Soul Coughing broke up rather acrimoniously 25 years ago. Despite rumors that frontman Mike Doughty was open to reconnecting with his mates — keyboardist/sampler guru Mark Degli Antoni, drummer Yuval Gabay and stand-up bassist Sebastian Steinberg — over the last decade, a full-band reunion remained elusive … until 2024 when the original lineup announced a tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Ruby Vroom.
For the uninitiated or those who have forgotten, the off-kilter New York City foursome used jazz-injected, polyrhythmic grooves and Doughty’s sing-speak/beat-poet vocal delivery and acerbic wit to gather a sizable following over the course of three stellar albums (1996’s Irresistible Bliss and 1998’s El Oso followed the debut) before flaming out in 2000. Yet the long layoff didn’t seem to faze them: The 2024 tour garnered a rapturous response, leading the band to release the simply titled LIVE 2024 earlier this year. The double album features 21 songs from across their genre-jumping discography, including fan favorites “Bus to Beelzebub,” “Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago,” “Casiotone Nation,” “Rolling,” “Screenwriter’s Blues” and “Super Bon Bon.”
Last fall’s successful tour led to another set of shows this past spring, and now they’re back on the road for what they’re calling a “Soul Coughing Still Loves You” tour of the Midwest. All of this is a surprise for longtime fans aware of the various internal dramas that led to their demise the first time around. Curiously, the band has done almost no press since reforming. But Antoni — whose mood-altering keyboard and avant sampling work remain one of Soul Coughing’s secret ingredients — briefly spoke with Medium back in September, revealing how they decided on a set list for the live shows: “We picked songs that were important to us, that we’d always played well. Wasn’t a lot of fussing.”
And how are the guys getting along these days? “We’re all being super professional, committed to our shared legacy, appreciating the love shown by our audiences.”
It’s hard to tell whether this vague assessment will lead to even more touring or new songs, but it’s easy to be pleased that Soul Coughing finally reconnected.
Soul Coughing plays Madison Theater on Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. More info: madisontheater.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Nov. 26 print edition.
This article appears in Nov. 26-Dec. 9.