Docs who rock: Washington physicians part of Up Past 10 alternative rock band
One night a week, seven guys meet up in a soundproofed Bethel Park garage, pick up their instruments, and start to play.
In their professional lives, two of them – Dr. Howard Goldberg and Dr. Michael Faust – are physicians at UPMC Washington, in roles where patients and colleagues depend on them.
But on those nights, jamming with the band, a healthy dose of music is just what the doctor ordered.
Goldberg and Faust are part of Up Past 10, a ’90s alternative rock band – a really good one, no less – that regularly performs gigs at local venues.
Goldberg plays the trumpet while Faust is a drummer.
Rounding out the band are an HVAC business owner, a customer relations manager, an accountant, a school district human resources director and a computer expert.
Playing music, the doctors say, is a fun way to detach from the stresses and pressures that come with everyday life. It has become an important form of self-care for the docs, whose hours are intensely focused on caring for others.
“Everybody should be so fortunate to have something to do outside of work, or try to find that thing outside of work that brings them a different sense of happiness,” said Faust.
While the band plays plenty of ’90s rock songs, Up Past Ten’s song list has expanded to include music ranging from the ’80s to current pop and rock hits. A typical set might include music from Good Charlotte, Rascal Flatts, John Mellencamp and The Cars, and the group enjoys rotating songs in and out of performances. The band plays mostly covers, but they also have written original songs.
“We went through a phase where we wrote a good number of originals, but people like to listen to songs they know. They definitely like to hear hit songs that they can sing to and are familiar with,” said Goldberg.
Faust is a pediatrician, and Goldberg is the founder of Washington Ear, Nose and Throat (his website bio describes him as “a beloved doctor of some of the body’s nastiest parts”).
Up Past 10 started in 2016, the brainchild of some hockey dads including lead singer Brian Vinay, who wanted to play in a garage band, but also didn’t want it to interfere with their families and other responsibilities. So they started meeting once a week, after the kids went to bed – hence the band’s name.
Goldberg and Vinay were friends, and Goldberg went to the band’s first show at a Halloween party at the now-closed Bruceton Station in Pleasant Hills. Impressed, Goldberg suggested he join to play the trumpet, and in 2017 he became a band member.
Faust is the band’s newest member. He dropped by an Up Past 10 concert at the former Frankie I’s in North Strabane Township to support Goldberg. After hearing them play, Faust enthusiastically embraced the idea of joining the band.
“I told them to give me a call if they ever needed a drummer, and eventually they did,” said Faust.
Goldberg started playing the trumpet when he was 10. A New Jersey native, he played in the high school marching band and was a member of the all-state band for four years.
“It was one of the things I was really good at,” said Goldberg, who considered becoming a professional musician. Instead, he headed to the University of Michigan with plans to pursue a medical career. He briefly played in the university’s marching band but switched to the UM Concert Band, which he participated in throughout college.
Faust’s music journey began at age 8, when he started playing the piano.
His father introduced him to jazz music when he was young, and Faust got hooked on the drums when he heard Neil Peart on Rush’s live album, “Exit … Stage Left.”
Over the years, he played trumpet, violin, and English handbells – at one time he owned a concert grand marimba – and in his junior year at Trinity High School he started playing drums. He emulated Peart, John Bonham from Led Zeppelin, Yes’s Billy Cobham, and Carl Palmer of Emerson Lake & Palmer.
During medical school, Faust played in a Charleston, S.C., band called Sock Monkeys formed by a group of pediatric residents.
For Faust and Goldberg, playing in the band is different from what they do in their day jobs.
“Music is so different than medicine. Medicine is more analytical. Music is focused on creativity,” said Faust. “It’s a different skill. It’s artistic and expressive in a completely different way than medicine.”
Goldberg agrees.
“Music is drastically different from what I do in my professional life,” he said “It’s a different outlet of energy. It uses a different part of your brain. There’s a level of excitement to it. On stage, I can jump around and just be foolish. It’s something I don’t do at all in my life as a physician.”
For Faust and Goldberg, trading in their stethoscopes to play in front of an audience offers an opportunity to share a side of themselves that patients, colleagues, family and friends don’t often get to see.
“There’s nothing like it; it’s really a lot of fun,” said Faust. “The shows go extraordinarily quickly, even when you’re playing three or four hours. We have so much fun when the crowd is having fun. When they’re enjoying it, we enjoy it more.”
They have performed at venues including Jergels, Crafthouse Stage and Grill in South Hills, Railyard Grill and Taproom in Bridgeville, Houlihans in Mt. Lebanon, Dead Head Winery in Mononghala, Flanagan’s Place in West Virginia, and Greene Cove Yacht Club in Clarksville, Greene County.
They have lined up performances at Santello’s (formerly Frankie I’s) in North Strabane Township on Dec. 13, Feb. 28 and May 2, and at Bubba’s Kitchen and Bar in Southpointe on April 4. They are looking to book more appearances.
Faust and Goldberg will keep on jamming and finding joy in the band for as long as they can.
Said Faust, “Medicine and music bring me joy and satisfaction, just in very different ways.”