THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s fucking Fat Dog, baby” — some eight months on since their sprawling debut single King Of The Slugs was released, the sentiment remains strong as the first words of the band’s debut album Woof. are bellowed out by frontman and squadron leader Joe Love (real name: Joe Love).
One of the most exciting breakthrough bands of the past few years, conjurers of the sort of frenzied and wild live shows not seen in the capital for years, and with only a handful of tracks out thus far, Fat Dog have justified the hype witih their brilliant and mind-bending record.
When the chaotic south London rabble known as Fat Dog formed, they made two rules: 1 | They were going to be a healthy band who looked after themselves, and 2 | There would be no saxophone in their music. Two simple edicts to live by — and two resolutions long-since broken by the Brixton five-piece. “Yeah, it’s all gone out the window,” says Love.
And fair enough: Life is too short to stick to any plans you made in the unsettling, straitjacketed times of 2021. That was when Fat Dog came together, Love deciding to form a group and take the demos he had been making at home as a way to keep himself sane during lockdown out into the world. In Chris Hughes (keyboards/synths), Ben Harris (bass), Johnny Hutchinson (drums) and Morgan Wallace (keyboards and, umm, saxophone), Love found like-minded mavericks to help bring the dream home. “A lot of music at the moment is very cerebral and people won’t dance to it,” says Hughes. “Our music is the polar opposite of thinking music.”
Hughes should know. He was a fan of the band, at that point making a name for themselves with a series of exhilarating and/or wonky shows across south London, before he was in the band. Those formative gigs formed the bedrock of what Fat Dog were all about, seizing the moment, drinking too much with the moment, going home separately from the moment but making up with the moment again the next day.
It didn’t take long for the kennel-dwellers to come flocking, with every Fat Dog show in London becoming a huge upgrade on the last. There is something deeper going on here than the usual punter-goes-to-gig situation. Everyone is in on it. “There’s a sense of community about Fat Dog,” says Hutchinson. And it’s not just the capital who have been bitten; recently, the band completed an ecstatically received tour of the U.S. that included an all-conquering set at a taco joint. No lunches were harmed.
The sound Fat Dog make, Love says, is screaming-into-a-pillow music. “I wanted to make something ridiculous because I was so bored,” he declares. It’s a thrilling blend of electro-punk, rock ’n’ roll snarling, techno soundscapes, industrial-pop and rave euphoria, music for letting go to. Produced by Love, James Ford and Jimmy Robertson, Woof. passes by in a flash. Influences include Bicep, I.R.O.K., Kamasi Washington and the Russian experimental EDM group Little Big.
The album is a visit into the mind of Love — be thankful you have only been granted a temporary pass. “Music is so vanilla,” says Love. “I don’t like sanitised music. Even this album is sanitised compared to what’s in my head. I thought it would sound more fucked up.”
