THE DOGS ROCK MAUI SUGAR MILL 9.8.17 with a surprise or two...

 

 Detroit/L.A. legends THE DOGS shredded the Maui Sugar Mill club in Reseda of the San Fernando Valley part of L.A. this last 9.28.17, delighting the crowd their usual supertight but wild finesse, plus a few surprises.

 

The redoubtable Jenna Talia, newly relocated from The Dogs' own native Detroit, proved the perfect singer to come jam on what had been the B/side of their legendary 1977 "Slash Your Face" punk EP, a cover of the Barbarian's "Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl." Loren repayed the favor a few weeks later with his participation in Jenna's West Coast debut of newly revamped GlitterTrash at the Viper Room.

Quote of the evening was Loren's onstage patter of the band's longevity (actually since the 1960s) joking that "We haven't played the San Fernando Valley since the mid-1980s when the streets of L.A. were paved with cocaine!"  

THE DOGS are Loren Molinare, lead vocals, guitar; Mary Kay, bass, vocals; Tony Matteucci, drums, vocals. 

PHOTO OPS:

Billy Bones, another O.G.L.A. punk formerly of The Skulls, also raved 
through a set with his 
newer The Sold! and 
Bones ensemble. At left, Bones flanks photographer Michael Eivaz, resplendent in a historic T-shirt of The San Fernando Valley's major rock venue of the 1980s, the Country Club.  Below, Mary Kay, bassist of The Dogs hangs with Jenna Talia and friend.

Below, Loren Dog enjoys a long ago Dogs' show tearsheet 

supplied by fan Bill Ballard from PNX News.

MIKE WATT, THE DOGS and O.G. L.A. punk pioneers glorify the Redwood LIVE 7/22/17

     One of L.A.'s great treasures (via their Michigan stomping grounds inception and a pre-punk spurt in NYC before The Ramones even crawled out) for decades in a now rare appearance at the Redwood with Mike Watt and others, THE DOGS careened and rocked in full cry to a packed house of appreciative fans of all ages, such is The Dogs' perennial appeal: genuine Detroit-spawned hardest rock played mega-fast, super-tight and magnificently...

 Wrote California Rocker editor Donna Balancia: "I never before realized how POWERFUL The Dogs are! The Dogs unquestionably are a truly great band.  Wrote Falling James (original L.A. punk of Leaving Trains who influenced Mark Lanegan's Screaming Trees,) "That was an intense Dogs set last night. It also amazes me that three people who play such furious and aggressive and swinging music are also such sweethearts offstage." Falling James also rose from his music journalist's seat at the L.A. Weekly to play a rare set just before The Dogs.

The Dogs (Loren Molinaire-guitar, leads vocals; Mary "look ma, no retouching needed!" Kay-bass, vocals; Tony Matteucci-drums, vocals) long have proven their crossover from good band to great band, probably from somewhere in the late 1960s (see their history, LINK* LINK**and LINK***.) In fact, their dependable greatness ofttimes makes booking a chore, since hard rock bands without a sense of history or humor appearing on the bill are blown offstage. Routinely.

No such risk for Mike Watt though, who swims in his own idiosyncratic oasis of greatness with a variety of his personal spinoff bands (The Secondmen, The Missingmen, Hellride, etc.)  In fact for over a decade Watt faced down the F5 tornado that was The Stooges and Iggy and The Stooges for their touring and recording ensembles, fully "one of them." In Watt's predictable humility, he refers to the experience as his privilege to share their stage of history. 

Whimsically and oddly, he spent a bit of the set with his tongue extended in what was not a fleeting moment. Otherwise, his Missingmen trio reeled around in 100mph rockjazzbo improv, clearly having a blast in their own dexterity to the infinite approval of the audience.

Also on the O.G. L.A. punk bill besides Mike Watt, The Dogs and Falling James were The Alley Cats, and Billy Bones from The Skulls.

 PHOTO OPS:

Above, photographer Ellen Berman, California Rocker Editor Donna Balancia and her friend Bernadette Brennan. Below, Leslie Knauer, who was in the band Kanary with Mary Dog and Tony Dog for a dozen years, with Al TeMan, both now in band Naked Hand Dance.

*http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-dogs-their-history-from-1960s.html
** http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-dogs-latest-dvd-from-japan-and.html
*** http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2010/04/dogs-legendary-band-rockin-detroit-nyc.html

THE DOGS and THE STREETWALKIN' CHEETAHS IGNITE THE REDWOOD 9.10.16

 

Excellent double bill at the Redwood of 2 exciting bands who play with as much passion now as they did in the original punk era of their respective inceptions: THE DOGS (Loren Molinare, Mary Kay and Tony Matteucci) and THE STREET WALKIN' CHEETAHS! (Frank Meyer, Bruce Duff, Dino Everett, Mike Sessa.) 

Above and below, THE DOGS. Seen here, Security expresses concern as Loren Molinare submits to guitar apoplexy at the set's end.

 

Below, The Street Walkin' Cheetahs erupt!

 

PHOTO OPS:

Bassist Mary Dog, Rock couturier Evita Corby, singer/guitarist Loren Dog


 Left, Mary Dog and Shelley Mitchell, who lived in The Dogs' rock and roll commune in the 1970s; right, Mary Dog and drummer Sae Tatsuzawa.

Below, backstage post-show decompressing: The Dogs with enthusiast Joe Babaei

 

THE DOGS and THE SUPERBEES-- POWERFUL DOUBLE BILL AT EL CID 7.30.16

  ↑ THE DOGS ! ↓  

THE SUPERBEES! ↓

A night of muscular Detroit-style hardest rock from THE DOGS and The Superbees at El Cid Club 7.30.16! Current music audiences now realize THE DOGS remain one of the best bands ever be it Detroit, Hollywood or the world, and must be seen and heard.  Click for a lot more DOGS lore, as I've photographed this great band (who began in 1968 in Detroit!) since 1985 : LINK*

                                Kicking out the jams, THE DOGS, from left: Mary Kay, Loren Molinare, Tony Matteucci; below left, compatriot jams-kickers The Superbees Dave James perfects his sneer, and fellow Bee Lights Out Levine, right.

 

The Superbees are Dave James, guitar, vocals, Scott Carlson, guitar, 

Lights out Levine, bass, Tom Hernandez, drums

PHOTO OPS:

Rock and roll couturier Evita Corby with Jeremy White, lead singer of another of L.A.'s best bands (ever), The BLESSINGS see LINK**. 

Below, Tim Henderson and Terry Moreland Henderson; longtime Hollywood music biz professionals and chums Evita and Terry.

 Above and below: an unusual reunion-- Loren Dog and Mary Dog hadn't seen Tim Henderson for about 35+ years! Tim formerly was in The Pop, one third of the Radio Free Hollywood cooperative with The Dogs and The Motels who four-walled venues for their own shows in proto-punk mid-1970s L.A. These groundbreaking and well-attended gigs forced Sunset Strip club owners to pay attention to unsigned acts, which hitherto had been barred. DIY Punk freedom fighters!

   

Below, Duffy Snowhill and Jeremy White of THE BLESSINGS have a spot of fun...

 

*link for THE DOGS:  http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Dogs

**link for THE BLESSINGS: http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Blessings