Folks who haven’t ever heard Dr. Dog sometimes assume that the name must belong to a rapper, MC, or dance club impresario. But those who have heard even just one of the five records the indie-pop quintet has released since 2001 know that the group’s distinctively offbeat output isn’t very easily categorized, doesn’t follow any particular commercial trends, and isn’t all that easy to dance to. The group’s sound can range from lo-fi folk-rock to sprawling garage-pop symphonies, and can manage to remind a listener of both the edgier, post-punk pop stylings of Guided By Voices or the Flaming Lips as well as the classic album-oriented comforts of the Beatles’ Abbey Road and any of the Beach Boys’ beautifully rendered, commercially unsuccessful ’70s works.
The group began as a duo, when guitarist Toby Leaman and drummer Scott McMicken of the band Raccoon began a writing/recording side project that resulted in the 35-track self-released concept album The Psychedelic Swamp. Since then, the pair of multi-instrumentalist vocalist/songwriters have fleshed out a full band lineup with the addition of bassist Sukey Jumps, keyboardist Zach Miller and drummer Juston Stens. One especially distinctive element of Dr. Dog is its use of unusual band nicknames (in the order listed above, the members are known as “Tables,” “Taxi,” “Thanks,” “Text,” and “Trouble.”
The band raised its profile with the strong 2004 album Easy Beat and has earned a reputation for energetic and unpredictable live shows, gaining a passionate and growing audience as an opening act for My Morning Jacket, the Strokes and the Raconteurs. The band has declared its mission statement of sorts as an interest in “three-part harmonies, the out-of-doors, hoagies, vegetables, and diminished chords.”
Provenance: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Latest Release: Fate (2008)
© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Dr. Dog
