Interview with Dr. Dog

Dr. Dog sent us a thick PR packet, with raves from Rolling Stone, The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly. The cover letter spoke of tour dates with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Raconteurs and The Strokes. They’ve performed on Letterman and Conan O’Brien.

We saw that this band is just one bit of trophy press away from calling their mothers and claiming true success: The interview with Drift.

So we decided to give a call to Scott McMicken, aka Taxi, who leads this psychedelic rock band with his vocals, and give them the top-o’-the-stack clip they’ve been waiting for.

Drift: I enjoyed your answering machine more than most.

SM: Ok, cool.

Drift: What song was that?

SM: Oh that was just a little jingle. I put that on there so I wouldn’t forget it.

Drift: Well, we just had a few questions since you’re coming to St. Augustine.

SM: Oh, St. Augustine? That’s where you are?

Drift: Yes.

SM: Nice. That place is great. Is it Café 11, is that the name of the place?

Drift: Yeah.

SM: Is that where we’re playing again, do you know?

Drift: Yes.

SM: Oh awesome. It’s a great spot.

Drift: How was your first show when you were here?

SM: It was great, because we had a day off beforehand and we had a hotel they gave us a couple of doors down from the Café and we were with our friends, the Teats. Like we were at the beach for a lot of time.
We went from the hotel to the beach to the venue and kind of nowhere else.

Drift: So what made you want to return to St. Augustine?

SM: Well the last time we were there it went so well. We only kind of went there on a lark because there’s these kids there who are really cool and they like us a lot and they’ve kind of traveled around to see us a bunch. We first met them in Athens, Ga. And then they’d come to Atlanta. The one girl I guess had worked at Café 11. And they kept saying “We’re going to get you down there. We’re going to raise some money and book you and stuff.” So it kind of like, I think they’re responsible for getting us to that town. Otherwise we probably wouldn’t have got to go there. But now I think we’re just going back because it was just so awesome.

Drift: When you first started (in eighth grade with band buddy Toby Leaman), did you think you were just messing around or did you have hopes you could actually take it somewhere?

SM: Well, no I don’t necessarily think that we ever expected things to go the way that they have, but it was certainly compelling enough at least for Toby and I mean it was pretty clear that our lives were going to be designed around it and just like really lucky and awesome that we’ve been so supported in designing our lives around it as opposed to just, kind of just, like, just doing it whenever we could find the time. Things have just kind of unraveled in all kinds of mysterious ways for us, even just down to who’s in the band now. So it’s like nothing was really kind of preconceived about it at all, but it’s totally great the way it’s turned out.

Drift: How has that affected the band, with the evolving members you guys have had. And where are you now? Do you think you’re stable with the members you have?

SM: Yeah, definitely. The only people who’ve left the band left the band kind of because they had to. There’s never been any bad blood over that or anything. And I still consider everybody who’s ever been in the band sort of still in the band in spirit. And to some degree everybody’s kind of added something that remains even after they leave, some influence or some way of seeing whatever it is that we’re doing, so it’s been great having all the different people in the band who’ve been in the band but right now it’s awesome because everyone’s so committed. There’s no longer any issues of whether or not people can tour. It’s kind of real greased-up now and we can just really work a lot.

Drift: How does recording in analog affect your recording, either the process or the end result?

SM: It affects, I mean versus digitally, I guess, like it affects our recording in that it allows us to feel happier because it’s what we feel most comfortable with and we try to stay as comfortable as possible at all times, when recording especially. So it greatly affects our recording in that it just makes us all a lot more relaxed to not have to be around a computer staring at a computer screen or kind of wading through too many options.

The sound itself, it’s not that you can’t get a recording that’s digital to sound like analog, it’s just that we don’t really know how, and seeing that that’s the objective, it just makes more sense to kind of use that.

It’s more tangible, it’s more fun. You feel a little bit more like, you know, you’re touching things and picking things up and, so yeah, if you can imagine the difference when you’re drawing a picture with a mouse or if you’re drawing a picture with a pencil, it’s kind of similar to that. It’s more fun for us. And it really comes down to that’s all we know.

You really ought not to need too much more than a microphone and a reel of tape.

Drift: When that transfers to a live experience, what do you hope that experience is like for the audience?

SM: Live shows? I just think it’d be great if people had a good time and I hope they don’t think we’re assholes and they don’t think that there’s something that they need to bring to it themselves, I don’t know. We just kind of try to have a party with ourselves and hope that that makes its way into the audience. And that’s sort of how we look at live shows. The studio and the stage are so different. You just can’t make the sound – well, actually, we can’t as a band, I shouldn’t say nobody can because obviously everyone has their own thing. I don’t think we can make the same connection on a stage as we might be able to achieve in a recording, just in the nuance of things and the texture of things. So live, you’re just about that energy, the physical presence of the music and the room and the volume and the people and their faces. So, yeah, the live show just winds up being more energetic than we tend to treat our recordings. It’s exciting and fun. It’s different. It’s a different thing. You’re holding this instrument and you’re all firing away together and there’s all these people there.

Drift: How many pairs of those sunglasses do you have? Have you ever had to play a show without them or do you keep a steady stock?

SM: You’ll never catch me on stage without them, no way. I’d have a nervous breakdown. At the moment I don’t have any, which is kind of scary, getting ready to go on tour. Usually before each tour, I go around and hop all the thrift stores. Most of the stores have like a basket of them somewhere. And I’ll just stock up on them. It’s not like I have my favorite or anything, I just make sure there’s always a pair around. I particularly like that classic black style, maybe with the neon sides.

But, in general, I just have to make sure there’s something around. That’s a good reminder, I need to go get some.

Drift: So it’s more of a stage fright thing?

SM: Totally. It allows me to kind of pay less attention and to be less self-aware and you know, not having to make eye contact with people and think about how bizarre everything that’s going on is. It helps me think about the music more.

Yeah, it just kind of disconnects me more and for that same reason I can’t wear sunglasses in regular life. Like I can’t wear them when I’m driving around. I feel like I’m disconnected, like the things going on around me aren’t actually happening or something. Maybe I’ve conditioned myself to think that way, from wearing them on stage and being in that state of mind when I wear them.

Drift: Why did I think you were a rap or R&B group when I first heard your name?

SM: Yeah, definitely a lot of people think that, rap or R&B or sometimes a jam band, because of the name. Funny, that name meant something to me and I had this whole sort of notion of it in my head until people started to become aware of us and then realizing that sort of by and large the rest of the world or whoever it is that’s becoming exposed to us sees that element to the name, which I never … I see it now, it’s obvious, Dr. Dog, it sounds like a rapper or a jam band, but it never occurred to me as that when we came up with it. It’s more personal and I guess more something about our sense of humor between Toby and I and dogs and the way we live our life and stuff.

Drift: I read that it came from both a Captain Beefheart song and that a came from a short story. Is it either one of those or neither?

SM: Toby wrote a short story with a character named Dr. Dog. And I had come up with the name Dr. Wing which was based on a drawing pad I had, where I’d colored over the ‘a’, so it said Dr wing. And he said ‘How about Dr. Dog?’ The whole thing is pretty dumb. But it stuck and we liked it.

Drift: And people can still get their T-names by writing into your website as long as they’re super-fans?

SM: Sure, yeah, more the merrier.

Dr. Dog - Worst Trip