It probably sounds odd to say that Dr. Dog’s latest album, “Shame Shame,” has more than a few flavorings that remind one of the Beatles.
Yet Scott McMicken, the Philadelphia-based band’s guitarist-vocalist, doesn’t scoff when asked if the idea is somewhat crazy.
“It would be crazy if you didn’t hear it,” he said. “We definitely have a lot of hours of the Beatles under our belts.”
Perhaps that understanding and appreciation for classic pop rockers is why this scrappy pop rock band has scored so much success while many other newcomers — even those who hail from the same musically important rock ‘n’ roll cities in the United States — flounder and flop.
If you go
Dr. Dog with Deer Tick
Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Info: This show was sold out at press time, but tickets may be available through online resellers; 930.com
Not that Dr. Dog is an imitator of any other band. In fact, the band has no one to thank for its success except itself. All the band’s records up to this latest album — the band’s Anti- (record label) debut — have included no outsiders. “The thing about us is that recording has always been such a huge part of our band, even long before we were able to have organization and [team] for real recordings,” McMicken said. “With ‘Shame Shame’ it felt like it was time to try something different.”
The result is an album still filled with the spirited, indie sound the band has notably pioneered but with a more polished mix of sounds that have been praised by critics hailing from such divergent publications as Spin and URB. The Beatles, the Beach Boys and even the Flaming Lips have been cited as likely influences.
“We had a new vision with the live show,” McMicken said. “We wanted to keep that as the focal point and wanted to produce something [that sounded] more like a live band. We needed help with that because … live things can tend to be a lot more feel-based and a bit more emotive and dynamic, and more powerful and soft moments are very soft loud moments and loud moments are very loud.”
The music is virtually guaranteed to satisfy those who want to hear the band’s high-power sound on a recording.
“We wanted that music … but we also wanted [listeners to] hear what the lyrics were about and be able to take that vulnerable feeling out on the road,” McMicken said. “This [process] helped us gain a whole new, confidence in our sound.”
