DogPark Talks Their Journey from University to Festival Stages
Day two of the Iron Blossom Music Festival featured DogPark, a band that plays their heart out each time they grace the stage. The inception of DogPark was in my town Richmond, Va and now, in a full circle moment, they’re back. This time on the stage of Iron Blossom Music festival. This was my first time watching them live and when I tell you I was impressed, it's an understatement. From stage presence to vocals to overall vibes, I completely understood why they drew in such a massive crowd so early in the day. So, strap in for a fun time with Eamon Moore (Vocals), Declan Harris (Lead Guitar), Billy Apostolou Apostolou (Bass/Guitar), Chris Conte (Drums) and Will Harford (Vocals/Bass/Guitar) as we talk festival life, cover songs, and new music.
PHOTO BY LINDSEY DADOURIAN
Pleaser: I really loved your set. This is the first time I've ever seen y'all play, and it was incredible. You guys have really great stage presence with each other and just in general. Is that an intuitive thing or something learned?
Billy Apostolou: I think it's, partially because we've been touring the past couple months here and there, and now we're in the middle of our big headline tour. You start to focus a little less on playing because you play it every day, and you can start having fun.
Declan Harris: Yeah, there's a line between having fun and being energetic and overacting, and I think we're in a good space for that. Before, we were not anywhere close to overactive, but for me personally, I'm sort of learning to have fun. But it's still never artificial.
Will Harford: There's also an element of when the stakes are high you show up. The bigger the show personally, the more I move around. There's more crowd energy and they're just giving it back to you. It's like a feedback loop.
Eamon Moore: [The festival] was interesting because of the distance from the stage to the crowd. It's farther than what's normal for us. Obviously, a lot of times it's right here.
When you have to play in front of an empty giant room for 30 people you have to learn to build your own energy up from the stage without getting it back. At first, that was really hard. I think we’re getting more professional about it.
That leads into the next question actually. How different is it playing a festival of this size to your typical touring?
BA: I think for me, obviously the crowd is much bigger than any show we have on tour. The whole experience of setting up was incredibly streamlined and quick. It was like one, two, three, go and you're done. We didn't even play a song. We just kind of checked all the instruments individually and then that was it.
DH: For me, to be playing during the day rather than at night there's a big change: a lot more visibility on both ends. And also I feel like I get into a specific mindset where… coming up and playing at 2:30 in the afternoon [is] a little bit alien.
You said you loved playing during the day. Why is that?
WH: I don’t know, it's just fun. We finished the set and my adrenaline gets to carry over into the rest of the day and I can go have fun.
EM: It kind of ties back to our origins, right? We played a lot of day parties in college.
BA: Being in Richmond is great. All of us, a lot of our friends, are here because we went to U of R [University of Richmond]. So yeah, our friends in the second row. I missed it.
You guys started on TikTok covering songs, right? So, going from that into making your own music, how was that evolution?
BA: I think the move from TikTok to make our own music was pretty natural. [We] were playing gigs and we had a TikTok following and we're like, why not like get a little bit more official about it.
DH: I think for me…there was never a point where writing [original songs] wasn't the goal [and] the eventual focus. I think TikTok covers are, you know, it was great for what it was and we still play covers, but I think as a musician you want to play your own stuff and all. So I think from a business standpoint, there's a point where TikTok covers eventually [end]. I mean, you keep growing your following but then [there’s] the challenge of really making a transition of followers you already have to go to Spotify and listen to your music. And I think that we did that at a good time actually.
EM: Yeah, I agree. The three of us had music out on our own before we even started the band, and Declan had been writing a lot of songs. We didn't know at the time because he wasn’t in the band initially.
Your newest song “Caviar” just came out! Who wrote that and what was the inspiration behind that song?
Chris Conte: I wrote the bass line when we got an Airbnb in Richmond last February, and we just spent the whole month writing and built the song from there.
DH: And it originally was a lot different. Originally it had a totally different bridge.
EM: Well, I started with “caviar.” I thought caviar sounded really good, like the word, and I thought [of] caviar on a paper plate. I was like, that's kind of paradoxical because it's an expensive dish and I was thinking that's kind of a metaphor for how I sometimes feel for the girl I like.
There's definitely other songs about this topic, like I hope this girl doesn't leave me, I feel like I'm worth it. [It’s] like if she leave I hope I'm f*cking sicker than her new guy. So it’s half self-deprecation and half self-confidence.
When somebody new is coming into your music, what is the first thing that you want them to know about your band?
DH: Enjoy the music in person. That's a bit of a dying art.
WH: Ideally the first thing you see is the live show itself.
EM: I think for me [it’s] that we could evolve at any time and the sound you hear on whatever song you hear first might not be what you hear on the other songs. It might not be what we’re doing in three years but, hopefully, you're down to take the ride with us.
