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"Kindred Spirits": An Interview with Dr. Dog

On We All Belong, which is out next week, indie-poppers Dr. Dog continue to pay homage to the halcyon days of psychedelic pop and quirky, melodic rock and roll. They still stand on the shoulders of icons like The Band and, most especially, The Beatles. Yet the album finds its own identity thanks to a variety of factors, from quirky lyrics to memorable album artwork. Working from the comfort of their very own studio, the band was able to harness a heretofore unseen level of polish and attention to detail, making We All Belong the most fully realized piece of their young catalog.

Prior to a gala release show for a hometown crowd in Philadelphia, guitarist/vocalist Toby Leaman fielded some questions about the band’s evolution—and the bumps along the road.

Obviously you’re going to get your best crowds in Philly, your hometown. Are there other pockets of the country where you feel like you have a strong following?

There are a few places that are kind of surprising. We've played Fayetteville (NC) a couple times, and for some reason there's a pocket of people that are into us there. It's kind of an anomaly. We've played Seattle five times, but it's always been one of the worst shows of the tour on our end. I'm anxious to get back there and play a decent show for people.

For those who haven't seen Dr. Dog in concert, what can they expect? How faithful are you to the records?

We're faithful to a degree. We've always had the idea that you can't play exactly what's on the record. I don't think people want to see that, and it's not even physically possible for us to do that. We usually have different arrangements worked out that I feel are as good as—or better than—what's on the record. It's a little more raucous and faster when we're playing live.

Do you have a preference between playing on the road and writing and recording in the studio?

I'd rather be in the studio. If we were just playing shows and the road wasn't an issue, that'd be great, too. But it's all the driving around and eating crap and sitting around smelling everybody… When we're home, we do spend a lot of time in the studio. That's pretty much where we all are all the time.

The songs on We All Belong aren't taken from a single session or concentrated period of time, then?

No, no, it was taken from over a year. Now we have a legitimate studio, but we’ve always had tape machines and stuff, and we're used to just constantly recording.

You must wind up with some extra songs if you’re in the studio so much.

Yeah, we have a ton of songs, a huge backlog. It's kind of stupid. (laughs) It’s nice, though, because we can just record whenever we want, and, with our own studio, we never have to worry about getting through just 16 songs—we can do 30 or 40 and then figure out which ones work.

In doing the new record, was there any conscious effort to improve on specific things from previous albums?

There were logistic issues, like we just didn't have enough tracks when we had eight. When four of those were taken up by vocals, you're kind of up shit creek. [This time] we had the luxury of having 24 tracks. I was consciously thinking that we should make an album of songs that would stand on their own, and songs that each sounded different. In our minds, we were thinking that any one of them could be singles.

Are those different sides of the band’s sound the result of individual preferences within the band?

There are two of us who write songs, and two of us who sing lead, and I don't really feel like we're coming from different directions. Scott [McMicken] and I are on pretty much the same wavelength. We usually listen to each other's stuff and are like "Okay, that's cool." I imagine there may be distinct elements, but I don't know.

Most of the songwriting is finished by the time you come together in the studio?

Yeah, the songs are pretty much 80% done—usually the structure is the only thing that will change much, then everyone gets together and writes guitar lines and bass lines and figures out how the drums and keys are going to be played.

A lot of bands that get listed as reference points for Dr. Dog are older bands. Who do you see as kindred spirits on a more contemporary level?

Well, we did a tour with Cold War Kids, and that was great. Those guys are really good live; it seems like they're really breaking out. I have to see a band a bunch of times before I can understand what's going on, so pretty much any band we've played with is my favorite band. (laughs)

Do you feel comfortable fitting into an eclectic range of bills, or do you feel mismatched sometimes?

We've been really lucky so far. The biggest deal for us was when My Morning Jacket asked us to tour. Musically, I would say that those guys are kindred spirits to us. One of our weirdest bills was the month-long tour we did with The Raconteurs. They had a hit single and young kids were coming to the shows, while we're all used to playing in bars. [The Raconteurs] are insanely loud and rocking live, so that bill seemed out of place, like we wouldn't have the same crowds, but it actually worked out pretty well. We played a tough show on tour with The Black Keys: doors were at 8, but we didn't go on until 10:30. So for the first few songs, people were like "Hurry the fuck up!" By the end, people were digging it. We played a show somewhere in North Carolina and played in a huge room for about 12 people. And we killed—it was one of the best shows of the tour. (laughs) We thrive on that sort of thing.

- Adam McKibbin
02.21.07