Fat Dog announce debut album 'WOOF.' for September 6th + share new single "Running" + confirm London's Kentish Town Forum
Fat Dog announce debut album WOOF. for September 6th
Reveal third single “Running” – watch video here
Touring UK in May and November including new date at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town + playing Glastonbury, Primavera, Latitude, Truck and more
“All the Same’ is a kind of deeply unsettling pop song – like Stock, Aitken, and Waterman gone wild on cheap cider, the 80s tinged production lets the sonics bleed deep into the red” Clash
“A chaotic take on punk that made you think of a clown car driven by anarchists… Excellent” The Times 4*
“[It’s] giving Nine Inch Nails have gone to a deep trance rave” Clara Amfo, Radio 1
"Fat Dog have a penchant for the grandiose. ‘All the Same’ is propelled by a menacing techno rhythm in the drums and bass, but it’s at its best when that beat bursts open to reveal orchestral swells, industrial electronics, and ‘eagle noises’” The FADER
“[KotS] captured the singular energy of an act responsible for a whole new underground youth movement” NME
“From the gnarly, synthetic, industrial beats that underpin the track to the strangely euphoric crescendo that peaks midway through, Joe Love and co know exactly how to distil a seething sense of energy that feels like being trapped in the pulsing heartbeat of an underground club - somewhere in the middle ground of fun and scary” DIY on “All the Same”
“They are without a doubt the most exhilarating thing I play on the show” Jack Saunders, Radio 1
“Fat Dog creates a space for euphoria and discomfort, humour and unease” FLOOD
“A pulverising 7-minute epic of energy, and genre traversing ambition marking them out as a band to keep your ears out for” Under The Radar
“You NEED to see this band… pure chaos” Matt Wilkinson, Apple 1
“Exceedingly fun and exceedingly strange”Loud & Quiet
“Manically riotous and joyous” Steve Lamacq, BBC 6 Music
“A seven-minute, punk and rave-flecked psych epic” Evening Standard
“It’s fucking Fat Dog, baby” - 8 months on since their sprawling debut single “King of the Slugs” was released, the sentiment remains strong as the first words of Fat Dog’s debut album WOOF. are bellowed out by frontman and squadron leader Joe Love, real name Joe Love.
One of the most exciting breakthrough bands of the past few years, conjurers of the sort of frenzied and wild live shows not seen in the capital for years, and with only two tracks out thus far (the menacing “All the Same” was unleashed in January), Fat Dog are now the creators of WOOF., a brilliant and mind-bending record, due for release on September 6th via Domino.
Today, they share new song “Running”, a slice of unhinged, hook-heavy twisted trance. The video, directed by Stephen Agnew, hints to Ken Russell, Ingmar Bergman and MANDY whilst revealing the true origins of the cult of Fat Dog and their real leader.
Watch the video for “Running” here
Stream “Running” here
When the chaotic south London rabble known as Fat Dog formed, they made two rules: they were going to be a healthy band who looked after themselves and there would be no saxophone presence in their music. Two simple edicts to live by, and two things long-since broken by the Brixton five-piece. “Yeah, it’s all gone out the window,” says Love.
Life is too short to stick to any plans you made in the unsettling, strait-jacketed times of 2021 anyway. That was when Fat Dog came together, Love deciding to form a group and take the demos he had been making at home as a way to keep himself sane during lockdown out into the world. In Chris Hughes (keyboards/synths), Ben Harris (bass), Johnny Hutchinson (drums) and Morgan Wallace (keyboards and, umm, saxophone), Love found like-minded mavericks to help bring the dream home. “A lot of music at the moment is very cerebral and people won’t dance to it,” says Hughes. “Our music is the polar opposite of thinking music.”
Hughes should know. He was a fan of the band, at that point making a name for themselves with a series of exhilarating and/or wonky shows across south London, before he was in the band. Those formative gigs formed the bedrock of what Fat Dog were all about, seizing the moment, drinking too much with the moment, going home separately from the moment but making up with the moment again the next day.
It didn’t take long for the kennel-dwellers to come flocking, every Fat Dog show in London becoming a huge upgrade on the last. They sold out the Scala in October 2023 and, last week, played a triumphant set to a sold-out Electric Brixton. There is something deeper going on here than the usual punter-goes-to-gig situation. Everyone is in on it. “There’s a sense of community about Fat Dog,” says Hutchinson. And it’s not just the capital who have been bitten; recently, the band completed an ecstatically received tour of the US that included an all-conquering set at a taco joint. No lunches were harmed. They will tour the UK next month and in November including their next hometown show at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town on Saturday 23rd November as well as performing at a string of festivals in the UK and Europe this summer before heading back to North America in October.
The sound Fat Dog make, Love says, is screaming-into-a-pillow music. “I wanted to make something ridiculous because I was so bored,” he declares. It’s a thrilling blend of electro-punk, rock’n’roll snarling, techno soundscapes, industrial-pop and rave euphoria, music for letting go to. Produced by Joe Love, James Ford and Jimmy Robertson, WOOF. passes by in a flash. Influences include Bicep, I.R.O.K., Kamasi Washington and the Russian experimental EDM group Little Big.
The album is a visit into the mind of Joe Love - be thankful you have only been granted a temporary pass. “Music is so vanilla,” says Love. “I don’t like sanitised music. Even this album is sanitised compared to what’s in my head. I thought it would sound more fucked up.”
Watch the video for “All the Same” here
Watch the video for “King of the Slugs” here
Tracklisting:
1. Vigilante
2. Closer to God
3. Wither
4. Clowns
5. King of the Slugs
6. All the Same
7. I am the King
8. Running
9. And so it Came to Pass
WOOF. is available to pre-order on limited edition Dinked neon green vinyl (with phenakistoscope), red vinyl, standard vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order: Dinked | DomMart | Digital
Upcoming live dates
Friday 26th April – Le Printemps de Bourges, Bourges
Saturday 4th May – Stag and Dagger, Edinburgh
Sunday 5th May – Stag and Dagger, Glasgow
Monday 6th May – The Fulford Arms, York
Tuesday 7th May – Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
Wednesday 8th May – The Polar Bear, Hull
Thursday 9th May – Focus Wales, Wrexham
Friday 10th May – Arts Centre, Norwich
Saturday 11th May – Are You Listening?, Reading
Tuesday 14th May – Cavern, Exeter
Wednesday 15th May – Bullingdon, Oxford
Thursday 16th May – Esquires, Bedford
Friday 17th May – Foul Weather Festival, Le Havre, Normandy
Saturday 18th May – Art Rock, Saint-Brieuc, Brittany
Thursday 23rd May – Where Else?, Margate
Sunday 26th May – Celebrate this Place, Cardiff
27th May – 2nd June - Primavera A La Ciutat, Barcelona
31st May – 2nd June – Maifeld Derby, Mannheim
26th-30th June - Glastonbury, Somerset
Saturday 6th July – Eurockeenes, Belfort
10th-13th July – Trӕnafestivalen, Norway
11th–13th July - Pete The Monkey, Normandy
25th-28th July - Latitude Festival, Suffolk
26th-28th July – Truck Festival, Oxfordshire
26th-29th July – Deer Shed, North Yorkshire
8th-11th August - Ypsigrock Festival, Sicily
Friday 16th August - La Route Du Rock, Brittany
17th-18th August – Lowlands Festival, Netherlands
17th-18th August - Pukklepop Festival, Belgium
Saturday 31st August – Manchester Psych Fest, Manchester
12th -15th September - Poplar Festival, Italy
Saturday 28th September - Float Along Festival, Sheffield
Thursday 3rd October - Le 106, Rouen
Friday 4th October - L'Antipode, Rennes
Saturday 5th October – Petit Bain, Paris
Sunday 6th October – Le Grand Mix, Tourcoing
Tuesday 8th October – Doornroosje, Nijmegen
Wednesday 9th October – Vera, Groningen
Thursday 10th October – Botanique, Brussels
Friday 11th October – Skatecafe, Amsterdam
Saturday 12th October - Here's The Thing Festival, Tilburg
Monday 14th October - Bumann & Sohn, Cologne
Tuesday 15th October – Molotow, Hamburg
Wednesday 16th October - Urban Spree, Berlin
Saturday 19th October – The Baby G, Toronto
Monday 21st October – Songbyrd, Washington
Tuesday 22nd October – TV Eye, Brooklyn
Thursday 24th October – The Empty Bootle, Chicago
Saturday 26th October – Black Lodge, Seattle
Sunday 27th October – Polaris Hall, Portland
Tuesday 29th October – Popscene @ Brick & Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco
Wednesday 30th October – Zebulon, LA
Thursday 7th November - The Grand Social, Dublin
Friday 8th November - Empire Music Hall, Belfast
Saturday 9th November – Stereo, Glasgow
Sunday 10th November - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Tuesday 12th November - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Wednesday 13th November - Band On The Wall, Manchester
Thursday 14th November - Crookes Social Club, Sheffield
Friday 15th November – Thekla, Bristol
Saturday 16th November - Mama Roux's, Birmingham
Sunday 17th November - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
Thursday 21st November – Papillon, Southampton
Friday 22nd November – Patterns, Brighton
Saturday 23rd November - O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
Tickets for November dates on pre-sale from Thursday 25th 10am local, general sale Friday 26th 10am local. Pre-ordering the album gives pre-sale access.
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