In the waning days of our previous millennium, an envelope arrived at the Dr. Dog Bungalow. Initially misplaced among credit card solicitations and clothing catalogs, it had no postage and smelled of a fusty funk, as if it had once been wet. The return address said simply “Phrases from the Psychedelic Swap.”
Inside was a cassette tape. “Play me,” it said, and “Play Me,” didn’t mean simply “Listen to Me,” but literally “Play Me!” It was a call to action, urging Dr. Dog to record a great pop album.
The message was from Phrases, who they learned, was a man who had been neither happy nor sad, neither success nor failure, during his time on Earth. He just kind of was. Or wasn’t. Was or wasn’t, depending. In his quest for satisfaction, he found himself susceptible to hollow promises and life in the Psychedelic Swamp, a refracted reflection of reality, gave Phrases all that he was looking for. Music took on new dimensions. Food tasted better. Love was sweeter. At least initially. The swamp was draped heavily with abstraction, where there was nothing too garbled, random or chaotic to be separated from the absolute need for meaning.
But soon the same old hollowness crept back into his soul. The romance of harvesting dry rot and herding acorn weevils under the swamp’s moon-sun had dulled into a humdrum kind of workaday existence. He began to regret his decision to leave Earth for the Psychedelic Swamp. Things were not really better there, only different. Remember what the old swamp folks say: The bladderwort is always yellower on the other side of the schist. This was his epiphany. Life, flawed as it is, is meant to embraced.
Listen to the first track “Bring My Baby Back” care of Vulture.com .
Psychedelic Swamp is out February 5 on ANTI-.
In September 2015, Dr. Dog performed The Psychedelic Swamp as part of “Swamp Is On,” a performance-art experience through a grant from and in conjunction with the Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia. The band will be taking their high-energy live show on the road kicking off Jan. 29 in Santa Ana, CA and concluding July 17 at Forecastle, in Louisville, KY.
DR. DOG On Tour:
Jan 29 The Observatory, Santa Ana, CA
Jan 30 Fox Theater, Oakland, CA
Jan 31 The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA
Feb 02 Cargo Concert Hall, Reno, NV
Feb 03 Midtown Ballroom, Bend, OR
Feb 04 Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
Feb 05 Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA
Feb 06 Venue, Vancouver, Canada
Feb 08 Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA
Feb 09 The Wilma Theatre, Missoula, MT
Feb 11 The Depot, Salt Lake City, UT
Feb 12 Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO
Feb 13 Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO
Feb 16 Marquee, Tempe, AZ
Feb 17 Orpheum Theater, Flagstaff, AZ
Feb 19 The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA
Feb 20 The Observatory North Park, San Diego, CA
Mar 04-06 Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, Okeechobee, FL
Mar 09 The Town Ballroom, Buffalo, NY
Mar 10 Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto, Canada
Mar 11 St. Andrew’s Hall, Detroit, MI
Mar 12 Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL
Mar 13 The Vogue, Indianapolis, IN
Mar 15 The Madison Theater, Covington, KY
Mar 16 Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
Mar 18 Terminal 5, New York, NY
Mar 24 Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore, MD
Mar 29 Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH
Mar 30 Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, NC
Mar 31 Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, NC
Apr 01 Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta, GA
Apr 02 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
Apr 04 George’s Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville, AR
Apr 05 Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa, OK
Apr 08 Stubb’s, Austin, TX – w/ Shakey Graves
Apr 09 Stubb’s, Austin, TX – w/ Shakey Graves
Apr 19 Privatclub – Berlin, DE
Apr 20 Nochtspeicher – Hamburg, DE
Apr 21 Sugar Mountain Presents Dr. Dog at Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
Apr 22 Badaboum – Paris, FR
Apr 23 Café De Zwerver – Oostende, BE
Apr 25 Oslo – London, UK
Jul 15-17 Forecastle – Louisville, KY
