OK, so you wanna know the facts. Their story isn’t that wildly different from other young bands: bored at school, got some mates together in mid-teens, formed band, played some really obvious covers, blah blah sodding blah.
A few years pass, and the four Dogs Die In Hot Cars boys write a bunch of their own songs, buy a van, recruit Ruth Quigley on keyboards, and relocate to Scotland’s music Mecca of Glasgow. Drummer Laurence Davey has the dubious pleasure of staging a band showcase in his bedroom, which gains them a single deal with Radiate. The result is the ska-pop gem ‘I Love You Cause I Have To’. A&R men come a sniffin’ and the band sign to V2, tour the UK, get electrocuted onstage – the usual.
They team up with legendary producing duo Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley to record the first fruits for their new label. Much like their debut single, limited edition EP ‘Man Bites Man’ – which contained songs they hadn’t played live before - is received to rapturous applause, and they sell out London’s infamous 100 Club with a stream of touts outside trying to get in on the action and make a quick buck.
So what is the secret to Dogs Die’s sound? You can throw in whatever comparisons you feel like; it’ll still be way off the mark. Like most young bands now, they grew up listening to Nirvana, Red Hot Chilli Peppers (they still love them) and other popular US rock’n’grunge bands of the time. Yet this is nowhere to be seen in Dogs Die’s music. Or is it…? Not a band to focus on distortion – but a band that finds other ways of producing power and uplifting effects in music without pressing a bloody distortion peddle, which is often just a cop out.
Another twist they have, are lyrics, which tell two-sides-to-every-story. A lot of lyric writers preach in some way. They just give one side of the argument, one direction, one right answer. Not so with Craig’s lyrics. Craig explained, “There’s a line between good and bad and it’s important to show different sides of things and not say that ‘This is the right way to be.’”
That roughly brings us to where we are now. In the summer of 2004, they will release the debut album they’ve been working towards all this time. The flurry of glowing reviews hasn’t seen them get too big for their boots, rush release The Big Single and fall flat on their arses. There IS no other band around like them at the moment playing music this stupidly oddball, so unfashionable it’s suddenly in fashion (it’s about being ahead of the time, dahling). Well, where else would you hear the line “I wish I had Paul Newman’s eyes/ That would be nice”?
Adie Nunn
Source: [biography by Adie Nunn](biography by Adie Nunn)
