Origins The origins of Dr. Dog trace back to Toby Mark Leaman and Scott Anthony McMicken first playing music together in eighth grade. The two never played covers, instead, opting to write all of their own music. Meanwhile, Leaman and O'Donnell split time in both Dr. Dog and another band, Doublehorse! They released
Toothbrush in 2002. Mark left the band in 2003 and O'Donnell left in 2004. Juston Stens replaced Ted Mark on drums. The band was mostly in Philadelphia during their early years, where they developed a small but dedicated fanbase touring with other local bands such as
The Teeth. In 2004,
My Morning Jacket invited them on two tours after a copy of
Toothbrush was given to
Jim James after a My Morning Jacket show. Soon after,
The New York Times music critic Kelefa Sanneh praised the group's album
Easy Beat in a December 2004 article, leading to attention from other critics. They signed with Park The Van Records, who released the album
Easy Beat, and completed their first cross-country tour in 2005. A music video was released for the song "Fool's Life". In late 2005 Jones, who became a full-time lawyer, left. Jones was replaced by Francis Xavier McElroy, a friend of Stens from New Jersey. The band continued to tour heavily as their popularity grew, due in part to their use of the internet to promote their growing catalog. in Manhattan, New York, February 2015
With Park the Van (2006–2009) By 2006, Dr. Dog started using a new studio as well as new recording equipment. Philadelphia engineer/producer Bill Moriarty, who they share the studio with, is credited in helping the members use this new equipment to create particular sounds they wanted in their new recordings due to his vast knowledge in recording tools and methods. That year, they released the
Takers and Leavers EP. Two of the tracks on the EP would later be released on their next album. In 2007, they released
We All Belong, which has a markedly cleaner production compared to earlier albums. They appeared on the
Late Show with David Letterman in support of the album. Through the late summer of 2007, Dr. Dog streamed ten unreleased tracks on their website, with a new song debuting weekly. Songs were posted each Monday from July 2 until September 3. The recordings were later released as an album titled
Passed Away, Vol. 1. In 2008, the band released
Fate. They appeared again on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien on July 17, 2008, in support of the album and on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on April 2, 2009, as well as The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson''. The band then toured with
The Cave Singers, a
Seattle indie band, and label-mates Golden Boots.
With Anti- (2009–2016) On July 29, 2009, Dr. Dog signed to
Anti- Records. The first album on their new label, titled
Shame, Shame, was released on April 6, 2010. Scott McMicken characterized the album as more modern, and a little more punk rock, more prominently featuring electric guitars, so as to accurately reflect the band's live show. In early 2010,
Eric James Marshall Slick replaced Juston Stens on drums for the Shame, Shame tours although Stens plays most of the drums on the record. Stens continues to make music with Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang. Dr. Dog toured in support of Shame, Shame for about two years and performed again on
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. For 2010's Black Friday
Record Store Day, the band released a limited red and blue 7" collection of four tracks recorded in summer 2011. These were the first songs recorded with Slick on drums. They were later rereleased with
Shame, Shame as a deluxe edition of the album. On October 26, 2011, McMicken announced that their new album,
Be the Void would be released in February 2012. Recorded at the band's "Meth Beach" studio and co-produced by Nathan Sabatino of Golden Boots. This was the first full album made with Dimitri Robert Manos, also in the band Golden Boots, as an official member of the band. He played drums on
Easy Beat and once filled in for Juston Stens last minute for a whole tour. They released a new 7" on a variety of colors for the November 2011
Record Store Day including the tracks "Warrior Man" and "Control Yourself" which would appear on
Be The Void. and "Lonesome" on
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, on March 23. Performances in Los Angeles' Orpheum Theatre during their tour were also shown on
Last Call with Carson Daly. On September 27, 2012, Dr. Dog announced on their
Facebook page that their new EP,
Wild Race, would be released digitally on October 2. The EP was recorded and mixed with Nathan Sabatino during the sessions for
Be the Void. On July 22, 2013, the band announced their next album,
B-Room and the lead single "The Truth". To record the album the band built an all-new studio in February 2013 in
Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania nicknamed "Mount Slippery. All songs were tracked live in the room which eventually led to the album's name.
B-Room was released on October 1, 2013, after streaming for free for one week on
Rolling Stone website. The album received generally positive reviews. Dr. Dog's first live album,
Live at a Flamingo Hotel became available of January 13, 2015. The album was assembled from performances over 20 concerts during the
B-Room tour. In September 2015, Leaman revealed that the band has revisited 2001's
Psychedelic Swamp, and the album would finally get an official release in 2016. He told Kelly Rae Smith of the Charleston City Paper, "It's actually weird working on that stuff, because you know usually when you're working on a record—or almost always when you're working on a record—you're working on new tunes. And with this one, we're working on the oldest Dr. Dog tunes around. It's really interesting. You're almost treating your own songs like they're cover songs, and it's songs that we didn't even really play live, so we didn't have any real concept of what the arrangement would end up being like." The album
The Psychedelic Swamp was released on February 5, 2016, on the Anti- label and was produced by Nathan Sabatino.
Abandoned Mansion and Critical Equation (2016–2020) On November 29, 2016, Dr. Dog dropped a surprise album on
Bandcamp titled
Abandoned Mansion. The album was made available to stream for free and all proceeds received through January 31, 2017, would benefit the
Southern Poverty Law Center. The album was released on the band's new label We Buy Gold Records as they previously ended their relationship with Anti- over the priorities of
Abandoned Mansion against
Psychedelic Swamp. The band did not tour in support of
Mansion and took a brief hiatus. On January 3, 2018, the band teased their new album titled
Critical Equation on their website and on
Twitter. The album was officially announced for an April 27, 2018, release on We Buy Gold via
Thirty Tigers. Press and reviews for
Critical Equation was generally positive. On February 8, 2019, the band released
Critical 7" featuring two songs from the
Critical Equation sessions. In October 2019 the band announced a 15-city winter 2020 tour which concluded in late February 2020 before the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States disrupted the live music business.
End of touring and Dr. Dog (2021–present) On January 29, 2021, the band made their 2019 Record Store Day album
Live 2 available for streaming and digital purchase. On June 7, 2021, the band announced they were retiring from touring but were not disbanding and would perform one final tour in autumn 2021 across 31 cities in North America, concluding with a five-night residency in their hometown of Philadelphia. On September 14, 2022, the band announced their February 2020 residency at The Independent, a club in
San Francisco would be released monthly as four live albums, titled
Four Nights Live in San Francisco, from September 14 to December 5. In the email newsletter announcement they said that each individual member of the band is pursuing solo work but they planned to record new music together as Dr. Dog in 2023. On March 20, 2024, the band released the single "Still Can't Believe" on streaming services. On April 24 they released the single "Talk Is Cheap," as well as announcing their self titled album to be released July 19. On May 15, the band released the single "Tell Your Friends" on streaming services. On July 19, 2024, they released their
self-titled, eleventh studio album. == Members ==