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The Lowdown: Interview with Dog Is Dead

"The top half of Trevs body is out of the atmosphere due to his lanky limbs."

by Claire H., October 8th, 2012 and has been Read 1937 times.
Last Edited by: Jack Stovin October 8th, 2012.

Today (October 8th 2012) sees the release of Nottingham five piece, Dog Is Dead's hyped up All Our Favourite Stories full length. After some huge festival performances and a ton of radio play, all of the hard work seems to be paying off. As a group they have progressed over the years into a special sound of 2012.

AltSounds caught up with these indie-devils who, once combined, are known to you and I as Dog is Dead.

They’re a 5 - pieced suitably disturbed lot, hot on the alternative trail. Check out what they had to say whilst checking out their new album below:





AltSounds: So for anyone reading who's not yet heard of you lot.. Introduce yourselves, please. With at least one bizarro fact from/about each of you.

Dog Is Dead: "'We are 5 guys from Nottingham who make music together. Trev plays bass right handed but air guitars left handed, Joss plays keys and knows TV chef Rosemary Schrager, Harvey plays drums and thinks in binary code, Paul plays guitar and is the most boring on earth, and Rob is lead vocals and guitar and is petrified of dogs (no link to the band name though)."

AltSounds: If Dog is Dead was a movie, what would the synopsis be? Try to be poetic!

Dog Is Dead: "Five unassuming guys from Nottingham thought they had it all...until..."

AltSounds: Who are some of your musical influences? And which artists are currently spinning around your minds and ears?

Dog Is Dead: "Influences range from the Beach boys to the Pixies, Flaming lips to Bruce Springstein. Frank Ocean, Lone's album is like floating on a mattress of space dust. "

AltSounds: 'Two Devils' is a clever song. Arrangement wise, I hear nice punky beats but also rather dreamy trippy-like interludes. Almost as if you're generating to the listener a kind of crazy, lyrical, jumpy, drawly musical gas which settles at the core. How do you conjur equally heady imagery for your video ideas?

Dog Is Dead: "When we wrote the song, images of old, stop motion horror flicks came to mind. We were lucky enough to work with an award winning horror director who made our ideas come to life."

AltSounds: I hear a kind of '80s influence throughout most of the album, but also sax, electro mixed with big bassy sounds. Would you compare yourselves with any other indie bands? And what do you think stands you apart?

Dog Is Dead: "I think we share interests with other bands but we don't compare ourselves to them. Music is not a competition."

AltSounds: I'm currently experiencing a vintage sci-fi revival. There's a blogger who goes by the name sci-fi-o rama.. Do any of you guys have any intergalacticy pastimes/interests?

Dog Is Dead: "Harvey's never seen Star Wars which Joss thinks is an outrage. The top half of Trevs body is out of the atmosphere due to his lanky limbs."

[Dog Is Dead album cover for All Our Favourite Stories]

"We take control of what we want to do and where we want to go. If you put that much effort into writing music that you love then it makes sense to pay that much attention to the other aspects of your art."

AltSounds: We're all familiar with the term 'concept album' would you say this applies to you?

Dog Is Dead: "I wouldn't say it's a concept album, all the songs are about growing up over the last few years but the album wasn't written to portray a specific theme."

AltSounds: What sort of creative space do you guys adhere to. Where/how do you work, and what sort of creative process do you guys go through. Or is it more of a mishmash of ideas?

Dog Is Dead: "We write in Robs bedroom, he comes up with a skeleton of a song and we build the flesh. It's a group effort, helped by the fact we're all gr8 m8's."

AltSounds: Any dream collaborations which you aspire to?

Dog Is Dead: "Hot Chocolate."

AltSounds: I think your lyrics possess a wiseness and maturity quality, with insightful passages and themes.. Do your lyrics/singles ideas come from personal experiences?

Dog Is Dead: "Yeah it's semi-autobiographical from Robs perspective. A lot of thought goes into the lyrics."

AltSounds: How involved are you as a band with future plans/ decisions. Do you take ownership of your 'brand' as it were?

Dog Is Dead: "Yeah, massively. We take control of what we want to do and where we want to go. If you put that much effort into writing music that you love then it makes sense to pay that much attention to the other aspects of your art."



AltSounds: Where was your very first gig? And are there any plans to tour?

Dog Is Dead: "West Bridgford school talent show was our first gig. We've got a tour lined up for the end of October which we're really looking forward to."

AltSounds: What are your opinions on the independent record label industry? And how has the internet pr corp helped or hindered your journey so far?

Dog Is Dead: "We love independent labels, it gives so many more musicians the chance to spread their music. Internet PR has helped loads, it's so much easier to get your sound out to the public through the Internet."

AltSounds: What sort of image do you think your music portrays?

Dog Is Dead: "The devil applying sun cream on a sunny beach."

AltSounds: Finally, what kind of advice can you offer to any aspiring independent/alternative bands out there just starting out?

Dog Is Dead: "Keep working at it and play every gig you can. It's taken us 5 years and we estimate we've done about 450/500 gigs in that time. It's a hard slog but worth it."



There is a bunch of UK shows lined up in support of their album release. Be sure to check them out at the following dates:

October 2012 Dog Is Dead tour dates:

• 23 Manchester Academy 3
• 24 Birmingham O2 Academy 2
• 25 Newcastle The Other Rooms
• 26 Edinburgh Electric Circus
• 27 Glasgow King Tuts
• 29 Dublin O2 Academy 2
• 31 Bristol Thekla

November 2012 Dog Is Dead tour dates:

• 2 Exeter Phoenix
• 3 Brighton The Haunt
• 6 Leeds Cockpit
• 7 London Scala