I frequently run into people outside the confines of Rock Town Hall who know of us, have heard something about what we do, and want to talk to me about what they imagine takes place here. It’s kind of funny. It’s not like any one of these folks can’t log onto our site and see for themselves, but I won’t complain about any degree of interest people might have.
It is funny what people sometimes assume goes on here:
- “You must be talking about Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, huh?”
- “I bet you guys are all over Dr. Dog‘s latest!”
- “The Clapton autobiography must be getting a lot of play.”
Actually, the answer to these and other questions is “No.”
What makes one artist fodder for Rock Town Hall discussion and another not? Why don’t we talk about Dr. Dog? They, in particular, seem so up our alley, even if it means they take a licking from some of our usual bullies. If nothing else, doesn’t the Patti Boyd stuff in Clapton’s autobiography at least tempt you to crack that bad boy open? Of course, you’re aware that Patti Boyd was married to George Harrison, who it goes without saying was in The Beatles. You see what I’m saying?
Who’s holding out on topics that don’t get kicked around often enough, if at all? Who’s holding out on fanning the flames of an in-depth discussion of interesting bands like Queen or Radiohead or Sparks or The Chills or The National. The Fuckin’ National, mannnn! I’ve been seeing this band’s name dropped on all the blogs the regular kids browse. Who’s holding The National?
You see what I’m saying? The year is young. Some of us are pretty old. What I hope we’re not is unwilling to check out and comment on bands outside our comfort zone, not quite propped up on our dunk tank. Keep your ears open, Townspeople, and your fingers free to sound off.
I look forward to expanding my mind.
I figured it was only a matter of time before we started talking about Dr. Dog.
In fact, they seem like a perfect RTH storm.
dripping with hipster cred (and isn’t there more than one hipster beard in there somewheres?) / early 70s era Kinks sound / a sort of flavor of the month ring to their recent success / but a rather substantial and quite considerable batch of material, thus far, that makes at least *this* townsman think they are worthy of the accolades they receive.
So many sides to take! Such a confusing combination of things that make RTH’ers either happy, or annoyed!
In other words, how dare those hipsters get *it* right, and do *it* so well!
Perhaps this is why they haven’t been a topic yet…
I’m glad you see what I’m saying about Dr. Dog. I’ve got to find the CDs of their that a friend burned me and place up some tracks for discussion – or maybe one of you other enabled Townspeople would like to do so (or get enabled, if you’re not already – contact me offlist). I think they could be a new entry in our bin of surefire thread starters.
I think the collective response to the hyped up Band of Horses suggests that we tend to tire of being burned by new bands, especially whan they don’t sound all that “new.”
With regards to Dr. Dog, I would want to see them live to determine whether they can “translate” their conceptual vision to a compelling performance.
The one time I saw Dr. Dog live I thought they had some late period Beatles-ish tropes here and there, but more than anything they seemed like a jam band with a hint of Elephant 6 thrown in there. Very beard-y. Now, granted, that was early on in their career. I caught them on late night network TV once and thought they were decent enough. I can totally see why potheads dig them.
my one beef with Dr. Dog live does seem a little sleepy, like i could sleep in one of their beards.
…and pot and stuff.
tee hee hee.
There is an article about them and their producer in the latest TapeOp magazine…I’ll have to re-read it but I remember being annoyed at their recording techniques – like recording drums and cymbals separately and other “we only like this mic on everything” approach…must be the pot.
That being said I confess to liking the “Worst Trip” song I heard on XPN ok (I think thats what it is called). The other odd thing about them is that they’ve been “around” for like 10 years but I’d never heard about them until last year…
I know what you’re talking about regarding that TapeOp article, Mrclean. Whenever I listen to their albums and see them on late-night shows I have a mixture of feelings: a) I generally like what they’re going after, b) I like their hippie/Elephant 6 vibe, c) my friend Mike does this stuff much better in his basement, d) they try way too hard at cultivating a White Album cum post-Brian Wilson breakdown Beach Boys album vibe. It’s the last thing that ends up bugging me the most and making me stop short of finishing the CD I’ve popped in. Why try to emulate the “beginning of the end” eras of two fantastic bands?
c) my friend Mike does this stuff much better in his basement
He really does, doesn’t he?
You know who I’m talking about, Tvox. Yes, I think so.
One of these days I’ll release my list of friends who do stuff better than all those who are better recognized for doing something similar. You will be on that list yourself!
meh…
i had a feeling — which i only intimate in my description of why i suspected that rth’ers would find much to love and to loathe in dr. dog — that it would come to this: one of my pals is *better* (whatever that means) than these guys are at doing *the same thing* (which seems impossible to me), and he’s not getting any love from conan o-brien for it.
i’m respectfully sorry, mr. mod. i guess i’m a little tired of the “i have a friend who’s 4-tracks are better than THIS!” rap.
the ability to perform well in one’s own basement is as arbitrary a marker as one’s ability to climb out of said basement and prop it up on a stage.
i’m sure mike is great at what he does. but i’m not gonna hold that against dr. dog. i’m also sure that i like dr. dog’s songs, regardless of whether or not your friend mike has or hasn’t appeared on conan. see what i mean?
i’ve got no *dog* in this fight either way.
What you say is valid, Saturnismine, but what’s your take on my other criticism, that they’re spending a lot of time re-creating the downfall periods of two great bands. Whether this is good or bad, are they doing anything to rectify those eras? I DO think that’s a noble practice. I’m not sure if it’s the case with Dr. Dog or not. If I felt like they were make a satin purse our of a sow’s ear, or whatever the old saying is, I’d be completely in their corner. Again, though, my feelings on the matter of this band are not meant to be analyzed objectively, especially if you’re refuting the larger points I’m trying to make:)
about to retire for the night, but wanted to thank you, mod, for responding head on to my point that whether they’re playing in the basement and we know them or they’re making appearances on conan and we don’t shouldn’t really matter.
your question about the downfall periods is complex.
i mean, what if they don’t think of those phases in the development of those bands the same way you or i do? given the other influences i hear in their songs, i suspect they don’t.
nor do i suspect that they think of themselves in terms of those two bands alone.
over the breadth of their oeuvre, i hear more: hunky dory-esque bowie, t-rex, rundgren, and even the much more occasional hint of townshend or tull creeping in here and there…more of a general post-pepper gestalt. but it IS mixed with a newer aesthetic, too.
and like you, i don’t think they always hit it either.
however — and now we lurch warily into the realm of “feelings”, in this case, the feelings connected to the earballs — i hear a pretty good creative imagination in their songs, and a knack for sound, texture, and melody, and lyric writing that i like. it sounds pretty natural to me. and i don’t think they’re approaching it as taxonomically as you suggest. i think they’re working pretty intuitively.
now here’s the tricky part: i saw them play live and reacted with … ‘eh’. didn’t really care for their presence on stage or something. didn’t really care for the *scene* in attendance at their show, either. i let it get in the way of listening to the songs. and maybe they were having an off night. but i didn’t really bother to look or listen closely enough to find out.
then, over the next few months, it seemed like every time i heard a song on college radio that really caught my ear, it was by dr. dog!
they earned my respect in the “blind taste test”.
and that’s good enough for me. the next time i have the opportunity, i’ll go check ’em out and see if i can connect with their live face.
sleepy….
I like some stuff by Dr. Dog, in particular “My Old Ways” which is pretty much the best of their Beach Boys ripoffs.
My biggest problem with them is that somethign about their music sounds REALLY insincere.
hissing fauna, you’ve hit on something that comes up here a few times a year: perceived insincerity. Let me ask you, before Saturnismine or some other Townsperson puts you through this trial by fire: how do you perceive sincerity in a band’s performance? Many of us have felt this about one band or another, but when questioned, no Townsperson has ever given a completely satisfying answer. I would love for someone to come up with an answer that would quiet all the relativists around here.
for the record, fauna (and mod), the sincerity thing is something i had a problem with in their live set when i saw them.
mod, i’m not sure what you’re assuming about how i would react to fauna’s claim, but “trial by fire”? i know i can be a prig on this list, but what did you have in mind?
“relativist”? is this because i’m aware of when we’re being subjective and objective and have a tendency to point out when others are confusing the two, or pretending one is the other?
whatev. it’s not about me…
my reaction to fauna’s statement was that i wanted to know more, that’s all.
I’m with everything you say, Sat. I wasn’t specifying you alone. There are a handful of “sincerity” hawks, ready to pounce on hissing fauna. Before someone jumped down our Townsperson’s throat, I figured I’d ask the question. And it really is a worthwhile question/set of criteria to explore. Remember the work we put into over Jackson Browne?
ahhh…the halcyon days of rth. yes…all is clear.
I didn’t notice that anyone had responded, sorry.
I’m not so sure if sincerity was the right word. I think a better word would be ‘unconvincing.’ Something about a lot of the songs seems really legarthic, and in some cases (the title track) just formulaic.
The songs are well written and I proably should think their good, but I can’t shake the feeling that other then ‘My Old Ways’ the songs are songs don’t really capture my attention and engage me. It just feel sorta fake.
I probably did a sucky job of explaining it. It’s sorta a gut feeling, similar to what I felt when I listened to “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel.”
Sorry for jumping in so late on this, but I just started a new job on Monday, so I haven’t really had much of a chance to browse RTH recently.
Re: Dr. Dog, I’m a bit conflicted as well. I like what I’ve heard of them on record (specifically their new one We All Belong), but I haven’t played it all that much, which may mean that I think despite the obvious late Beatles/Beach Boys/Band dynamic at play here, I feel like I’m missing something as well.
I’ve seen them twice now and I had a bit of a similar reaction to saturn in that I just didn’t really dig the scene/crowd who was there for their set. Earlier in the nighbt, Bardo Pond played an amazing set that of course cleared most of the place out and then The Spinto Band did their thing and all the girls swooned, but other than “Oh Mandy”, I wasn’t moved by their set at all. Then Dr. Dog followed them and while I liked it, I just REALLY didn’t dig the jam band vibe they gave off, which is much more evident live. Thus, I prefer them on record, but at the same time I thought “wow they’re gonna be huge” since they can appeal to the potheads as well as us more indie-inclined folks as well. The second time I saw them was opening for Dinosaur Jr and I had an “eh” reaction. Then again, I wasn’t really there to see them.
Incidentally, I met one of the bearded fellows in the band (one of the guitar players) and he’s quite nice. He and his roomates were having a sidewalk sale and he happens to live in my neighborhood (or at least he did at the time).