MASK - The Story of “Rabid Dawg”
There are so many “chance happenings” with this song that I thought it was blog-worthy.
Sometimes I see friends of mine run their guitar/mic cables in an an almost OCD fashion. Everything has a place and they take their time to ensure they are getting the most out of the equipment and that things are done right! On the day “Rabid Dawg” was conceived, I basically shoved my acoustic guitar through a bass amp. Why you ask? Well it was already set-up and I was too lazy! It actually gave the riff/sound of the song something quirky and unusual - I liked it.
With that going on in my head I set off on a dog walk - song writing tip: get a dog!
I had had a very weird dream the night before that I was money laundering for every band on the planet in alphabetical order and this was the opening line for the lyric (yes - I need therapy).
The remainder of the song is actually very personal to me and is intertwined with a story from my past. I love how in song writing you can hide so much in between the layers. My biggest worry was the first time I played this song to a complete stranger they got the story in one go and I thought I had revealed too much. Thankfully no-one has fully sussed it out since.
Anyway - whilst I was walking home (rather faster now as I have a song to finish) with my dog, I’m talking the lyrics over and over when someone who I regularly talk to ask’s if i’m ok? I said yea, i’m writing a song called “Rabid Dog” and they said is dog spelt “d-a-w-g?” I laughed and thought “no, but it is now”.
After finishing a demo I didn’t do anything with it. I didn’t think it was a band song to be honest. A few months later I was sending an idea to Craig and stumbled across it so I sent it also. He straight away got to work by adding guitar and that’s pretty much the song you hear today.
The female backing vocals you can hear is the incredibly talented Amy Montgomery who is simply “free-styling” throughout the song. We love this song, and hope you do also. Thanks for reading.
Listen to Rabid Dawg on Spotify
Peace out,
H from MASK