You know that well-oiled idiom, sometimes in life you just happen to be in the right place at the right time? Well sometimes in life that is indeed true.  Whether it’s finding a rare limited edition Sex Pistols vinyl amongst the worn Sinitta and Wham LP's your local branch of Oxfam;  being handed the winning scratch card in a ream of thousands after the bloke in front of you bought 10 or even meeting the lady or gentleman of your dreams after reluctantly being dragged into a dive-bar that you wouldn’t usually frequent, that could all be attributed to being in the right place at the right time...or fate...or just plain old luck. For me, after sitting through a jaw-droppingly bad performance from a band so abysmal I was convinced Jeremy Beadle had been resurrected for a one off tv special, Dog is Dead took to the stage and caught me completely off guard proving indeed, that old expression to be right.

Imagine a clash between overt pop music, nu-jazz and barbershop-esque vocal harmonies taking place between five people and you might be able to glean some kind of mental appreciation of all that is Dog is Dead.  Add to that some contemporary sax playing, jangling indie guitars and unabashed songs about boardgames, zoos and other merriment and you really do have a five-piece pop band, interesting and entertaining in its form and with immeasurable talent.

All in their late teens, the Nottingham based Dog is Dead have been peddling their unique wares for around 2 years, lighting up the live scene in their home town and playing a number of high profile support slots.  Bands including One Night Only, Cajun Dance Party and Ok Go have introduced them to a wider audience that perhaps a band at this early juncture ordinarily wouldn’t have been exposed to and subsequently their fan base is bustling. Furthermore their debut 3-track ep which was never officially released garnered them rave reviews in the press and a nice helping of hype for them to build upon.  Theirs is a DIY attitude that should be commended and their commitment to detailed song-writing and perfect execution at shows is clear for everyone to see.

With influences evoked from artists such as Paul Simon, The Police and contemporaries such as Mystery Jets, their personal description for their sound is “Louis Armstrong lost in disco” which under the circumstances isn’t as pretentious as it sounds.  Full of life, ambition and some irresistible melodies, allow us to introduce to you Dog is Dead.  100% right place, right time.

www.4ortherecord.com spent some time in the company of Rob Milton and Lawrence Cole before their recent show at the Old Blue Last and are thrilled to be able to bring you this interview with a band that we absolutely champion.

4or The Record: So who exactly is Dog Is Dead?

Rob Milton: Dog is Dead is basically 5 kids from Nottingham who met at school and are a mixture of thespians and skate kids who formed to make fun pop music about 2 years ago.

4TR: You are all now 18 and 19 years old respectively, so was this your first musical project?

Lawrence Cole: Well we had all been in bands in the past but they were terrible [laughs] however I think especially when it comes to song writing and working in band practice we all hit it off when we came together.  It's the band that has worked out the best from all our other bands basically.

Rob: I think also it’s the first accidentally serious band we have each ended up in because it actually worked and it was a surprise to us when that happened [laughs]

4TR: Was it like a meeting of minds and talent that just worked immediately when you came together for the first time or did it take some time to figure the dynamics out?

Rob: [Laughs] No it definitely didn't just work immediately; at the beginning we all started out on different instruments but it wasn’t working out or sounding good, so we kind of figured out what we needed to do and how to change things around and so the next time we came together it worked pretty much.

4TR: The Dog is Dead is sound is predominantly pop, but was that always the intention?

Rob: Yeah it was, I mean most of the band were into musical theatre and we were all big on choirs and how they sound so we wanted to make our own huge sounds with harmonies as a focal point.  But there are other obvious influences in there, for example we all like jazz so we got a saxophone involved and just thought we could mix things up in with the basis of a pop song and it works.

4TR: As you mentioned there are a lot of influences throughout each of your songs and along with five-part harmonies and the variety of instruments there is distinctive amount of different elements to Dog Is Dead.  Is it easy to write a song with that in mind?

Lawrence: It never is at first but we have got the knack of writing how we write now, so all the techniques we use have just become second nature really.  Rob writes the songs essentially but we tweak each one in our own way and if it works then we use it, if not then we don’t.  It is that simple now.

Rob: You could say I come up with a basic song and they make it good.

4TR: One of the most obvious things about Dog Is Dead is the lyrical context, themes and song titles that all convey child-like qualities and primarily a sense of fun.  Fore example songs like ‘Boardgames’ and The Zoo’.  Why do you write about those subjects and are they just metaphors for something more complex?

Rob: I guess silly lyrics were the first thing we kind of ventured to and at the same time its good fun.  We do have these little themes, some of which are indeed metaphors but actually now our writing and sound is expanding we are exploring other ideas for those themes and some of them are becoming more serious.

Lawrence: Well, they are still silly lyrics but they have serious undertones and connotations contained within them; we disguise that with something that has more of a fun aspect to it like animals and being young because we don't want to take ourselves too serious and be perceived as pretentious.

4TR: It is actually very refreshing when you consider other bands who are 18 or 19 who are writing and singing about their big loves and losses for example, which is slightly unrealistic given their probably life experiences

Rob: I think the thing is I am not afraid to be pop, none of us are and we’re not afraid to be a bit juvenile. We are a very serious band but we want to have fun with pop music.  Many people look at pop as something that is totally un-cool and consequentially everyone wants to be the most left-field and innovative of artists, but as far as I am concerned if you are not interested in what is deemed to be cool then you are more likely to come up with something more innovative.  We are not interested in anything other than that, which I guess is refreshing.

4TR: Live your sound is impeccable – you are extremely tight as musicians, the harmonies are gorgeous and the whole thing has an air of intelligence about it despite you choosing to write about things that might be deemed immature.  Is it hard to bring your music to the live environment considering how much is going on?

Lawrence: We like the idea of our music being most appreciated when it’s played live especially with all the layers we include.  I wouldn’t say it’s to impress or to show off but maybe there is a sliver of that in there as well [laughs], but we can all play, most of us come from musical backgrounds, and we have been learning music for a very very long time.

Rob: I think the point is its impressive because its really hard to take it from a practice room; like we never used to practice with microphones so half the practice would be on vocals and half would be on instruments, so that was a big shock when we first started playing live because it didn’t immediately sound like we thought it would, so we spent a long time getting it right.  With the harmony side of things we could all sing a bit but that was something we really had to grow from the grass roots so we worked on it until it worked in the live environment and sounded good.

4TR: Harmonies, especially five-part are notoriously difficult to nail, but each time I have seen you it seems pretty effortless.

Rob: [Laughing] it definitely wasn’t at all to start with and there’s still the odd moment when it goes horribly wrong.  The worst thing about 4/5 part harmonies is that if one person is slightly off it’s the most cringing thing ever, or if someone is too close to the microphone it can sound terrible.

Lawrence: I put it down to us being all really good actors, because even if it’s all going wrong we can all keep a straight face and carry on with it.  But working out harmonies for us is not the most challenging thing we come across anymore so we can focus more on our songs.

4TR: You recorded an EP last year which you didn’t officially release, but still was picked up and spoken highly of.  Why not release it properly?

Rob: Well last year we started working with our management company and they wanted some tracks recorded so it was one of the first things we did.  We were quite straightforward about it like we didn’t want to release it, so just did it to give away at gigs so that we had something tangible to show for ourselves and our efforts.  We never imagined people were going to start writing reviews about it or anything like they did, but it was as well received as a non-release could be so that was great for us.

4TR: Any thoughts on putting out your debut single this year?

Rob: I think we are going to release a single around late May but we still haven’t decided the details but this will be properly done. I think we are going to self release it but we have got great people working with us now so hopefully that will be everywhere and we will see how people react to it.

Lawrence: And then there should be a time soon when we are playing around the country quite a lot so that should work out nicely plus we might have some more high-profile support dates coming up.

Rob: Yeah now its just about getting people to take us seriously as Dog Is Dead and musicians  but it’s also still about having fun making good pop music so that is what we will be continuing to do.

www.myspace.com/dogisdead 

Interview by Francesca Strange

admin
Posts: 1

Re: Introducing: Dog Is Dead
Reply #4 on : Fri April 30, 2010, 21:20:53

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Not A Fan : Just wondering whether whenever you speak anyone ever listens? All I needed was that one comment to make me figure you speak alot of rubbish.

not a fan
Posts: 3

Re: Introducing: Dog Is Dead
Reply #3 on : Thu April 29, 2010, 17:48:40

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Do not like them at all. Boring pop music with a sax, nothing else there worth chatting about.

Jordan
Posts: 3

haha
Reply #2 on : Thu April 29, 2010, 16:47:44

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ahaaha trev.

Kate L
Posts: 3

Re: Introducing: Dog Is Dead
Reply #1 on : Thu April 29, 2010, 11:29:58

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Can't wait to see you at Dot to Dot, nice interview!

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