Garagerocktopia goes to the Dogs

We at Garagerocktopia have some founding principles, things we believe to be more important (musically, that is) than anything else in the world, and if you’ve read some of the posts, you can see they’re not that complicated or mysterious.

The Dogs

Around here, what’s important is not now how much sales an artist racked up or how much time their names spend on the pop charts. We don’t care about licensing deals or how perfect their production sounds. What we actually do care about is music that is fun, and that the artists who make the music also think it’s fun.

Also, we’ve made it clear more than a few times that this blog is not now, nor ever has been, exclusively dedicated to American artists or to ‘60s music, though of course often that’s who makes so much of the music we love.

As folks from Bonn to Buenos Aires can tell you, garage rock did not end in the ‘60s. Slowly, sometimes ploddingly and sometimes with a few extended breaks, garage rock has kept going and going. The passage of decades and the presence of national borders never made a speck of difference. And those supposed barriers don’t mean nada to us’ns here, either. The intention has always been to feature artists who may not have been born yet when the Sonics had their first go-round, or bands whose prefecture lies far beyond the English-speaking world.

So ladies and gentleman, meet the Dogs.

  

For people who already dig the music that we write about here, the Dogs are probably already a known quantity. The Oslo-based group is one of many terrific bands out of Norway, where garage rock is every bit the cultural force than lutefisk is these days (Maybe more!).

Last year, despite the usual incidence of much great garage rock from Scandinavia and beyond, Little Steven placed the Dogs’ tune “Crime is Sexy” at the tippy-top of his list of the coolest songs of the year. Once you listen to their great riffs, driving keyboards and lead singer Kristopher Schau’s wailing vocals, you’ll see why they are catching the attention of garage rock royalty.

Schau is a confirmed road warrior in Norway who’s hunkered down through a lot of rock and roll campaigns. With the Dogs, though, Schau has come home to the kind of music that he really wants to play.

“Garage rock is what I’ve been listening to most of my life,” Schau revealed, talking on telephone (yes, in English) from Oslo, where the band has just finished recording its next album, Swamp Gospel Promises. “I’m 44 now and I started when I was 16, and I’ve played in so many bands. This one is the one I like best, though, it’s like coming home. This kind of music is what I should have done a lot earlier.”

 

A quick listen to the Dogs serves up an unmistakable ‘60s garage-rock groove. Anybody who likes the Seeds or the Music Machine should definitely be able to dig on the Dogs. The music has a clear punkish edge to it. Plus, still evident are echoes of past bands and past genres which Schau and other members have been involved.

One of those components of the Dogs’ sound is Scandi Rock. While its audience shrinks the further you venture from the Arctic Circle, Scandi Rock has its coterie of devotees worldwide. A form of hard rock, it apparently draws most heavily from ‘80s and ‘90s glam rockers like Motley Crue. In the past, Schau has logged gobs of Scandi Rock apprenticeship.

“I’ve always played rock music of some sort and it’s always been loud,” said Schau, who also cited the Wenatchee, Washington-based Talismen as one influence. “I’ve played some Scandi Rock, some of which had elements of punk. For some reason, I’m able to do a good growling sound with my voice. Because of that, I ended up in a metal band for 10 years.”

Sadly, we cannot print the name of that band here in a family-friendly blog. And, to hear Schau recall it, maybe the less the band is referenced, the better.

“It was fun, but I think it was the worst band name ever and I hated the music,” confessed Schau. “But I am really happy for those years because a lot of what I learned then is coming together now.”

The other members of the pack --Mads Martinsen  (guitar), Roar Nilsen (bass), Henrik Gustavsen  (drums) Christian Spro (keyboards) and Kenneth Simonsen (Percussion) also did time in various rock bands, some also with names that maybe are best not repeated. And the Dogs weren’t originally intended to be a permanent fixture on the Oslo music scene.

“Members still play in other bands, but this band has turned into everyone’s favorite,” Schau said. “We’ll have a four month break where everyone can do some of the other things they do. In January, we’ll release the new album and tour.”

The group that would be known as the Dogs came together slowly, almost accidentally, as Schau originally intended the group to more or less be a side-project for a song Schau had that he thought was especially cool.

Kristopher Schau

“Before we started, I was doing some power pop. I had a song with a ‘60s kind of thing going on that was terrific,” Schau recalled. “I got some people and recorded it. The Dogs were supposed to be together for one single, but it was so much fun, we did another one and it developed into a whole album. Slowly, it became more professional.”

One might assume from the name that maybe the band members also belong to an elkhound club or something like that. In fact, a member of another well-known garage band in Norway had intended to use the name. It should be noted that there have been – and in fact, still are – other bands called the Dogs, and oddly enough with music that falls into what we like here. But, as they say, you snooze, you lose, and Schau had a great name for his new band.

“The singer for the Ricochets (Trond Andreassen) is a friend of mine,” said Schau. “He always wanted to have a garage rock band and call it the Dogs. I told him that name has been taken, but it has been a long time since it has been used. He didn’t take it, so I did.”

Since the band was sort of an experiment to begin with, Schau set up the Dogs’ first recording sessions in a rather peculiar way.

As most of you reading this already know, garage rock is not about virtuosity or perfection. It’s about making music that makes you feel something, and because of that, it often is very raw and primal. That’s why we like it here at Garagerocktopia – because it’s the polar opposite of what you hear at the shopping mall, the gym, or commercial radio. Schau would probably rather get rabies then sound like that kind of music, so he he set up the Dogs to where they couldn’t sound generic that even if they tried.

“We practice the songs, but we don’t want them to be too good,” Schau explained. “We just record it and add vocals and percussion afterward. We don’t have any fancy ideas. We do a couple takes, listen to it, and take the best one. And the best one isn’t the one that’s best technically but it’s the one that sounds most like we mean it.”

The way the band makes the music sound like they may seem bizarre and almost a cueing op a disaster. But, as Schau explains the process, in a punk/garage kind of way, it makes complete sense.

“I wanted the wrong people on the wrong instruments,” Scahu revealed. “I got a drummer who played guitar. I got an organ player who was a good musician but didn't play keyboards at all. I got a bass player whose qualification was that he owned a studio. It was an experiment, and I didn’t think it would work, but it did. Nobody was really sure of what they were doing. I purposely got them nervous then got that on tape.”

Schau boldly caters to his own shortcomings rather than hiding from them.

“I can kind of play the guitar,” said Schau, “but I can’t tell you the names of the notes or chords. I don’t know what I’m playing – I just play.”

With the band members’ sensibilities shaken up like a snow globe at Christmastime, recording the songs has the potential to be awkward, perhaps even chaotic. But over time the band members have developed an instinct to figure out what the others are doing.

“I talk a lot of nonsense,” Schau said. “I’ll say I want this to sound like an avalanche’, or I want that to sound ‘like a band-aid being ripped off.’ but now that we’ve been together for a while, they know what I’m trying to say, so they’ll just say ‘Ah, now I know what you mean.’”.

And, as the band has become used to working under this kind of system, the Dogs have increasingly become a little more self-assured, the music just a little bit tighter with each new album.

“It’s still the same band,” Schau reminded, “but as time passes We can play our instruments a little better,. Christian still doesn’t know anything. He practices at home, he has charts with pictures and numbers he has to follow. It’s the weirdest thing.”

The Dogs have found some success commercially, but despite their punk/garage ideals, Schau absolutely would welcome more sales and airplay. But perhaps we love the Dogs so much here is because for Schau, it’s not strictly a bottom-line mentality that has rendered so much of rock and roll to a commodity, one with no more emotional significance than wheat bushels or pork bellies.

One plus for a garage rock band in this wired age is that the Dogs, even if they never step foot outside Norway, can still have a worldwide following. That’s not a small consideration for Schau going forward.

“We live in a good age,” Schau affirmed. “I don’t make much money and I may never make much money, What I like about this time we live in is that anybody from anywhere can find your stuff and listen to it. And for me, that’s living in a good age.”

One victory the Dogs can claim is that they can claim some very influential people as fans. Last year, Little Steven declared the Dogs’ “Crime is Sexy” to be the Coolest Song of the Year in 2014. Full disclosure -- that is exactly how we got hip to the Dogs here. While that honor doesn’t completely up the ante as much as the Dogs and their fans might like, it has its value.

“It was weird (being selected as the Coolest Song of the Year by Little Steven) because we didn’t think it was the best song on the album,” Schau opined, saying “Do You Remember Me Now” was probably better. “We were really happy about it though. It was a big deal. I don’t know that much happened afterwards, but whenever a stranger tells you that you have the best song of the year, it’s a big deal.”

Regardless of their sales, their demand in the United States or where they measure up on anybody’s barometer of success, the Dogs are going to keep on keeping on. As a garage rocker, actually enjoying the music you make is everything. And the guys that make up the Dogs like what they do.

 

“I’m 44 years old. I’ve often felt it’s never going to happen,” Scahu admitted. “Nobody ever breaks when they’re 50. But I don’t care. I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had. Everybody else in the band feels the same way.”