Dog Eat Dog: Bark With A Bang!
When they first emerged from New Jersey back in the early 1990s, DOG EAT DOG were mixing rock, metal, hardcore and hip hop at a time before it became de rigueur. With their albums All Boro Kings and Play Games as well as a massive single in No Fronts, the band stormed venues and festival stages all over the world with a vibe that defined fun. After two more albums in Amped and Walk With Me and a long hiatus, DOG EAT DOG are back with a bang with their first album in seventeen years in Free Radicals, and we talked to vocalist John Connor to hear all about the album and more.
We start the return of DOG EAT DOG off by John talking about the band’s return with Free Radicals and how it came to be. “It’s been quite a journey to get here. We signed our deal with Metalville in 2016. We started properly recording Free Radicals in 2017 but it took a long time just to get it finished. If anyone’s familiar with the backstory, they know that it’s been closer to twenty years since we’ve had a proper worldwide release.”
John continued by telling us about Free Radicals and he cannot hide his excitement about the album. “It’s a unique feeling. It almost feels like it’s our first album in a way, because it’s been so long and because it’s the first one with this lineup. It’s an interesting position to be in, it almost feels like we’re a new band in a way because we really haven’t been concerned with the process of writing, recording and releasing records for twenty years, so it’s new, it’s exciting”.
DOG EAT DOG are always a band with a fun and free spirited vibe and Free Radicals definitely continues that lineage but the record also diversifies too, as John explains. “I think the album has some pretty dark places on it that maybe DOG EAT DOG never visited before, but it was fun making it because after almost twenty years, we felt like we had something to say and we feel like our creative energy has a value in this world. When we came out in the 90s, and All Boro Kings hit, we were different than a lot of the bands at the time, grunge was getting ready to explode and there was a lot of angst and darkness in the music, and here was DOG EAT DOG with baggy shorts, and skateboard clothes. We had a vibe and we had an energy that was different, and I think maybe the same applies today that we have an energy and a vibe that stands out in a unique way. Our positive attitude and positive energy is just a part of who this band is, and I think it will be until the day this band doesn’t exist anymore.”
Talk then turns to the history of DOG EAT DOG and highlights through the years. During their 90s heyday, they played some phenomenal gigs including a memorable appearance at Donington in 1996 with OZZY OSBOURNE and a reunited KISS. John tells us about that day was and how they came to play the legendary festival. “Mind-blowing! Part of the great thing about this journey that we’ve been on is we’ve gotten to play with and meet some of our idols and our heroes. Sean got to meet Angus Young and he had a tattoo of Angus on his back. Dave and Brandon that day at Donington, those guys saw KISS come out of their cars backstage in full costume and makeup! The guys in BIOHAZARD and FEAR FACTORY were like little kids too! I got to meet Ozzy who is one of my great heroes from when I was a kid and first getting into metal. I remember speaking to our manager at the time on the phone, and we got offered the Donington gig, and I think we had to pull out of Rock Am Ring in Germany but I put in a caveat that I had to meet Ozzy and I did, and it was great!”
DOG EAT DOG‘s biggest hit was No Fronts which originally appeared on All Boro Kings and was memorably remixed by the late, great Jam Master Jay from RUN DMC. John reminisces about that massive song, working with Jay and how it propelled the band into stardom. “Jam Master Jay is a legend, and so are RUN DMC. They were one of the first hip hop groups that I ever heard or got into. I never forget being a sixteen year old kid and I got Ride The Lightning and RUN DMC‘s Raising Hell around the same time. Me and my buddy, we’re metalheads, but we also love the energy from RUN DMC, we were breakdancing to METALLICA and headbanging to RUN DMC! Jam Master Jay, had a huge influence on me and my personal musical journey, and then of course, he had his imprint on the band. Without that remix, there’s probably no MTV Award, there’s probably no top 10 in the UK and being on Top Of The Pops. Having a hit in the UK, especially back then opened up a lot of international territories for us.”
With the band in ascendancy, they followed up All Boro Kings with another huge album in Play Games, an album that featured two bona fide music icons in Ronnie James Dio and WU-TANG CLAN mastermind RZA. John gives us an insight into working with these two legendary figures on the DOG EAT DOG album. “I’ve been talking a little bit about Play Games and especially those two special guests on the record. With Ronnie James Dio, when we asked him his stock wasn’t as high as it should have been at that time, but it wasn’t a joke to us. When I wrote the chorus to Games, I envisioned Dio‘s voice and that’s why we we asked for him. He was incredible. I mean, classy, humble. Just the rock god!, I have nothing but fantastic things to say about Ronnie and that whole experience. With RZA, it was a little different because to me, Dave, and Brandon, RZA was a big deal but Roadrunner didn’t even know who the fuck RZA was! Thanks to our A&R guy Howie Abrams we hooked it up and his method was pretty incredible. He came in with a pretty fleshed out idea but also left room for everybody in the band to add their elements and their flavour to it. I couldn’t have been happier with the end result.”
Free Radicals is out now via Metalville.
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