Do Make Say Think

Do Make Say Think

Do Make Say Think is an instrumental post-rock group from Toronto, Canada, active since 1996. The band begins as a recording project in 1995, when Charles Spearin starts it for sound engineering classes in college. Early rehearsals take place in an empty schoolroom whose walls display the words “Do,” “Make,” “Say” and “Think,” and the group takes its name from those verbs.

Sound and instrumentation

Their music combines jazz-style drumming with electric bass, synthesizers, electric guitars, wind instruments and electronic effects. The group’s line-up centres on Charles Spearin, Ohad Benchetrit, James Payment, Justin Small and David Mitchell, with Jason Mackenzie having played keyboards and effects before leaving after the first album. The current membership also includes Julie Penner on trumpet and violin.

Members and connections

In the group’s later line-up, Ohad Benchetrit plays guitar, bass, saxophone and flute; David Mitchell and James Payment play drums; Justin Small plays guitar; and Charles Spearin plays bass, guitar and trumpet. Jason Mackenzie is associated with keyboards and effects. Benchetrit and Spearin also record and tour with Broken Social Scene, and Benchetrit produces the band. Spearin, Mitchell and Benchetrit also record together in the project Microgroove.

Other projects and appearances

Justin Small is also involved in Lullabye Arkestra, where he plays drums alongside bassist Katia Taylor. Do Make Say Think are often joined onstage by Brian Cram, who performs with James Payment in the metal band Gesundheit. The track “Chinatown” from & Yet & Yet appears in the films Syriana and The Corporation. “Fredericia” is named after a town in Denmark that the band has visited several times, and the song is also written there after a concert.