DOG ON A STICK

Thrashing out Cramps and Pixies noise and squeezing melodies from the din under a west London railway arch is how Dog on a Stick were born.

Liam, Rick and Robert mix a cocktail of driving rhythms, violent riffs and grimy vocals about loneliness and life’s disappointments, the regrets born from drinking and dreams of suicide.

Guitarist Rick, from Brighton, and drummer Robert, from Colchester, met at journalism college then lost contact. Years later a fateful phone call brought them back together to continue their quest to grab the headlines – this time with instruments.

Singer and bassist Liam Hole, from Farnham, Surrey, was brought in to complete the trio.

Inspired by Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and 70s punk, Liam honed his voice at Guildford’s Academy of Contemporary Music. After roaming the Canadian wilderness and drinking with Courtney Love, he went on to play in Deaf Yeti, The Boxfires and Detroit 74 before joining Dog on a Stick.

Photographer and writer Rick Senley bought his first guitar at 16 hoping to become Robert Smith. Nothing has changed. Influenced by Bloc Party, The Wedding Present, Pixies and The Smiths, Rick has released 10 solo albums as musicforvoyeurs and I Am A Man With A St Tropez Tan.

This is Robert Mead’s first experience of a musical life apart from a teenage bedroom band The Trousers, and international stardom as the youthful face on the cover of prog-rockers Marillion’s biggest hit, Kayleigh. He brings a hankering for golden age hip hop, 70s funk and anything that sounds vaguely like Led Zeppelin.