The Moondoggies

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The Moondoggies
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The Moondoggies (the name comes from the 50’s movie Gidget) are a four-piece band from Seattle that plays classic American tunes. It’s the type of music you would take on a road trip, listen to at a dive bar while shooting some pool, or get busy to in the back seat.

You could compare their music to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Band, or Lynyrd Skynyrd. The guitar riffs and vocals on most of their tracks are straight up Southern Rock. That is why it’s so surprising that these boys are local Seattleites.

The band consists of lead singer/guitarist Kevin Murphy, Robert Terreberry who plays bass, Carl Dahlen on drums, and Caleb Quick on keyboard. Everyone (except for Caleb who was a friend of Murphy’s brother) met at Cascade High School in Everett and started making music.

They’ve been playing together since they were teenagers, but things really took off after Murphy returned from a four-month stay in Alaska. “I think [being in Alaska] gave me a lot of time to not be distracted,” Murphy said. “I didn’t really have a lot of people to hang out with up there. It kept me busy.” And when he came back, he had a lot of great material to work with.

Upon his return, the group started to play regularly at the Blue Moon Tavern, a local juke joint. Their popularity rose, and they signed with Sub Pop subsidiary Hardly Art in January of this year. Their debut album, Don’t Be a Stranger, came out this past August. Murphy recalls the first time he heard his album playing and how surreal it felt. “I remember walking into Easy Street and they were playing [my album] and I kind of froze up and slowly backed out because it was a really bizarre moment,” he said. The album is a mix of Country, Southern Rock, Folk, and the Blues with a young, fresh feel to it. The Moondoggies are very versatile. They can rock out one minute and be laid-back the next. They combine a lot of different sounds, like gospel harmonizing, piano, and killer guitar riffs and excel at all of them. Their vocalizing is impressive as well.

“Bogachiel Rain Blues” is the type of song you could definitely rock out to on the juke box. The title track, “Don’t be a Stranger” is a slow melody with great harmonizing and lyrics. “Changing” is a great example of their harmonies and southern rock influences with a killer guitar solo at the end. It’s definitely worth a listen. Overall, these are just young, laid-back and fun guys. They enjoy the simple pleasures in life. Murphy says that they just like to hang out. “I think we all love watching the Seahawks…football and music and hanging out with your buddies, that’s as good as it gets,” he said.

If you want to check out this local treasure, just go to their Myspace page (www.myspace.com/themoondoggies). It will give you all the information on when you can see them next. One thing is for sure about The Moondoggies music: It will make you want to crack open a cold one! /p>