
Chris Doherty
Chris first began begrudgingly playing music at the age of seven, taking piano lessons after school each week, soon followed by classical guitar lessons. It was not until he formed a band with his friends at aged fourteen that he finally discovered his love for music. The band had two guitarists and no bass player, and after a few weeks on rhythm guitar duties, Chris got the bus into town and bought a used bass guitar for £60 from a pawn shop.
He soon joined the Foyle College jazz band and orchestra, and was involved in several school
productions, convincing him that he wanted to continue music in school. Facing the prospect of failing the performance aspect of his GCSE music, he was persuaded by both his music teacher and piano tutor to get bass guitar lessons for the first time. Within a few years, he had passed the entrance audition for Ulster University, and decided to commit fully to a future career in music.
He graduated from Ulster in 2014, completing his Masters’ in composition the following year, focusing on classically-influenced soundscapes, along with other noise-adjacent, avant-garde and ambient music. Basically, stuff that sounds like a lot of competing loud noises. In 2015 his work was performed at the RMA Research Students’ conference in Bristol. Since then, he has been refining his sound, and periodically releasing collections of slightly less abrasive music online in the form of digital EPs.
His output as a composer was recognised in 2020 by the British Library Sound Archive (formerly the National Sound Archive) as ‘a part of the nation’s audio and cultural heritage’. They have since archived his music for posterity, an honour he is both immensely grateful for and proud of. In 2022 he released his debut jazz album, Wise Up, Wee Boy, which was featured on Bandcamp’s front page. The lead single, Pure Lured was added to Spotify’s All New Jazz and Fresh Finds Jazz editorial playlists, as well as YouTube Music’s Upbeat Jazz Commute, where it still resides at the time ofwriting.
Chris has had the opportunity to tour, perform and record bass for many artists over the years, both locally and nationally, and has made radio and TV appearances, including on RTE’s The Late Late Show, in 2017. He has been giving private bass guitar lessons since 2011, and is excited to join the team at St. Columb’s School of Music this year.