Meet The Band
Martin Smith – Lead Vocals, Guitar
Lead singer and guitarist Martin Smith was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada before his family moved south to Seattle. Martin is lead singer/guitarist for resurgent originals Pacific Northwest rock band Archer. As the newest ‘Vark, he’s bringing stage energy and his trademark unique “counter tenor” voice, sharing a range with artists like Journey’s Steve Perry, Foreigner’s Lou Gramm, Loverboy’s Mike Reno, Queensryche’s Geoff Tate, Whitesnake’s David Coverdale, Elton John and Prince.
Doug Buell – Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar (Left-Handed freak!)
Doug thanks his Grandma for giving his family her old 1930s Wurlitzer spinet upright piano. As a teen, he taught himself to play piano songs from Chicago, Elton John and ELO at his home in Mountlake Terrace, Wash. As a teenager, he co-founded his first garage band, Renegade, with his friends, guitarist Scott Wade (Foil) and drummer Steve Wiederhold (Tad). In 1979, Doug met Lead Singer/Guitarist Martin Smith, and they created a band and musical relationship that eventually became Archer. From 1979 to 1984, they were a solid, non-stop performing cover band on the Pacific Northwest club scene, booked and managed through the Unicam Booking Agency. In the early 2000s, Doug played clubs, events and parties with 2nd Nature, mixing old rock-blues and dance hits with modern alternative-funk. While The Aardvarks reunites him with Smith (and Wade) and satisfies his itch to perform and entertain, he has also rejoined with his bandmates from the fabled Archer. The band’s debut CD, “There Goes Paradise: It’s All Over Now,” released in early 2020, available for purchase and download, CDBaby, iTunes and Amazon, or listen on Spotify. Doug and his wife, Leslie, have two grown daughters and a granddaughter. Look for release of Archer’s second CD in December 2024.
Scott Wade – Guitar, Vocals
Scott has been playing music for over 40 years. He started out playing guitar for fun, just messing around, and took a few lessons as a kid. Scott and Doug, joined by Steve Weid, original drummer with Seattle’s grunge act TAD, formed a band called Renegade when they were teens. Their sound at the time verged into punk, with a Jimi Hendrix feel influenced by Scott’s love for his playing style. Scott has played in such bands as FOIL, Resonator, Misericords, Dark Matter Noise and Sledge. For a living, he’s involved in computers and investing. Beyond Hendrix, Scott was influenced by Rush and 80’s alt/punk; Big Black, Scratch Acid and Joy Division, to name a few.
Scott has been called one of the greatest guitarists of his generation by those who have seen him play.
Mike Patterson – Drums, Vocals
Mike is the newest member of The Aardvarks. The Everett drummer joined in March 2022. Mike is perhaps best known for his time playing in Son of Man, a Seattle/Bellingham grunge band in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Mike’s favorite bands are The Damned and numerous punk-new wave bands, Frank Zappa, Toto, Devo, and he’s also into reggae/ska. Mike also makes time for two other bands, Full Life Crisis, and his Sunday jam band, the Four Freedoms. Mike works as a middle school Special Education teacher, with a career that included SLPA teaching with speech pathologists in the Seattle and Granite Falls school districts. He’s very focused on originals, but about cover tunes he said he’s surprised how in music things change, but they don’t. How can it be that there is still an audience for music that was released four decades ago, he said.
Chris Gillen – Bass Guitar
Since his teens, Chris has been an avowed fan of Rush, and has a Geddy Lee style of bass-playing that he has honed for decades. He has played music with Scott Wade since they were growing up in the Mountlake Terrace and Edmonds, Wash. area.