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‘We make straight up gangsta rap.’ exclaims Luke St Leger, lead singer and guitarist of new Bristol band Goan Dogs. As fresh and as happenin’ as these boys are, it’s a shame to say that they are in fact, far from the rap game.
Drifting in and out of each other’s lives thanks to school and ex-girlfriends; Daniel Lane, Theo Mackie and Billy Sherwood have finally joined Luke in creating a sound that Bristol has been longing for.
Drummer Dan and Luke had been playing together for a good three years, bashing out simple drum and guitar compositions. After becoming tired of their simple sound, Theo joined the band through a chance encounter at one of the guy’s gigs. Six months later, Bill joined on bass and the rest is history.
Goan Dogs have an anthemic stance to their songs, whilst still maintaining a lo-fi charm. Describing themselves as ‘desert rock with an Americana twist,’ Dan adds that the band has a ‘Tinawerin vibe’ and that they are very much influenced by North African styles.
‘We use a lot of visualisation and pretend to be somewhere specific when we’re writing.’ Theo explains, ‘Luke’s very good at writing lyrics that tell a story.’
With influences ranging from Josh Homme to Calexico, Dan explains that it’s not only music which makes its mark on the band. ‘We take a lot of influence from Spaghetti Western films,’ he says, ‘because a lot of our four part harmonies sounds very much like the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s a lot of fun.’
When it comes to writing songs, the boys can often be at odds with themselves, ‘Luke goes away and comes back with a nice idea for a song. Like a cool title name.’ Theo continues, ‘It’s always something like ’20 minutes to the border’ or something like that, which sets a scene.
‘Then we spend about four months talking about it until we get somewhere with it. We’ll play things and we’ll say we don’t like it, and then next week we’ll change it and that is a constant process. We do that with all our songs.’
The band could be said as constantly trying to better themselves, ‘As we’ve been playing we’ve kind of evolved, especially as members have been added.’ Bill concludes,’ I’m the last member to have joined and it changes each time.’ Dan is quick to add, ‘I don’t think we’ve ever written a song and said ‘Oh, well it’s not one of our best.’
There is no point writing songs like that.’ With their constantly evolving sound, the band have also welcomed in a fifth member, ‘He’s called Sam,’ explains Luke, ‘He plays trumpet, and percussion and a bit of a guitar. He’s an all-rounder and sort of like our own Jonny Greenwood.’ Perfect for a band with a ‘Radiohead tinge.’
The guys are not only known for their distinctive sound but for their unique live set. Annoying various sound men with their demands of five vocals, trumpet and even huge dogs barking over the P.A, you could say Goan Dogs are anything but ordinary. The boys also never use stage lighting, preferring instead understated yet effective lamps, creating an environment fitting to their storytelling. This particular lighting can also be seen in their video for ‘Hold Me Back,’ which can be found on the band’s myspace page.
Although each song tends to have a polished version, the band is eager to please those attending their gig. ‘I think we try to write for other people and not just for ourselves.’ Luke continues, ‘So, if we were playing a song live we would want people to experience it and not just listen to it.’
Dan is eager to explain why the band feels it’s important to expand their songs during each gig, ‘We’ll go into the studio and it’ll be a much more polished song. It might be a bit shorter or we might take a few things out, just to keep it for radio play. But as soon as we go to play it live, we can say ‘hang on, this is really cool. Let’s not milk it, but let’s keep this going.’ You can do all sorts of things live and we love doing it.’
As its festival season, the guys share their all-time fantasy headliners, which not only highlights the bands influence’s but also the diversity of each member. Ranging from Queens of the Stone Age, Mogwai, Radiohead and Battles to the more gentle tones of Iron and Wine and Fleet Foxes, it’s clear to see the difference in taste can only aid the bands progression.
The 22nd of July see’s the release of Goan Dogs first E.P. Recorded at the infamous Christchurch studios in Bristol, the guys were lucky enough to grab producers The Insects for the project. Having worked with Massive Attack, Alison Moyet and Goldfrapp, the guys knew they were in safe hands.
Dan tells of the meeting, ‘They’ve been really good to us. They saw us at our first gig and they instantly came up to us and said ‘we want to record you guys,’ and they’ve been really good to us ever since.’ Theo adds that this has only added to the E.P’s success, ‘They get us and we all get on really well, which is such an important part of recording.’
The songs on the E.P. are an eclectic mix, which according to the boys, sums them up pretty well. ‘Dog Fight’ is about a dying dog, reminiscing about his time as a dog fighter. Despite the sad connotations that a story of this nature could conjure up, Luke is quick to banish those blues, ‘It is very sad, but we do say ‘dog’s balls’ a lot during the song, in perfect harmony. It’s a lot of fun.’ The second track ‘Hold Me Back’ is a little more seductive, with its story based on lusting for someone in the shower. ‘It’s a jumpy little tune,’ explains Theo, ‘it’s got a really relentless rhythm to it.’
The third and final track on the E.P. is titled ‘As a Train Rolls By,’ telling the story of a woman accidently killing a man. Theo describes the track ‘as the slower song of the E.P,’ but that ‘it’s got a wicked crescendo to it, which really soars at the end.’
The E.P. is a big step for the boys and Dan is proud how well it represents them, ‘Dog Fight does us proud. It’s usually our opening song during our set. It’s the song that we can play, which shows people what we really are. But the three songs together sum us up pretty well as a band.’
With their Bristol roots, the guys favour the small and simple delights of The Croft, located in Stokes Croft, for their live shows. Luke explains, ‘it’s partly because we can tailor the environment to suit us – we can turn off all the lights and it’s just a big black box.’ Dan adds that the ‘people who are in there are there to see you.
They’re not talking at the bar and you can take them on a journey.’ However, without a decent sound man the venue would be pointless. Thankfully, the guys got lucky with The Croft’s offer, as Theo sums up, ‘He doesn’t ever get ratty at us for demanding all these things. He gets us as a band, which is really important.’
Whilst slotting into the Bristol scene nicely, Goan Dogs still manage to maintain their own unique sound and it’s getting them recognised. So, where would they like to be in five years’ time? Dan begins, ‘I hope that we’ve made some really good records that we’re proud of.’
Theo adds, ‘Playing gigs all over, that’s what I’d like. To be able to take us out on the road to different cities.’ Looking ahead to bigger things, Luke exclaims ‘If we could headline the Park Stage in 2013, we’d be happy,’ with Bill finishing off, ‘also, a nice little performance on Jools Holland would be good. That would be the landmark.’
An original sound, a perfect set up and bags of passion, Goan Dogs are by far THE Bristol band to watch out for. Let’s hope these boys get their comeuppance.
For more info visit: www.myspace.com/goandogs
Goan Dog’s E.P. is released on 22nd July, with a launch party at The Croft, Stokes Croft, Bristol.