'Science' gives way to technology for '80s rocker Dolby

Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 20, 2006 at midnight

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Fans know Thomas Dolby one of two ways.

There's the guy most know - the one with the '80s mega-hit She Blinded Me With Science, who made a quirky video to go with it, then quietly disappeared.

Then there's the guy the hard core know - the one who put out a series of complex albums, then abandoned music for a few years while becoming a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who developed the ring-tone technology that is likely on your cell phone at this very moment.

That's the guy who is on his first tour in 15 years, a tour that hits Denver on Tuesday and has fans ecstatic over hearing music they never thought they'd hear performed live.

"They've been delighted, I think, overall," Dolby says by cell phone from a turnpike near Akron, Ohio. "I've heard it from a lot of people who come backstage - 'I've waited 20 years for this, I missed you the first time around.' It's very satisfying."

It's a combination of luck, timing and vision that got the British-born Dolby where he is today. "Like you said, there's always been this split personality," he says.

She Blinded Me With Science happened to come along at a time when MTV was in its fledgling stages and looking for eye-catching content. Dolby's video of a mad scientist fit the bill.

"In the middle of the '80s, the rock-industry machine was really at its strongest. I hit especially hard because MTV was at its peak. I hadn't gotten a lot of radio play at that point," he says.

"Radio followed after that. Because it was a catchy song, a catchy name and look, it hit very hard. I had other lesser hits that don't get played, whereas Science still does." Other albums were well-received by fans, but didn't get mainstream play as Dolby got more serious and personal in his work.

Dolby's other interests also were taking over, particularly the idea of delivering music over the Internet. After moving to a small coastal town near San Francisco where he could windsurf with his wife and kids, he founded Beatnik Inc., a company dedicated to digital music formats that lost its first big technological bet after the MP3 format became the digital file of choice.

Undaunted, he refocused the company's energy on cell phones, developing the technology that allows those phones and other digital devices such as PDAs to play back audio (think ring tones). What was a niche business exploded as cell phones became widespread; Beatnik's technology now is estimated to be in 500 million cells.

Where did that drive to look to new things, both in music and technology, come from?

"I suppose it's partly being untrained. I don't have complete mastery of keyboards or vocals. I don't read and write music. My theory is very limited," Dolby says.

"My instrument really is whatever you put in front of me. I think my craft has always revolved around exploring that instrument and doing neat things with it that it wasn't always designed for. Opening your eyes to those possibilities.

"When I started out there were no drum machines per se. I had to program a bass drum sound and play it with my finger then rewind the tape, program a snare drum sound and play that with my finger. Different manufacturers' machines didn't talk to each other and so on. So you have to be pretty good with a soldering iron.

"I had found this box that was actually designed as a lighting console for Tangerine Dream. I adapted it so it was playing my synths kind of as a drum machine. Way before there were personal computers I was using a disco lighting console to control my drums," he recalls.

Dolby's wide ranging interests included music videos, video games, virtual reality and "finally with mobile devices, I try to latch onto something at a very early stage. It hasn't been put through its paces yet. I sort of stretch it to its limits and surprise people with new uses for it they maybe hadn't thought of before," he says.

Often the early pioneers don't get the recognition or profit from their work, so Dolby is grateful for Beatnik's success.

"It's two very different skills in life or in business or art or whatever. There's one group of people who have the ability to grab hold of a new tool and innovate with it or indeed invent new tools themselves. Then there's the other type of person who can formulize it and milk it for all it's worth and maximize profits and cut costs."

That's why he took himself out of the day-to-day work at Beatnik and now just sits on the board.

"I'm a distraction to them. They need to get focused on shareholder value and maximizing profits. They don't need some visionary waving his arms around and saying 'Yes, but what if you did it this way?' That sort of puts people into a tailspin . . . You want me out of there if you really want a successful business."

Anyway, he says, "it has never been an issue for me. I don't need a multimillionaire's lifestyle. I'm perfectly content with the recognition and acclaim I've gotten for the things I've done. I don't need to turn it into a corporation and be the sole shareholder."

Now that he's back to music, he finds it much more satisfying than in the past since the Internet allows for instant feedback.

"When I'd sit at the piano and came up with a chord change that meant something to me or a line of lyrics I thought was evocative, I'd include it in the song and hope that somewhere out there there were people who'd feel the same way.

"But first I'd have to contend with the record company A&R man, then the marketing department, then radio programmers, this whole obstacle course I had to get through before the public would ever get to judge," he says.

He has some new songs kicking around, none ready for the public yet. But music will remain the focus. "I think I'm back for a spell. This is not just a holiday from Silicon Valley."

A live CD or DVD from this tour is a near certainty, he says, and EMI wants new music for a retrospective. For his current shows he's doing a one-man tour, programming his machines to work together - and sometimes they just don't.

"You're not doing yourself any favors when you take a computer to a hot, sweaty, beer-sodden stage with a lot of lighting around and questionable power supply. You're sort of asking for trouble.

"When I first started I would wake up in a cold sweat with the thought of it all grinding to a halt in the middle of a song. From about the first time that happened a few shows in, people liked it. They came backstage and said 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?' I said 'Are you crazy?' They said they thought I did it to build tension.

"I came to realize that the audience appreciates being let in behind the curtain. If it does break down and if I'm lighthearted about it and throw out some free T-shirts, people are fine about it."

Thomas Dolby

• When and where: 9 p.m. Tuesday, Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave.

• Tickets: $15 at www.ticketweb.com or 303-394-1600

• Of note: He's also at the Belly Up in Aspen on Wednesday

brownm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2674

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