Dr. C & The Predicates

Dr. C and the Predicates are an American rock band who released on Urapopstar from 2003 to 2007, and again from 2010 to the present. They had nineteen hit singles, including the #1 Five Years.

The beginning
One of the most prominent rock bands on Urapopstar, Dr. C and the Predicates started off at a military compound at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Two of the band's current members, Max and Darren, met in 1994, who were both orphaned at a young age and raised by adoptive parents in the armed forces. Around this time, they discovered music, and formed a band with two friends of theirs, where Max and Darren played the rhythm section. This band played local gigs, and recorded an EP which was sold in local stores around the military base.

In 1998, the band split, and Max and Darren went to college. Little did they know that they'd be attending the same college! They decided to start up a band again, and found two classmates named Neil and Ted to join them. However, none of them could sing! But the rest of the guys caught Max singing a few notes subconsciously, and the band felt he was the best to sing their songs.

By 2001, the guys had recorded two independent albums, and decided they needed more rhythm to their music. While back at the military base they grew up at, they met Erik, an old friend of theirs who had filled in on a few shows back when the original line-up was playing. He decided to join the touring line-up for the band for whever they decided to tour.

The guys would always joke about which fields of interest they were going to pursue. Max had often been nicknamed "Dr. C" by the rest of the guys, due to his interest in the medicinal field. Darren and Neil were often referred to as the "Predicates" due to being English majors. Taking the two together, they came up with the name "Dr. C and the Predicates" for their band.

In 2002, Dr. C and the Predicates distributed their albums across the United States at college campuses, and toured around the places where their albums were sold. Finally, in the spring of 2003, the guys decided to leave college to focus on furthering their music career. Not just content with releasing domestically, they decided to set their sights on the UK, as they felt they should bring rock back into their music scene.

2003: World Tour 2003-04 Volume 1
Upon their arrival, Dr. C and the Predicates were signed to breathemusic, who signed them for their first album. They decided on "Free Form Flex", which was a hit at their live shows, as their debut single. The guys were met with success, as their debut single reached #8 in the singles chart. Around this time, the guys met another friend named Ryan, who became a back-up musician for their tour, and would eventually become a full member following Erik's departure for personal reasons.

While on their first world tour in the fall of 2003, Dr. C and the Predicates started recording songs for their international/big label debut album, which included re-recorded versions of their independent tracks recorded at various studios around the world as they toured. The finished product was entitled "World Tour 2003-04 Volume 1", with the intention of continuing the series as their tour continued into 2004. The album would be released with a peak of #9, and a silver certification, while their second single, "World In Our Vision", gave them a second #8 single.

In 2004, Dr. C and the Predicates had already started to collaborate with other artists; the first of these, "The Love Was Lost", was a duet with former Spice Whirl Emma Button. The mix of their normally incompatible sounds was met with criticism at first, and while it had only limped in at #21 in its first week, managed to climb to #7 in its second week in the top 40, giving the guys their highest charting single to date. Dr. C, in addition, was revealed to be the father of Emma's first child; the pair have since split due to busy scheduling conflicts. The success of this duet inspired them to include the song on their second album, which was at the time in the planning stages.

2004: World Tour 2003-04 Volume 2
While on tour, Dr. C and the Predicates recorded their every action on camera for one week in the hopes of creating a reality show mini-series. The show pulled in good ratings, and aired the week that their single, "Faceless Crowd/So Sad, So Lonely" was released. Both of these were slower songs, different from their normal style, and were slightly risky as the official lead-off to their new album. The risk managed to pay off, as this became their highest-charting single to date, reaching #3 in the singles chart and going gold. The opening from the "Faceless Crowd" video has remained the opening routine at their live shows to this day (although often it leads into a different song these days), and the album "World Tour 2003-04 Volume 2", this time with brand new tracks written and recorded while on tour, also became an instant hit, reaching #3 in the album charts and eventually rising to #2 and going platinum. It was clear that Dr. C and the Predicates were around to stay.

Just in time for the summer, Dr. C and the Predicates announced "Lyin' In The Sun", which was the last track written for the album and almost didn't make the final cut, as the new single. During the promotional period for this single, they purchased an old ambulance and renovated it as their tour vehicle, with the ambulance signifying the Dr. C part of their name. Despite initial predictions of being a #1 contender, "Lyin' In The Sun" only managed #6 in its first week, but climbed to #3 and ended up being certified platinum.

In addition to the band work, Dr. C also did some stuff outside the band. The single, "I Made It Hard For You To Love Me", was scheduled to be the second single from Lizzie, and she wanted a male singer to team up with for the track; Dr. C accepted. Due to promotional problems and Lizzie's disappearance, Dr. C had felt overburdened, and felt uncomfortable promoting a duet like this alone. The single still managed a #15 position in the singles chart, but was nothing compared to another event that rocked their summer; their first ever win at the URAPS Awards. After nearly a year of delivering the rock hits for the Urapopstar world, they were recognized for their efforts.

The guys spent their summer performing at major festivals such as Paws For Music and 4tune & Friends, as well as purchasing a rural pocket of land and granting a lease to build a hotel on their property. This hotel would also include a club of their own, which they named Dr. C's. This club paid host to several big names over the following two years; it was last active on a regular basis in August 2006. The guys would also get the offer to appear as aliens in the science fiction thriller "Colony Earth", as well as writing the theme song for it. Their role in the film gave them a bridge towards supervising junior high school students at the Colony Earth science camp at the end of the summer. The film was a box-office success, and "Satellite", the theme song, entered the top 40 singles at #7. Following this, the guys decided to take the extended break they felt they had finally earned.

2005: Superficial
Most of their break was spent back at the military base where they grew up, writing songs for their third album, "Superficial". As 2005 began, their new album, which has been said by critics to be their best yet, has entered the albums chart at #2, matching the peak of their last album. The diversity of the album shows in its lead single, "She Heard Me", an upbeat, energetic rock song that shows the world why Dr. C and the Predicates aren't just your run of the mill rock band, and reached #2, becoming their biggest hit at the time. This was followed up with a duet with Tasha, "Serpentine/Storm In A Teacup", which was a last-minute addition to their album, and also reached #2. "Hard To Swallow", another single from the album, was also a top 5 hit.

Around this time, Max from the band was in a relationship with Sophie Ramone, and ended up fathering her child, his second. The relationship, like most others, did not last. Dr. C and the Predicates were asked to contribute to the soundtrack to the movie "The Entertainer", for which they wrote the song "Disappear". It became the lead track for an EP release, which included four tracks from the "Superficial" album as well. The haunting video became one of their most acclaimed, and also helped the single chart at #6. Their video direction skills also resulted in a one-off single written by Innocent, "Some Kind of Monster", chart at #4 while Dr. C and the Predicates started writing songs for their fourth album.

2006: Impossible Artifacts
As the fourth album approached, Dr. C and the Predicates were still missing a lead single. Noticing that the five-year anniversary of Urapopstar was coming up, they decided to write a song in celebration, called "Five Years". However, during the promotion, nothing was the way it seemed, as members of Dr. C and the Predicates were all tangled up in lawsuits and not talking to each other, all claiming that they were the real band! All of this ended up foreshadowing the video, which was about a band reuniting for their five-year anniversary. This was a timely "reunion", as they managed to perform at the 5 Years of Urapopstar concert, where their song provided the unofficial theme song, and eventually gave them their first and only #1 single to date.

The mostly self-written album "Impossible Artifacts" followed, and also gave them a #1 album. The next single, "Flat Tire Road", had a video set in a Great Depression-era ghost town, complete with gangsters, and charted at #6. Plans for another single from the album were put on hold, as Helene Schneider, then coming off the success of her debut single "That's Hardcore", asked Dr. C and the Predicates to duet with her, which became the next single that they released, "Follow Me". This move proved to be a good move for both acts, as the single charted at #3. A low-key release, "Napoleon/Another Face", became the final single off their album, and gave them another top 10 hit.

2007: Tango and Beyond
Wanting to release something else before they released a greatest hits collection, Dr. C and the Predicates took this time to enter in the second edition of the Tango Challenge, where they were paired with Rocco Varens. The final result was a cover of A-Ha's song "Cry Wolf", and it charted at #15, becoming their first single to miss the top 10. The greatest hits collection followed, commemorating nearly four years of URAPS's most successful rock band. The collection was be accompanied with a final single, as Dr. C and the Predicates' members are preparing to start up other projects outside the band.

The final single's title was "A Touch Of Distant Fire", and was released on April 16th. During the promotion for the single, Neil from the band was romantically linked with both Meli Kleindienst and Camilla Holmes in a bizarre love triangle after years of being rejected and dateless! The single charted at #10, giving Dr. C and the Predicates a final top 10 hit, then climbed to #5 in its second week on. The greatest hits album, Overwhelmed, Awake and Confused: The Best of Dr. C and the Predicates, reached #1 in its second week on the chart, bringing the career of URAPS's most distinguished rock band to a close on a high note.

In 2009, Dr. C and the Predicates made a brief, one-off reunion performance at the SAVE URAPS telethon, where they performed their hits Disappear, World In Our Vision and A Touch of Distant Fire.

2010: The return
Dr. C and the Predicates have announced plans for a new album in the summer of 2010. The first single from the album is entitled 2005, and it is released on July 12, 2010. The single, while a throwback to their classic days, leads off a new beginning for the band. The new album is entitled Surrealistic, and while its official UK release will not be until later in the year, is being released in the USA, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands on July 19, 2010. It is, however, being made available for import in limited quantities.

The album is expected to mix synthpop beats with progressive rock rhythms, while staying true to their classic sound.

"2005" charted at #2, which was followed by "Rocks or Roadkill?", which charted at #6, and "Forged By Fate", which charted at #3. A fourth single, "How Could I...?", reached #3 as well.

Dr. C and the Predicates announced a one-off single in 2012, from an Olympics compilation album. The single is called "The Patriot", and is set for release on August 20th.

Members
Max is the leader of the band, and sings lead on most of the band's songs. He is also the driving force behind the band's songwriting, though the band always gets collective writing credit for their songs. He's been known for his celebrity relationships, having dated Emma Latham (with whom he has a daughter, Emily C. Latham), Sophie Ramone and Bre Washington from Moodring at various stages in his career, and is the subject of other band members' jealousy at times, given he gets the attention for the tabloids.

Darren is the band's lead guitarist, and the one who always ribs Neil, complaining about his body odour. He's the one with the most military upbringing.

Neil is the band's "class clown" and rhythm guitarist. He's known for saying the word "fuck" in every sentence, and being a little too much of a flirt around the ladies. However, as he does have a very odd smell, Darren teases him all the time for it. Neil is also the premier acoustic musician in the band, and often records acoustic solo songs for the band's albums. He has the oddest musical taste of any of the band members, often preferring novelty songs over credible musicians, and annoying the rest of the band with his constant singing of such novelty songs.

Ted is the "big gun" of the band, and their bass guitarist. He's the band's technical expert, and also, despite his tough-as-nails stature, is the most emotional member of the band, as he has a weak spot for emotional sob stories, especially in songs delivered by powerful vocalists such as Genevere Johnson.

Ryan is the band's drummer and newest member. Little is known about him or his personality, presumably he doesn't have one.

Singles

 * 2003 Free Form Flex #8
 * 2003 World In Our Vision #8
 * 2004 The Love Was Lost (with Emma Button) #7
 * 2004 Faceless Crowd/So Sad, So Lonely #3 Gold
 * 2004 Lyin' In The Sun #3 Platinum
 * 2004 Satellite #7
 * 2005 She Heard Me #2 Platinum
 * 2005 Serpentine/Storm In A Teacup (with Tasha) #2 Gold
 * 2005 Hard To Swallow #5 Silver
 * 2005 Disappear EP #6
 * 2005 Some Kind of Monster #4
 * 2006 Five Years #1 Platinum
 * 2006 Flat Tire Road #6 Silver
 * 2006 Follow Me (with Helene Schneider) #3 Silver
 * 2006 Napoleon/Another Face #8
 * 2007 Cry Wolf (with Rocco Varens) #15
 * 2007 A Touch Of Distant Fire #5
 * 2010 2005 #2
 * 2010 Rocks or Roadkill? #6
 * 2011 Forged By Fate #3
 * 2011 How Could I...? #3
 * 2012 The Patriot TBR

Awards

 * URAPS Awards 8 - Best Rock
 * URAPS Awards 9 - Best Rock
 * URAPS Awards 11 - Best Rock