Brian Doherty

Brian Doherty is an American drummer, singer-songwriter, composer, music producer, educator, and podcaster based in New York City. After starting his career working with various jazz musicians, he worked with rock bands and artists such as The Silos, Freedy Johnston, They Might Be Giants,

Early life Doherty was born in Brooklyn, New York. His mother and father listened to classical music and opera when he grew up. for both his undergraduate and graduate degree, studying under musicians such as Paul Price and Fred Hinger. after having been a student there and having learned some valuable skills there during college. He remained with the Collective for thirteen years, but Doherty remembers approaching him with Spagnardi and saying, "Dude, we're a trio!"

By February 1996, the lineup had changed; Graham Maby replaced Tony Maimone on bass full-time, and Eric Schermerhorn joined as a guitarist. They wrote new material which they were performing during their weekly stint at the Mercury Lounge in New York City; many of the songs that were being played there were fleshed out in studios, and released as They Might Be Giants' 6th studio album, Factory Showroom (1996). In early 1997, Doherty left They Might Be Giants, mainly for personal reasons, but also due to financial reasons. He wrote an outline and a first draft, and posted it online, but he stopped working on it for a while. He picked it up again, and is still writing it.

In January 2020, Greg Simpson, host of another podcast about They Might Be Giants called This Might Be A Podcast, also approached Doherty for an interview. Doherty first appeared on the episode for the Factory Showroom song "The Bells Are Ringing", released in February 2020, and he appeared with Tony Maimone on the episode for "AKA Driver", released in August 2021.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Doherty started his own podcast called Friends and Music with Brian Doherty in July 2020, which is very casual in nature. Through this podcast, he has interviewed his former bandmates and fellow musicians such as Tony Maimone, Steve Sabet, Freedy Johnston, Graham Maby, and Eric Schermerhorn. Doherty also got the opportunity to interview Stephan Galfas, who worked for Warner Bros. and produced a band called The Good Rats, and which Doherty felt deserved more recognition as the Good Rats had inspired more well-known heavy metal bands such as Twisted Sister and Ratt.