Starting off the year with a slew of Pint Night performances at U-Bar, Purple Dog have now established themselves as a prominent Ōtepoti band. As they gear up to release a second single, Critic Te Ārohi caught up with the band to ask about their origin story, new music, and upcoming shows.
Purple Dog is an alternative indie band with a sprinkle of rock. The band of five is made up of members Marc (he/him) on guitar, Bryce (he/him) on drums, Imogen (she/her) on vocals and guitar, Charlotte (she/her) on bass, and Corey (he/him) on guitar. Purple Dog came together when all the members were taking the same music paper. Imogen says, “We had to come together and practice for upcoming assessments so we had been playing together on and off throughout the whole year.” Corey added that they formed towards the end of the year, “about late August.”
Imogen serves as the main songwriter for the group. Her writing process begins with starting on an idea, situation or feeling. “It then grows beyond the initial idea and it’s often not the same by the end of the song process,” she says. “I take it to the band, not always fully formed but then we workshop it [and] then something will come out of it.”
Purple Dog takes influences from many different bands. Imogen and Corey point out the band Alvvays; Marc cites midwest emo and math rock bands as well as Jeff Beck; Bryce has a grunge influence (“The drumming sound doesn’t always lend itself to indie pop but I make it work”); and Charlotte looks up to both metal and soft indie bands. The wide array of influences allows the band to not pigeonhole their sound to a specific genre, with Charlotte saying that “it’s a vast spectrum.”
The band kicked off this year by playing Pint Night three weeks in a row, with plans to play more gigs throughout the year. Imogen says, “At the start of the year we asked ourselves what we wanted to do specifically for this year, and we agreed on playing lots of gigs.” The band was asked to play opening night by their good friends and fellow musicians No Danger, and from then on continued getting offers. The Daze then offered them to play the second one. “It was like, ‘Wow, two in a row,’” says Imogen. “Then in the midst of us preparing [for the gigs], Cruze Control hit us up and asked us to play the third one.”
The band hopes to release some new music this year, as well. After last year's single ‘Wave Goodbye,’ they are going to follow it up with a new song release later this week, recorded at Albion Studios. Bryce says that since he’s doing a music production paper this year that includes mastering and mixing music, he’s hoping he can “do a two-in-one and record a song for the band, an EP, if I’m feeling ambitious.”
Purple Dog will release their new single ‘I Feel the Same’ on all streaming services on May 1st. To keep up with Purple Dog, you can follow them on Instagram @purpledogmusic.