Police Dog Hogan

Police Dog Hogan are a high-energy and eclectic eight-piece, combining fiddle, banjo, trumpet, mandolin, drums and guitars with knockout four-part harmonies in an exuberant a genre-defying fusing of country, pop, folk, and rocking urban bluegrass.

The Sunday Times has described them as “wonderful”, Radio 2 called them “a band to watch”, the Telegraph has them as “one of our favourite new bands”, and veteran DJ Johnnie Walker praises their gigs as “just a really good time”.

The band formed in 2009, a loose collection of friends who over the years had written and performed in a variety of guises and came together anew out of a simple desire to make music again. Life had intervened in the shape of day jobs and families – banjo player Tim Dowling is a much-loved columnist for The Guardian, singer James Studholme runs the Blink production company, responsible, among other things, for the John Lewis Christmas ads. So when the new musical adventure began it was with no thought other than to write songs, play for pleasure, and to have plenty of fun on the way.

However, what started as a hobby, albeit one that was passionately and wholeheartedly indulged, began to take on a life and momentum of its own. Small pub and village hall shows quickly gave way to bigger venues as word of their joyful and rousing live shows spread; Grapevine, a respected and demanding booking agency came on board, attracted by the quality of the song-writing and the band’s increasingly obvious live appeal.

Top-name producers then materialised – first Eliot James (of Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Noah and the Whale, and Two Door Cinema Club fame), who crafted the band’s second CD, ‘From the Land of Miracles’, and Al Scott (Seth Lakeman, Oysterband, The Levellers, Asian Dub Foundation), who oversaw the third album (Westward Ho!) and is currently producing the band’s fourth album.

Things took another step up in 2015 and 2016, when Police Dog Hogan were one of only three UK bands invited to Nashville to perform at the prestigious Americana Music Association Awards, where DJ Bob Harris – in town for the awards – snapped them up for a recording that has become one of the most-watched YouTube videos on his “Under the Apple Tree Sessions” channel.

By now the band was also being repeatedly offered headline and other spots on the main stages of numerous key festivals – among many others they have been asked back an unprecedented three times at Larmer Tree, twice on the main stage Kendal Calling, twice at Port Eliot, and three times at Cornbury.

This year they appear at Glastonbury for the first time, again on one of the major stages (Avalon), and are booked for main-stage appearances at Forgotten Fields and other summer festivals.

Since January this year – part of a trend that prevailed through much of 2015 – all of the band’s last five shows, from London to Salisbury’s City Hall, have sold out. The performances – as ever – have been rapturously received. “Pure unadulterated entertainment” and a “band really not to be missed” was the verdict from the last City Hall show from the critic of Maverick Magazine.

Today, the band are just that – a band. What began as a hobby has now become a serious and ambitious musical venture that marries a devotion to touring and the presentation of consummate live performances with an utter dedication to their music, song-writing and recording.

Pics, reviews : http://www.policedoghogan.com/press-assets/
Listen via Our Music : http://www.policedoghogan.com/press-assets/
For interviews, track/album requests : Kairen@kairenkemp.co.uk @kairenk
www.policedoghogan.com @policedoghogan