Dog Eat Dog (band)

Dog Eat Dog, an American band originally from Bergen County, New Jersey, began in 1990 as part of the hardcore music scenes of New York City and New Jersey. Dog Eat Dog was one of the first bands to fuse distorted guitar and rap, a style that would later become commonplace.^[1] Dog Eat Dog has achieved commercial success with singles such as "No Fronts", "Isms" and "Rocky" - all showcasing their unique blend of hardcore, heavy metal, saxophone and rap. After their first album, the band's sound has evolved with the incorporation of elements of funk, ska and hip hop.

The current lineup of the band consists of Dave Neabore (bass), John Connor (vocals), Brandon Finley (drums) and Axel Hilgenstoehler (guitar).

Band history

Formation

Bassist Dave Neabore had joined Bergenfield, New Jersey band Mucky Pup before the recording of Mucky Pup's second album, A Boy In A Man's World. Soon after the album's 1989 release, guitarist Dan Nastasi quit Mucky Pup to help form the band Non-Fiction with former members of the band Hades and to briefly join Murphy's Law. Sean Kilkenny was a friend of Mucky Pup's who would occasionally play guitar with the band at social gatherings. His friendship and experience with the band led to his being hired as Nastasi's replacement. Kilkenny performed with the band for many New Jersey area shows before joining them on their European tour, as well.

When the band returned home from the European tour, they began to write material for a new album. The material that Neabore and Kilkenny contributed had a different sound than the previous Mucky Pup material. Brothers Chris and John Milnes, the other members of Mucky Pup, did not want to perform the type of songs that Neabore and Kilkenny were contributing and it was decided that Neabore and Kilkenny would leave, in order for both sides to remain happy. During their final shows, Neabore and Kilkenny would fill spaces between songs with snippets of songs that would later become the music for future Dog Eat Dog songs. At this point, Nastasi rejoined Mucky Pup and went on to record Now, which featured Marc DeBacker replacing Neabore on bass.

Neabore and Kilkenny continued to write more music and once finished, they decided to search for a singer. This led them to Kilkenny's high school friend and former Mucky Pup crew member, John Connor. Connor had already been a vocalist for several local bands and together the trio wrote songs like "Funnel King," "Strip Song," and "Psychorama."

The band still needed a drummer and after a long search, they found Brett. Brett brought life to the songs that the trio had been playing acoustically for weeks. After several rehearsals, they held their first "official" performance in Neabore's basement. The band crammed 50 people into Neabore's basement and required everyone to wear a toga to make the gig more interesting. Kevin Reilly, a band friend, was invited to bring his saxophone in order to liven up "Strip Song." After a positive reaction from friends, the band started to play birthday parties, ice cream parlors, and college fraternity houses, before moving on to nightclubs.

After hearing several live recordings, Dan Nastasi expressed his interest in playing with the band and was invited to bring his equipment to one of their band practices. The practice sessions were fruitful and Nastasi was asked to join the band. For a short time, Nastasi played with Dog Eat Dog and Mucky Pup.

Brett quit the band in order to move to San Francisco, and John "Booge" Milnes of Mucky Pup temporarily took the position until a permanent drummer could be found. The band also felt it was time to decide on a permanent name. For their earliest shows, the band had called themselves "F-Troop", "B-Load" and "Rubber Band". Dog Eat Dog was suggested as a name and the band agreed to keep it.

Dog Eat Dog decided to record their songs and entered the studio for two days. The result was their first five song demo. Kilkenny's contacts with pro skateboarder, Andy Howell, led to several logo ideas, the most famous being the doghouse image used by the band for many years. Howell's artwork was previously used for New Deal Skateboards. With the demo tape completed, they continued to play larger shows. During the shows that followed, Mark Marri joined as the new drummer. The band considered the demo a success and quickly wrote and recorded a second five song demo.

While touring Europe, Biohazard guitar player, Billy Graziadei, gave the new Dog Eat Dog demo tape to a Roadracer Records representative. At the time, Roadracer was the sister label to Roadrunner Records in Europe. The tape was sent back to the New York Roadrunner Records office. Roadrunner representatives came to several Dog Eat Dog shows and as a result, Dog Eat Dog signed their first record deal. Marri decided not to sign the deal, instead opting to spend time with his wife and child. Once again, the band was in search of a new drummer.

After trying out only a few hopefuls, Dave "Mopey" Maltby auditioned and was officially hired as the new drummer. The band also found a more serious saxophone player in Scott "Sooty" Mueller who, while not yet a full-time member, would become a frequent guest player at live shows.

Warrant era

Roadrunner Records released Dog Eat Dog's debut album, the Warrant EP, worldwide in 1993. The title was a joking retaliation to the band Warrant, after that band had named their album, Dog Eat Dog, a short time before. While playing shows along the East Coast of the United States, the band were offered a European tour. Their first overseas tour saw them supporting hardcore/reggae legends, the Bad Brains and Philadelphia hip hop group, The Goats. The Bad Brains mentored Dog Eat Dog in touring other countries. The friendship between the two bands played a small role with Dog Eat Dog when the band returned home to record their full length album, scheduled for release the following summer.

All Boro Kings era

Dog Eat Dog began writing the songs that would become their first full length album, All Boro Kings. The band had grown from their experiences and sharpened their skills as musicians. All Boro Kings also brought the saxophone into the foreground of their songs. Tracks like "If These Are Good Times," "Who's The King," and "No Fronts" contained the trademark saxophone sound that the band would be known for. Darryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains also made a vocal appearance on "Who's The King."

With the release of the album, Nastasi decided he could no longer tour for long periods of time due to family and business obligations. The band hired Parris Mayhew of the Cro-Mags, to temporarily fill the position with the intention of bringing back Nastasi for local touring and recording.

With a new record in stores, the band toured Europe, once again opening for Biohazard. This proved to be a huge success for Dog Eat Dog. They received critical acclaim for both the new album and their live performances. All Boro Kings went on to sell over 600,000 records worldwide. The band also saw their videos in heavy MTV rotation in Europe. After the tour, Mayhew returned to directing videos as well as forming his new band, White Devil. The band contacted Mark DeBacker, Neabore's replacement in Mucky Pup, who played guitar as well as bass, with an offer to fill in on guitar for their upcoming tour. Being familiar with the material, he accepted.

It was then that Maltby also decided to part ways with the band for personal reasons. He has since put together a short-lived band called "The Shining Path", with Daryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains and the members of Roguish Armament. After many auditions, Brandon Finley, known for his drumming with Chuck Brown, Queen Latifah, Urban Blight and Chris Haskett of the Rollins Band, was hired.

Scott Mueller was also brought on as a full time saxophone player. The band had always stood out from other hardcore bands because of their addition of a saxophone player. For a good portion of their live shows, as well as their two studio albums, Mueller had held the position. While the albums would list Mueller as a guest musician, he was never considered a full time member of the band until now.

MTV would prove to be one medium that would help the band achieve its status. After the surprise hit "Who's The King", The band collaborated with RUN-DMC member Jam Master J on a remix of their hit song 'No Fronts". The single achieved top 10 in the UK and video was a smash hit in heavy rotation on MTV. On Thanksgiving Night, 1995, they were voted Breakthrough Artists of the Year at the MTV Europe Music Awards, as part of a viewer's choice award. In winning the award, they defeated the likes of Alanis Morissette, who had already sold over five million records, and Weezer, who were also very popular at the time. The award was presented to them by Michael Hutchence of INXS. Europe continued to be a large part of the band's fanbase. While they played small clubs back home in America, they played festivals and arena sized shows in Europe, the biggest being the Dynamo Open Air festival in 1995. They also charted on Europe's top forty heavy metal charts while radio stations back home rarely acknowledged them.

Play Games era

When the band returned home from Europe, it appeared Nastasi would no longer remain with the band and the decision was made to keep DeBacker as a full time guitar player. With summer festivals rapidly approaching and Roadrunner demanding a single by spring, the band was rushed into the studio with nothing written for the album. They finished songs and wrote lyrics in the studio, sometimes improvising lyrics. While listening to demos for one song, the band joked that Connor's vocals were so heavy metal-like, it wouldn't be right for anyone to sing it like that except heavy metal legend Ronnie James Dio. The idea was overheard by label representatives from Roadrunner who decided to contact Dio's management and see if he would be interested in doing a guest vocal on the record. To the bands' surprise, Dio arrived at the studio and recorded the song with them.

Another collaboration on the new record was with the RZA, a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. The RZA shared a lawyer with Dog Eat Dog, leading Connor to meet the RZA in the waiting room of the lawyer's office. As the two discussed music, Connor made mention of the band's interest in working with a hip hop producer. The RZA explained that he was actually looking to work with a rock band and after some phone calls, Dog Eat Dog met up with the RZA in a New York City studio. After a few short hours of jamming together, "Step Right In" was recorded. The band recorded the first half of the record with the Butcher Bros., Phil and Joe Nicolo, who had previously produced multi-platinum acts such as Cypress Hill, The Fugees and Urge Overkill. Working with well known producers opened up Dog Eat Dog to new ideas in the studio and they experimented with full horn sections and additional musicians to fill out their overall sound. The second half of the album was completed with producer Bob Musso, best known for his work with bands such as Murphy's Law and Praxis.

Once finished, the album was titled Play Games, and released in the summer of 1996. The album took the band from their hardcore roots to a distinctly more pop sound. The videos for the hits "Isms" and "Rocky" became MTV regulars. With Play Games released, Dog Eat Dog returned to touring. This time, the band traveled to many countries for the first time. The band did a full tour of Asia, South America, Greece, and Spain. Once the tour was over, the band had played in over thirty-five countries.

The band also shared stages with bands such as Rage Against the Machine, Sepultura, Ozzy Osbourne, KISS, and Metallica. After playing several West Coast shows with No Doubt, a friendship between the two bands began. As a result, Dog Eat Dog was used as an opening act when No Doubt came to New York City to film concert footage at The Roseland Ballroom for use in the video for the song "Don't Speak."

Dog Eat Dog soon found themselves playing festivals such as Donnington, Reading, PinkPop and Roskilde. They toured extensively for three years, sometimes playing as many as twenty-five shows in a row without taking a day off.

When Dog Eat Dog returned home from the Play Games tour, more changes took place, within the band. Listening back to Play Games, they realized that the saxophone was drowning out the guitars and the vocals, making those instruments sound less prominent. The band came to the conclusion that the saxophone was not as important as the rest of the music was and Scott Mueller was asked to step down as saxophone player. Mueller has since gone on to form the band Years Of Static. At the same time, guitarist Marc DeBacker also expressed a desire to pursue other musical interests and left the band. He briefly returned to Mucky Pup before moving back to Belgium to form the band 10,000 Woman Man.

Amped era

In 1998, after almost two years of constant touring, Dog Eat Dog decided to start working on new material. They worked in a studio four days a week and wrote fifteen new songs in a few short months. These songs would result in the Amped record, recorded in Washington, D.C. with Italric, a friend of Finley's who owns his own studio. The band would spend nearly ten months working on their album and considered it to be their finest work yet. The album included songs such as "Expect The Unexpected", "Gangbusters", and "Whatever Man", featuring band friend, Heartbeat on vocals and percussion. The album was released exclusively in Europe, in the summer of 1999 and received critical acclaim. "Expect The Unexpected" was the first single and video. Due to their disappointment in Roadrunner's support and the fact that their latest album wasn't even available in their own country, Dog Eat Dog decided to leave their label after a seven year relationship. Roadrunner responded by releasing In The Dog House: The Best And The Rest. The album, a compilation of songs and remixes spanning their six years on the Roadrunner label, was released without the band's input.

For the next two years, the band continued to tour Europe on their own accord. Finding themselves without proper management, Dog Eat Dog were unable to secure a new record label. As a result, many people thought the band had broken up. Dog Eat Dog were unsure of what the future would bring.

During this time, band members pursued other musical projects to keep busy. Producer Tim Gilles approached the band members about recording a song for his New York's Hardest: Vol. 3 compilation. When it was requested that the music sound more like their original material, Kilkenny and Neabore reunited with Dan Nastasi and Mucky Pup drummer, John Milnes. The result was the band All Boro Kings, named after the first full length Dog Eat Dog album. The project was a throwback to the early days of Dog Eat Dog as it focused on the hardcore style that Dog Eat Dog had displayed on their first two releases. The band was soon signed to Century Media Records who released their debut album Just For The Fun Of It in 2002. The album was released exclusively in Europe due to the strong European fanbase the members had in their other bands. The guests on the album included John Connor, Scott Mueller and Jimmy Gestapo of Murphy's Law. All Boro Kings toured with Biohazard, Agnostic Front, and Hatebreed as part of the 2003 Eastpack Resistance tour in Europe that year. The remainder of their shows took place in the New Jersey/New York/Connecticut tri-state area. The band's song "The Party's On", also played as part of a contest, on the Ron & Fez Show in New York City. The band continued playing shows through 2004 before disbanding.

Neabore had also started playing bass for another band named LowBuz. Initially, Neabore was just filling in the empty bass position until the band could find a permanent bass player. After realizing the potential of this talented group of musicians, he wound up staying with the band who have since recorded three EPs on Perfect Records.

Kilkenny kept busy by playing guitar for various NYC hardcore bands including Murphy's Law, Harley's War and M.O.D.

Walk With Me era

Dog Eat Dog played eight shows in 2003 before they were approached by Vibra management who promised to get the band back on the road and into the studio as well. Dog Eat Dog and Vibra formed a new partnership and in 2004, the band found itself in the studio recording new demo material. The band was introduced to former pro-skater and musician, Claus Grabke, who saw promise in the band's new material. In 2004, Dog Eat Dog played over 50 European shows.

In the summer of 2005, the band recorded twelve new songs with Grabke. The new songs include titles such as "M.I.L.F.", "Hell Yeah", "Cannonball" and "Undivided" the latter of which features guest vocals by Marta Jandová of the German band, Die Happy.

Soon after the recording of the songs, it was announced through the band's website that co-founding member Sean Kilkenny had taken a temporary leave of the band, however Kilkenny did not return. Roger Haemmerli, of the Swiss band Henchman, served as the band's temporary live guitarist until the hiring of guitarist, Matt Salem in May 2006. Matt proved himself as a worthy replacement adding a depth to the Dog Eat Dog guitar sound not heard before.

The new album, entitled Walk With Me, was released on June 23, 2006. The album gave Dog Eat Dog fans plenty to chew on. With a mix of styles, the album appealed to old school as well as new school fans. The band played over 35 summer festivals and 40 club dates in 2006 and the new material was well accepted by all the fans.

In April 2007, Matt abruptly quit the band, and was quickly replaced by THUMB guitarist Axel 'AXE' Hilgenstoehler. Axe was a perfect fit and toured through the spring/summer of 2007 and is currently the band's permanent guitar player.

DED will be playing more shows and festivals in 2008.

Trivia

Despite starting out as a New Jersey based band, John Connor now lives in Washington D.C. as does Brandon Finley. As a result, the band now refers to themselves as being based out of both areas.
Dog Eat Dog performed the theme song for the NJ Rock N Rollers arena hockey team. The song was played over the loudspeakers during home games.
The band's song, "Rocky", was used for a Guinness beer commercial in Europe.
Dog Eat Dog's song "No Fronts" was on Beavis And Butthead
After leaving Dog Eat Dog, Dan Nastasi recorded two albums, Trim The Fat and Ule Tide, under the name Nastasee. Both albums and their respective tours, contained members from both Dog Eat Dog and Mucky Pup.
Dog Eat Dog recorded 2 versions of the holiday classic "Let It Snow" in 2001. The songs were never released, but have been made public through their website.
In 1999, Dave Neabore, a devout horror movie fan, contributed music to the For Lucio Fulci: A Symphony of Fear tribute album. The double album consists of cover versions of songs originally featured in the soundtracks of various Lucio Fulci films. Neabore's contribution was the song, "Suite from Luca il Contrabandiere". Other contributors included GWAR, Mike Scaccia of Ministry and James Murphy of Testament.
Dave Neabore also directed 4 short films between 2000 and 2006. The titles are "Reel Fear" (2000), "I Love Susie" (2001), "Hayride To Hell" (2003), and "Lunch Date" (2006). Dave also composed the main title theme to a 2003 zombie film called "Biohazardous". Two songs from the band All Boro Kings also appear in the film.
Dave Neabore composed the soundtrack to the film PAURA : Lucio Fulci Remembered Vol. 1, which will be released on DVD in Feb 2008.

Band members

Current

John Connor - vocals
Dave Neabore - bass, vocals
Brandon Finley - drums
Axel Hilgenstoehler - guitar

Former

Dan Nastasi - guitar
Sean Kilkenny - guitar
Scott Mueller - saxophone
Dave Maltby - drums
Marc DeBacker - guitar
Mark Marri - drums
Brett - drums

Temporary

John Milnes - drums
Parris Mayhew - guitar
Roger Haemmerli - guitar
Matt Salem - guitar

John Paul Luke Connor
John Paul Luke Connor
Dave Neabore
Brandon Jay Finley
Brandon Jay Finley
Axel Hilgenstoehler
Nils Berger (guest)

Discography

Warrant EP (Roadrunner Records, 1993)
All Boro Kings (Roadrunner Records, 1994)
Play Games (Roadrunner Records, 1996)
Amped (Roadrunner Records, 1999) (no American release)
In The Dog House: The Best And The Rest (Roadrunner Records, 2000) (released without band input)
Walk With Me (Wanted Records, 2006) (no American release)

Singles

"No Fronts" (Roadrunner Records, 1994)
"If These Are Good Times" (Roadrunner Records, 1994)
"Who's The King" (Roadrunner Records, 1995)
"No Fronts: The Remixes" (Roadrunner Records, 1995)
"Rocky" (Roadrunner Records, 1996)
"Isms" (Roadrunner Records, 1996)
"Step Right In" (Roadrunner Records, 1997)
"Expect The Unexpected" (Roadrunner Records, 1999)
"Summertime" (Wanted records, 2006)

Videography

Live At Dynamo (Universal Music, 2005)

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Dog Eat Dog biography at Allmusic

External links

[am-1] Dog Eat Dog biography at Allmusic

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