Dogs In Ecstacy
There are a few ways that rock bands can achieve cult status. Groups like the Grateful Dead have dedicated, larger-than-life fanbases willing to travel far and wide to catch a glimpse of their idols. Smaller-scale bands like Big Star maintain ravenous fanbases despite their lack of commercial success. Their adoring fans can’t help but spread the band’s gospel to anyone who will listen.
Dogs in Ecstasy may be far-removed from Deadheads or Alex Chilton, but the band’s status within Milwaukee’s music landscape is somewhere between the two. Since their formation in 2013, the noise pop trio has garnered a cult-like local fanbase who gleefully pack dive-bar venues and unabashedly sing every word to every song.
Singer-guitarist Willy Dintenfass and drummer Tony Dixon had a taste of the local celebrity lifestyle prior to forming Dogs in Ecstasy. The pair toured behind another Milwaukee musician with a cult-like following, the infamous rap-rocker Juiceboxxx. Along with keyboardist-vocalist Molly Rosenblum, their relationship with Juiceboxxx remains close today. Dintenfass still performs in Juiceboxxx’s band, and both of Dogs in Ecstasy’s albums were released on Juiceboxxx’s record label, Thunder Zone.
“He has been very instrumental in pushing this project forward,” says Dintenfass. “We all have a long history together and a bit of a shared outlook on music and creativity. Speaking for myself, I’m often inspired by his unrelenting love of music.”
Dogs in Ecstasy’s cult following surely began on the world wide web. The band has a carefully crafted online persona which only enhances the band’s allure. Their unique brand of humor can definitely be alienating to some internet users, and it can even be hard for some fans to understand. Dintenfass says the band’s online presence goes hand in hand with their musical ambitions.
“I view what we do online as coming from the same impulse that drives our songs: the desire to make a weird world of creative stuff,” he says. “There is also some self-promotion, but that’s true for the songs as well.”
Curating the band’s online character isn’t always easy, and their internet-specific brand of humor doesn’t always translate IRL. “It’s difficult to maintain only in the sense that right now, it feels boring to come up with enough stuff to post to keep the algorithms interested in our content,” says Dintenfass.
Algorithms and content are topics that frequently pop up in the band’s lyrics. Tracks like “Rage Against the Dying of My Phone,” “I Google Myself” and “I’m A Man” explore the intricacies of living in the digital age. Naturally, the songs are drenched in the band’s self-deprecating humor. Songs about technology woes are scattered throughout the band’s discography, and Dintenfass says technology continues to inspire his songwriting.
“Earlier in the band’s existence, it felt like certain technologies ubiquitous in daily life were underrepresented in pop-rock lyrics,” he explains. “Technology often comes up in our songs because it is a place where, right now, people express an older thing, which is helplessness in the face of their own emotions.”
Dintenfass is the band’s primary songwriter, but he says he’s often inspired by his bandmates’ quips. “A lot of songs are built around phrases that are funny but also have a touch of pathos, which I just Googled,” he says. When the band isn’t writing music, they’re often writing other content. Short stories, poetry and fanfiction can be found on Dogs in Ecstasy’s website and Facebook page. “For me, there is no difference between the writing and the songs,” says Dintenfass. “We would like to continue pushing the envelope on what constitutes acceptable rock band output.”
One highlight in the band’s bibliography is “My Life in the Ghost of Bush,” a fanfiction about Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale coping with his divorce from Gwen Stefani. The piece can be found in a forthcoming zine titled Dreams and Gripes Reader. Dintenfass says the band’s writing can be polarizing among fans. “Some readers like it more than the music,” he says. “Some readers say, ‘Why?’”
Dintenfass says the band’s future is unclear, though he hopes Dogs in Ecstasy will release their next full-length soon. “There was a long gap between the release of Welcome 2 Hell and the release of Dreams and Gripes,” he says. “My goal is to not do that again—to release a lot of stuff sooner rather than later—and to continue to work on expanding the Dogs in Ecstasy universe of creativity.”
Dogs in Ecstasy is performing at Cactus Club on Thursday, May 10, at 9 p.m. with Palberta, Peeper & LePlay, Graham Hunt Lottery Trust and DJ SB. Dreams and Gripes will be available on Friday, May 11.
