Dr. Dog: The Journey & Destiny of A Start-to-Finish Album

New To Me

Philadelphia-based Dr. Dog has been around for a few years and three albums.  I need to thank the music gods for sending me a band that is without a doubt my album of the year to date.  No ifs, ands or buts.  Actually, the music gods took the form of a casual recommendation for them.  Yes, I will honk The MusicFile horn on this discovery.  This is a band that our fearless leader sent me a note about a couple of months ago.  It was definitely a check them outtheyre damn good type of recommendation, and I almost did not because their name automatically conjured up ideas of a poor mans Dr. John or Sublime.  I cant say why.

I'm so glad that I disregarded my own band name categorized stereotype because what I discovered in Dr. Dog's latest album Fate is one of the most complex and intricate, yet enormously accessible albums in years.  I'm not kidding, its that damn good.  By complex, I don't mean excessive artsy noise loops.  By intricate, I don't mean over-produced layered guitars that could never be recreated live.  I just mean an album that I can easily listen to - and sing along to - from the first song to the last.  There isn't one song that lags.  Its like listening to a consistently good radio station or when your iPod is on shuffle and it keeps pumping out exactly the songs that suit your mood.  Dr. Dog's Fate aims high with its orchestral arrangements and melodic hooks, and achieves with a reckless aplomb.  

Whether its songs about mending hearts, the future 100 years from now, or lighter tunes about how a fox got a raven to crow and how a dog at a creek lost his bone, Dr. Dog's Toby Leaman and the rest of the band did nothing short of an entertaining rock opera-type album, but with out all the bombast.  There's soul and meaning in the songs like "Hang On" and "Uncovering the Old."  I am currently in the process of working backward to earlier Dr. Dog albums.  But there are those albums that once you discover them and they are on a constant play, you mourn them when you move on to another band, or even another album by the same artist.  For me, that is Dr. Dog's Fate.  I guess it was fate that allowed me to think again before discarding them as a Dr. John rip-off.

Vitals:

Band Members:

Dr. Dog is made up of a group of musicians and friends that are partial to nicknames.  They each have nicknames for each other and often assign them to friends of the band as well.  I thought it only fitting that I would introduce them by their latest alliterative-based pseudonyms listed on their website:
Taxi - Scott McMicken, vocals, distortion solo guitar
Tables - Toby Leaman, vocals, bass
Text - Zach Miller, keyboards, some guitar and vocals
Time or Triumph - Juston Stens, trapset (drums), harmonies, vehicle maintenance
Thanks - Frank McElroy, full grip chords, young voice, interning

Conceived:

Over the years, over 20 musicians and friends have been considered members of Dr. Dog.  The principals have played in several bands in the 90s, but they first started putting proper EPs and LPs together in 2000-2001 with the release of Psychedelic Swamp.  After signing with Park the Van Records in 2005, Dr. Dog considers Easy Beat their first proper album.

Roots:

All band members of Dr. Dog are Philadelphia guys through and through.   More specifically, they are from West Philly and earned a loyal following at clubs in Philly, New York, West Chester, PA and others.

Sound & Sounds Like:

Before trying to explain the sound of Dr. Dog, it only seems appropriate to cite the band and their website, going straight to the source with what they are all about: "Dr. Dog is interested in three-part harmonies, the out-of-doors, hoagies, vegetables and diminished chords."  If nothing else, that explains to me that the Dr. Dog listening experience will be a little bizarre, if not beautiful.

I hesitate to simply put them into the category of 60's psychedelic-infused jamming.  Instead, the way that I have been recommending Dr. Dog to pretty much anyone who will listen is by asking them if they like The White Album or Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.  The response I often get is, "Come on!  Thats a bold comparison!"  But I'm telling you, when I listen to their latest release, Fate or even parts of earlier releases like Easy Beat, damned if I don't constantly think I'm listening to the three-part harmonies of John, Paul and George.  

Like Lennon & McCartney, Dr. Dog also offers two primary vocalists lending their talents to different songs.  Both Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman provide the 1-2 punch of vocals: a mix of raspy blues from Leaman (from Fate, see "Hang On" or "Army of Ancients") with McMicken's nasally melodic pop (see "The Breeze" or "Uncovering the Old").  The lyrics - and the bands harmonies - are Dr. Dog's strongest suit.  I feel that when I listen to the whole album from start to finish, the themes of destiny, travel by railroad and seizing the moment run throughout.  

To pin down the sound of Dr. Dog, other accurate comparisons and clear inspirations beyond The Fab Four include The Beach Boys, The Band, and Neil Young.  However, as many influences Dr. Dog draws upon, Scott McMicken righteously summed up their original approach to making music on their labels website: "This band was started and built on the idea that we were the only band there was.  That gave us the freedom to be in complete control.  You can start a band and say, 'In Dr. Dog World, up is down and blue is red.' Because who's gonna tell you youre wrong?"

Bar Talk:

I got a kick out of the fact that each band member has a nickname and that the moniker comes from something that is a central part of each guy's life.  Whether it is what they do or a personality trait, it would be interesting to hear the back story on each.  For example, former member Andrew Jones was nicknamed "Trial" because he is a practicing attorney.  Ill have to do some more digging (or perhaps just ask the band) about what "Taxi" or "Tables" mean.

The band insists something special is at work with Fate, their latest release.  They had no intention before recording began that there would be an overriding theme connecting songs, both lyrically and musically.  But as they laid tracks down (just like the railroad tracks theme in the album), the path of the album became clear.  Scott McMicken explains further: "Once we got a good chunk of stuff down, it was apparent that something was going on, that these themes were just coming without our awareness of it.  Then it became really exciting to say, wow, there's this aspect of fate that's governing this process as well as being the subject of it."

Dr. Dog has been on the fringes of a wider audience for years; it also is a testament to the quality of a band based on the company they keep.  The band has toured with My Morning Jacket, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Black Keys and M. Ward personally requested that they be a part of his tour.  Hell, they even played The Lebowski Festival in 2007, covering tunes from the movie.  

Essential:

I discovered Dr. Dog through Fate and I'm convinced its the best album I've heard in 2008.  It's difficult for me not to recommend this opus to you as the LP to pick up first.  However, I was also very pleased with 2005's Easy Beat.   Admittedly, I still need to explore their earlier work, but I most recently picked up their 2007 album We All Belong.  But nothing has moved me quite like Fate.  It will be very hard to top such a stellar start-to-finish record.

LINKS: Dr. Dog - Official Site | We All Belong - Official Album Site