Five Questions With 20 Dollar Dog • Best New Artist

Although Twenty Dollar Dog was a co-winner for Best New Artist in the 37th Annual Review Music Awards, local music aficionados will likely recognize the band is made up of some of the most experienced and beloved musicians in our area.

Consisting of vocalist / guitarist Bob Wall, vocalist / keyboardist Bob Hausler, drummer Doug (Preacherman) Wio, guitarist/ vocalist Patrick Fairfield and bassist / vocalist Matthew Nyquist, the combo begin rocking area stages in 2022. 

With an unsolicited promise that they would not be snotty, stupid, sordid, sorry, or superficial, we sat down for Five Questions with Twenty Dollar Dog.   We found their answers stupendous. (Editor’ Note: The Dogs harmonized so well on tape that we couldn’t distinguish one bark from the other so their responses are attributed collectively as statements from the Pack)

REVIEW:   Best New Artist?  So, you can teach old dogs new tricks after all?

$20 DOG:  Thanks for giving this old dog a scratch.  Music is frequently old tricks reworked.  We dive headlong into honesty, or try to, without being trite, self-indulgent or unintelligible. That is the trick.

REVIEW: What should people expect at a Twenty Dollar Dog show?

20 DOG: Folks can expect a band that’s happy to see them and ready to work them into the groove.  Look for gloomy seriousness elsewhere.

REVIEW: What do you think are the main elements that gave the band immediate musical chemistry?

$20 DOG:  The band built musical chemistry over time with open minds and hearts and let the music decide where to go.  It took a while. Immediacy often relies on old habits; we wanted to make new habits.

REVIEW: How does the band choose its setlists?

$20 DOG:  We focus on our originals, and add in fun and unexpected covers. We try to read the room and respond accordingly in our set selection.

REVIEW:  Is there any advice you might like to pass along to musicians of any age looking to form their own new band?

$20 DOG: Spend enough time with other musicians to allow the occurrence of serendipity.  Mistakes and accidents can create fractures in rigid musical structures that are fresh.  Play as often and with as many folks as possible, in as many different styles as you can.  Suspend judgments, the music will speak truth.