Hi Doobie brothers and sisters, Pat Simmons here. 

It’s been awhile since I posted anything directly to our Facebook. First off, let me wish you and your families all a very Happy New Year. I hope your Holidays were filled with joy and that 2024 is filled with health and happiness! This year will be a big one for us with a great tour planned for next Summer. We’re so happy that Tom is back with us.  

 

We are very close to finishing up an album’s worth of new songs. We’re lucky once again to have John Shanks producing and Michael McDonald joining in with us on this one! Tom, Michael, John and myself have composed a great bunch of songs that we’re really proud of and John McFee is really a stand out on the tracks. It’s the first time in 40 years that Michael has recorded a whole album with the band and in my humble opinion it’s turning out to be some of the best music we’ve ever made together! We’re shooting for a Spring/Summer release.

 

I hate to have to mention some news not quite as cheerful, but important for us to talk about. I’m sure many of you are aware of all the fraudulent activity taking place online these days. It has been brought to my attention that there are several individuals impersonating members of the Doobie Brothers. They have these very convincing sites pretending to share information about the band and themselves, illegally using our names and likenesses. They download photos from our Facebook and post messages of completely bogus information. Usually they invite fans to contact them and grab as much personal details from you as possible. They have begun soliciting those who respond with offers of special backstage access and seating for exorbitant prices. Don’t let them fool you. I want you to know we would never as a band try to personally sell access to our fans. Our promoters with Live Nation sometimes offer special VIP packages as an option to those purchasing tickets to a show, but no individual band member would ever try to do that. We have our band social media platforms that interact with you folks, but none of us as individuals have Facebook or Instagram sites where we ask people  to send us money for accesss to the band. I have had a Facebook page in the past where I shared news with family and a few close friends, but it was never meant as a way to advertise or gain prosperity. We try our best to take time with people and fans we might randomly meet. Those are special moments for all of us, real connections that carry significance and value. Rewarding for all of us with no strings attached. I repeat don’t respond to these bogus sites! Don’t give personal information to these frauds, don’t send money, don’t allow them access to your email or phone number. All of our official Doobie Brothers social media platforms are legitimate. If it isn’t listed on our sites it isn’t real. We try our best to chase these guys down, but it’s a constant game of wack-a-mole. As soon as you get rid of one, another one pops up. You have to make yourself aware, and you can avoid falling into their trap.

 

We’re really looking forward to seeing all of you next Summer. Let us know what songs you might like to hear us play. We’ll be going into rehearsals sometime in May, and knowing songs you might want us to play would be a really cool way for us to put together a set that could be more engaging. I’m hoping we’ll be able to debut a few of our new songs. There’s some really high energy stuff that will be fun for us to play and hopefully work well with our better known tunes. We’ll keep you posted and let you know how that’s workin’ out. Wishing you all the very best as we make our way into 2024. Thank you for all your support these past 50 plus years. We’re so fortunate to have you as our fans and friends. We love doing what we do and it’s a privilege to be able to perform for you once again after all these years.

 

Warm regards,

Pat Simmons