This Dog makes house calls September 12, 2008

Posted by Robert Rich in Uncategorized.
Tags: dr. dog
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Dr. Dog will be playing a sold out show at the Parish Room tomorrow night, so get ready for some lo-fi magic here in the ATX. If you can’t wait, check out my preview here, or read after the jump for the full interview and some tunes.

Robert Rich: Where’d the band name come from? Do you have a brilliant dog?
Scott McMicken: It was kind of like any old stupid idea, it just popped up and stuck. There aren’t really any mysterious origins other than a commitment to the absurd.

RR: Why does everyone in the band have a nickname?
SM: That’s sort of a similar process. It’s just a way of defining yourself in your band to make it feel more like a group, kind of like an exclusive little club.

RR: Why do said nicknames start with a letter T?
SM: If you connect the dots of the Dr Dog logo, you’ll find they form a T. It’s coincidental with the fact that the first two members who chose names started with a T.

RR: Let’s talk about the new album, Fate. When you guys started writing and recording the record, were there any set plans, or anything that you definitely wanted to do or wanted the record to sound like?
SM: There was a good healthy amount of let’s go in and see what sticks and respond to things as they fall. But more so with this record, there was a little bit of a pretense going in. We’d been playing live for so long, we’d finally sunk our teeth into the notion of us as a live band and we started considering what it meant to be a live band. You know, we’ve come full circle, it’s time to reflect that. We’ve been recording music and having some kind of studio since we were 12 years old, so that aspect is no strange set of circumstances to us. We just started to see it more as a challenge of getting more onto the tape. Fate was the first conscious attempt to try and exploit what it is we do, with all of us playing at once. It was a baby step really, most of it came about in a similar way, there was a bigger conscious awareness of having those live music aspects, putting your heart and soul into the parts instead of recording them one by one and stacking them up. But it was by no means recorded live, we’re still taking baby steps. It’s never wise to jump beyond your means. We did learn a lot and we’ve given ourselves enough to start from when it comes time to record the next album.

RR: Are there any tracks from the album that you’re particularly fond or proud of?
SM: Part of making records is to make sure that we’re fond of every moment. We don’t stop until every second passes the gavel. I’m happy with the album through and through. In terms of the “liveness,” I feel like the songs “The Beach” and “From” represent that, because we more or less did track them live. That was a real feat for us. We’d been playing those tunes for about a year on the road, so we had a grasp on them, we had these little comfort zones within the songs. I’m really happy with how they came out.

RR: You’re often compared to The Beatles and bands like that. How do you handle receiving such lofty remarks, considering that they can add a considerable amount of pressure?
SM: While we certainly wear our influences on our sleeve, the reason we’re in a band is not to reflect our influences. We don’t exist as an homage to anything. Naturally you draw yourself into these things you enjoy doing and that provide you with a sense of meaning. Everybody is looking for that thing in their life that does what nothing else can do. In pop and rock music, there’s some pretty strict parameters, whether your influences are Metallica or Talking Heads. There’s nothing wrong with finding yourself most clearly in something else and retaining a frame of reference. Our influences are not what drives us, they’re just a byproduct of our experiences as music listeners. We’re not out to shock and appall anybody, we’re just out to make ourselves happy and grow in whatever ways possible. We’ve never been afraid to sound any particular way. I do have faith in myself and the rest of us that we’re all honest people; there’s never been a moment where I’ve felt like we’ve been exploiting some aspect of this craft. We are not a band because of the Beatles or the Beach Boys or the Band or any of the other easily paralleled things.

Nobody is really expecting us to be the Beatles, so I don’t feel any pressure by any sort of press we’ve received, good or bad. At the end of the day it comes back to your life; you wake up, you go to bed at night, you make choices, confront your options, learn from your past and grow. Nobody can pinpoint or define you with that by listening to some album you’ve made. I accept the fact that when you make music and put it out and devote your life to playing it you have to take responsibility. I’m a music fan and listener and I’ve done my fair share of defining and referencing. Now it’s interesting to be on the other side of it. I find that no matter what affect it has, in the end it’s easy to find inspiration in it. It will remind you of what you are, maybe out of being misunderstood, being quickly swept into this neat little pile for an article. When I read it, naturally it’s a simple look at what is my daily life. Immediately I can find a place for it in my understanding of music and relationship with music. I would never deny the similarities or influences that these bands have had or at times the obsessive relationship I’ve had with that The Beatles, but it often times is kind of irrelevant. Whether it’s a good or bad comparison to the Beatles, depending on the writer, it doesn’t have much impact. It doesn’t cause us to get more fearful or scramble to rearrange our sensibilities.

I get confused real easy about contemporary culture because I don’t understand how people often designate what is relevant and what isn’t, especially with the way the Beatles are tossed around as an easy reference point. I feel they’re misunderstood themselves. I feel the most common thing in our music and theirs is aesthetic sensibilities. It’s not so much that landing point that is the most influential, it’s more the spirit. Who are the people that got themselves there. What did it take with their relationship to music to reach what was at the time a shocking backdoor approach. That’s something that every musician ought to really take stock of. As I get older, I’m beginning to see that what everything is coming out of is A: a commitment on a basic level to this thing within my life and a willingness to go wherever it takes me and B: a ruthless sense of honesty and openness to the world around me where music is easily received and understood and walls and defensiveness can crumble so that there’s a quicker route from your will and what you get.

It’s difficult for a human to deal with having to address something about themselves. You get life experience by going through things. Most of life’s growth on an individual or cultural level involves making some mistakes. I see in all of that stuff more than anything real strong humanity, and that is the be all end all of any human experience. Some small connection gives people joy. It gives me joy when I can put on a record that was recorded fifty years ago and it’s sitting in my CD player and some unique-to-me set of emotions and experiences makes itself known.

RR: Do you have to deal with the typical connotations of what it takes to be a “normal” rock band?
SM: It’s a steady thing, you deal with it every night when you’re on the road. For the most part when people spend time with us, they’re pleased if they thought we were these ego monsters or drug-addled piranhas because that’s not what they’re dealing with. Pressure for us on our short and slow-paced career has been nonexistent and it all comes down to remaining aware of where you are and what you’re doing. We put a high bar for ourselves on what we do. This has been proven many times when we’ve gotten off the stage and realized that we didn’t get to that place we wanted, but we suck it up and move on. I think that‘s what drives us more than anything. I do think of myself as a person who tries to stay on top of these things as they’re happening, whether it’s recording or practicing, and I think about it obsessively. I’d notice if we were being influenced by external pressures.

RR: What’s next?
SM: I want to have a good safe, healthy tour, and I want to come home and jump into making a new record while we have all that momentum. Maybe put a foot further in the door of capturing the intangible, the beast of our band. That takes us about through January. Then I’d like to get married and have children and settle down and produce music and explore some of the directions you go when you don’t have to be constantly on the go. Sit still in order to move in other directions.

The Ark

The Beach