Roxborough Band Featured in New York Times

The Roxborough band Song Dogs was recently featured in the New York Times' "Music Match" column.

The column matches modern artists with tracks from the past.

I asked them a couple of questions about the experience.  Song Dogs guitarist Ryan McCloskey provided the answers.

Patch: How did you find out you were going to be featured in the New York Times?  Did someone call you?  Was it a complete surprise?  Who got to tell the band?  Was is it exciting for them?

McCloskey: We came in contact with Chicago-based journalist Val Haller after realeasing our LP "Wild Country" in January of 2013.  She was immediately very supportive of the band, and we worked together to create a piece that could debut in the times in her music match series.  The series changed in nature from matching older bands with newer ones to showing a new band performing a cover of an old song.  We performed an entire show on Nov. 1st as Talking Heads (dressed up and everything) at Milkboy in Center City.  When Val found out the plans for the show, she was very interested and suggested we record a video of one of the TH songs for the series.  

Patch: The article features a cover of the song "Take Me to the River."  That song (as the article points out) has also been performed by artists like Al Green and The Talking Heads.  How does it feel to have your band be part of a legacy that includes those performers?

McCloskey: Al Green and Talking Heads are both artists we admire as a band though our sound is not always similar.  Samuel Conver our bass player is especially good at bringing the soul and crooning of the Al Green sound to the band.  Dan and Mike are Talking Heads superfans and were more than excited to perform a show as them, which is how we came into recording this cover with our great friends The Rivals at their Nomad Studios in Powelton Village.   There were a lot of ups and downs to get here, but everyone was elated to see the positive recognition that our music had received and have the chance to debut three new videos and a brand new single with the New York Times.  

Patch: You guys are from Roxborough, what about Roxborough inspires you musically?

McCloskey: We love being a Roxborough/Manayunk/Wissahickon band and the great opportunities the community has afforded us.  Special thanks to Scooter and the Grape Room for supporting us from the beginning and providing a great venue for local musicians to put on fantastic concerts.