Fat Dog share new song "I am the King"

The news of WOOF. is out! Fat Dog’s debut album will be unleashed on September 6^th via Domino.

Ahead of that, the London band release new song, the expansive epic “I am the King”. “It was written in the toilets of the Wetherspoons pub in Forest Hill,” says frontman Joe Love, thereby ensuring the pub will one day get a blue plaque. “It was after I got broken up with.” With an orchestral opening, it sounds like a cross between Vangelis and Underworld, and is a poignant song, possibly the world’s only poignant song to namecheck The Karate Kid Part II.

Directed by Dylan Coates and Travis Barton, the video for “I am the King” opens on a scene of the band mourning and weeping at the side of Joe’s grave and progresses to the King himself parachuting from the sky out of a helicopter. Classic Fat Dog.

Watch the video for “I am the King” here.
Stream “I am the King” here.

• Saturday 7^th September – Rough Trade East, London
• Sunday 8^th September – Rough Trade, Bristol
• Monday 9^th September – Rough Trade, Nottingham
• Tuesday 10^th September – Rough Trade, Liverpool

When the chaotic south London rabble known as Fat Dog formed, they made two rules: they were going to be a healthy band who looked after themselves and there would be no saxophone presence in their music. Two simple edicts to live by, and two things long-since broken by the Brixton five-piece. “Yeah, it’s all gone out the window,” says Love.

Life is too short to stick to any plans you made in the unsettling, strait-jacketed times of 2021 anyway. That was when Fat Dog came together, Love deciding to form a group and take the demos he had been making at home as a way to keep himself sane during lockdown out into the world. “A lot of music at the moment is very cerebral and people won’t dance to it,” says Chris Hughes. “Our music is the polar opposite of thinking music.”

Hughes should know. He was a fan of the band, at that point making a name for themselves with a series of exhilarating and/or wonky shows across south London, before he was in the band. Those formative gigs formed the bedrock of what Fat Dog were all about, seizing the moment, drinking too much with the moment, going home separately from the moment but making up with the moment again the next day.

It didn’t take long for the kennel-dwellers to come flocking, every Fat Dog show in London becoming a huge upgrade on the last. They sold out the Scala in October 2023 and, in April, played a triumphant set to a sold-out Electric Brixton. There is something deeper going on here than the usual punter-goes-to-gig situation. Everyone is in on it. “There’s a sense of community about Fat Dog,” says Hutchinson. And it’s not just the capital who have been bitten; recently, the band completed an ecstatically received tour of the US that included an all-conquering set at a taco joint. No lunches were harmed. Fresh off a UK tour last month, their next run here is in November including London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town as well as performances at Glastonbury, Truck and Latitude festivals. They will also return to North America in October.

The sound Fat Dog make, Love says, is screaming-into-a-pillow music. “I wanted to make something ridiculous because I was so bored,” he declares. It’s a thrilling blend of electro-punk, rock’n’roll snarling, techno soundscapes, industrial-pop and rave euphoria, music for letting go to. Produced by Joe Love, James Ford and Jimmy Robertson, WOOF. passes by in a flash. Influences include Bicep, I.R.O.K., Kamasi Washington and the Russian experimental EDM group Little Big.

The album is a visit into the mind of Joe Love - be thankful you have only been granted a temporary pass. “Music is so vanilla,” says Love. “I don’t like sanitised music. Even this album is sanitised compared to what’s in my head. I thought it would sound more fucked up.”

Watch the video for “Running” here.
Watch the video for “All the Same” here.
Watch the video for “King of the Slugs” here.

WOOF. is available to pre-order on red vinyl, standard vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order: DomMart | Digital

Upcoming live dates

• 26^th - 30^th June - Glastonbury Festival, Somerset
• Saturday 6^th July – Eurockéenes, Belfort
• 10^th-13^th July – Trӕnafestivalen, Norway
• 11^th–13^th July - Pete The Monkey, Normandy
• Wednesday 17^th July – Electric Castle Festival, Cluj, Romania
• 18th-20^th July – Festival 66 Hodin, Smolnik
• 17^th - 20^th July – Colours of Ostrava, Ostrava
• 25^th-28^th July - Latitude Festival, Suffolk
• 26^th-28^th July – Truck Festival, Oxfordshire
• 26^th-29^th July – Deer Shed, North Yorkshire
• Saturday 3^rd August – Millenium Square, Leeds w/ Yard Act
• Friday 9^th August, Haldern Pop, Rees-Haldern
• Saturday 10^th August, Musikfestwochen, Winterthurer
• Sunday 11^th August - Ypsigrock Festival, Sicily
• Friday 16^th August - La Route Du Rock, Brittany
• 17^th-18^th August – Lowlands Festival, Netherlands
• 17^th-18^th August - Pukklepop Festival, Belgium
• 30^th August – Into the Great Wide Open, Vlieland
• Saturday 31^st August – Manchester Psych Fest, Manchester
• Saturday 7^th September – Rough Trade East, London
• Sunday 8^th September – Rough Trade, Bristol
• Monday 9^th September – Rough Trade, Nottingham
• Tuesday 10^th September – Rough Trade, Liverpool
• Friday 13^th September – Hop Pop Hop Festival, Orleans
• Saturday 14^th September – Spring Attitude Festival, Rome
• Sunday 15^th September - Poplar Festival, Trento
• Monday 16^th September - ARCI Bellezza, Milan
• Saturday 28^th September - Float Along Festival, Sheffield
• Thursday 3^rd October - Le 106, Rouen
• Friday 4^th October - L'Antipode, Rennes
• Saturday 5^th October – Petit Bain, Paris
• Sunday 6^th October – Le Grand Mix, Tourcoing
• Tuesday 8^th October – Doornroosje, Nijmegen
• Wednesday 9^th October – Vera, Groningen
• Thursday 10^th October – Botanique, Brussels
• Friday 11^th October – Skatecafe, Amsterdam
• Saturday 12^th October - Here's The Thing Festival, Tilburg
• Monday 14^th October - Bumann & Sohn, Cologne
• Tuesday 15^th October – Molotow, Hamburg
• Wednesday 16^th October - Urban Spree, Berlin
• Saturday 19^th October – The Baby G, Toronto
• Monday 21^st October – Songbyrd, Washington
• Tuesday 22^nd October – TV Eye, Brooklyn
• Thursday 24^th October – The Empty Bootle, Chicago
• Saturday 26^th October – Black Lodge, Seattle
• Sunday 27^th October – Polaris Hall, Portland
• Tuesday 29^th October – Popscene @ Brick & Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco
• Wednesday 30^th October – Zebulon, LA
• Thursday 7^th November - The Grand Social, Dublin
• Friday 8^th November - Empire Music Hall, Belfast
• Saturday 9^th November – Stereo, Glasgow
• Sunday 10^th November - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
• Tuesday 12^th November - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
• Wednesday 13^th November - Band On The Wall, Manchester
• Thursday 14^th November - Crookes Social Club, Sheffield
• Friday 15^th November – Thekla, Bristol
• Saturday 16^th November - Mama Roux's, Birmingham
• Sunday 17^th November - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
• Thursday 21^st November – Papillon, Southampton
• Friday 22^nd November – Patterns, Brighton SOLD OUT
• Saturday 23^rd November - O2 Forum Kentish Town, London