Fat Dog: ‘Our fans are paragons of taste and virtue’ - cracking the Top 20 with debut album Woof, the importance of grassroots venues and their imminent return to Ireland

HI CHRIS, how is the American tour going so far? Any highlights/low points of note?

I’d have to say it’s going great so far. I’m from a Canadian family myself so it’s always nice to go back to the home country. It was the rest of the band’s first time there and we had a day off, so it was really cool watching the rest of ‘em see the sights and smell the smells.

The real highlight is the biscuits and gravy we had at a diner in Indiana. Unreal scran.

Do you enjoy touring in general, and are Fat Dog ‘good travellers’?

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We love touring but we bloody hate flying. We don’t help ourselves, we’re always trying to psyche each other out before the flights and we just end up scaring ourselves. But you know what they say, ‘it’s always 5 o’clock in the airport’, so a few pints normally does the trick.

Fat Dog started in 2020 during lockdown as a solo home recording project for your frontman, Joe Love. The band is now a quintet renowned for its live shows. How quickly did you find your feet as a live act, and did playing the songs live for a couple of years prior to recording Woof help shape the sound of the band/record?

I mean, the early shows were actually pretty hit and miss. When everyone’s still sitting down because of Covid restrictions it’s hard to get into the swing of things so much. It’s a fairly reciprocal relationship we have with the audience. If they aren’t moving, we don’t move as much, ya know?

In terms of the record, I guess the live element influenced it, but it’s actually pretty hard to capture a live energy and sound in the studio. So, whilst the album is pretty much the set that we play live, the studio gave us the opportunity to experiment with more layering of sounds.

Thus, it sounds a little different, a little more polished than our live show.

It’s a fairly reciprocal relationship we have with the audience. If they aren’t moving, we don’t move as much, ya know?

—  Chris Hughes, Fat Dog

The band singed to indie label Domino rather than some of the majors who were sniffing around you. What have they been like to work with, and what advice would you give other up and coming bands who are starting to get ‘label interest’?

They’ve been really good, partially because they don’t seem as fickle as some other labels. You don’t have the sword of Damocles hanging over your head all the time, expecting to be dropped if anything goes differently than expected.

They probably are as fickle as the other ones, but they’re doing a great job of supporting us and making us feel like an appreciated part of their roster. Anyways, that’s showbiz baby. Can’t blame ‘em.

In terms of dealing with label interest, just play s*** tons of gigs I suppose. Build a strong live foundation so labels can see you’re growing a following organically rather than that flash-in-the-pan TikTok s***.

What was it like when Woof cracked the ‘proper’ Top 20, and how did you celebrate?

I think we were half way through a tour so we were probably too jaded and tired to go out for any celebration. That having been said, it was nice to see, because we were getting some wildly s*** reviews from a few music rags, and so breaking the Top 20 felt a little vindicating.

Whomever of you out there who got us up there, you are paragons of taste and virtue, and we are forever indebted to you.

I’ve heard that you’re already working on the second album, how’s that progressing - and how different do you want it/need it to sound from Woof?

Slow and steady wins the race. It’s whatever we can come up with really, not sure we really have any expectations for it yet. Just gotta make it not s***.

I suppose there’s a certain paranoia that you’re going to alienate your fans if you release something too different from the debut, but we’re not exactly a genre-specific band anyway. We just like making songs, it’s part of the fun, and if we all like what comes out of us then we go for it.

We just like making songs, it’s part of the fun, and if we all like what comes out of us then we go for it

—  Chris Hughes, Fat Dog

You’ve already played a couple of shows in Ireland, how did they go and are you looking forward to coming back?

Ireland has been great every time we’ve gone. Dublin is f***ing expensive though, bankrupts us every time. You have really great venues, and a stand-out is that one in Galway which I can’t spell, ‘Russian doob’ or something [Róisín Dubh]. Love everything about that place.

Who are some of your favourite Irish bands?

Planxty, The Wolfe Tones, Lankum. The Mary Wallopers are good people, seen ‘em a few times at festivals.

Irish export Tim Perry, the booker at The Windmill in Brixton, was an early believer in Fat Dog. How important are people like Tim and ‘grassroots’ venues like The Windmill in terms of fostering new talent in that London?

People like Tim are pretty crucial. It’s not just about booking the right bands, it’s about giving bands that might not have necessarily done a great job a chance to come back again rather than blacklisting them forever.

Is there anything else you wish the people of Ireland to know about Fat Dog?

Comparison is the enemy of joy.

Fat Dog play Dublin’s Grand Social on November 7 and The Empire in Belfast on November 8. Tickets and full tour information via fatdogfatdogfatdog.com. Woof is out now.