Dog Days Round Up

by Kyle Brown

Photos by Parker Stewart, Jennylyn Pawelski & Tom Cartmel

Illustrations by Drew Murray

Hello, you. I know we haven’t met, and if we have, not in this fashion or medium. But either way, hello. It’s me, KB, from Dog Days. I am here to talk about some things that thrill me.

Do you like music? New and old? Do you consider yourself an expert in the current music climate? Or, do you not know where to start? Don’t worry, I am here to pander to your sophisticated taste or woo you like a baby in a crib and make it reaaall easy to understand. This article might reference things that you’ve never heard of, and that’s okay. We all had to start somewhere. I once had to figure out the difference between Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, and Ronnie Wood, or that there is a Fleetwood Mac era without its best member (and that’s Lindsay and not Stevie for those keeping score). There is no map to understand the canon. But let’s just take it one step at a time, shall we…

I’ve got 4 things here. And some of them have to do with the fest. Which is how I refer to it to my girlfriend in painstaking fashion as I try not to bring it up in my excitement or my never ending to do list to make it happen and hope she doesn’t get bored with me or the words the fest. To you though, it's a big deal, too. Dog Days Fest is a 3 day fest with some of the best bands of today. And they’re all coming to our backyard in Savannah. At once. No road trips, hotel or gas money to spend. Right here. A combination of acts and people that may never happen again. Some will never come back. Some will break up. Some will grow too big for any promoter in Savannah to afford and you’ll have to go to Atlanta, sit in traffic, make all these dinner plans but then someone takes too long to get ready and you’ll rush to eat, miss the opener, shove your way into the crowd with two drinks since you can’t go back to the bar, spill half of them on every person in your way before you hit a dead end deep within the audience and get stuck right behind the two tallest people there and the lights go down and that’s where you will be for the next 2 hours while MJ Lenderman absolutely steals your face and breaks your heart yet you can't stop thinking about how you should have not only really accentuated when you said the first outfit looked GREAT but that had you just seen them at Dog Days Fest…

Don’t let that happen to you, and don’t let my concert traveling trauma distract you or me from hearing about 4 bands I am most excited to play the big fest.

Mind Shrine

They feel like a band you’ve been waiting to hear your whole life. Like warm sun consuming you in the park, like when you see a profound film (Phantom Thread anyone?). Mind Shrine didn’t reinvent the wheel with their breezy indie pop, but they sure make it sound effortless. And that takes a band of exceptional talent and harmony.

Question: What do they sound like?

Answer (if you’re a nerd): Pop sensibilities of TOPS, singer has that special something in her tone like all the greats in the indie pop genre (Crumb, Men I Trust). Guitar players are a main feature, interweaving riffs. First EP feels like all singles. 5 Long Days is their best summation: dead drums, many instrumental breaks, straight groovy. Longer they go, they seem to dig into Santana vibes and introduce dub into their studio sound (I see you, Luca).

Answer (if you’re a noob): It’s like indie and fun and they’re all cute Latinos.

Motorbike

I am excited about all the bands playing DDF. I love them all like my own children. But if your parents say they don’t have a favorite, they are lying because there is always a favorite. Motorbike, ladies and gents, might be mine. And not saying they’re the most technical, most original, most talented, most artistic band on the lineup. But they simply are, the band I cannot get enough of. Perfectly well executed rock and roll. They sound like how I think people in the 80s felt about Judas Priest or Van Halen. They make music that makes you feel alive, that makes you feel ready to fucking PARTY. True beer chugging music. OR Like if I was a character in a Warriors style film, “True Method” would be my gang’s theme song as we swung chains and bats down some shitty alley, headed down for a night filled with bars, sex and danger. And I know not everyone understands that sentiment but I am only a man and these are my natural impulses talking. And this is MY favorite. It can be yours too.

For the nerds: Motorbike is a relatively new project but consists of members of the fervent Cincinnati scene that make up bands like The Serfs (also playing DDF), The Drin, and Future Shock Records. For fans of The Gun Club (yet faster and not quite as flamboyant) and Wipers. Carefully crafted rock and roll, like 80s power chord punk yet motorik in unrelenting repetition and hard hitting composition.

For the bumblebees: Sounds like shit you would Shazam in your favorite dive bar. Makes beer instantly disappear.

Color Green

For all you dead heads and classic rock lovers out there. Color Green is it. They’re doing what Goose wanna do but without that PRS bullshit. These fuckin jam bands out here forgot that it started with American Beauty and not ‘Tweezer’. And for those of you keeping score, I’m picking sides and there’s only one side to be on. (They write songs, Trey! You should try it sometime!) And like AB, Color Green’s 2020 debut EP is based in lo-fi folk, with groove and lyrics that speak to the heart that gave the jam genre its pastoral foundation and appreciation of the American homeland in its natural form and not political (more of a wasteland in that regard). It feels rooted in nature somehow in its energy. After a full length and some heavy touring, the band is outfitted to get loose out there. They seem like a real force. And to be paired to open for MJ Lenderman on Sunday to close out the fest… hope you know a guy that’s got plenty of caps and stems.

For the nerds: Very Aquarium Drunkard adjacent, the early stuff sounds like folk straight from the Woodstock era. Debut record sounds more like classic studio Dead with a little more funk and soul. The four piece has quite the reputation for their live show and stretches things out, so expect some noodle.

For the yahoos: Great with a cup of coffee in the morning, a stoned sunset drive by yourself, any moment basking in the sun.

Omni

Omni is back. The power trio, after taking their longest break in the band’s history, return with a record that sounds well… just like Omni. A band that has many of the distinct stylings that classify post punk (angular parts, dry delivery) but carry themselves with less of the doom and gloom of that class: less apocalypse and more dinner parties. On Souvenir he references leaving a wine key behind, sings of mezcal and English banter in a decanter, and singer Philip Frobos summarizes some existential anxiety of comparing the haves and have nots of the world with a “hey man... That looks nice.” Omni is known for Frobo’s patented ‘wry smile’ delivery, but they are also known for their Swiss Army knife guitarist, Frankie Broyles, who plays in a style all his own. And if critics had said the band was a little lightweight, their return marks a louder, catchier, snappier version of a band that had already set the bar. The playing and parts feel like a band that knows their sound and isn’t near done showing just how to pull it off. Pioneers of the national scene and proud residents of Atlanta, Omni comes to Savannah with nothing to prove and a real power to unleash.

For the heads: Television and Wire. You also know who Omni is. New record also features a welcome female vocalist, Izzy Glaudini from Automatic, on three tracks.

Would I like Omni?: Well it isn’t ‘noisy’ like you would think punk is. It’s actually quite fun. But I really don't know... If you like little white boys playing shreddy little guitar parts that sound ‘smart’, then yeah, you’ll be into it. Will rip live.