Hank Dogs

The remarkable connection between this unusual trio from South London and large swaths of the acoustic indie scene in America, (particularly the Northwest and the Delaware Valley), began when Jon Kertzer returned to his native Seattle from a few years living in London. While in England, Joe Boyd, then head of the Hannibal label, had invited him to the launch of The Hank Dogs first cd, Bareback. They sang for about an hour and he was duly amazed.

Why was he amazed? Because the Hank Dogs sounded to him like something other-worldly, but not in the ethereal sense. More sinister. Of course they don’t look sinister. Quite the contrary. For a start, two thirds of them are beautiful girls. Andy, the guitarist, wears a smile and a cowboy hat. There is a third beautiful girl that you see in some of the photographs, but she is too young to be in the group. Yet.

It’s all a bit complicated. This third girl is Dixie, the daughter Piano (the one with the long blond hair) and Andy had when they were together. But then Lily, the other blond girl, is also Andy’s daughter by his first marriage. Is that all clear now?

Anyway, they write songs. Piano, who writes the lyrics and sings lead on most of them, has a sense of the mysterious and the hidden side of things that gives them an ominous quality. They aren’t really like any other songs you are likely to hear, even though they have guitar parts and harmonies and beautiful melodies and percussion and many recognizable elements. Joe Boyd said they remind him of the chills he got when he first heard Nick Drake’s demos 30 years earlier. That’s why he signed them to Hannibal.

Back in Seattle, John Kertzer, it turns out, went to work for the Bumbershoot Festival and insisted on playing Bareback for the powers that be there. Even though Hannibal’s US distributor, Rykodisc, didn’t think there was any potential for the record in America, Bumbershoot paid for the group to come to Seattle in August of 1998 to sing at the festival. The rest is history. They got a standing ovation, a US tour, a US release for Bareback, a slot as “record of the month” on Philadelphia’s WXPN and the adoration of eccentric kids all up and down the Delaware Valley and into New England and a kind of cult status in the Pacific Northwest.

The Hank Dogs' incredible sophomore album, Half Smile, was released by spinART in May 2002.