The Dogmatics Still Keeping the Faith

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Tragedy ended the first run of The Dogmatics. But it wasn’t the end of the story for the Boston garage rock’n’rollers, who make their Milwaukee debut Saturday night at Last Rites MKE.

Back in the early ‘80s, The Dogmatics played shows locally and traveled in a van across the United States sharing stages with bands like The Fleshtones and Replacements. They lived together in the same Boston loft, where they also wrote and tried out new songs together. They would also grieve together when bassist and founding member Paul O’Halloran died in a motorcycle accident on Oct. 23, 1986.

“We just got back from a tour of the Midwest and the West Coast,” says lead singer and guitarist Jerry Lehane. “He was on the back of motorcycle in the afternoon, and they got a flat tire. He went under a truck and got run over and passed away. That was 1986, and we stopped playing after that.”

O’Halloran had formed The Dogmatics in 1981 with his twin brother and guitarist, Pete, drummer Dan Shannon and Lehane. The brothers and Lehane had grown up together and attended Catholic school in Dorchester.

Tommy Long, who is still with the band, would replace Shannon on drums after the band’s first year. They self-released a debut single on their own Cat Records in 1983 and then put out two full-length albums, Thayer Street and Everybody Does It, on the legendary Homestead Records, with unhinged rockers like “Gimme the Shakes,” “Whipped,” and “My Little Sister’s Got a Motorbike.”

Reunited in Earnest

In the years after O’Halloran’s death, the Dogmatics would continue to play two or three times a year, but around 2018, as band members’ children began to grow older or leave home, the band decided to reunite in earnest and record new material. They have kept most of the same lineup, with O’Halloran’s older brother Jimmy taking over on bass and the addition of James Young on mandolin and other instruments.

The Dogmatics have connected with Boston-based label Rum Bar Records for a series of well-received EPs, as well as a collection of the band’s older material, and have received enthusiastic airplay on Sirius XM’s Underground Garage channel and elsewhere around the country, including Milwaukee’s WMSE.

Ramo Records, run by Miss Georgia Peach and Travis Ramin, both also members of opening band Beebe Gallini, reissued The Dogmatics’ Cat single, which includes a cover of Eddie Cochran’s “20 Flight Rock,” in 2008.

The band is keeping busy with shows this summer, including an upcoming date serving as backing band for Barrence Whitfield, and will likely take a break afterward to work on new material, a process that moves more slowly these days, Lehane says.

“It takes a while,” he says, “It’s not as easy as the old days. You have to work at it. You’re not living that life 150% like we used to.”

Rock‘n’Roll Spirit

While they have grown older, the rock’n’roll spirit that has always guided the band has not disappeared. How else can you explain their willingness to participate in the show Saturday at Last Rites? The Dogmatics will fly from Boston to Minneapolis on Friday afternoon to play that night in St. Paul, drive five-plus hours to Milwaukee on Saturday and then hop on a plane at 6 a.m. Sunday morning out of Mitchell.

“There’s something wrong with us,” says Lehane, laughing. “We like to torture ourselves.”

But they keep doing it because, ultimately, it’s what they love to do, Lehane says.

“I kind of make the analogy that we’re in single A baseball,” he says. “We’ve been trying to make it to the big leagues forever, but we’re still stuck down here in single A, still slugging. But it’s a lot of fun, you know? We wouldn’t been doing this if we didn’t like each other and we weren’t having fun.”

The Dogmatics, Beebe Gallini, Fun Bois and Lavish Waste perform 8p.m. Saturday, July 16 at Last Rites MKE, 625 S. Sixth St.