With their unique brand of music, Bedfordview-based band Indie Dog has been making waves in the music scene. We met up with the band to learn more about what makes Indie Dog tick and where their unique take on the rock scene comes from.
Indie Dog was born as a dream in 2018 from the suburbs of Bedfordview after jamming together and enjoying each others’ style.
Lead guitarist Kian ‘Scoob’ Murray and Dylan ‘Yak’ Anceriz have known each other the longest.
‘We went to school together. We kinda learned guitar and base together and used to play together during breaks,’ said Scoob.
The two parted ways for a while before meeting again and meeting their frontman, Sebatian ‘Seb’ Howarth, who at the time was focusing on a solo career.
The three of them met as, Seb puts it, through a friend of a friend of a friend, played together and decided to put a band together with another friend behind the drums.
This fourth band member, unfortunately, had to move overseas, but Marc du Plessis took up the role and has been banging out the beats for the band ever since.
Creativity in sound
Indie Dog’s unique blend of rock, blues and funk is born out of a philosophy that lies close to the hearts of all the band members. The central part of their playing together is to give each other the space to explore their music and style and create their own sound.
‘We don’t clamber over each other,’ said Seb.
‘We tend to give each other a lot of space and freedom to do things with our own instruments. I think that kind of gives us the sound we have because we each have the freedom to bring our own influences to the table.’
Personal creativity plays a huge part in the way Indie Dog approaches their music and putting it into their songs.
The band said their weekly band practice sessions have a tendency to quickly turn into an hour-long jam session where songs are born. If the sound lasts more than four or five bars, they know they are onto something.
‘We even had some songs that were written live on stage,’ laughed Yak.
The band likes to, when they have the opportunity, have an improvisation session on stage. Over the course of a few of these sessions, songs are born out of the crowd’s reaction.
‘Music is just something that makes sense,’ said Marc.
‘Hearing a song you made and liking it is an addictive feeling.’
Their music in strangers’ ears
While they have been playing together for around three years, the band still finds the idea of people knowing their names and songs unusual. They recently received a report on their Spotify distribution and saw that their music has been listened to in 52 countries.
‘It’s weird to think about because we consider ourselves normal people because we are normal people. It’s weird to think some guy in Chile or Columbia is listening to you singing in their ears,’ said Seb.
Live for the stage
The most important thing for Indie Dog is the interaction between them, their music and the listeners.
‘It is great to be on stage and play for people,’ said Seb.
‘You feed off the crowd. It is amazing to have this connection with people you don’t know and they are singing along to the song you wrote or jamming to the riff you made.’
Marc shared this sentiment.
‘To see people dancing along is a cool thing for me,’ he said.
‘I kind of see that as my job as well because people can’t dance to a bad drum part. As long as I see people vibing and being happy, I am happy.’
Friendship through music
The members of Indie Dog consider each other to be their very good friends.
‘To be so connected not only as friends but that musically that you can improvise together is amazing,’ said Seb.
Creating music together has created a tight relationship between the band members that is only fostered by time spent together on tour and on the road.
‘Being the new guy, on tour is where I felt our bonding jumped forward the most,’ said Marc.
‘You can’t really escape each other and friendships grow.’
Yak said: ‘I can confidently say I don’t have any other friends I share the same level of connection with as I do with these guys.’
The future awaits
Indie Dog’s dream is to become a worldwide household name. They dream of playing in the world’s premier stadiums such as Wembley and playing to sold-out crowds.
In the immediate future, their big focus is on their second album, which they are in the process of recording.
‘We are writing a lot of material for it,’ said Seb.
‘We can choose the very best for the album. We are focusing to break into the international market with it.’
