Spinner

Dr. Dog Cope With Being the 'Weirdest Band in the World'

Dr. DogToby Leaman, one of Dr. Dog's two frontmen, would, naturally, like to see his band continue to rise to new levels of fame. But, as he tells Spinner, there's one thing that might be holding his Philadelphia psych-pop crew back. "Sometimes I listen to our songs and think we are the weirdest f---ing band in the world," he says. "These songs don't make sense at all."

The songs he's speaking of, in particular, are the handful that Dr. Dog is currently mixing into what will become their fifth proper album, 'Shame, Shame.' To the band's fans, that weird flair is the band's biggest draw. With bouncy, skip-along basslines, floating harmonies, frequent sleigh bells and a lyrical obsession with all things old and beautiful, Dr. Dog is unafraid to emanate good vibes in a sea of introspective, often bummed-out indie rock.

"Scott [McMicken, vocals and guitar] and I have been working to structure this record, to give it an arc," says Leaman. "The title track lyrically starts out where you're unsure, you don't even know yourself. You've an inability to make a decision. It starts where you think you're fine completely alone, but by the end you realize -- shame, shame -- you didn't even know what was out there."

The idea of embarking on a journey, mentally or physically, is a theme that's carried through each of Dr. Dog's albums. On 'The Breeze,' from last year's 'Fate,' McMicken sings, "The breeze that blows us here today, will blow us all away." Paired with lightly traveling percussion -- and, no doubt, the inclusion of train sounds -- Dr. Dog has created a musical aesthetic that seems to push for constant movement, a sense that no journey is ever over because no one ever truly stops growing or learning.

Maybe it was life imitating art that pushed Dr. Dog to travel out of their Philly studio for the first time to record 'Shame, Shame' in a studio in the woods near Woodstock, N.Y. "The studio was this gorgeous, old church, and we stayed in the rectory for a month, in the woods, just to record," Leaman says.

While the journey to upstate New York birthed the new record, the journey to a new label will afford Dr. Dog new opportunities. After months of deliberation through conversations with four different labels, the band signed with Anti, home of Leaman's hero Tom Waits. The move, though a big step up, isn't the farthest Dr. Dog could've jumped.

"We were really close to signing with Warner Bros. And they were good to us. I didn't feel like they were bulls----ing us. But you could tell that their trajectory for us was to be a huge band right away," says Leaman. "That's not how we see ourselves, at least not suddenly. I mean, if we get there on our own, sure. But, really, I feel like we're just too weird."

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Moby

Yeah, you could definitely find bands that are a whole lot more "weird" than Dr. Dog but I think what's important here is that for a band that is actually GOOD, they do have a lot of unique elements going on. From my experience, "weird" bands usually equate to a whole lot of noise that someone perceives as "artistic" but is not all that good. Luckily for all of us, when it comes to Dr. Dog, everything comes together beautifully.

January 30 2010 at 2:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ali

This is a phenomenal band. Cool more than weird, and about them blowing up quickly i sincerely lament that day. I love to see them in the smaller venues. They say hello and its always a great harmonious scene. I'm going on 10 + shows this month. Rock on guys!

January 16 2010 at 11:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
steff

i don't know if they are the "weirdest" band in the world but they may just be the best. just saw them 2 nights in a row, home town style, and it was the best concert experience i've ever had. this, coming from a typically "bummed-out, indie rock-er", says a lot. i've been to a crap load of shows and i've never seen a band connect with their audience like they did during those 2 nights. i say it now, dr. dog are set to change the face of music as we know it. and if not, we're all the poorer for it. "Fate" had a funny way of changing my life...

October 26 2009 at 4:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ace of Bass

If you want to hear a pretty weird band, check out myspace.com/cookiecrotchnuts , Thats one of the strangest bands i've ever seen

October 11 2009 at 4:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Master Shake

Either this guy needs to get out and listen to other bands a LOT more, or he is just trying to pat himself on the back and get some free publicity (which is apparently working). The "Weirdest Band in the World"? PUH-LEEZE! Let's start with the Residents, particularly their older stuff. Want to go farther than that? Then cruise some bars in Tokyo or eastern Europe for a week or two - THEN you'll get some perspective on what weird is. I just saw a band that played a harpsichord by vibrating the strings with a pulsing electromagnet, while accompanied by timpani and six female kazoo players. They performed both original music and bizarre (but easily recognized) renditions of classics. That's just one simple example. There's a world of weird out there if you actually look for it.

October 11 2009 at 3:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply