The well-oiled machine known as Dogwood has been bringing misery to soundmen and venue owners for almost eight years now. But in all seriousness, we have gone through some member changes over the years, always for the better.
We have our six-stringed wizardry by way of Daniel Montoya, who commands the searing riffs and power chords to spew forth from his axe with unbridled assault. At the low end of the battlefield, we have Rob Hann on Bass, who caresses the smoothness and science that such a lovely instrument deserves. To add to this team of specialists, we have an extraordinarily adept drummer, who performs beats which make you feel like he is slapping you in the chest with a Buick, then makes you think you are floating face up in the Caspian Sea after a torrential downpour. His name is simply "Russell". My name is Josh Kemble, and my job is the singing and barbecuing.
Back in 1993, Jayce Molina, our original guitarist, had been writing music with Billy Nichols, our original drummer, when they approached me to sing with them. I was reluctant at first, but said, ½Hey, maybe we can get into some of those snowboard videos that I always watch!… Next, we got Josh Hagquist (now in Beautiful Mistake) to play bass, and we called ourselves ½Half-Off.… After about two or three shows, we decided that name had no significance, and also someone told us that name sucked. So Jayce's mother suggested Dogwood. It stuck; we kept playing, went through members like facial tissues, and just kept having fun on and off stage making friends with everyone (we hope). We did end up in videos, not only snowboarding, but all of the ½extreme… sports of our generation.
We have made the customary musical achievements, accomplishments, and accolades, which are not meaningful in the long run anyways, and we have played at some of the most prestigious venues in some of the greatest cities around. We are most proud as a band when we feel like we are growing closer to each other, enough to know each other's thoughts. It really helps the chemistry of the music to know each other in this manner.
Since the beginning, Dogwood has always had one main goal. Well, two, if you count the videos. Well, three if you count the Denny's sponsorship. Needless to say, we never heard from Denny's. Anyways, Dogwood has always encouraged each other, the audience, and hopefully anyone we talk to, to know that there is someone who loves you, and that everyone on earth has a purpose for living. Not everyone has agreed with us, but we really stand behind our beliefs in Jesus Christ, and it is our hope that everyone who comes to a Dogwood concert, or meets us elsewhere will know what we are about, and what the absolute truth about God is. We have always taken this band day by day. We never plan ahead for anything; we just do what we need to do to survive.
We give 100% to our band, often times more than that even. As far as the future of the band, that's always a great conversation piece. We really can't say, honestly. We always have awesome opportunities to go in many different directions, and I think to choose just one would put us in a box that we aren't designed for. Dogwood is comprised of four men who love life and love to play music. We hope to see more and more of this planet, but we'll take it one city at a time.
Hopefully we can meet you soon, if we haven¹t already.
