[Main photo credit: Terry Moore]
Born in Te Kūiti, Hood later rejected his King Country university engineering education in favour of work as a Dunedin Post Office technician - his tech savvy enabling a generation of artistic locals in need of someone with a can-do attitude and rudimentary speaker system skills.
After a short stint as lead vocalist in an early line-up of The Clean, Hood travelled to Auckland in 1978 with art school punks The Enemy - a group that later morphed into Toy Love, for whom Hood long acted as soundie and manager. Travelling with the group from packed venues in the North Island to decidedly smaller crowds in Australia, Hood later returned to Te Kūiti when Toy Love ran their course.
Returning to Auckland to work with Paul Crowther at Live Sound and Steve Kennedy at Harlequin Studios, Hood also worked the PA at Parnell's Windsor Castle - a seminal Auckland post-punk venue.
Doug Hood on vox with The Clean (David Kilgour - Guitar; Peter Gutteridge - Bass; Hamish Kilgour - Drums.) - Beneficiaries Hall, Dunedin 1978.
Credit: Jeff Batts for AudioCulture.
Doug Hood and Chris Knox in Toy Love's Sydney flat, 1980.
Credit: Carol Tippet for AudioCulture.
Co-producing some of Flying Nun's most lauded releases (The Clean's Boodle Boodle Boodle and Great Sounds Great, as well as singles from The Chills, The Verlaines, and Sneaky Feelings) with his old flatmate Chris Knox on Knox's trusty 4-track recorder, Hood later managed and produced Children's Hour while expanding their role at the Windsor to booker/promoter.
As a gig promoter, Hood expanded into promoting tours from like-minded international acts, shepherding domestic runs from The Birthday Party, The Fall, John Cooper Clarke, New Order, Violent Femmes, Hunters and Collectors, The Go-Betweens, Sonic Youth, PiL, Dinosaur Jnr, The Buzzcocks, Violent Femmes, Jonathan Richman, The Cramps, Mudhoney, Butthole Surfers, The Lemonheads, Bob Mould, Fugazi, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Iggy Pop, Pavement and Lou Reed.
Martin Phillipps, Doug Hood and Colin Hogg.
Credit: Colin Hogg Collection.
Doug Hood and Russell Brown with The Bats - Flying Out Records, 2020.
Credit: Paul Kean Collection.
"When Doug’s company Looney Tours started representing overseas promoters in New Zealand, he would make sure that a local New Zealand band had the support slot. Where the acts were not 'alternative' he’d find local hip-hop or heavy rock bands to open for foreign acts in those respective genres. [...] As the New Zealand representative for the giant Australian summer tour, the Big Day Out, Doug made sure that a large number of New Zealand acts got to share the big stages with the overseas acts. Kiwis were not just confined to the smaller side stages. [...] I am not sure whether there was an effective, long-term 'union rule' that New Zealand acts had to open for touring acts playing in New Zealand but I am sure that there was 'Doug’s Rule' and he stood up to the foreign touring companies and made sure that locals got their chance on the big stages that he booked." - Murray Cammick for AudioCulture
When his Looney Tours folded post a bill from the taxman in the mid-nineties, Hood remained a much-loved music scene figure - often seen holding cheery court in much-loved Auckland music haunts. On 5 June 2023, Hood became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the music industry.
Hood's family told Radio New Zealand they died peacefully and with dignity after a prolonged stay in an Auckland resthome. Hood's legacy lives on via their ceaseless championing of, and get-it-done support for, local music. Moe mai rā e Doug.