Strawdog

The Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota based band Strawdog got their name from the nickname that lead singer and pianist Taylor’s father calls her. “My dad and I are huge fans of a certain band who has a song called Strawdog. We both love the song and for some reason it just stuck.” Taylor explained, “At band practice when we were deciding on names, I mentioned it and it seemed to fit us perfectly.” The band formed in the summer of 2008, with one short hiatus in the fall for band members to adjust to college life.
Strawdog jokingly calls themselves ‘the band without a genre’ because of their vastly different styles in each song, from the dark and intense rock of “Wasted Space” to the very swing-styled “Black & White”, and those are just a few of the styles Strawdog touches on. “Our varying sound most likely come from our ranging influences among the three of us. We each have our own preferences and you can definitely tell through our songs that our influences are different, yet work together to create the sound that is Strawdog.” Drummer Brett relates. Their influences include Ben Folds, Jack’s Mannequin, Missy Higgins, Jukebox the Ghost, Harvey Danger, Something Corporate, Jackson Browne, and Elton John to name a few. The band relates to Jukebox the Ghost in that Strawdog plays and writes with no bassist, with the keys filling in on the bass notes. Their sound includes catchy drum-beats, powerful guitar, and usually predominant piano. “I’ve learned to write more for the band then just me and the piano, but it definitely still comes through in my writing style. Our sound is unique with no bassist and how the piano is in a way a second voice to the vocals.” Taylor says.
The band feels very blessed to have played at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis, and has also played at various venues around the Twin Cities, including The Cabooze, Big V's, The Uptown Bar, and O’Garas. In May 2009 Strawdog played at St. Thomas Battle of the Bands and came in second place by one point. It has become obvious that Strawdog isn’t just doing this as a side-hobby, it is definitely a passion. For all three of the young musicians, they look forward to see what the future holds, with high hopes of a life in music.