Donald Gene Fleming (born September 25, 1957) is an American musician and producer. Besides fronting a number of his own bands, (Velvet Monkeys, B.A.L.L., and Gumball) Fleming has produced Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees, Teenage Fanclub and Hole.
Career
Bands
The Stroke Band
Fleming started his musical career with the art/garage/punk group The Stroke Band of Adel, Georgia in the late 1970s. They released one album, Green and Yellow, in 1978 on Abacus Records.
Citizen 23
After The Stroke Band, Don relocated to Norfolk, Va. in 1979 and formed the punk/new wave group Citizen 23 with Elaine Barnes, Mark Myers, and, Stephen Soles. Their only recorded output consisted of three songs on the compilation album, No Room to Dance, in 1980.
The Velvet Monkeys
Citizen 23 broke up in early 1981; all members but Mark Mayers relocated to Washington, D.C. shortly thereafter and formed the three-piece psychedelic/post-punk band The Velvet Monkeys in the fall of 1981. The Velvet Monkeys line-up featured Fleming on guitar & vocals, Barnes on keyboards and vocals, Stephen Soles on bass, and a drum machine called Dr. Rhythm providing the beat. The Velvet Monkeys would go through many incarnations over the next 10 years, with Fleming the constant factor in all versions. In July 1982 the band released their debut -- Everything is Right—on cassette tape. This album was re-released on CD in 2011.
After trading in their drum machine for a live drummer (Jay "The Rummager" Spiegel) in 1981 and switching to a new bass player (Charles Steck) in early 1982, the band began to grow their following through increased gigging in the Washington, D.C., area and the Eastern Seaboard. This lineup released the album Future on Fountain of Youth Records in 1983.
In 1985, ousting all but Spiegel and himself, Fleming brought on guitarist & keyboardist Malcolm Riviera of D.C.'s Grand Mal. The band released the single "Spooky" on Go Records in spring 1985. Guitarist Stuart Casson, formerly of D.C.'s punk group Dove, was added as the fourth member in the fall. This lineup released the single "Colors (Part I&II)" on Bona Fide Records that summer.
In 1986, Casson left the band and Tom Kane joined as bassist. The band recorded a demo with Kane but it was not released. Kane was then replaced by bassist & vocalist Rob Kennedy, formerly of D.C.'s The Chumps and NYC's The Workdogs. The band did a three-week U.S. Tour with Half Japanese in the summer of 1986. Big Big Sun, a cassette of live recordings of both bands from that tour was released on K Records in fall 1986.
In 1987, Spiegel left the band and was replaced by drummer Scott Jarvis, formerly of N.C.'s Th' Cigaretz and NYC's The Workdogs (in which he had played with Kennedy). This lineup played recorded a session at Jag Studios in Raleigh, N.C., but the recordings were not released until 1998's Houseparty CD, a compilation of various unreleased Velvet Monkeys tracks.
By 1988, Fleming and Spiegel had re-located to New York City where they teamed up with former Shockabilly bass player and Shimmy Disc impresario Mark Kramer and drummer David Licht to form B.A.L.L. After that group's acrimonious demise, the trio of Fleming, Riviera and Spiegel reunited to form the next iteration of the Velvet Monkeys. Fleming expanded the band with notable indie musicians like Thurston Moore, J Mascis, Julia Cafritz and John Hammill of Pussy Galore. This lineup recorded the band's final album, a soundtrack parody called Rake that paid tribute to the 1970s blaxploitation film Shaft.
The band has never officially broken up, and Fleming continues to revive the group when the time is right.
Dinosaur Jr. After Fleming and Spiegel's group B.A.L.L. broke up in 1990, the duo briefly joined Dinosaur Jr. and released "The Wagon" 45 on the Sub Pop label. The two left Dinosaur Jr. shortly after the release of the single.
Gumball
In 1990 Jay Spiegel approached his friend Eric Vermillion, a member of Camp Hill, PA's The Stump Wizards, about playing with himself and Fleming. Vermilion agreed and subsequently quit The Stump Wizards. After less than a week's rehearsal, the new trio played its first show and Gumball was born. Their first release came our shortly thereafter: an eponymous 12 inch EP on Paperhouse Records/Sire Records in England. In 1991 the band released the album Special Kiss, also on Paperhouse, and embarked on a tour with Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, and other similar American indie bands of the early 1990s.