They brought you My Brightest Diamond and now they’ve done it again: this Saturday the fine members of Radical Performance Machine present, for your folk-jammin’ pleasure, our favorite medically-licensed Philadelphia-bred canine, Dr. Dog. The crooning quintet features guitarists Scott McMicken and Frank McElroy, bassist Toby Leaman, keyboardist Zach Miller, and drummer Eric Slick (or Taxi, Thanks, Tables, Text and Teach as they are respectively and alliteratively nicknamed).
Concert organizer Mickey Capper ’13 explained why RPM chose to bring the band to campus.
“I love Dr. Dog because they’re less concerned with being on the cutting edge of whatever the latest blog trend is, and spend their full energy making awesome music that’s easy to love and is still very deep, ” he said.
The boys from the city of brotherly love started with a small local fan base, but made their big break touring with soft-rock darlings My Morning Jacket after a band member’s current girlfriend forced a copy of their debut album, 2002’s “Toothbrush,” on Jacket headman Jim James. Since then, Dr. Dog has opened for bands like Wilco and Jack White side-project The Raconteurs, in addition to appearing on the Conan and Jimmy Fallon shows. Their latest work, last April’s “Shame, Shame,” was their first professionally recorded studio album with Anti- Records following 2008’s “Fate.”
While “Fate” was infused with a vintage vibe, with its trilling voices and guitars bestowing a sense of peaceful nostalgia, the band takes a slightly more morose approach on “Shame, Shame.” Songs like “Shadow People” place new emphasis on electric guitar, and a sort of studied melancholy hangs over stories of West Philly backyards and sitting “In some plastic chair/Hoping these cigarettes will save us,” though still keeping you comfortable enough to sing along.
“[Dr. Dog’s] live shows have a reputation as the funnest concerts around,” said an excited Capper.
So whichever musical face of Dr. Dog you know and love, or even if you don’t know them at all, expect to show up on Saturday with winter blues and leave with a pick-me-up.
The show begins in Beckham Hall this Saturday at 10 p.m. with opening acts by current touring partner Seattle’s The Head and the Heart and Wes’s own Almonds and Elephants. Tickets are sold out, so good luck begging on the ACB.
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