D.O.G. - Sign to Smartpunk Records, Release "Ignorant" Music Video

Today politically driven, punk inspired, metalcore masterminds D.O.G. announce the next chapter of their movement with the drop of their single “Ignorant” taken from their upcoming “ANTI” EP. The track comes with the announcement that they are signing to Smartpunk Records for the big release. The band started as an act of rebellion and a call-to-action amidst worldwide lockdowns in 2020 and continues as a project yearning for change while witnessing the volatile societal aftermath in 2021:

“In early 2020, our professional touring lives came to a confusing halt and (like everyone else) we had to go home and stay inside. Being a band that’s spread out along the east coast (NYC + FL), we saw different versions of the same fucked up story playing out with the COVID-19 pandemic, which was really just starting--social and political injustices more than constantly occurring, and civil unrest and disobedience (righteously and not) making headlines every day. We were doing what we had to do in terms of jobs to get by, actively protesting and resisting the now-former-clown-shoe regime, and working on music. So in April 2020 we dropped our first EP, Mental Destroyer.

A few months later, in the middle of the summer, we we’re understandably still--but way, way, way more--pissed off about a lot of the same shit that had unimaginably gotten worse in specific terms of blatant brutality and even murder of innocent civilians by police and encouragement of systemic racist values by government and law enforcement officials. That combined with having been “stuck inside” since early March had our inspiration to be creative with D.O.G. at an all time high. With the first EP, we didn’t fully know what the band was yet outside of exploring parts of the metalcore genre. With ANTI, we knew what we wanted to say and how we wanted to sound while saying it. This band is made up of other full time bands that we actively contribute to but the energy and spirit we had from the shit show that was 2020 could only be channeled into something as loud and fast and heavy and angry as D.O.G..” - Dominick, D.O.G. Vocalist

D.O.G. began as an experiment. Brothers Dominick and Joseph Fox had been playing together in New York’s well-respected and recently-resurrected pop punk band Bad Luck, but wanted to dive into heavier territory. After enlisting Florida producer and songwriter Hunter Young, the group inched closer to their chaotic metalcore dream, soon to be colored in with the ferocious intensity of hardcore punk. COVID-19 all but sidelined plans to translate D.O.G.'s bite to the live stage, but summer 2020 unleashed Mental Destroyer, a blistering debut as informed by the civil unrest swirling around the United States as it’s charged by it.

Now a five-piece joined by guitarist Charlie Caruso and drummer Michael Sichel (he/him), D.O.G. has returned with ANTI, their sophomore EP and first for Smartpunk (Wounded Touch, Clearbody). While we’ve hopefully left the disastrous wake of 2020 behind us, ANTI shrieks against white supremacy and police brutality with reckless abandon: a crash course in why blue lives don’t matter. All the while, the band’s special blend of shrapnel and slasher-film intensity unpacks the absurdity and hypocrisy of punk scenes in both red and blue states, takes a hard stance towards the advancement of human rights, and has room to feature clean vocals and a cameo from like-minded metalcore act Cauldron. While not explicitly branded as a political punk act, D.O.G. is angry, and they’re barking up every tree before they torch the forest to the ground.

Pre-orders for the “ANTI” EP are available now via Smartpunk Records here. Stay tuned on future announcements and releases from D.O.G. here.