Roofdog Newsletter Interview

What is the best gig you have ever performed at, and why?

This is a tough question to answer but I’ll say supporting UK band Stiff Little Fingers at the Powerstation was a recent highlight for me personally. The place had sold out and there was a little bit of nostalgia for me having frequented the venue in the late 90’s to watch Local bands play.

What is your favourite NZ venue?

It’s either the Kings Arms Tavern in Auckland or the Arc Café in Dunedin, can’t quite decide. Both venues just have a really good vibe, laid back staff, good sound systems and engineers, but I enjoy plying anywhere where there is a healthy rider put on for the bands.

What NZ musicians or bands would you like to see more of, and why?

The Randoms, Cosmic Rays of Death and the Murder Chord are the 3 most original sounding bands that I’ve seen lately. I enjoy watching these types of bands because although all 3 sound completely different, you don’t know what they’re gonna do next when you watch them play.

What is your most embarrassing on tour/gig moment?

There’s been a few but going to pay for the Motel bill in the morning is never good when you see the look of disgust on the owners face.

How did you come up with the name Roofdog?

At one of our first ever practices our mate’s dog ‘Whiskey’ would climb up on the Roof whenever we played a song to see what all the noise about. Someone said we should call ourselves Roofdog and we all agreed seeing as we had been playing under the name ‘Mildew’ until then. R.I.P. Whiskey!!

How do you describe your music?

It’s a bit of a mash up really but genre wise it’s predominately Ska/Dub and Rock. It’s quite upbeat so really good to dance to with occasional half time reggae bits to give everyone a chance to catch their breath.

What can we expect to see from Roofdog over the next year?

We are just about to release our first album which we have been working on for quite a while so this year will be spent promoting that. We are going on a national tour between March 14th and 29th and then making a music video and should be back on the road in August to play the ski towns. Would like to have as many DJ’s as possible playing our stuff so little bit of networking with radio stations will be on the cards.

What advice would you like to give to other aspiring musicians?

Work together with other bands you come across rather than compete against them.

Have a good time and don’t take yourselves too seriously, music should be about having a good time first and foremost. That’s all.