Halloween Spectacular

Cheers to Lewis for doing the latest poster.

Check out the myspace pages of Kid Nitro and In A Moment. Or don’t, it’s really up to you. As a wise man once said: The power is yours!

Evil Duck

We’ve been recording a couple of demos recently with the help of Jef from U Brute! and Return to Paris fame (he’s also been working on some songs with Lewis recently which sound promising), so hopefully we’ll have those ready soon for posting here.

We’ve got about four new songs in the pipeline, two of which are almost finished. They go by the name of ‘Man in a Suit’ and ‘Funkbum’ and we reckon they sound pretty good. Of course, we’re slightly biased.

Also, Jimi got stabbed at an Opeth concert last week. Typical.

Until next time, here is a picture of an evil duck:

An update for the sake of updating

Actually, there’s probably quite a bit of stuff I could say, I just really can’t be bothered going into much detail at the moment.

1 – National Campus Band Competition was great fun. Jimi has always enjoyed a bit of excitement, and shared that with us by turning up 10 minutes late. Luckily the band before us was running behind time.

2 – We’re working on recording demos of most of our songs. Jeff from U Brute\Return To Paris kindly gave up his weekend to help with the recording and will be mixing for us.

3 – We’re playing at the Swan Basement on Friday. The lineup seems to be changing evey few minutes, but we’ll be there at some point after 8pm.

Till next time,

Broon

On Life, Love and Monster Magnet

I’ve always been one for the simple pleasures in life. Bourbon. Monster Magnet. It’s only been recently that I’ve  come to realise how well these two go together. And just how cold it is. For the record, it’s damn cold. Still, bourbon and Monster Magnet go a long way towards correcting that problem.

In all seriousness, at the end of the day, no matter how you’re feeling, music is the same. Good times, bad day (you know I’ve had my share), music won’t judge you. Music just is. The song remains the same. And although I may or may not have been listening to a shitload of Zep recently, Monster Magnet and bourbon are a whole bottle of fun. So crank it up, sit back and forget about life for a while. If you’re happy, nothing else matters, and if music makes you happy you’re blessed. Is shitload one word or two?

All drunkenness aside, we’re playing at the Curtin University Tavern on Wednesday 6pm, so get along and see us or we might be a little sad or something.

Also we’re aiming at recording some demos this weekend with the help of our good friend Jeff from U Brute! and Return to Paris fame. Results here soon.

Rock on, you beautiful sons of bitches,

Broon

Still alive…

Wow, it’s been a while since we’ve posted anything here. I’d like to say it’s because we’ve all been so busy, but that would be a dammed lie. We have been playing a few gigs though, including our first at Mojos and Olivers 21st, which was insane fun, so thanks for everyone in the marquee getting into it. And to Oliver for the beer, of course. Free drinks are always appreciated.

We’re trying to line up a few gigs at different places around Perth in the next few months, so keep an eye out for us.

In other news we’re putting the finishing touches on our next song and in the middle of writing another one.

We’re playing this Friday 25th July at Swan Basement with Adam Tutana and the Ramuels, Kid Nitro and These Shipwrecks. Doors open 8pm, $5 entry. We’re trying to sort something out to record a bit of the set so if you’re able to get down there and make some noise it would be much appreciated.

That’s all for now,
Broon

Update: Apparantly the roof has blow off the Swan Hotel. Yes, you read that right. The roof. We’re not willing to risk playing without a roof over us because there is a slight chance it might rain, and the majority of the band dissolve when we get wet. Gig will be rescheduled at a later date.

Also our website can now be found at www.heirofthedogband.com

Gigs galore

We’ve got a rent inspection at the doghouse later this week, so after all the cleaning we’re really feeling the need to enjoy ourselves. A few gigs outta do the trick.

First up:

Sunday 18th May – Swan Basement, Freo

From 6pm. What better way to wrap up the weekend? No idea who we’re playing with. Will add details here if we find out before Sunday, otherwise it’s a lucky dip.

Wednesday 4th June – Mojos Bar, Freo

Doors open 8pm come along and see The Shock Horrors, Kid Nitro, Heir of the Dog (hey, those guys have the same name as us…) and U Brute! $5 entry. All proceeds go toward alcohol and are probably not tax deductible.

Catchya,

Broon

A quiet night at the Doghouse

Photos from York now available on the photos page. Took me ages to work out where to put them.

Some examples of us totally not posing are below. That’s right, we just naturally look that cool.

Here at the Doghouse we have a little game we like to call “Force Willie to drink booze”. Willie is our housemate. He hasn’t had much experience with the consumption of alcohol before. It’s a simple game, but great entertainment for quiet nights.

Last night we bet him a generous $50 to skull an entire bottle of CS Cowboy mixer. The only condition was that he finish the entire thing. We even allowed him to stop for breath. He drank all but about 50ml of it then made some of most hilarious puking noises I’ve ever heard. The stream of pink vomit which sprang forth from his mouth made my week, and it was only Monday.

Our next gig is at Swan Basement on Sunday 18th May. Will post details when I get them confirmed.

Peace out,

Broon

New gig

For those who feel their diets are lacking in the rock department we’ve got a special treat just for you. This Friday 4th April head on down to the Swan Basement Freo to witness the musical stylings of Heir of the Dog, Return to Paris, AK-47 and Perth Mint. Show starts at 8pm, $5 door charge. Hope to see ya there!

I’ve added a new page to upload Heir of the Dog posters to, so have a look.

York was awesome fun and we’ve finished off a new song, Doghouse Rock. Come along Friday to be one of the first to hear it!

Also if you’ve got a few minutes free check out the myspace page of our good friends Return to Paris as they’ve just added 3 recently recorded songs.

I already know how late I am

As I was preparing my lunch, I passed through the kitchen of the Doghouse, as I so often do when constructing a meal. Upon my way I spied none other than our microwave, sitting, as our microwave usually does on our kitchen counter. Today however, I noticed something which I had never before noticed.

Our microwave doesn’t have a clock on it.

It has a little dial which you turn to the approximate time you require the microwave to be operational for. That is, assuming Jimi hasn’t been around recently and unplugged the microwave to plug his bass amp in. Even though there are at least 3 other available power points in the vicinity. The microwave also features a second dial with which you can select the power of the microwave, switching effortlessly between 800W, 600W, 400W and the ever exciting defrost mode.

Anyway. No clock on this microwave. No sir.

Which, after giving this a great deal of thought, I have decided is a good thing. I don’t need another object lying around telling me what time it is. Constantly reminding me just how damn late I am for something. I can already get the time from a huge number of places – my phone, the clock on the wall, my car, my boss calling to tell me I should have been at work 20 minutes ago, the watch I never wear.. the list is endless. I don’t need another set of numbers ordering me around, reminding me that I’m supposed to be going somewhere. Worse still, since the advent of daylight savings in Western Australia, each new timekeeping device I add to the collection requires the hour moved forwards or backwards twice each year. Why on earth would I want to create more work for myself? I just wanted to heat up my lunch. I never asked for any of this.

In other news the band heads out to York this weekend for songwriting and merrymaking and the next gig is looking like it will be Friday 4^th April at Swan Basement. More info as we get it.

– Broon

The future of online music

II’m a big fan of Nine Inch Nails and enjoy reading interviews with Trent Reznor as he often comments on the recording industry, and his views regarding it are often aligned with my own. Nine Inch Nails have recently split from their label Interscope Records and as they are now free of a label have decided to release 9 tracks from their latest album, Ghosts online free of charge. I believe that distribution of music in the future will heavily involve the internet. Hell, it already does – although most of the traffic is illegal. Record companies don’t like filesharing as it means they are unable to raise a profit from it. However a market does exist for paid digital music as seen by the highly successful iTunes and more recently Amazon’s online music service. Rather than embrace technology and the benefits it offers, record companies have traditionally pitted all their resources against online music, suing thousands of people with bullying tactics. Industry officials make claims that all online filesharing is illegal and that it costs the industry billions of dollars in sales every year – using the incorrect assumption that everyone who downloads music would go out and buy the album if they couldn’t download it.While I can appreciate that musicians do need to make money from the music they create, in large the recording industry is alienating fans and stubbornly refusing to accept the internet as a potential way of doing business. The RIAA is totally out of touch with reality, as seen by their recent proposal that all internet users, regardless whether or not they download music or have even listened to a song in their life pay a $5 a month fee which would be redistributed to musicians. Whether or not this would actually reach musicians is debatable – the settlements from the mass lawsuits over the past few years have yet to be returned to artists. The introduction of the recordable cassette tape didn’t put an end to record sales. Only in recent times have some labels begun to offer the music of their artists for sale digitally. Harder still is getting record companies to accept that fans would like to be able to use their music in different ways – for example to copy CD’s they have purchased to their computer or mp3 player. The record industry believes this is illegal and would like you to purchase a separate copy of the music for each device you will listen to it on. Perhaps this is too little, too late. Many artists are now seeing the internet as a way to promote themselves without a label, and even distribute their own music. This has the benefits of cutting out the greedy record companies and giving the artist more control over how their music is available. There are practically zero distribution costs as there is no need for the manufacturing or distribution costs associated with a typical record. Add this to the numerous claims from artists that they make very little amounts of money from selling music online after the digital marketplace and the record company have had their share and online distribution of music becomes a very attractive option.Nine Inch Nails latest album Ghosts and Radiohead’s latest, In Rainbows both offered music digitally in various forms both free and paid, but also in physical form by ordering a record complete with extras such as printed books or signed album art. Physical copies can be ordered directly from the artist, again bypassing the label and allowing more money for the artist. I feel this is the best way for music to move forward and the results from Ghosts and In Rainbows seem to support this.Radiohead has not released actual download figures, but Thom Yorke has said “in terms of digital income, we’ve made more money out of this record than out of all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever.” Nine Inch Nails that Ghosts had sold almost 800,000 copies online, for a total of $1.6 million in one week (full article here).I don’t know what direction Heir of the Dog will head in if/when we have some recorded music, as that will be a decision for the whole band to make. Ideally I’d like to see some if not all of the songs available for download for free online. If people want to support the band then they can pay to see us live, buy merchandise or physical copies of the music on cd, which would have extras packaged with it. If people just want to listen to the band then they can do so for free. That way the music is easily accessible for everyone. I believe music should be created for people to listen to, and hopefully enjoy. Otherwise you might as well be just another guy sitting in his room with a guitar dreaming.

-Broon

Read more:

Interview with Trent Renzor of Nine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails dispute with Universal Music Group

RIAA keeps settlement money from suing fans

Weird Al wonders why he gets less money from label for online sales than cd sales

RIAA uses bullying tactics

RIAA says ripping CD’s to iPod NOT fair use

Music Industry Proposes a Piracy Surcharge on ISP’s