Quaildogs

Fall is often a season of reflection and preparation. With winter around the corner, we find the primitive urge for survival lies deeper than one might expect in our modern lives. In many ways, The Getting Old Factory is a soundtrack to that instinctive compulsion to continue to exist, in spite of danger or hardship.

Before recording the album, singer-guitarist Rob Josephs and multi-instrumentalist Michael Barnhart both lost their day jobs forcing them to face financial insecurity and the uncertainty of what to do next. Throughout the album’s eleven tracks, they confront the false narrative that America is a land of opportunity where success is inevitable for hard workers. That connection between personal hardship and larger changes in the world is the thread which ties The Getting Old Factory together, as the band processes the past and think towards the future.

Make no mistake, this record marks a watershed for the band. After a series of self-produced lo-fi EPs, their debut LP is full of evidence of maturity. They shift away from the bluegrass sounds which characterized earlier efforts in favor of a countrified interpretation of rock and roll. The searing guitar solos and shouted choruses draw more comparison to Old 97s or Son Volt than the hazy psychedelia of contemporaries like Futurebirds. Barnhart and bassist Lee Berg have been playing music together since high school and have known Josephs almost as long. The history between these musicians come through in the tightness of the tracks which they recorded at Glow in the Dark Studios in Atlanta.

The opening track, “The World Still Looks the Same,” defines the album both musically and lyrically. It begins almost too cheerily, like some sort of car commercial Americana, but the bleak, stubborn lyrics give it a weight which counters the soaring musical layers. Halfway through the song, however, lies the evidence that the Quaildogs have some new tricks up their sleeves. Out of nowhere the sunny pop-country is replaced by dirty, barn-burning rock and roll. After that transition, the group spends the next ten tracks twisting alt-country stereotypes into a musical autumn, complete with all its sunshine, shadows, tenderness and tenacity.

The Getting Old Factory may shimmer on the surface, but one doesn’t have to mine very deep to find the vein of darkness which undercuts nearly every track. The impending destruction described on “Funnel Cloud” is poetic without being flowery, but the ache for release that accompanies this possible destruction makes the track truly stand out. On “Dance Like JFK,” Josephs and company allow themselves to cut loose, but the title itself evidences the danger and darkness hiding in the shadows when the party is at its highest point. The Quaildogs deliver their depression with a surprising amount of positivity, singing about the darkness without succumbing to it.

There is no hidden meaning in The Getting Old Factory. The band refuses to shield themselves or the listener from reality with symbolism. As we listen to the band observe and deconstruct the passage of time in their own lives and the world around them, we are struck by the frightening beauty of honesty, which makes this record worthy of repeat listens, especially as autumn’s chill begins to set in and the leaves fall - Immersive Atlanta

by Sean Jewell::
Atlanta sextet Quaildogs are releasing their debut album The Getting Old Factory next week, so we thought you should hear from them now. The alt country rockers shared their track “Funnel Cloud” with us – it’s a rambling, open-prairie operatic, about how sometimes nothing goes your way, except maybe a tornado. As the storm bears down, the intensity of the song grows, easy arpeggio gives way to screaming electric solo, country fiddle crashes with drums, a piano joins in, until a rocking chorus clangs behind the ambivalent refrain, “. . . something goes my way”.
What’s great about this jam is that, like the rest of The Getting Old Factory, it helps cement the idea going around that Quaildogs are some throwback to the salad days of Alt-Country, when Wilco was king, Whiskeytown was some underground North Carolina group, and The Drive By Truckers were on the rise. It’s true, them Quaildogs do make that ’90s sound; it’s loud, fiddle infused, anthemic choruses, with steel guitar breaks, and kick ass drum beats.
The Quaildogs got something more than that going on, though. Like great writers before them, a Southern Gothic pervades their work; a rock epic about the tornado that’s about to run you down is a nice example of their juxtaposition of happy things and sad shit. The rest of the album motors along just so, tackling fading youth (“Why Bother”), corporatization & unemployment (“The Getting Old Factory”), and class issues (“Dance Like JFK”), with electric guitars and a sneer.
As time passes it gets harder to tell if the American Dream is prosperity and upward social mobility, or having the freedom while unemployed to concoct a dreamworld to escape to. After four years together, by choice or by force, it seems Quaildogs have chosen the latter, and we’re better for it.
The Getting Old Factory is out September 15th at all the usual digital outlets (physical release pending).

-Sean Jewell - American Standard Time

Bridging the gulf between the power pop for which Alex Chilton was forever searching and Whiskeytown-like jangly alt-country are Atlanta’s Quaildogs. The sextet has managed to keep their original lineup for four years -- a proverbial lifetime in the music racket. Their debut long player The Getting Old Factory is well worth the fermentation the band has undergone in the time it takes to hash out a high school career. Sharp melodies with even sharper guitar solos leave the record unpredictable and a far cry from the lo-fi EPs they previously released. Expertly placed fiddle fills exacerbate the moods on this record -- it's some of the happiest music set to the saddest lyrics you’ll come across. It all feels like gangrened future scars covered by cartoon bandaids that won’t stick cause your skin’s too wet, if you follow my drift.

The Getting Old Factory is gleaming with sugary sweet melodies the likes of “Funnel Cloud,” with its impeccably catchy chorus set to impervious jangle pop-rock, despite its country-rock curveballs and guitar solos Leslie West would salivate over. It’s a number that simply sticks with you, possibly in its message as well as its melodious undertones. It's a record that came through spotless but wasn’t intended to be, like when it rains for a week straight and your garden is finally green. You couldn’t have built it better if you tried. These are songs with a message and a purpose of informity.

The original idea was a fourth EP in the lo-fi confines but as the songs grew together and became more cohesive, the more bluegrassy numbers either morphed into the straight-ahead alt-country offerings or were scrapped. As much as I’m a fan of lo-fi, I’m of the opinion the Quaildogs are following the right scent. We need a record like this to cut the fluff.

This band is perhaps more poignantly pop then usual artists covered by ‘ssktda’ but one must beware of the genre term “pop.” The hipsters will cringe (good!), the full-hearted roots purists will shutter, but my only ask is that neither does so without listening first. There’s welcomed room for poppier sounds in the roots scene, especially when the music is created organically and isn't forced -- indeed, that’s where the majors and their regime fall short. You can’t fake forced, not now, not ever.

Poseurs are transparent; this record is unabashedly opaque.

We’re amped to premiere the third track from the album, “Sweet B” -- a full frontal country rock assault on plenty of beautiful noise and bow-shredding fiddle action. This is a dusty minor-keyed toe tapper with a driving rhythm that thrives on solos and licks like a bagworm on a blue spruce … heavy tone. Singer/guitarist Rob Josephs’ vocals hold a wisp of Woody Guthrie, in the vein of Deer Tick’s John McCauley meets the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris. But it's bassist Lee Berg's time to shine on the main mic, accentuated by fiddle fills that seem to carry the vocal yet add effectively to the vulnerability.

The Getting Old Factory is slated for a September 15 release. Get a leg up on the Quaildogs, this dog can hunt. (+words: scott zuppardo+) - No Depression

Atlanta alt-country revivalists the Quaildogs harken back to the genre's heyday with their jangly, freewheeling rock'n'roll tunes. The comrades have fine-tuned their twang with a trio of EPs and are preparing to release their first full-length album The Getting Old Factory later this month.

The collection was recorded intermittently at Atlanta's Glow in the Dark Studios back in 2014, and the obstacles that arose during the process are reflected in the album's primary theme. "The idea that if you're a well-intentioned, hard-working person, you can make good in this world doesn't necessarily exist anymore," multi-instrumentalist member Michael Barnhart explains in a statement.

Indeed it took a collective work ethic hell-bent on success to "make good" with the project, but the band now consider The Getting Old Factory their greatest triumph.

The LP's leading track, "The World Still Looks the Same," exemplifies the sweat and spirit that was invested in the project; it hears frontman Rob Joseph's weary crooning uplifted by violin and thunderous rhythms, before the country rock'n'rollers raise the tune to its victorious outro.

Exclaim! has the premiere of the enlivening track, and you can listen to it in the player below before The Getting Old Factory arrives in full on September 15. The album can be pre-ordered here. - Exclaim! Music

A local favorite, the Quaildogs never fail to bring legions of devout fans that dance and sing-a-long to every song that comes from the stage. With each show I attend these guys just keep getting better and Friday night was no different. Usually mixing in equal parts folk, country, bluegrass and rock-n-roll, this show seemed to lean a little heavier on the rock side of things, which was not a bad thing. They gave the crowd what they wanted with fan favorites “Medicated”, “Why Bother” and “Kilkenny Cats” and the place went nuts when they kicked into “The Coat Song”. While the tunes from their two EPs sounded great, the new tunes they offered up sounded pretty damn good also, letting us all know there is some good stuff coming from the Quaildogs. Building off of the energy from the Pollies, these guys showed why they are one of the top bands in Georgia if not the Southeast. If you have never seen them live, you are missing out. - Examiner.com

Quaildogs breathe life into a distinctive brand of alt-country that recalls the genre’s heyday as a potent ’90s niche, while at the same time reveling in classic, freewheeling rock & roll. Having managed to keep together a steady and unfaltering six-piece lineup since their 2011 inception, the band has developed a unique camaraderie and sound that has earned them opening slots for a diverse set of acts including The Handsome Family, Futurebirds, The Wood Brothers, Moon Taxi, Roadkill Ghost Choir and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band—and all this before having released a proper full-length debut.

The band is gearing up to release their first LP The Getting Old Factory on September 18th. The intermittent, drawn-out recording sessions for the Atlanta band’s first LP—which took place during the summer of 2014—mirror one of the album’s primary narratives: “The idea that if you’re a well-intentioned, hard-working person, you can make good in this world doesn’t necessarily exist anymore,” says multi-instrumentalist Michael Barnhart. On the title track, singer/guitarist Rob Josephs juxtaposes the readily available blue-collar work of his father’s generation with the bleak employment situation of recent years, which he and Barnhart experienced firsthand as they both lost their day jobs and struggled to find work. “I didn’t take it well,” Josephs says. “It was hard times.”

But The Getting Old Factory (out Sept. 15) is an encouraging, uplifting record that transcends these grim realities. The group cut the album at Atlanta’s famed Glow in the Dark Studios, and the final mixes were mastered by Alex Lowe (Aretha Franklin, Cee-Lo, R.E.M.) at Red Tuxedo Studios. The sound exemplifies a work ethic hellbent on overcoming hurdles rather than succumbing to them. Its bedrock of battling hardships gives significance and purpose to Quaildogs’ lively tunes.

Glide Magazine is premiering “Dance Like JFK,” a thumping composition showing Quaildogs’ prowess for country/folk with a rock and ramble attitude reminiscent of Delta Spirit and Fruit Bats. - Glide Magazine

Hearkening back to the days of Slobberbone and early Wilco, and cut from the same Southern rock ‘n’ roll cloth as the mighty Drive-By Truckers, the new single by Atlanta sextet Quaildogs remembers that it’s okay to rock hard while playing great Americana. The cut is from their upcoming new album The Getting Old Factory, and if it’s any indication, it’s a record to keep your eyes out for.

“Southern River” is based on the idea that we spend the first half of our lives making decisions that lead us to a certain place—sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s bad. But it’s almost never the place you—or the people who raised you—envisioned. And you spend the rest of your life working back toward something that feels like home. Maybe you aren’t proud of things you’ve done, but it doesn’t mean you leave them behind. We carry our experiences with us, and—like it says in the song—they all inform “the man that I’ve become.” Everyone is running toward the same finish line, and if you can end at anything that feels like home, you’ve done your job, regardless of how difficult the path might have seemed. -