Dog Tired – Hordes X 2023 Interviews
Our second stage headliners, Dog Tired, should be no strange sight to regular Hordes X attendees.
This has been some year for the East Coast band. Not least of all due to across the board rave reviews of your latest album, The Red Verse. Spirits will no doubt be high in their camp right now. Chief riff goblin, Luke James, opens up about it all.
Luke James: “It was alot of graft to get this one altogether but the ultimate payoff was to see folks old and new finally hear it and share what they thought. To us, this is the greatest thing we have done to date and it’s truly awesome to see folks loving it as much as we do. First hometown show we played I already caught folks singing along to ‘Eyes of the divine’in the front row. The Red Tour has been the biggest run of dates we have done for a tour, and it’s ruled to start in France and play up and down the UK, as well as Ireland.”
All that hard work has certainly made an impact. When they were putting the album together, though, what did they do differently to how they approached the creation of previous releases?
LJ: “We recorded with Jamie Gilchrist at Nameless City Sound again. We’ve been friends for years and he gets what we are aiming for. This album was heavily focused on keith and myself jamming in the jam room and conjuring what we felt was right/ sounded cool. No agenda before writing, no guide of what we wanted to create, just riffs. This one we also doubled down on the dual vocal idea and Chris and myself really zoomed in on multi-layer vocals. We pushed ourselves further than we ever have on this album. Also the vibe is visceral, sharp and to the point. I’m really glad we managed to capture that vibe on the red verse.”
It has to be said, it is a very professional, coherent sounding release. But was it all totally organic progression, or was there a lot of trimming of the fat? How brutal were the band when it came to ditching ideas and riffs?
LJ: “We have always been militant of recent with trimming the fat and it has to be all killer no filler.”
“I think there were a couple tunes we jammed and we didn’t end up finishing. They just didn’t sound like they fitted. Rather than me and Keith re arranging ’em for days, we just cut them out early stages, and focused on the ideas we loved. If it didn’t give us the ‘oh ya fucker’ vibe it was binned. Barry is also really good at pointing out filler. Where me and Keith might be talking in riff code for hours, he sometimes is the key to pointing out the obvious.“
Dog Tired – Hordes X 2023 Interviews
As mentioned above, Dog Tired have also been out stretching your legs in the field. Digging deeper into that part of recent activities, Luke breaks down their adventures.
LJ: “France was unbelievable.”
“We did Strausbourg, Dijon and Lyon with the awesome dudes in Death Awaits. Playing a packed house in Lyon to a Rabid bunch of French folks who had never seen us before was so cool. They lapped it up and circle pits ensued. I also practised my French skills on the mic. It was shocking but they got the gist.”
“Anywhere in mainland Europe and Ireland you get treated like royalty. There’s just a level of understanding that you are a touring band and folks go our their way to help you out. Right now the big worry for loads of bands is the border crossings over brexit. Its an absolute minefield to try and get correct info about it.“
By our count, Dog Tired have played more editions of Hordes than any other band. What is it that keeps them coming back.
LJ: “Hordes is one of the best Scottish metal festivals that has ever existed.”
“It is guaranteed to be a blast every year and we love coming back and trying to make our set better than the last time. Dog Tired and Hordes go back a long way with our own festival Bob fest that used to run back around the same time. It’s kind of like returning to our 2nd home every year for a party with old pals. With this years lineup set to be a stonker we are going to pull out all the stops and bring our best Hordes set to date. Riffs await!“
Event details
Hordes X 2023: Outreach – Glasgow
Venue: Nice N Sleazy, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow
Date: Friday September 29th
Doors: 7:30pm
Ages: 18+
Entry: £8 ADV/£10 OTD
Artists: Hellfekted, War Grave, Medusa Touch, Misophonia
Ticket link: https://www.eventim.co.uk/artist/hordes-x-outreach/ OR http://t-s.co/hord8
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1477527209663333
Hordes X 2023
Venue: Beat Generator Live, N Lindsay St, Dundee
Date: Saturday September 30th
Doors: 3pm
Ages: 14+
Entry: £25 standard (stbf) from Eventim and Tickets Scotland
Artists: Hellripper, Dog Tired, Catalysis, Iron Altar, Nassau, Hellfekted, War Grave, Haint, Medusa Touch, Necrocracy, Bastyon, Hyperstasis, and Sol Noctis
Ticket link: https://www.eventim.co.uk/artist/hordes-x-2023/ OR http://t-s.co/hord7
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1071340226910625/
Hordes X 2023: Outreach – Edinburgh
Venue: Bannermans, Cowgate, Edinburgh
Date: Sunday October 01st
Doors: 6pm
Ages: 18+
Entry: £8 ADV/£10 OTD
Artists: Hellfekted, Hammer, Ophanim, Fallen Ashes, King N8body
Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hordes-2023-outreach-edinburgh-tickets-695217934557
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/213643311340296
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Dog Tired – Hordes X 2023 Interviews
