Interview With The Jaydogs
Have you always been interested in music? What is your story and how did you start making music?
Yes. My mom had a wonderful soprano voice, and I was a boy soprano. We sang together in church. I sang in Glee Club in middle school a baritone tenor and an A Cappella choir and swing choir in High school. After high School pursued a degree in Theater Arts at Indiana University and started working in local Live Theater. in 1977 tried my hand at fronting a rock band which didn’t go anywhere. Moved to Portland, Oregon in 1980 work in semipro theater. In 1986 moved to Tacoma WA, where I spent 3 years as the Master Carpenter and did my first Professional Set Design. 1989 moved to Seattle WA. became the Technical Director for the Bathhouse Theater. My Theatrical career ended in 1991 after my son was born. I married my wife in that same year went back to college and earned a 2-year Associates Degree in applied sciences in Computer Aided Drafting. A need to start singing again came with the good friends we met in our kids preschool. My wife has a lovely alto voice. We got together for music nights, using the” Rise Up Singing” and the “Beatle’s Song book” and one of the “Fake Books”. We got together and held auditions for a male/female A Cappella singing group preforming live concerts and Elder’s homes show at Christmas spreading the Holiday Spirit.
I formed The Jaydogs because I wanted to sing Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and Cat Steven’s “Where Will the Children Play” and perform Live. We worked up some more covers of our liking and began working on original songs by our guitar player and our mandolin player. It was then we lost our bass player to a job across country. We talked one of our friends into learning to play bass. He played guitar for 55 years prior to that. We then recorded our first CD of 10 Original songs in 2019. “Almost Live in Brian’s Basement”. We have been together as The Jaydogs for 5 years. We have our third bass player. The previous one retired at age 74. We are starting to fill up out performance schedule for 2022.
What are you working on now? Any future releases we can look forward to?
We are first working on filling our 2022 performance schedule. Our Song writers have have a list of new originals particularly Kieran on mandolin, i have some lyrics and prose I am working on as well. I look forward to another CD Release in 2023 of Covers and one of Originals.
What Is Your Ultimate Goal In The Music Industry?
We are elders and some goals have been met. Like playing our music live, done. Record a CD done. Our current success leads us to want a bit more. Fame, a World / American Tour all sound great, while making some money along the way! Do a couple more festivals. We have our second festival scheduled for may this year at the 2022 N.W. Folklife Festival in Seattle, WA.
What Has Been The Biggest Challenge In Your Career Thus Far?
Like everyone’s the pandemic. Working in isolation doesn’t build band dynamics and continuity.
How do you go about writing a song? Do you have a melody in your head and then write the other music for it or what’s Your typical songwriting process?
As a singer I have done both ways, but lyrics first then melody seems to work best for me. I can adjust the lyrics to match the tune more easily. Kieran and Doug have their onw ways. Doug seems to do both at once and Kieran does tune before lyrics. Kieran and I have worked together to fine tune the melodies for all of his songs.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
The Internet is huge for the music business. I didn’t believe I had the connections and resources to do this in the late 1970’s. Now we have copyrighted our songs and CD, because I could submit on-line. Sharing our music is so much easier. We haven’t needed a record label for instance or a manager/producer. However those would be great and would be welcome, it hasn’t been required to get ourselves recorded and share our music on-line
List some famous musicians currently on your playlist?
Pink Floyd, The Band, The Buffalo Springfield, Pure Prairie League, Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Stevie Wynwood, Neil Young, etc.
What Did You Do Before You Started Making Music?
I still am a Designer/Drafter for a Seattle Civil Engineering firm look to retire August 2022. The first 20 years of adulthood spent pursuing a career in Live Theater which was moderately successful.
Would you have any advice for young people wanting to follow in your footsteps?
We ultimately decided to raise a family first and now we have adult children and have time to focus on our first love. That may not satisfy most. It always takes strict focus and dedication to your art, whenever you choose to do it. There are always sacrifices but they can be worth it. Success can be measured personally and doesn’t always mean fame and fortune. The experience has great value in and of itself! Work harder than you ever thought you could and maybe you get noticed and get a break. Ultimately Have Fun!
If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
Oh, I don’t know. It has expanded now and most anyone can get on-line make a recording and share it out. It’s better now than it was when I was 20. We still need people with vision and resources to make the big splash in the world
How do you feel about originality?
I think it is very important if you want to go beyond being a bar band. The audience vocalizing and then getting them to quiet enough to hear the last two bars ending with whoops and hollers and even more clapping is one of the best feelings when it happens live!
Is there anything else we should know about you? or Something that you would like to add?
I am a Tribal Member of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut and Irish, English and German. Each of our band members have some Irish in them.
Links to Where Your Music Can be Purchased