Dog Day Learn New Trick as a Duo

In the dog days of summer, some bands are liable to do anything. Lo-fi indie rockers Dog Day got the jump on summer by trimming half their lineup back in May, leaving only married couple Seth Smith and Nancy Urich to translate their songs as a touring duo.

The band's split is amicable, and perhaps temporary, but it was something Smith and Urich felt they needed.

"We've been married for three years and we've been together for ten," Smith tells Spinner. "Out of that time, we've never travelled just the two of us playing music and we wanted to try it out. So far, it's been really great and it's a nice getaway vacation. In a lot of ways we're just starting out again and it's like we have the shakiness of a new band that's trying to figure out how to make it all work, but it's exciting."

Smith admits the band's future is still hazy, but at least one thing's for sure. "We're definitely going to do a record when we come back," he says. "I'm sure we'll play with those guys again in the future, just for now we want to kind of do this."

Last winter, singer-guitarist Smith and bassist-turned-drummer Urich moved into a house in the woods outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia. By May, their isolated life of gardening, raising chickens and jamming together anytime they wanted brought about the decision to turn Dog Day into their own project, resulting in the departure of keyboardist Crystal Thili and drummer Robbie Sheddon.

"We didn't kick anyone out of the band or have any band discussion," says Urich. "I wasn't even seriously playing the drums and all of a sudden I was. We're alone in the woods playing and we're alone on stage playing."

The band's current tour has taken them from New Brunswick to New York. At their stop in Toronto, the new duo played a handful of new songs they plan to include on an upcoming record, including 'Eurozone,' 'What She Said,' 'In the Woods' and 'Part Girl' -- a song about the band's transformation. They're hoping to record in the fall -- and they say they'd like to include previous band members in the project.

"We're keeping it very open," says Smith. "For now, we'll do this, and in the future we'll see what we'll do."