do you have any characters so talented that they'd be seen as a genius in their field?
PLENTY! Gotta give Galante Record's musicians plenty of people to look up to <3 I was gonna wait until I had more of the older musicians designed (which is why my response is so delayed), but I realized this post is gonna be long anyway HJDSJH. Listed are the people we're gonna see the most in Doing It Wrong, but trust that there are way more musicians than just these guys!
You can click on any of the images and go to their respective Toyhou.se profiles for more information on them, but for this post we're gonna be doing a little humble bragging! Let's begin!
MARIA DE VRIES • Her reputation proceeds her everywhere she goes. Maria is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time; even the professionals find some of her pieces difficult to play, her guitar tone impossible to nail exactly and is regarded as a mystery.
Since we'll be seeing the other members of De Vries here, let's cover a bit of background on the band!
Maria founded and played lead guitar for her hard rock band, De Vries, founded in 1995 and signed in '97. Their first album, De Vries, peaked at No. 15 and is one of their genre's most successful debut albums. After two more albums and a momentous, fiery career, De Vries would see its end due to the messy divorce of Maria De Vries and the band's vocalist + rhythmic guitarist, Floyd Galante. They had married in '01 and divorced in July of '03 with De Vries announcing its split not long after.
Maria moved on quickly, forming an all-star band in January of the following year and found her way back on the charts, staying there for the majority of her music career.
As an aside: There's a certain someone who has as a long running Tiktok series trying to find Maria's guitar tone, and she may have found it... or at least a way to copy it. (No one tell Maria, she'll be pissed)
MYRTLE ROBISON • Myrtle Robinson is De Vries' former drummer, as well as the drummer for her, Floyd, and Randy's 3-piece band that formed after De Vries' split, and is regarded as one of rock's greatest. Her jazz-influence bringing vibrance to her swinging yet precise beats, young drummers and professionals alike admire and study her work.
There are plenty of stories detailing Maria De Vries getting pissed off with Myrtle for agreeing to help other drummers refine drumlines they were struggling to write. This was on the stipulation Myrtle would get a writing credit if the assist was significant enough. Maria is famously secretive and felt this applied to her band members as well, Myrtle was "showing too much of her hand." Myrtle ultimately told her in no uncertain terms to, quote, "Shut the fuck up." Myrtle is credited on numerous songs, including some of The Lady's Perfume and SMOOCH's hits. These are bands she remains good friends with today.
FLOYD GALANTE • Floyd was De Vries' rhythmic guitarist and lead vocalist. Once he captured people's attention--which was quick as he's a charismatic and expressive frontman--he keeps it with his impressive 4-octave range and skilled guitar playing, able to juggle entertaining audiences, singing, and keeping up with Maria's playing. There's a certain synergy to his performances that keep audiences coming back for more.
Floyd is not only regarded as one of rock's greatest guitarists, but also as one of the genre's greatest singers and frontmen.
After De Vries split in '03, Floyd, Randy, and Myrtle formed a 3-piece rock band that surpassed the success of De Vries, especially with its magnum opus, the multi-platinum concept album (that has yet to be named, as well as the band LOL). The album follows a story of an unnamed protagonist feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders: politics, his internal struggles with sexuality, and his interpersonal relationships. It's energetic in spite of its somber undertones and music experts consider it a masterpiece.
RANDY HOLLAND • Randy Holland is the self-proclaimed "God of Rhytm.. Rythum... Rythmn?" and former bassist for De Vries (and famous bad speller, but that doesn't make him "any less of a rhythm god," he'll remark in good humor during interviews). Randy is--and I mean this nicely--quirky, and has a unique and energetic approach to his basslines.
He's also known for teasing his bandmates on stage, cracking jokes at *every* opportunity. While this wasn't received well by Maria De Vries during his run with De Vries, this worked very well during performances with his, Floyd, and Myrtle's 3-piece band (that still needs named lol).
DR. SABINE HASENKAMP • Dr. Sabine Hasenkamp has a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and a Bachelor's in European History; she studies music and was tbh the first person I thought of when you asked about "geniuses in their field" -- Sabine has such a wealth of knowledge on music: she's filled and published several books with it and those hardly scratch the surface. She digs into it a lot more proactively during her streams and in her YouTube videos, platforms where she has garnered millions of followers discovering, reviewing, and covering music-related topics.
The relations between music and culture throughout history and the connections to music today
Music played during death practices/funerals and ties it into modern practices
A sequel to her first book
In progress, working on it with her college, Dr. Lesage: leans fully into death culture and practices with artwork by Dr. Lesage based off of photos he's taken on their numerous research trips.
So influential is Dr. Sabine Hasenkamp that she has a fan on this list (two technically but her dad doesn't count LAUGHS), Floyd, who tries to at least catch her Friday streams where she listens to music released during the week, otherwise he feels he wouldn't be able to keep up with today's music.
She's also the older sister to Doing it Wrong's main character, Janis!
DR. E. HASENKAMP • Dr. Elliot Hasekamp is Sabine and Janis' father and a well-renown German psychologist specializing in NPD, ADHD, and Autism. Dr. H is widely regarded for his wealth of contributions to his field. He worked for a decade as a professor, has over 10 books and countless research papers under his belt, speaks 12 languages, and overall has had an incredibly successful career. He is absolutely a genius in his field.
