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Dr. Dog
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HQ: Philadelphia, PA NOW PLAYING: We All Belong (PARK THE VAN; parkthevan.com) THE STORY SO FAR: When Jim James of My Morning Jacket hand-selected Dr. Dog as an opening act in 2004, they had yet to play a show outside of Philadelphia. But theirs was not an overnight success. Guitarist Scott McMicken and bassist Toby Leaman had been writing together for years before anything happened. "We were literally 12 years old," McMicken says. "So it was just a bunch of crap." By college, the crap resemblance diminished and the home-recording duo cut the lo-fi concept album Psychedelic Swamp. Dr. Dog evolved into a band after moving to Philly, where a fateful handoff of their second effort, Toothbrush, to My Morning Jacket's frontman led not only to their tour, but also to gigs with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Black Keys and the Strokes-not to mention an impressive stack of national press, including a slew of Shins comparisons for their 2004 album, Easy Beat. WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: Having soaked up the fine art of singing harmony by listening to a Pet Sounds box set, their records come steeped in the sounds of the early '70s, recalling everything from David Bowie to the Band. "There may be a stigma associated with a retro sound," McMicken says. "But everybody's drawing from something and everybody, I should hope, is ultimately just trying to make the kind of music they themselves would listen to." -Ed Masley YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: MY MORNING JACKET / THE FLAMING LIPS / THE BAND |
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