Disco Biscuits Call Up All-Star Guests to Sub for Hospitalized Drummer

During the holiday weekend, the Disco Biscuits received a call from the father of their drummer, Allen Aucoin, informing the rest of the band that Aucoin had been hospitalized following a severe asthma attack. While he is expected to make a full recovery, he won't be discharged from the hospital until this Tuesday, Dec. 28 -- smack dab in the middle of the band's planned three-night run at New York's Terminal 5, which begins Monday night. Aucoin won't be able to perform with the band until their New Year's Eve run commences in Philadelphia on Friday, Dec. 30.

Never one to cancel shows due to injury, the Disco Biscuits have called upon four of their esteemed peers to substitute for Aucoin during their New York series, including modern marvel Adam Deitch (BreakScience), who first cut a name for himself with jazz legend John Scofield and, more recently, has been kicking the beats for Pretty Lights. He'll perform with the Biscuits on Tuesday, Dec. 28, alongside drummer Darren Shearer (the New Deal). On Monday night, drum duties will be handled by the band's close friend and previous collaborator Mike Greenfield of Lotus.

"They called me on Christmas and [guitarist] Jon Gutwillig and I got into a debate about Santa Claus and why parents knowingly lie to their children about him," Greenfield tells Spinner, from backstage at Monday night's show. "So we had a conversation for about half an hour about Santa, and I thought he called just to talk about that. But, at the end of it, he was like, 'Oh, and by the way, Allen is in the hospital and we were wondering if you could play drums with us this Monday.'"

Greenfield has actually performed with the Disco Biscuits several times before, as a special guest, years ago, and tells Spinner that he still goes to see them in concert whenever he can. Still, the band wanted to play about four newer songs that he didn't know, so they scheduled a last-minute rehearsal on Sunday and got him up to speed.

And while both of the concerts with the aforementioned three drummers will be a treat for Disco Biscuits fans, the true silver lining in all of this will come on Wednesday night when founding Disco Biscuits drummer, Dr. Sam Altman, will rejoin his former group for the first time since quitting amicably in 2006 to pursue a career in medicine. It's a reunion out of necessity, perhaps, but its a reunion that fans have been pining for, for years.