(Big thanks to Wetdog for helping us work out who said what on the dictaphone! Hopefully everyone is quoted correctly).
INTERVIEW:: WETDOG
after their gig w/ Kasms & Crystal Stilts
Brighton
12-02-09
So how did Wetdog come about?
Rivka: Wetdog started with my friends Sophie and Chiara...
Sarah: And a girl called Rivka, who's this one...
Billy: Two left, then I joined because I was friends with Sarah and Rivka and they asked me to join, and the new line-up will have been going for 2 years this May.
B: We need to make up a fake story for all this! We met at a casting for a Craig David video! I got the job.
S: At the time I was sporting a Craig David style beard. I've stopped taking the testosterone now.
You've played gigs with the Long Blondes, The Gossip and tons of other great bands. What's been your favourite gig so far?
All: Oooh!
B: I've probably got one if I thought about it actually. Didn't we have a really good one recently? The Vivian Girls one was good actually.
S: Yeah, we played with the Vivian Girls at White Heat, they were really good.
R: I really enjoyed our album launch, with Electricity in Our Homes and Captain Blood and the Sea Dogs. I also liked The Gossip in Frankfurt... was it Frankfurt? I think Frankfurt was the first one...and Beth was singing Careless Whisper to the girls in the front row.
Why did you choose to call yourselves Wetdog?
R: It was a reaction to all the glamorous names that bands were choosing at the time. My ex-boyfriend came up with the name as a joke really, and we ended up sticking with it. The other contender was El Blag, but no one was really up for that.
B: The other day someone actually told me that they thought it was the best name they'd ever heard, which was not the usual reaction!
S: Maybe it's because it's just unpretentious? That's why I like it.
Is it just one word or two?
All: One word.
S: It has been two.
R: And no caps ideally, though we do discuss this!
S: You're a caps girl, aren't you?
You've played a couple of Ladyfests, are events like that important to you?
S: We're into the ladies!
B & R: Yeah!
R: For a couple of years we seemed to play loads of Ladyfests, but they didn't ask us at the recent London Ladyfests.
S: I think it's because I started to shave my armpits about six months ago, so we're off the agenda (laughs).
B: We've done Ladyfests in Europe and stuff.
R: Yeah, the Ladyfest Madrid was brilliant. Organised by the very fantastic tassle-dressed Maria.
Was it different to the Ladyfests in the UK?
B: They're all different everywhere, even the ones in the UK. We did Brighton Ladyfest actually.
S: Yeah, that was good. Hint hint, if you're out there!
Would you consider yourselves to be feminists?
S: Yeah, I'm a feminist. Definitely.
R: I think when we first started, I was in another band with Sophie and it was quite nice to do a band without any men, just for a bit.
B: Fuck 'em!
R: Yeah, take charge of everything yourselves!
B: A woman once wrote in an interview that Wetdog had sold out because they had a boy now in their band. That being me! (Laughs). I am not a boy, and we would never have a boy!
R: No, that isn't true, we would.
B: Would we?
S: Yeah definitely.
B: We'd sound awful with a boy!
R: I think it's about the vocals more than anything.
Sarah: I quite like boy-girl vocals, like The Vaselines.
What music did you listen to when you were growing up?
S: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Rick Astley!
B: My first album was Michael Jackson's Bad.
S: Yeah, me too.
R: Ummmm....lawd knows...The Kinks, Kate Bush, The Country Teasers?
B: I was kind of brought up with a load of music like Pink Floyd and Dire Straights, who I have a nostalgic love for still. And David Bowie, and all that kind of thing.
Current influences?
B: I really, really like Electricity In Our Homes at the moment, they're probably my fave.
S: Crystal Stilts. I do genuinely love them, I was a stalker of them from back in the day.
B: Yeah, we listened to Crystal Stilts aaggeess ago on tour.
R: Captain Blood Blood, Euros Childs, Vic Goddard - and I'm really into Talking Heads at the moment - David Byrne is a god.
B: And I like New Bloods.
What's next in store for Wetdog?
B: Lots, lots of things.
S: Doom. Death. Suicide.
R: We've started recording our new album which should be our this summer, and also have a US release.
B: We're going to have a few US releases. This album (Enterprise Reversal) that's out at the moment will be out in the US soon, and we're having a split seven-inch...
S: ... with this band from San Diego called Blessure Grave who are really good.
How did that come about? Do you know them already?
S: Yeah, we just sort of messaged each other. They're a bit of a goth band, but yeah, I really like them. I think we've been indulging our goth side, cause we've been recording with this guy called Dave Allen who did loads of The Cure albums. It's been going pretty well.
B: So yeah, recording our new album which should be out here in the summer.
WETDOG MYSPACE
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