The band resolved some years ago to release a new album at the beginning of each year, on which, since 2012, they’ve made good. What’s even more impressive is that many bands wouldn’t sweat putting out albums that rehashed the last, as long as product got to market.
And, with a dedicated fan base that seems to grow ever more popular both in their native Norway and beyond, The Dogs could easily get away with that. But, like the true rock and roll road warriors they are, they actually manage to evolve with each new release, and they’ve made extra moves up that evolutionary scale just a bit more with this year’s new release, Crossmaker.
For those of you not familiar, The Dogs are powered by singer and songwriter Kristopher Schau, whose wailing, anguished vocals kind of remind you of a guy who’s just noticed his child looks more like the mailman than him, his pick-up truck is being repossessed, he just got written out of the will and his favorite player just signed with the team he hates most, angry and agonized though maybe a little short of suicidal.
And if that’s what draws you to the group, there’s no need to fear. Crossmaker delivers the lyrical torment just fine. But this album finds the band balancing that rage with more than a little world-weariness, something singer and bandleader Kristopher Schau attests to.
“I think you're hearing it correctly,” Schau acknowledges, talking to Garagerocktopia via email. “I mean, we ARE getting older and probably getting wearier. Mads, the guitarist, and I made all of the first demos for this one acoustically first. We just locked ourselves up in a cabin for a few days and got them down so the others had something decent to listen to.”
“And being in that kind of environment, two guys in their underwear with acoustic guitars in their laps, did something to the demos. For instance, I didn't scream or anything, I just sat there mumbling the melody, so when it was time to include the whole band and plug in the electricity, that whole vibe from the demo sessions was still there, and some of it made it all the way unto the album I guess.”
To be sure, there are some fine torrid rockers on Crossmaker, including “Toy Guns in a Butchery.” There’s no mistaking the punk elements as well, particularly on the song “Waiting For the Future to Come,” which opens with a riff that strongly recalls The Stooges’ Raw Power.
This time around, though, it’s clearly the slower, moodier fare that steals the album spotlight. Perhaps the highlight is “I Never Wanted Us,” which balances perfectly the snarl and the ruefulness.
“With all of those, the more angry sounding ones, it's always about the feeling of the take more than singing it correctly,” revealed Schau, “so what always happens is I go in there and run through the song as best as I can, just to get the timing halfway right. Then we take a 30-second break in silence just to concentrate on what I'm actually saying lyrically, and then we blast through the whole thing again. Nine out of ten times that second take will end up on the album.”
In discussing the recording of the songs, it becomes clear that what the band is making is not just a product designed to move units, like so much rock music has become, but that it's as much about feeling, instinct and intuition as it is chord progressions and song structure. In other words, the band is creating something truly artistic.
“After that, every take is just overthinking,” Schau explained. “Yes, they will probably sound ‘better’ technically, but nothing beats that second one. The melody can be as off as it likes, and the timing might be weird, but there's usually something there that I'm never able to replicate. It's a weird thing.
Another highlight of the album is “Love Says Nothing,” with its clanky, clunky opening, strongly suggests a branch of punk The Dogs haven’t previously explored so much, industrial.
“That's my favourite,” said Schau. “Every album there's one song where we go "we have to get this one right. This one is what it’s all about". And on Crossmaker it was "Love Says Nothing". With the industrial thing, we tried to push it harder, but it got lost somewhere in the mixing process.”
You can always count on The Dogs to serve up some solid, ‘60s-inspired Garage-Punk, but in a way that growls Dogs-style. On Crossmaker, “Try Harder” and “The Moment of Truth” check that box, and they result from a bit of tinkering from Schau and the band.
“I bought myself this tiny, tiny little keyboard for my birthday,” Schau explained, “a battery-driven thing that fits in my lap. It’s probably meant for kids. I don't know how to play it, so I thought it would be fun to try to make something from scratch with an instrument I have absolutely no idea how to operate, and that's how "Try Harder" got made. With two fingers and my tongue clenched between my teeth, that’s probably how it ended up sounding so garage-y, since it was made by an adult child. "The Moment of Truth" was mainly Mads' work, but like everything else ends up somehow sounding like us.
The Dogs have, on more than one occasion, channeled a bit of a classic rock sound into their music as well, and with “Without a Warning,” have done so once again. For all their Garage Punk flourishes, they have opened shows for the likes of Bruce Springsteen and in the past have expressed some admiration of Scandi-Rock, which itself betrays a strong Glam/Hair-Metal sound. Schau has never denied an affinity for popular mainstream music of the past.
“We have an expression in Norway, ‘Gubbe-Rock,’” said Schau. “It would probably translate something like ‘old man rock’, and we use it all the time. ‘Gubbe-Rock’ is such a difficult genre. There's a thin line between Z.Z. Top and later Bon Jovi that you have to manoeuvre with care. If you drop down on the good side, the Z.Z. Top side, you're good, but it's a difficult walk. Hopefully we made it.”
Another way the band has gone seriously old-school is releasing singles. There were some leftovers from Crossmaker, which are gradually finding their release. Schau gave a hint of the decision-making for the band.
“Haha, we thought it would be a fun idea to just release every single track off the album as singles just to see what would happen,” Schau commented. “And it saved us from bickering over what songs to release as well. When we recorded the album, we recorded a total of 15 songs with 10 of them making the album, When we started releasing the singles we just thought ‘wouldn't it be fun to just release all 15?’ So we did. So there will be 15 singles from a 10-song album.”
Crossmaker has been out only four months, and the singles are trickling out. But Schau has long been a prolific songwriter who never seems to stop finding ideas and inspirations for songs. And, true to form, just as fans are still figuring out their favorites on Crossmaker, Schau is already making songs for the next album.
“You know, we're so deep into the next one already, making demos and stuff, that it's now all about that one,” Schau said. “With this Covid-19 thing going on, we don't know what's happening release-wise, or even recording-wise, but we're planning for the first Monday in 2021, as we always do. But for the first time it's not in our hands to guarantee that we'll make it. We'll try though!”
Most of you reading this are likely experiencing the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Scandinavian countries, as of this writing, have not quite been as affected adversely as so many other parts of the world have, but while hoping for the best, Norway and the other countries in the region are preparing for the worst.
“My income has been reduced to exactly zero overnight,” Schau lamented, “but the government is doing a real good job at getting social security stuff up and running, so we actually have a feeling of feeling somewhat safe. Everybody gets by with less, and everything is fragile economy wise, but at least we feel safe. For now.
Don't Forget to listen to Garagerocktopia Radio, alternating with Blue Mood, Tuesday nights on KUCR Radio, 88.3 FM Riverside, California, where you can hear artists like The Dogs, plus many others who have appeared on our hallowed pages and whose music has inspired us. Can't tune in live? No problem! head over to Mixcloud and catch the show there.
We have some other features already in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists have been sending us some very cool stuff. As always, we don’t make any guarantees in stone but we’re happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us, and we’re always happy to spread the word about about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.
Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids (which we don't have anyway) or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes" and "follows" on both Facebook and Mixcloud if you're so inclined ...
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