Doug and Cody Booth are a unique father and son combination. Not only are both connected to Grossmont, they are also both musicians.
Doug is a tall bald man with a goatee and carries a sense of calm around him. In contrast,Cody is what can be described as a wild child. Spastic, studded belt strapped, with a bandana sticking out of his skinny jeans, Cody has a natural and raw energy surrounding him.
“Cody has always been a natural performer.” stated Doug “he’s always been better onstage energy wise than I have” Doug plays bass in a local rock band called Rockola and Cody makes occasional appearances on guitar during the shows.
Both Booths have had a long history with the band. Doug joined Rockola as the bassist in the early 90’s and had Cody onstage perform before he even knew how to play an instrument.
“Before Cody could play, we would put him onstage and have him pretend to play bass. We had the act down so good that people thought he was actually playing the bass. It was funny seeing him, this little kid, playing this giant bass”
“Eventually he was signing autographs without even playing and it came to the point where the bit wasn’t that funny anymore, so in 9 months he learned how to play the rhythm guitar.”
Doug challenged Cody to learn the guitar at a young age, bribing him with a reward that would forever change Cody’s life.
“When he was 13 I told him that if he could learn all the jazz scales and chords then he could have one of my guitars. He learned them and he kind of knew what guitar he was going to pick, but he switched it up on me and chose the brand new guitar I got 2 months before.”
Although Cody has been playing for most of his life, he has grown in his musical influences and has learned how to play a variety of instruments.
“I’m influenced by the Beatles, Kiss, and classic rock, but I want to get into some of the more rock and hardcore side like Blessthefall and Asking Alexandria.” Doug stated “Cody is into the heavier rock, but when he was younger I wanted him to learn the fundamentals of guitar.
As a father, Doug enjoys seeing his son play more than he likes playing himself.
“I like seeing Cody play onstage because I get to see him having fun and enjoy what he loves doing. I like to see him play more than I like to play myself.”
Doug Booth has been and adjunct music instructor at Grossmont since 1991. Cody is majoring in music and intends to peruse a career as a studio musician. Although Cody officially has been attending Grossmont since he was 18, his father has been bringing him to the college since he was just a kid.
“Cody has been going to grossmont ever since he was 5,” stated Doug “Not officially of course, but I would bring him around campus and he would get to know everybody.” Doug also added “It’s weird to see him officially attend now, not a bad weird, just weird.”
Cody stated “I think its really cool having my dad as a Professor at Grossmont.”
