Doug Hell

Oshawa’s adopted son Doug Hill, known as Doug Hell to those that know him best, isn’t just another resident of the city –he’s also it’s biggest fan.

“I made so many friends in Oshawa so fast. It’s a good place to be.” Said Hill about why he stayed in the city.

Hill’s newest album when a madman loves a woman pays tribute to Oshawa as well as the friends and the woman Hill found there.

Durham college mechanical engineering student and long time local area musician Jason Osborne worked with Hill supplying the fiddle for when a madman loves a woman. “The good thing about playing with him is he sticks to technique. He understands the craft that is songwriting which makes picking up and playing with him really easy,” said Osborne about Hill’s music.

Although the majority of the album revolves around Hill and his Guitar Hll did what he could to involve other local talent. The liner notes feature the names eight other artists including Osborne for their “invaluable contribution.”

“there’s a lot of fucking talent in this city.” Said Hill about his reason for working with so many other people on what is essentially a solo album.

The theme of madness reoccurs through out this album, in fact the word crazy appears prominently during the first half of the recording on the disc. Hearing Hill play live leaves audiences with the feeling that Hill has battled a demon or two in his life --in fact Hill refers to the song Ajax 3 West as a “trying time in my life,” but if there’s a theme to Hill’s work it’s that through great effort and thanks to great friends a man can beat even the greatest of demons.
The woman to Hill’s madman, Jacyntha Morahan, could be the biggest reason Hill’s songs although raspy and regretful leave listeners with a sense of hope. “We give each other support,”

said Morahan. “I know it’s gushy but it’s like we make one person.”

Morahan calls her and Hill’s relationship a “entertaining and head scratching seven months” with a laugh and Hill says that with Morahan he’s been “lucky enough to find love” and he’d be the first to thank Morahan for the effect she’ has had on his song writing . The track Bloom is a slow and borderline morbid love song that explores the depths of Hill’s feelings for Morahan.
Hill will be kicking off an Ontario Tour with fellow one-man acoustic act Mr. Plow at Annies in Toronto on April 25. Hill and Mr. Blow will be making a durham region stop on April 28 at Johnny B’s in Whitby.