“I think the world needs some good rock’n’roll music at the moment,” says Split Dogs guitarist Mil Martinez, as he ponders the band’s upward trajectory. “Every show we play, we’ve had someone come up to us and say: ‘I’ve been needing to hear that for years!’ That’s so exciting to hear. When we started out, we had a lot of the older generation saying to us: ‘I haven’t heard this stuff for such a long time’, and now we’re getting younger people coming to the shows and they’re really getting into it.”
Formed in Bristol in 2020 by Martinez and singer Harry Atkins, punk’n’roll quartet Split Dogs went through a number of line-up changes before the recent addition of bassist Suez Boyle and drummer Chris Hugall saw the band cement their status as a live force to be reckoned with.
They bottled that lightning on their second album, Here To Destroy, recorded live with the minimum of overdubs for maximum urgency.
“The punk community in Bristol is hot and there are so many people championing you,” Atkins says as they stress the importance of the band’s home town in shaping who they are. “People come out for you and really get behind you and the bands do that for each other as well. It’s a brilliant community full of warm, vibrant and eclectic people."
Inspired by a love of wide-ranging influences including punk, heavy metal, northern soul and glam rock, Split Dogs’ amalgam of these ingredients is what helps shape their sound. But, as Atkins points out, the chemistry within the band is the fuel that really drives them.
“We’re all really like-minded, super-open, no egos, no drugs. We’re all high on life,” states Atkins. “We’re all into different things and bring different things to the table, but there’s a collective thread that we all have.”
As proud as they are of the explosive Here To Destroy and as attested by their recent sold-out tour, it’s on stage where the true essence of Split Dogs is to be found.
“Performing live is our favourite thing to do,” says Atkins. “Recording is fun but it doesn’t come close to a live show. The energy of the room and making the audience feel that we’re all sharing a moment, that’s special.”
“The energy is infectious,” Martinez adds. “If you see four people on stage getting into it and having a laugh in between songs, you instantly want to get involved with that. And that’s a lovely feeling when you see the crowd feeding off of it. By the end of the set absolutely everybody is worn out!”
“I like knowing that people have had a great time,” Atkins concludes. “They’ve let their hair down and not had to worry about the shit going on in the world. You want to come to a show and forget about all that, even if it’s just for a night.”
Here To Destroy is out now via Venn Records.
