The best band nobody’s heard of…

I got a chance to go see The Lost Dogs at King’s Harbor Church in Torrance last Thursday night. Who are the Lost Dogs? It has been explained better elsewhere, so go ahead and read about them here and here. I’ll wait…

To me, the Lost Dogs are one of the great bands of all times. They deserve to be headlining big, or at least medium-sized, venues. So why were there only fifty people or so at the concert last week? I’m not sure…the music is amazing and accessible, the lyrics are deep and insightful… Popular culture is a funny thing: we all know of artists, whether they be writers, musicians, or actors, who are extremely talented and deserve the accolades and yet struggle in obscurity, sometimes forever. I am going to do my part to get these guys noticed. I am not sure how, but maybe I can convince some fellow fans to put something together with me to get them noticed. For now, I will blog about them.

The concert was a lot of fun. After getting off to a late start, the band performed about four songs before Mike Roe leaned over to Terry and whispered “I have to get off the stage”. The band promptly left, except for Steve, sitting at his drums, not quite sure what was going on. After a minute, he slinked off and the audience was wondering what happened. Turns out that it was Mike’s turn to have the flu and he needed to get offstage to, uh, “center” himself. They came back after about 15 minutes and proceeded as if nothing had happened.

One of the highlights of the night was the Lost Dogs Christmas play. Staged like an old time radio drama, Terry read reviews of the play saying that it was “so bad it was good”. And sure enough, it was. The play was based on the story “The Gift of the Magi”, though this time it was Mike and Derry giving each other the gifts. Mike sold his best guitar to get Derry the guitar he wanted (which was worth less than the guitar Mike sold…) and Derry sold his hand to get Mike strings for his guitar. Yes, that’s right, Derry held up a bloody stump. The story deteriorated from there, but that was the point. Terry played himself, the pawn shop keeper, and the narrator. And Steve played Tiny Tim, constantly popping up and saying “God bless us, every one!” It was Lost Dogs zaniness at its best. We all took it very seriously, of course, because they all used barely noticeable British accents.

Set List:

1. Imagine That
2. Bullet Train
3. It All Depends (off the Eddies’ latest)
4. Devil’s Elbow
5. Rocky Mountain Mines
6. No Room for Us
7. If You Want To
8. Eleanor, It’s Raining Now

Break for Christmas Play (“so bad it’s good”)

1. Here Comes Santa Claus/Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
2. Song for the Day After Christmas
3. O Holy Night
4. Silent Night
5. Fruitcake from Hell
6. Blue Christmas
7. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Encore

1. That’s Where Jesus Is
2. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

The Lost Dogs have to be seen live to be truly appreciated. Keep checking their web site to find out when they will tour in your area.