Guy: We’ve added two members. Arty and Sean.

Mark: Yeah, but they’re only auxiliary members.

James: How long have you guys been around?

Mark: I met Guy four or five years ago in school. Guy wanted to start a band. We got Al (Marks brother) and Jim to play Bass and Drums.

James: What bands have influenced you most. Both musically and the way you look at the world?

Guy: Everything, Just music in general

Mark: Rites of Spring!!! Worship the ground they walk on. Fugazi is another band that comes to mind.

Guy: Soulside and the Descendents. The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers.

Jim: Rites of Spring is where it’s at.

James: What would best sum up the bands sound and approach?

Mark: Feel !!! Just write what we feel and bring it out in the music. That’s all there is.

Guy: I’d like to say we’re an emotional band. Hopefully sincere.

Mark: We’re not Hardcore in the sense of the fast, mosh, fast formula.

Jim: We’re just a fucking band!!!

Guy: We’re influenced by a lot of Hardcore bands but I would ever consider the band Hardcore.

Jim: If it’s different then it’s us.

James: How did you come up with the name Dog Tired?

Jim: Tell it up Guy. Subliminal messages!

Guy: It just came to me. All of the sudden I was in class at Seton Hall and this priest I used to hang out with... my Spanish teacher Father Smith... He must have told me eight times that day “Oh Guy, I’m Dog Tired.” I think it was a message. (A message from God.)

James: Where have you gotten to play thus far?

Mark: Maxwells

Guy: The Pipeline and Rat Trap Cafe.

Jim: Parties, lots and lots of parties. We’ve also rented out halls just to play out with other bands.

James: The demo “A view from the bay.” How has it been circulating? Are you selling it at any local record stores?

Guy: We’ve sold so many that we don’t have any in the local shops right now. We’re not planning on  ordering any new ones. We’re sort of relying on the single.

Jim: If anyone wants one I’d be willing to make them a copy.

Mark: It’s more of a statement of us then. It’s nothing like the way we are now. We’re planning on doing a three or four song single in the near future. If we can’t find a label to release it we’ll put it out ourselves. We want it to be out. It’s stuff we really feel we’ve really developed. It’s not Hardcore. It’s not like our old stuff. It’s just Feel.

James:,You put a lot of emotion and heart into both the music and your lyrics. It feels honest and unforced. What elements go into writing and constructing a song for the band?

Guy: Hell and Women.

Jim: Hell, Women and how Women suck.

Mark: Whatever we see around us. Injustice in every sense of the word.

Guy: Being abused by lies.

Mark: On a larger scale, racism and war. When I write a song I don’t want to tell people how to think. I just want to show my view point.

James: How does the song writing get divided in the band?

Jim: We manage to work it out with one another. Guy, Mark or Al might come to me with an idea and we’ll just get into it.

Guy: At first our material was pretty weak. Maybe weak is a little harsh but it lacked diversity. Now when we approach something new everybody has a say in it. Sometimes when I have an idea for a song I’ll bring it to the band. By the time it’s finished it has the influence of every one in the band. It will have parts that they contributed. Parts that I may have never thought about.

James: Are you planning on playing out of state anytime soon?

Guy: Shit yeah!

Mark: Hopefully this Summer. Something along the East Coast. Nothing cross country yet. We want to have something to bring with a us. At the very least a recorded single.

James: Alright we touched on this earlier. I’m just curious how’d you feel about playing a typical CBGB’s Sunday matinee.

Jim: I would love to play. I’d have no problem with it. I’m not afraid of what we sound like or fitting in. I know a lot about what goes on down there. They want you to sound like a particular band. I’m not afraid to show them what we sound like.

Guy: It’s one of those things. If it happens, it happens.

Jim: No problem, No problem at all.

Guy: We’d play but personally I don’t think we’d fit in with the expectations of that crowd.

James: What other types of music influence you and feel good on the ears.

Mark: Reggae comes to mind. Anything that’s got real feeling to it. Anything that feels different from what you hear on the radio everyday. Anything that feels real and sincere.

Guy I like Terrance Trent Darby, Steel Pulse, Elvis Costello. Anything that has good lyrics and feels sincere.

Mark: I listen to a lot of Reggae and Hardcore. Music with a message and an underground feeling to it.

James: I’ve been listening to the song Catch 22 a lot. Can you give me a background on it?

Guy: Catch 22 is a book and it basically mean “you’re screwed if you do. Screwed if you don’t.” The song is about reaching the age of twenty two and making the biggest decisions of your life. It’s hard for me to give you the whole picture from my description. But that kind of sums it up.

Guy: Something that really affects society. Like “Bloodbath” which is a song I wrote about Racism. I don’t try to tell people how to think, act or feel. I just want to express how I feel and how I see it. They can react to it however they feel they want to.

Mark: I think the song “Quick to Judge” is like that too. The song is about people who make judgements about people or things before they even know what their about.

James: What about other bands? Were any of you in bands prior to Dog Tired?

Guy: Yeah me, Mark and Sean were in a band called Spinal Bifada. We were just jamming and shit. Things happened and we decided to break up. That’s when I formed Dog Tired.

James: What message if any would you like to get across with your music?

Mark: When people think about Hardcore and Underground music . I don’t want them to think that is has to have one particular sound. I would like Hardcore and Punk to be like it used to be. People doing their own thing with their own ideas. Not trying to sound like everyone else. Like Straightedge Hardcore for instance. There are a lot of bands and kids who are trying to copy it. (Sound and Look)   There are the original bands who have/had that sound. But there are so many who just want to copy and fit into the mold. I think that as a band and as a person you have to do your own thing. You just can’t latch onto it  and imitate that style. I’d like to think that we’re more sincere. We want everyone to keep an open mind about things. Don’t judge us according to the recent standards of Hardcore.

(Interview and Pictures James Damion. Interview appeared in the second issue of Unite.)

Foreword: Dog Tired went on to write some incredible songs and release three stellar EP’s. As the band grew their music  remained sincere and honest but definitely took a darker turn. Perhaps influenced by the times themselves.

Al Gaydos would eventually leave the band and was replaced by Romel Espinal.

Al went on to play Bass for the Deviators, The Fury’s and the Truants

with DT drummer Jim Mc Dougall. After Dog Tired called it quits Mark and Guy formed The Bitters which released one album. Romel is currently playing for

No Pasaran.