Street Dogs interview

Interview by: Emma Elstner

The Eastpak Antidote Tour 2008 featured bands: Flogging Molly, Skindred, Time Again and last but not least, busy bees Street Dogs. At their stop in Stockholm, Sweden I sat down with singer Mike McColgan and guitar player Tobe Bean to talk about life on the road, the brutal honesty they encounter in European fans and who actually writes the best disco song on GarageBand? Well, among other things…

How has the tour been so far?

Mike McColgan: It’s been really good! We’ve played the U.K., Germany, Holland and Scandinavia so far, Oslo last night and Stockholm tonight. The crowds have been ridiculous, really energetic. They know most of the songs and a lot of people seem excited about the new American president and come up after the show to talk about what change the new leadership might bring.

You’ve been over to Europe quite a few times now…

Tobe Bean: I think it’s our 6th time in Europe.

Is the European audience different in any way compared to the U.S. one?

MM: The difference, at least in my own personal interpretation is that the Europeans study the lyrics more than the fans in the U.S. and they’re a little more blunt in their appraisal of your show.

TB: They’re more honest.

MM: If you were better last time they saw you, they will tell you. Especially the Germans, they are very, very blunt. So that’s one of the differences I think between European and U.S. fans. Not that U.S. fans are unengaged or unknowledgeable, it just seems like there is a more widespread knowledge of our songs and lyrics over here. And yeah…people are just very blunt.

It’s better if people tell you their true opinion instead of sucking up to you, right?

MM: Definitely! I think that when you’re a band you want to hear the truth. You don’t want people sucking up to you. Well at least I don’t.   

Tell us about your latest album – State of Grace – it’s been out a few months now, how has it been received?

MM: It’s been received really well. In an age where it seems impossible to sell records, the people that have actually legitimately bought it – loved it. And Street Dogs’ never been about fashion or being socialites or being on magazine covers, we’re about writing the best songs we can, playing live and making fans organically in the grass roots – city by city, street by street, block by block. Sonically, with the new album, we tried to stretch ourselves as far as we could while trying to stay true to ourselves and I think we pulled it off and wrote a great record with 11 well sequenced and cohesive, excellent songs. I feel it’s our most powerful record to date, not taking anything away from our previous releases.

Which does better for you – record or digital sales?    

TB: We sell more hard-product, actual CDs, but you see the trend each time catching up and getting more even.

Do you have any preference?

TB: Well I don’t know…I’m old school so I’d prefer if people would still buy vinyl. When I was a kid that was the excitement of Punk rock, to go down to the record store and look for records but that’s obviously not going to happen anymore. But we say it all the time; we don’t care HOW the kids get the music as long as they get it. If they’re stealing it off the internet, I really could care less and that’s totally honest.

Earlier this year you signed with Hellcat, what has that changed for the band?

MM: I think it’s given us an association; we’re in a family now. The owners and people who work there have slept on floors and lived on $5 a day and have gone from the bottom up to the top and they worked their asses off to get there. They understand our band and what we’re trying to do. They know we’re not trying to jump on any band’s wagon. We try to be our own entity and we do this by going on the road and earn fans one by one and they get that.

TB: The biggest thing that’s changed is that the records are actually in stores now so they’re easy to find. This is the first time we’ve ever gone on tour and not have kids come up to us and ask where to find our records.

You are one of the most hard working bands around, doesn’t all the touring and being away from home get tedious?

MM: It cuts both ways, you know. Clearly that happens sometimes – you miss where you’re from and your day to day routine and just being able to sit in your couch, watch TV and do nothing. But when you’re on the road and you play live, you interact with people and they can relate to your music and identify with it. That’s a powerful feeling I can’t even describe in words. We’re not going to change the world but we are trying to make an impact. That has always been a desire from the outset – to be a positive force.

I’ve seen you guys play, I don’t know how many times now…but one thing that always strikes me is your ability to convey YOUR energy on to the audience. Far from every band manages to do that, what do you think enables Street Dogs?

MM: If you don’t respect that people took time and money out of their lives to come and see you play, for anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half, you have no right to be in this business. Whether it’s 5 kids or 500, if you can’t be focused for that period of time, you have no right to do it. That’s how we feel and when we we’re on stage I think it transmits – that we mean it! We try to be the best we can and we want the people to participate in our show. Let’s all be in this together! Let’s all take some time off from life and have a good time tonight. That’s what it’s about.

To me you just seem very honest…

TB: Yeah, well behind the scenes too. We are our own biggest critics. We never celebrate after a show. There’s usually about 10 minutes of critique…I think that keeps us honest too. It’s like the bar is always raised.

MM: Absolutely, I agree. You can’t go around patting yourself on the back all the time because then you get stagnant.

TB: And you can never buy into your own hype. I’m not trying to set us up for this to finally happen, but I’ve rarely seen bad live reviews of this band and I think a lot of that comes from the amount of critique we put on ourselves. We do over think out live set but I think that’s what keeps us towards where we are. We’ve never acted like we own the show before going out there. I can’t think of one time I haven’t been nervous going on…still…and that’s because I want to play better than I did last night.

MM: I remember when artists used to say, “We have to please ourselves first before we please our audience”. I used to think that was so self-serving and selfish but the further you go and the more songs you write, the more validity you see in that. Because if it isn’t true and personal to you and you’re not comfortable in it – it will NOT translate live. Anyone who goes on stage and doesn’t believe in the songs…it’s going to show – fast. But when you do believe in them, it will convey to the crowd. And people aren’t stupid, they know if you mean it or not…they know.

Now that you have a new president, it seems like the political winds are shifting. What changes are you hoping for?

TB: The most important thing for me, maybe because of what I do, is our reputation abroad and I think that’s already changing. I think just the fact that our country voted an African-American in for the first time contributes a lot. I think that kind of shut some of the doors on the racism that we’ve carried around for the past 40-50 years. I think all the other things will fall into place too but I know it’s going to take a lot more than 4-8 years to clean up the mess that we’ve made over the last 8 years.

What about the war in Iraq, take the troops home or stay?

TB: That’s a slippery slope. That’s a Mike question.

MM: Iraqi-autonomy and some sort of peaceful co-existence between the Shi’as, Sunnis and the Kurds is what you eventually hope for. But I think you have to leave responsibly, do a phase withdrawal that ensures the co-existence between those 3 entities that live and reside in Iraq and always have. I believe that’s something the Obama-administration has a pretty good grip on and that they will make the right decisions, because if you move out of there too quickly, you’re definitely going to set the table for civil war.

Do you think the current financial crisis will affect the music industry? For example that less bands will be able to go on tour?

MM: It already is.

TB: Let me introduce evidence A and B!

Haha…really?

TB: Yeah, it’s affected all of us. When a large majority of people steal the music off the internet, we as a band rely heavily on touring revenue. But when you got gas prices at over $5 a gallon and low ticket sales and kids can’t afford to buy t-shirts…that directly affects me. So yeah, it’s a scary time to be a musician.

MM: Everybody’s feeling it – from the marquee bands at the top of the food chain to the middle of the road bands like us to the smaller aspiring bands that are crawling into their first van. It’s across the board – no one is exempt.

TB: We’ve been extremely lucky on this tour (knocks on wood) ‘cause the attendance has been great. And the headlining tour we did in the U.S. right after Warped was good too. We’ve been hearing horror stories about other tours, some even getting cancelled.

Are you worried about upcoming tours?

TB: I don’t know, I think we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

MM: Yeah, we don’t project. The worst thing you can do is “over-worry” about things and be over analytical…haha. You got to take it one show at a time, one tour at a time and try to make the best practical, informed decisions you can as things arise. Put faith in your live show! If you deliver and deliver, it’ll grow. I firmly believe that.

Yeah, and people will always need music…probably even more so when times are rough.

TB: During the Great Depression it thrived because people needed entertainment.

Well, while we’re on the subject of touring…you did the whole leg on Warped Tour this year, right? I went to one of the shows in California and my immediate impression was that it seemed extremely commercialized and more focused on selling stuff than on the music itself. What’s your opinion on that and what was it like to do the whole tour?

TB: It was great. It was an opportunity we’ve always wanted that we finally got. But on the part you’re talking about…with a production that big and gas prices going up it seems like the commercial sponsoring is crucial to help keep the ticket prize at a reasonable level. I know that’s one of the big turn-offs for people who come from the punk rock scene when they go to Warped Tour to see a band like Against Me! and get bombarded with Samsung and Sony and whoever else is there. But unfortunately it’s one of the necessary evils to help the tour survive.

I can understand how it’s a good way for bands to reach new fans, is that one of the reasons you decided to do it?

TB: That’s why I wanted to do it, personally.

Because it doesn’t exactly seem like an easy tour to do…

TB: It’s the hardest tour I’ve ever done! You have to be up at 9am to find out when you’re playing because the schedule changes daily, but it was one of the things I was totally ok with so we could play in front of Against Me!’s fans or whoever else it was that day. I thought it was a great experience, I’d do it again.

MM: We’re pretty grass roots, salt of the earth kind of guys. We don’t think we’re celebrities or stars; we’re accessible to our fans. Anyone with a positive frame of mind and who embraces open-mindedness and equality can come on in and listen to our music and be a part of our experience and Warped Tour gives you that. You get a chance to play in front of people you may not necessarily ever draw.

TB: Yeah, I like being accessible to the kids like that too. That’s something I’ve always admired about that tour…that every kid who goes is going to get the opportunity to meet the band they came to see. And the artist community that exists behind the scenes is great too.

What are you currently listening to? Anything you want to recommend?

MM: The Gaslight Anthem’s “The ’59 Sound” is a really good record. Against Me!’s whole discography – all the way from “Reinventing Axl Rose” to “New Wave” – is amazing. Dead To Me’s new EP is really good.

TB: Bloc Party!

MM: Bloc Party are good.

TB: Haha…

MM: And ACDC’s new album is good. Nice and simple, in your face rock and roll.

EE: What else are you influenced by?

MM: Right now I’m reading a book by David Simon, the creator of the critically hailed television series “The Wire”. It’s called “Homicide” (“Homicide: A Year on The Killing Streets” Ed.) and it’s a non-fiction book about spending a year on the streets with the Baltimore Police detectives. It’s a gritty, tough, harrowing story. Before that I read “The Last Temptation of Christ” (by Nikos Kazantzakis, Ed.) which was a pretty…pretty heavy book. So that’s what I’ve been reading.

Now that the year is coming to an end, how would you sum up 2008 and what’s in store for next year?

TB: Is it…we’re already done with 2008?

All: Haha…

TB: 2008 I thought was good…I haven’t really had a chance to reflect on it.

MM: It feels like it’s still in progress for us. I mean, here we are in November and still fully engaged in a European tour. I think it’s been a whirlwind – a flurry of activity. We released a new record, “State of Grace” on Hellcat in July which we’ve been out supporting ever since. First through Vans Warped Tour, then a headlining U.S. tour and now The Eastpak Antidote Tour and we see ourselves going into ’09 with a bunch of touring plans.

TB: We’ll be back here in April.

For a headlining tour?

TB: Yes, headlining and festivals.

MM: I think it’s been a great year and the happiest point of my life is right now today, that’s all I got.

Right now…

MM: Yeah, right now…seriously!

That’s great.

MM: I mean, what’s more important than right now? Nothing!

No, no you’re right! I am totally with you on that.

Alright, last question…and do not feel obliged to answer this…but do you have any funny stories from being on tour so far that you want to share with us?

TB: From this tour?

Yeah, what’s been going on?

MM: We’ve been making some weird jams, right?

TB: Yeah, yeah…

MM:  …on our computers…like weird disco and techno jams.

TB: My friend Zach from Rise Against makes songs on his GarageBand all the time and in a constant quest to outdo him, that we’ve had going since we were 16, I started doing it too and I’ve realised me, Marcus and Mike have wasted entire days on writing dance tunes on GarageBand when we could’ve been writing Street Dogs songs. But it’s very infectious once you start doing it…you find new loops and you’re like “Oh this is so cool”…

MM: Didn’t we pull everyone out of their bunks and start a shirts off-party singing disco songs?

TB: Oh yeah! Shirts off disco-parties…
I’ll tell you about a funny night and I’m totally going to sell myself out on front street with my addiction problems…but yeah…
So anyways…this was in London the night of the election, and we got stuck with the bus in a car park. Mastodon happened to be there on a night off…and I myself ingested some stuff and drank a bunch of booze and listened to the Obama-election on the radio until 7 in the morning – with Mastodon of all people.

MM: They were fucking nuts, lightning off fireworks and kicking stuff…shaking the buses.

TB: And I spent £30, which is about $60-$70 on olives!
I don’t know…it doesn’t sound funny to you but it was just weird. Very odd.
This sucks ‘cause I normally have a lot of funny stories, I just can’t think of any I’m not…

MM: Turn off the recorder and we’ll tell you some other stuff!

All: Hahaha…

Well thank you so much for doing the interview!

MM & TB: No problem!

Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/streetdogs