A shortlist of the most impressive CDs released so far in 2007 would have to include REBEL RIDDIM by Dogboy, a disc that features a variety of memorable tracks ranging stylistically across multiple reggae sub-genres with rock, soul, and r& b underpinnings. Music-reviewer.com’s Joe Hartlaub recently got to speak with Dogboy by telephone while Dogboy was in the middle of an ongoing tour…

music-reviewer.com: How’s the tour so far?

Dogboy. It’s been great! It’s a label thing, I’m on with some of the Sub Noise (Suburban Noize Records) artists, Kingspade, Subnoize Souljaz, and Potluck. I just ended a tour with the Cottonmouth Kings, and that was killer, we were playing to sellout crowds in large halls, it was a lot of fun, and this tour is primarily smaller venues, 500 seats or so, and the audiences are really showing us a lot of energy.

m-r.c: Are you going to tour this summer?

DB: No, I want to finish the Too Rude disc. I started the third Too Rude disc and then had the opportunity to do REBEL RIDDIM as a solo project, so I did REBEL RIDDIM and then started touring and I want to get the Too Rude disc done. So we’ll be working on that and then we’ll see what happens.

m-r.c: Too Rude is your band? Are they with you on this tour?

DB: No, this is just me on this tour, Too Rude is my band project, yeah, we’ve had two discs out and this will be a continuation, musically of RE-INVENTION, the second Too Rude disc.

m-r.c: Let’s talk for a minute about REBEL RIDDIM. This is a great disc. My definition of a great disc is one I can keep listening to without skipping over tracks, one where my favorite song keeps changing. Right now I’m loving “Where To Now,” it’s got that Boz Scaggs thing going…

DB: Yeah, I love that you know who Boz Scaggs is, a lot of people aren’t familiar with him!

m-r.c: Oh yeah, and last week my favorite was “She’s Driving,” and next week it might be “Can’t Buy Soul.” And all of these tracks have reggae underpinnings, but they each sound different from each other, you‘ve got a rock thing going on “Can‘t Buy Soul,” dancehall on the title track, dub on “Tap Into/Dub Into,” to name a few. And through it all there’s different type of groove coming from somewhere else. What are all of those influences, who’d you listen to coming up?

DB: I started in Hermosa Beach, California, where I still live, actually, in an Irish-Italian family. The neighborhood had a lot of influences, and we moved around a lot, Linwood, Long Beach, all around the Southern California coast area, and I had Irish and all sorts of different cultures coming and going in my life. My grandmother was the best, she had a couple of brothers who were in and out, and always leaving music around, there was always something new playing. I’d hear albums like the Rolling Stones “NOW” and Elvis Costello. Costello is a guy who can do a lot of different things, and can do them all well. My grandmother also turned me on to the Beatles. Yellow Submarine. Great album. The Clash, of course, was a big influence as well.

m-r.c: Sounds like a cool grandmother. I know the era, of course, I’m probably older than your grandmother, actually, I’ve got all those discs, too. So how does having that varied musical background, all of those cool influences, effect what you’re doing now?

DB: I heard all this great music and I learned to be real open about what I listened to, nothing off the table, and also how to write music and make an album. My approach is real basic. I hear guys talking about using this and that piece of studio equipment to write a song…man, I use a legal pad and a pencil to write my songs. I don’t consider myself an artist. I like to put a lot of different things together on each song. I look at writing a song the way a builder builds a house. And when I record an album, it’s like handing the keys to the realtor when the house is done. That’s how I feel.

m-r.c: That makes REBEL RIDDIM a great neighborhood to live in. How did REBEL RIDDIM come together?

DB: I basically had everything written when I came into the studio, and had an idea of what I wanted it all to sound like. I used the guitarists from Too Rude, who were just great, they came in and I’d say, “I want it to sound like…” and they’d do it, it was great. The only things that came into the initial recording as tracks, and not songs, were “Straight Love Thing” and “Tap Into/Dub Into” which we added to, composed around.

m-r.c: Yeah, “Tap Into/Dub Into” is another great song, that may be another favorite of mine before too long. Lot’s of energy to it.  So, you’re playing the Newport in Columbus tonight?

DB: Yeah, then Cleveland tomorrow night.

m-r.c: When you walk out on stage tonight, look at the balcony to your right. I took my sons to see Faith No More play there in 1993, and some guy did a dive from that balcony into the mosh pit. It was unbelievable. Hope it doesn’t happen tonight. Anyway, thanks so much and safe journeys to you. Good luck with REBEL RIDDIM and the next Too Rude CD.

DB: Thanks!