But they look so nice in the pictures! Yeah, sure they do, but never judge a book by its cover. The guys of DOG FASHION DISCO are not your average boy-next-door. Or maybe they are. If the boy next door took a dump on stage, and fancied singing about murderous clowns, accompanied my a mish-mash of jazz and hardcore, as well as tons of funky bass lines. With two albums behind them, and lotsa live shows, these boys provide good entertainment, and are well worth spending your hard earned beer money on. Naturally you want know what makes these guys tick, and fortunately vocalist Todd Smith was all too helpful in answering my inquiries. Read on…

Alex: How long have you guys existed as a band, and how did you evolve into this freaky kind of music? Was it something you did on purpose, or did it just happen?
Todd: Yeah. I formed the band with the original members, who left the band a year ago, to get married and start families. We formed in high school in 1992. We did local shows until we got signed in 2000 and then we started touring and making albums.

Alex: The lyrics are exactly the kind of freaked out, surrealistic type of texts I myself so cherish reading, which is a good thing of course. Who writes the lyrics, and what does he smoke?
Todd: I write the lyrics, and I smoke cigarettes on occasion. Thank you, I’m glad you enjoy them.

Alex: Naturally, the music comes first, but the visual performance should not be under estimated. What can one expect from a DOG FASHION DISCO live show?
Todd: We are all fucking energy non-stop, from beginning to end. If we don’t feel like we are going to puke and pass out after we play, then we didn’t do a good job.

Alex: I really admire your voice, and the way you shift between lounge like crooning and all out barking. Todd, do you find it difficult to alter between these different styles of singing, or does it come naturally to you?
Todd: It has progressively become easier, but my voice used to crack a lot live, and it used to frustrate the hell out of me. But I have had a lot of time to build it up to withstand an hour worth of screaming and singing. I think sense of key for the most part is what comes naturally to me.

Alex: Is it really true, that story about you shitting onstage? If so, who did the crapping?
Todd: I crapped. It’s all true. Before we even played a note and were setting up our gear, the crowd were spitting and throwing cans of soda, change and lighters at us. So I decided to take a shit and throw it at them. Then we left.

Alex: Do you have any plans on coming to Europe, or Sweden for that matter, either as a stand-alone act, or as part of a larger tour with other bands?
Todd: We would love to. We had a tour planned with Spineshank, but our label in Europe [Eagle Rock] decided at the last minute that they didn’t want to pay for it. If you guys know anyone who would sponsor a tour, we will come over in a minute’s notice. It’s out of our hands whether we go or not.

Alex: What kind of music are you influenced by, and what metal groups do you listen to / admire / want to tour with?
Todd: I admire all kinds of bands. Any Mike Patton project, Slayer, System of a Down, Tool, Zappa, Radiohead, Beck, Clutch, even though they gives us no love, and many others.

Alex: As mentioned earlier, your lyrics are some crazy shit. Somehow I find the titles very inspiring, and I was thinking about writing a story based on one of the titles of your songs. Would that be ok, and would it be something you’d be interested in reading?
Todd: I would love to read that, and hey, maybe if I can make some cash, we can make a movie about it. But we gotta have Danny DeVito in it somewhere, agreed? Send me the story as soon as you’re done, it would be fuckin’ cool as hell!

Alex: What do you think of Swedish girls?
Todd: I love Swedish women. They are gorgeous. I would love to come over there and find a nice Swedish princess to spend time with.

Alex: Scores For Porn is an interesting song. Did you ever intend for it to be used as just that?
Todd: No, but I would love to write some porn music. The music in porn sucks so bad. I know I could write some great music to fuck to. Maybe you know someone in the industry who needs my services. [Eh, no, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I manage to get a foot in the industry… /Alex]

Alex: What kind of porn do you like?
Todd: All kinds. But the girls need to have real tits. I can’t stand fake tits. They upset me.

Alex. If you had to sum up DOG FASHION DISCO in three words, which words would you NOT use?
Todd: Gerbils, funnel, vaseline.

Thank you for your time, Todd!

Thanks for the interview. You the man!