Yawning Dog – ‘Grow’/’Don’t Be Shy, Vlad’- New Sounds and Upcoming Tour

Yawning Dog – Hemsworth, England, United Kingdom.

You may remember our work on these ‘STONER GRUNGE PUNKY MONKEYS’ from back in October last year. Mr. Fresh, AKA Stefan, gave his thoughts on the band’s Doll/Torso and Sugar/Jar EPs. We ended up awarding them ‘Breakthrough Act of the Year’ in our awards for 2014. So, naturally we wanted to see what was next from the Hemsworth boys.

Check out the previous double review here and our awards list here.

The band have recently realised some new compositions, one a standalone song and the other accompanied by a video.

The beginning of ‘Grow’, the opening, where it all begins… in two words? Dirty-Heavy. The bands mix of Stoner-Rock and Grunge, with Punk injections from time-to-time, has always tickled our fancy at MF. By that I mean made us turn it up, head-bang and contributed further to our hearing loss and reduced neck mobility.

Anyway, you get a slow Stoner-Grunge groove played with an arguably industrial level of filthy distortion, it’s almost sinful. It’s a simple riff for the most part that needs not be more. The lead guitar parts soar above the gritty bass and rhythms intermittently, making a sound that would suit a close-knit underground venue an absolute treat. Some slow-motion head-banging again I think. I’ll be in a permanent neck brace before I’m 25 at this rate.

Vocally, YD play through with a sound reminiscent of Nirvana’s debut, Bleach, which is certainly not a negative thing. In fact, it is a comparison that can be made of the band in general. Toward the end of ‘Grow’, a guttural scream from somewhere in the background is thrown forward after a short prior build up, all before we are played out upon the guitar waves once more.

Right, time for a yawning dog, Here’s a Pug:

‘Don’t Be Shy, Vlad’-

If you thought that last track was a medley of dirty noise then its about to become very unclean up in the airwaves. I am full of it today. I digress, I’ve listened to this song on a variety of headphones, big speakers and little speakers and the level of dirty sound carries through it all. The vocals are just as distorted and discordant as the music so I hope you’re ready.

It is almost as if ‘Grow”s older more grizzled brother has come back for a visit and clearly isn’t in the best of moods. Displaying the heavier side of the band’s material, it’s not a song you’ll forget.

It’s not all grunge-grit though, there’s another type of grit involved. Several of Yawning Dog’s Punk influences come through, and we loved it. The vocals, as mentioned before, are distorted and discordant, but, for me at least, the intensity that they are delivered with really displays some Punk/Hardcore influence. Which of course, was a notable influence on Grunge. Nirvana and Pearl Jam are both good examples. Particularly, to bring this up again, on Bleach.

You can keep track of the band and listen to their music via the following profiles, there’s even some FREE music dotted about: Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, and bandcamp.

Right then, some news. The band are doing a tour of northern England starting at the end of January and through onto the end of February, so if you’re nearby, I thoroughly recommend you give these Yawning Dogs a go. Dates are listed below:

A quick note, the dates for 29-31st of January are with Bi:Lingual, who can be found here via their Facebook, and look below for a sonic example.

17th Jan – Santiagos Bar, Leeds
29th Jan – Mulberry’s Tavern, Sheffield
30th Jan – Players Bar, Wakefield
31st Jan – Carpe Diem, Leeds
1st Feb – Parish, Huddersfield
19th Feb – South Sea, Sheffield
26th Feb – Spread Eagle, York

#StayFresh