Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with The Dogs
“We’re The Dogs, and our bark is definitely not worse than our bite,” drawls out of ‘Suck’s opener with a cartoonishly affected Danzig croon.
It’s a perfect intro to the hardcore punk outfit. Hopping between South Wales and England’s north, The Dogs are the gnashing, rabid, good-for-nothing successor to a clump of underground bands across Chain of Flowers and Total Con, spitting furiously hooky and turbo-charged blasts of garage attack dripping with irreverence yet laced with a firm arm of beer-swilling solidarity amid their comic lyricism.
Dropping their debut LP Total Dog Shit last year on the excellent Menduku Diskak and Under the Gun Records, and touring with punk favourites like Pyrex and The Chisel, The Dogs seem to have found a dizzying burst of underground success in a short time.
Perhaps it’s down to their happy marriage of Oi!’s street-level swagger and just a dash of the Australian bunch’s scuzzy, ozbucket humour fizzing all over Gee Tee and Billiam? Whatever it is, they’re fucking great, each cut spitting with gloriously animated fervour.
The Dogs also score, with utmost authenticity, the trapped claustrophobia blighting every young proletariat’s yearn to unleash their inner dog, shove their job or flip off their boss. “Whether you’re in the office or on the tools,” they skulk on ‘Gimme Some Action’, lurking behind every cubicle and warehouse, prodding your canine alter-ego.
With The Dogs’ latest single ‘I Didn’t Ask’ behind them and whispers of a new EP due imminently, we caught up with their hyper frontman Ross and talked Cardiff pubs, crude explosives, and the punk in need of deletion.
Quick-fire Questions with The Dogs:
What song would you want played at your funeral?
“Stone Cold Steve Austin theme”.
What’s your favourite album of the year so far?
“Punk-wise, it’s probably between Puffer’s Street Hassle and Béton Armé’s Renaissance, but like everyone else, I’ve also been enjoying The Tubs’ Cotton Crown a lot too.”
Best pub in Cardiff?
“Queens Vaults, The Romilly and The Robin Hood are good for a swill. The Grange or The Lansdowne if I’m after a bit of dinner, horses for courses.”
“I would fuckin’ end it if I was like you”. Who’s “you”?
“Knackered people who should know better.”
What film best captures The Dogs in spirit?
“We are probably the intersection between The Basketball Diaries and The Nutty Professor.”
Give us some Welsh bands we need to hear pronto.
“Private World, Can Kicker, Shishu, The Tubs, Mental Pressure, Flubber.”
What do dogs mean to you?
“The rockstars of the animal kingdom.”
Which punk band would you delete from history?
“Probably something like Bad Religion, apologies to guys with lip rings all over the world.”
If you could travel back in time, where would you head?
“I’d go and see Killing Joke somewhere mental in 1983/The Smiths somewhere in 1984, or I would detonate an IED inside the Chicago School of Economics.”
How’s the upcoming EP looking?
“We’re busting for it to be out; there are long waiting lists at the pressing plant, so God willing it will be out in January. I think the songs on it are really strong.”
What’s your karaoke go-to?
“It was George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ or ‘Design for Life’ by the Manic Street Preachers, but since I started singing in The Dogs, I can’t go too high anymore, so now it’s Billy Idol’s ‘Eyes Without a Face’.”
Who would be your dream music video director for a Dogs song?
“Brian De Palma.”
Give us some life advice.
“If in doubt, go flat out.”
If The Dogs were a cartoon character, who would they be?
“Nelson Muntz.”
Are The Beatles overrated?
“If I could delete their contributions with the touch of a button, that thing would have smoke coming off it, brother.”
I DIDN'T ASK by THE DOGS
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