Don Vaughn is talking 90 miles an hour, exceptionally revved on this early evening just hours before the launch party for his first CD gets underway at The De Gaulle. But then this self-admitted ADD type is revved pretty much all of the time.
How else could you explain his multi-dimensional, fierce burn rate that combines earning his Ph.D. in neuroscience at UCLA with his nighttime gig as drummer, DJ and occasional guitarist and his part-time stint as a professional model?
We first got to know Vaughn when he was studying at Baylor College of Medicine and was named the Texas contestant for Cosmopolitan Magazine's Bachelor of the Year. (For the record, he is now engaged to a doctor he worked with in a neuroscience lab here. No wedding date set.)
We also bumped into him at parties and clubs across the city where he regularly performed. Although he moved back to his native California, the uber-energized Vaughn continues to hit the Houston night scene every couple of months performing for special events and with friends.
"I can't wait until some of my super science-y friends come up and are chatting with my model musicians, like tattooed friends. It should be quite a party."
So why Houston for the release of The Don Vaughn Experiment? "Houston's always been the most supportive, wonderful place," he says, pearly whites gleaming through his Hollywood smile. "I still wear a Texas necklace because Houston never left my heart."
H-Town is the first stop on a nationwide tour with the CD, dates already include Dallas, his hometown San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Once the album drops, "It's just going to all explode," Vaughn enthuses, planning on a worldwide adventure with the CD.
He describes the sound as a fusion, "It's me in its rawest form. It has a very technical, rational scientific-almost production value but then it has just all the emotions I've been feeling over the last two years about having to leave Houston and doing this venture."
For the 27-year-old, the CD launch is just the beginning of a future that might not involve daily turns in the science lab. He just signed with a large production company in LA and several options are on the drawing board. "We have a couple of show concepts fused together — a little bit of neuroscience and psychology and my music and my touring sort of all mashed up into one reality show — a lot of what it's like to travel in these two completely different worlds and the chaos that comes out at sometime."
It was far from chaos in the swank interiors of the champagne bar where Vaughn was readying his performance that would include not only drumming but a bit of singing. Soon 250 of his nearest and dearest would be arriving for the launch party hosted by Yellow Cab, which not only helped with the swag bags but also was the designated driver for those might have just too much fun.
It was an eclectic mix readying for the party. "They're some of my best friends actually, from scientists to actors and models and musicians," Vaughn said. "I can't wait until some of my super science-y friends come up and are chatting with my model musicians, like tattooed friends. It should be quite a party."
Best-selling author and Baylor neuroscientist David Eagleman was in the mix as was award winning producer Loren Johnson, who flew in from Nashville for the party.
Publicity on The Don Vaughn Experiment goes worldwide on Aug. 19 with a feature in Beatport, the ultimate magazine for electronic dance music artists.
David Eagleman, from left, Don Vaughn and Sarah Eagleman.
