had left the group, and Ra, Brian and Doni were focusing their interests on separate projects. Doni had been playing with Tommy Stewart’s band, TRAMA, to fill in the gaps between Trooper gigs and in late 1985, he left to work with TRAMA exclusively. “We started playing club circuits and have been doing it for the last 14-15 years.”

Doni handles all the booking and administrative aspects of the band and jokingly describes himself and fellow TRAMA band members, guitarist Ray Roper and drummer Brian Lousley (both of Stonebolt), as “alcoholics with a musical problem.” Together, they play everything from classic rock to Tom Jones and the Backstreet Boys. Such an eclectic mix of material isn’t really surprising, since his favourite artists include The Eagles, Jim Reeves, and Vince Gill. But does he still play Trooper songs? “All the time! There’s always somebody asking for a Trooper tune.” TRAMA happily obliges by playing songs such as “Good Time”, “Oh, Pretty Lady” and “Say Goodnight,” some of Doni’s personal Trooper favourites.

Although he doesn’t see Frank, Ra, or Brian much, he says he still keeps in contact with Tommy, often jamming with him a few nights a month. And like everyone, Doni is looking forward to the Anniversary reunion at the Commodore Ballroom this fall. With 25 years of history coming together that night, he laughingly anticipates the weirdest part being “trying to keep all our friends out of the backstage area!”  What will it be like when the old band gets together with the new? After a few good-natured jokes, Doni acknowledged that current bassist Scott Brown “is a great guy, I’ve known him for years. Great player too.”

“I’m happy doing what I’m doing,” he says of his life after Trooper. “I like being in charge of my own destiny.”

Doni now lives in Surrey B.C. with his long-time girlfriend and is the father of a teenage daughter, Kailan. He says he loves the Vancouver area, and when he’s at home he enjoys spending time with his friends, his dog (a chocolate brown Labrador) and his Harley.