Wally Dogger

Wally Dogger Band Review at IQ's Bar in Green Bay, WI

By TJ
September 2, 2010
I've actually been waiting for this band to come back to IQs with much anticipation and tonight they had the whole evening, three sets, all Wally Dogger. There are certain elements of this band that I hold very true to my heart. The song writing, while wrapped up in some very neatly packaged alt rock, is very true, revealing, and for the most part so damn clever. Wally Dogger is an alternative power-pop rock band with a touch of garage sound and punk wit, based out of the windy city. This group of guys have immersed themselves in big city living and have nothing but witty commentary which pokes fun at the standards of relationships and social hierarchy. The lyrics alone are entertaining, but match it with some brilliantly composed rock and roll and a great stage performance and you are set.

Pauly, playing both bass and keyboard/synth at the same time while fronting the band as a vocalist, has his hands full, but he is effortlessly an energetic performer and great songwriter. Swerve, on guitar leaves me in envy. His setup of simultaneously playing through a Mesa and Fender tube amp, with fender handling the high end and mesa the low, paired with his skills on the Fender Jazz master or Les Paul guitar make for some great lead solos and tone. I loved it; his clean and distortion channels were perfectly balanced. Matt's drums were straight, poppy, and tight on his four piece Ludwig kit. While riding the line of power-pop, Wally Dogger breaks free of that mold by hiding a bit of sarcasm into some creative songwriting and composition. On most of the songs Pauly's vocals are easy to follow, even live. One of my favorite tunes he played off of their new album, "We've turned into monsters," was "You Can Have the City." A catchy tune about how the big city sucks and the people are fake. It is a song that I could easily hear on the radio some day. Their CD is actually quite amazing and professionally produced.

I got a chance to hang out with the band in their element and it was more like meeting three guys on vacation than meeting three guys on the road. It was inspiring to see how positive these guys are, even though the show was lightly attended, but then again that's not so unusual for a band that is working on getting their name out there. They went to everyone at IQs and gave them a free "real" CD and T Shirt. They even managed to turn the trip into a music video for the song "You only like me when I'm leaving" which is on their website right now. The more I got to know Wally Dogger the more apparent it became how much they like hitting the road, getting out of Chicago and coming up here to play just for the experience alone. Pauly's view on giving Wally Dogger music away for free was even more enlightening because they obviously had some money and hard work invested into such a good production, but they believe that money shouldn't come between them and people listening to their music and that it should be shared with as many people as possible. You can even download their new album for free here. And jokingly they say you can only make a minimum of five copies to hand out to friends. I think it is just a matter of time before Wally Dogger catches on, and they should because they're great live, great on CD, and really cool down to earth guys. You have got to check them out next time they come up here. You can visit the Wally Dogger website here for more info.

More Green Bay Band Reviews