DR. DOG: As Fate Would Have It
By Lyndsey Matthews
August 4, 2008
Though their name may conjure images of a rap group, Philadelphia's beloved Dr. Dog (who are actually named after a misheard Captain Beefheart song title), just released Fate (Park The Van), their third proper album of blues-tinged pop, on July 22. It's brimming with songs that swell with the energy of the present moment, but also dwell in warm memories from yesteryear. In between practicing at their own studio with the songwriting duo of Scott McMicken (singer/guitarist) and Toby Leaman (guitarist), drummer Juston Stens, and guitarist Frank McElroy--and between tours--keyboardist Zach Miller took a few minutes to talk about extreme inner-tubing, rapping about napping and their bearded visages appearing on last month's cover of Relix magazine. And no, they're not a jam band.
I was reading a 2004 interview from the Philadelphia Weekly and they were saying your music "conjures images of old friends sitting on a porch swapping instruments and just letting the tape recorder run." I was wondering, do you guys even own a porch?
Actually yeah we did at Toby's. And my friend, actually Andrew, who was in the band at the time, he and his dad bought a house that all those guys lived in when we were going to college together, and it did have a porch. Yeah, porches are fairly common in our neighborhood.
How truthfully does that quote equate with how you actually record though?
It's not that loose at this point, but there is still sort of this spirit of that sometimes, when we're trying to figure out parts of a song.
How has your recording process changed over the years since you first started off?
We've gotten a lot better at recording. We approach it much more methodically now in a relative sense. Especially with this last record it wasn't as mysterious.
You've played over 100 shows last year. Do you ever wish you had more time to record than be on the road?
Personally, I really like traveling. After a point, usually for me that point is maybe about five or six weeks, it's just too long to be away. It feels like you're never going to be home again... But by the same token, it's very exciting to get out and play on the road and tour the songs throughout the country after we've been holed up in Philadelphia for a [while]. Although this fall is going to be the true test. Most of the fall and winter we're going to be not here in Philadelphia.
You were supposed to be in New York this week, but a couple of your shows got canceled because one of your singers, Toby Leaman, lost his voice. Is there a good story behind that?
Actually there is! He was out tubing in Chestertown, Maryland. And I guess tubing, not in the sense that you float down the river and bring a cooler of beer. He and his wife were being pulled on a tube behind a speed boat. Toby was riding with his wife and they went over a wave and her head came up and hit him right in the throat. Bruised his esophagus.
You're often compared to the Beatles, the Band, and a lot of other classic rock acts. Who would you call your modern day influences, and who are you currently listening to?
A big influence lyrically and for songwriting is Joanna Newsom. Her first album is one of my favorites of all time and her second one is really great too.
What do you think separates Philly's music scene from other cities in the U.S.?
One thing that will always strike me was that most of the bands had multiple singers and songwriters and usually sing in harmony. That's a common thread that runs through all my favorite Philadelphia bands. Drawing a parallel to all our favorite bands from the past, that's always been the case as well--the Beatles, the Kinks, the Beach Boys, the Band--[everyone in those bands] lent a hand in the songwriting process and it wasn't just one guy and his band. To most people those were some of the most popular bands, so there must be something to it.
How long have you actually known each other?
I actually met these guys at a Dr. Dog show when I was in college. That was almost eight years ago I guess. I've been in the band for about seven years. I knew Toby and Scott from college (West Chester University). Then our friend Bradford also went to school with us, and he and Juston and Frank all grew up near each other in New Jersey. We've been in this lineup for three years now.
You guys have the first two albums--Psychedelic Swamp and Toothbrush--. Were you on those, or was that before you joined?
Psychedelic Swamp was already done when I met those guys. On Toothbrush, it's all stuff from before I was playing and recording with those guys. In the days before, we just had a bunch of songs and we would make up tapes and give them to people, cut out a paper bag to put in the cassette, write all the songs out on them, draw a little drawing on it and that's how we spread the music around. Toothbrush is just a condensed version of a tape that was 90 minutes long. It's not really a real album in my mind. It all very rough material from a bunch of different sources. But Easy Beat was an album we came home and deliberately made as an album with intent.
Many of you guys have beards and you were just on the cover Relix. Do you consider yourself a jam band?
We don't ever jam. Everything's all pretty mapped out. I consider us much more of a pop band than of anything. I think that's the most appropriate category, were we to put ourselves in one. We don't really have any sections where it's like, "Now we just hang on these chords." It's all pretty calculated, but maybe it doesn't come off like that [Laughs].
I'm not going to lie, when I first heard about you guys, I thought it was a rap group. Have you ever played around with the idea of cutting a rap track just to play with the misconceptions of your name?
We actually did cut a couple of rap songs but they weren't serious things, they were just a fun little thing to do. There's one about taking a nap and another one about taking a bath.
Who does your album art? It's an old picture of Bonnie and Clyde, isn't it?
We were at a bar in Chicago called the Rainbow Lounge, or something like that, and it had these stitched canvas paintings. It turns out they were the bartender's, and we asked him about it [then] bought it that night before we even started recording anything. We sort of worked backwards from that. It's a big thing with outlines that are stitched and then painted. You can see a little bit on the cover, but in person it's got that depth to it. It's pretty cool. The guy's name is Ken Ellis.
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