“We Just Want To Be Pop Stars!” Fat Dog Interviewed

In the midst of a hectic release week for their cataclysmic debut album ‘WOOF.’, the members of the indefinable London group Fat Dog are feeling even more chaotic than usual. Scrambling for a laptop charger from within their tour van, keyboardist and saxophonist Morgan Wallace explains that their UK in-store run has made for quite the interesting schedule. “It’s quite a different vibe playing in shops, there’s records everywhere so we don’t want people to crash into everything,” she says. “The one we’re doing tonight, there’s people above the shop trying to sleep and they said please don’t go too high on the decibels.”

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Keeping things quiet isn’t exactly the signature Fat Dog style. While some bands might like to appear thoughtful and pensive, this one has built a reputation of bringing bedlam wherever they go. Aligning with the provided label of ‘guitar-led, EDM rave music led by a cowboy with the pyramids as a backdrop’, their eclectic style – a fusion of punk, techno, dance, rock and just about everything else – has been creating buzz since their post-COVID formation, and 2024 has truly been the year of the canine.

“It used to be that people only knew us in cities that we’d been to before,” Morgan shares, “but once you’ve got stuff out, people start to know you all over which is kind of crazy. It’s nice to have people coming at it that way.” With the release of the bombastic, declarative 7-minute ‘King of the Slugs’ last August, a new kind of cult began to form. Already signed to tastemaker label Domino, the group immediately scrambled to work on a larger body of work.

Getting the swirling momentum of their live shows on tape proved to be more difficult than expected, though. “It can’t be translated, live is a completely different experience,” ringleader Joe Love considers. “It’s so and sonically different. When you go into a studio, you’re trying to create that intensity in other ways as opposed to just playing loud.” Morgan adds, “Big subs, lights and a crowd of people bring the intensity to a room quite naturally. When you’re just listening on headphones, it will obviously be quite different.”

Recruiting acclaimed producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode) to their cause, the established hit maker came to check out their vibe – and everything fell to pieces. “It was a pretty fucking shit gig, that one,” Joe admits, with Wallace describing it as “50% technical difficulties.” Not phased, Love was happy to take advantage of someone with weight in a different realm of work: “It’s good to have fresh eyes on it, it’s someone who can then help move you into a recorded world which was entirely new to us.”

Fat Dog joined James at his in-house studio, and despite the sweaty soundscapes of ‘WOOF.’, the recording was more chilled. “He was just a normal guy, to be fair, we just got a sandwich and talked about how we wanted to do the album, then we did it,” Joe Love states simply, not intimidated by the pairing of his complete inexperience with the input of a multi-award winning talent.

In fact, he is always happy to welcome new members into his circle and “keep the gravy train rolling”, be that with the hordes of fans that join the Fat Dog legion at each show or even within the band itself. “I joined the band when it had existed for a year already but I’d never seen them live so didn’t really have any idea what it was,” Morgan recalls. “I got a message from a friend of a friend, went to a rehearsal in Pirate Studios, and then the first time I saw it live was when I was playing in the gig. Then it all made sense.”

A tent with just too much humidity or a venue overfilled with zealous fans is the environment in which this “screaming into a pillow” music will click, with punters and journalists alike struggling to find any useful comparison for the band. They’re not too sure, either: “KoRn is a bit like screaming into a pillow music, but its more incel screaming into a pillow music. This is also for incels though,” Joe declares, while Morgan remarks, “we are very inclusive.”

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With the sheer volume of ideas stuffed into their succinct nine-track record, there is certainly something for everyone to grab a hold of, but you’re unlikely to come away unscathed. Joe Love has been on record talking about the disgusting cleanliness of some corners of the industry, but quickly acknowledges that no one is entirely guilt free. “I must sound like such a cunt if people think I go around telling everyone music is sanitised. I didn’t even mean it like that, I just meant that the album turned out a bit more indie than I expected. We are on an indie label, we recorded it with our indie friends, so why not be indie?”

“We just want to be pop stars, really,” Morgan shrugs. “If you want to be number one in the charts, you have to make some sacrifices. Come Friday, we’ll be there.” Joe laughs at this suggestion: “I don’t think so. It’s kind of boring, you basically know what you’re gonna be a week before it happens, we’re 13 to 16 or somewhere in that range.” Morgan retorts, “Oasis are blocking us by coming back, just like Taylor Swift with Charli XCX.”

Regardless of their chart position, Fat Dog’s undeniable success is present in every room they perform in – music is only as important as the people that give it meaning, and this fanbase known as The Kennel don’t need much prompting, much to Love’s delight. “I realised how much I fucking hate it when people say get down, get up, I just find it really jarring,” he protests. When it comes to stage presence, confidence over competence has become a motto. “The music has to be good, but it doesn’t have to be really, really good. You just don’t want to be a shoegaze band, you want to have fun. If we’re having fun, then everyone else might too.”

When it comes to the songs themselves, this songwriter is the first to admit that, “lyrically, they’re a bit shit,” but the themes of confusion and humanity’s animalistic side are strong enough to drive irresistible energy through the honking ‘Running’ or sinister ‘Wither’, which is soon to come with its own video game. The relaxed synths of ‘Clowns’ – although still seismic – offer some respite, while the euphoric build of ‘I am the King’ comes from a less triumphant moment.

As Joe reveals, “that one was me having my heart shattered into pieces while drunk in Wetherspoon, 5 pints deep, and you get a bit: fuck this, I am the King. Why am I drunk in Spoons at 11 in the morning?” Thankfully, this isn’t a common occurrence: “a lot of [the songs] just come from something that pissed you off, or just a word you like so you have to write a song because you like the title.”

Looking back on the lockdown-induced delusion that laid the foundations of Fat Dog’s identity, he can also recall the origins of their first single: “I just got followed by slugs for a long time during COVID, I don’t think I’d talked to anyone for about 22 days so you know, I was probably pretty loose in my brain just thinking, you know what, maybe I am the King of the Slugs.”

From there the band debate whether they would accept a million pounds in exchange for an unshakable slug pursuing you permanently and bringing instant death if it makes contact (“oh, hell no!”), before their tour manager summons them for their Glasgow in-store starting in exactly three minutes. We have time for one last debate – what animals would Joe and Morgan be if not dogs? “Grizzly bear.” “Dolphin.” Stop the presses, everyone.

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‘WOOF.’ is out now.

Words: Finlay Holden
Photo Credit: Frank Fieber 

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