Split Dogs
Nice N’ Rough
Venn Records
UK punk band Split Dogs are gaining traction with Nice N’ Rough, their latest release that brings all the sass, working-class grit, and smashmouth guitar and lyrics you could hope for.
Think trailer parks and monster trucks, greasy diners and seedy nightclubs, each hatching nefarious activity of the recently incarcerated criminal element (or shortly to be). You sense it all washing through the sounds they create on this album.
Everybody loves the “back to basics” ethos of punk, which Split Dogs have in bunches. They have adapted their own individual interpretation and cornered the market, but there is so much more to their appeal than just another great adrenaline fix and chainsaw guitar punk.
Their mission statement is deceptively simple: “We play rock’n’roll like we loved it as kids,” says Mil in a press release. “Boogie-woogie music from the same place as Chuck Berry, Status Quo, AC/DC, even Chas’n’Dave. Foot-stomping music. We do it because we love it, and we’re not going to slow down to anyone else’s pace.”
The original concept of the band arrived as one of the few blessings from the COVID lockdown, forcing the two core members, Harry and Mil Martinez, into action with a devilish idea they had not previously had time to give a beating heart. But with the lockdown providing many of us malcontents idle hands, the two partners in crime emerged in 2020 from a fiendish, godless, smoke-filled laboratory (Mil’s closed tattoo parlor actually), bearing to the world the gift of Split Dogs taking their first gasps of screaming, kicking, and spewing into glorious existence.
Before long, Suez Boyle (bass), formerly of the Walking Abortions, and Chris Hugall (drums), formerly of the band Mouthwash and a longtime friend of Mil’s, were willing participants for a breakneck venture into what would surely be either “a trainwreck or glory.” Thus the committed crew of occupants were locked into the infernal Split Dogs vehicle for the crash test to commence.
Fortunately for all of us, they all survived and are not only thriving, but going from strength to strength. Very few recent bands have had such an impact right across the spectrum of punk in such a relatively short span of time. They have two slammin’ albums under their belt already, and you should really feel ashamed if you don’t already own copies. Nice N’ Rough is their third release, available September 25 through Venn Records, and it does not even hint at them backing their foot off of the accelerator anytime soon.
Listening to their creative output so far, you can feel that Split Dog was brought up in the same kind of musical landscapes as many of us in counterculture and had experiences in environments we can relate to. This is what endears us to real, authentic, and trustworthy bands like SD: We have walked similar streets to face down and overcome similar life challenges.
What I feel gives this band a different flavor from the rest is their particular blend of sleazy guitar and sass that creates a freshness and energy that makes it very difficult not to be totally captivated by it. As for the live experience, I witnessed myself for the past two years at the UK’s Rebellion Festival the massive energy ball, character, confidence, stage presence, sass, and vocal strengths of Harry, who launches this already razor-slashing charismatic band into the stratosphere.
There is an endearing quality to Split Dogs that reminds me of previous golden eras of rock’n’roll, but they present it on their own terms. Aided by a certain amount of throwback ’50s meets glam-rock and topped off with a tornado of sass from one-of-a-kind Harry, the band unleashes a whole new assault on the senses with Nice N’ Rough, and they continue on their ungodly path to the top tier with balls-to-the-wall reckless abandon. I can only salute them as the real deal.
