Doug Parmenter (born 6 November 1987) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer and film-maker from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, England.''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

'', June 2007 Parmenter learned to play the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

at a young age. Before reaching his twelfth birthday, he had already become an accomplished pianist, violinist and clarinettist, although he lacked the drive to pursue music as a career. After teaching himself to play the

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, he began to collaborate and write with others, later developing his skills on the other side of the

mixing desk A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals from electric or electronic instr ...

. Parmenter is half of the duo The Idles, a partnership formed with the guitarist and pianist Joseph Fuller, who frequently gigged and collaborated with other musicians in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

. They developed a countrywide fan base after receiving national airplay on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. Together they championed the music scenes of Reading and nearby communities.''Q'' Magazine, August 2005 Since appearing on '' Later... with Jools Holland'',''Later... With Jools Holland'' and later going on to date the star,

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

, 2007 Parmenter has performed and collaborated with John Power,

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on ''Later... with Jools Holland'', and h ...

and

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

Glastonbury Festival

Parmenter's most infamous performance was as the unofficial opening act of the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

2003. The Idles had been asked to perform the sound check for the Jazz World stage on the Thursday, whilst the main stages open officially on the Friday. After drinking too much Brothers Pear Cider before the set, he ran across the stage, failed to negotiate the

drum kit A drum kit or drum set (also known as a trap set, or simply drums in popular music and jazz contexts) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one p ...

, and was stretchered off stage with a suspected broken leg. Subsequent medical inspection revealed a sprained ankle.Glastonbury Q Daily, 27 June 2003 He went on later in the weekend to play an unannounced set on

The Left Field The Left Field is a travelling Stage (theatre), stage and bar (establishment), bar which forms part of several List of festivals in the United Kingdom, British festivals. The event is organised by Billy Bragg and Juliet Wills. The Left Field was ...

stage.Q Glastonbury Review, 2003

Retirement From the Music Industry

Despite the wide global audience his work has reached, Parmenter has consistently shunned fame and fought to maintain what he describes as "a regular lifestyle". Since 2010, he has begun to formalise his retirement from the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

. He is a dedicated member of his local

Neighborhood Watch A neighborhood watch or neighbourhood watch (see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also called a crime watch or neighbourhood crime watch, is an organized group of civilians devoted to crime a ...

scheme, routinely assisting local police with investigations into public disturbances. Most recently, he has made

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

footage available t
ongoing inquiries

06 July 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parmenter, Doug 1987 births Living people English rock pianists English rock bass guitarists British male bass guitarists English male violinists English male pianists 21st-century English pianists 21st-century British clarinetists 21st-century British violinists 21st-century English male musicians English clarinetists Musicians from Reading, Berkshire