Seattlest Interview: Zach Miller of Dr. Dog

Dr. Dog has the unfortunate circumstance of being an awesome band with a terrible name. Despite it all, the Philadelphia five-piece soldiers on, touring pretty much non-stop to bring their mix of playful '60s era harmonies, psychedelic leanings, and shaggy lo-fi stylings to the masses. Their albums have been met with ever-increasing acclaim--third release Easy Beat continues to be our favorite--but they remain delightfully under the radar, still a great club band, still a fun live show, and still a group of guys who just like to make music. We spoke with keyboardist Zach Miller in anticipation of Dr. Dog's 21+ show tonight at the Croc.

You've toured a lot over the last year, as always. What were some of your favorite shows played over that time, and do you have any big shows you're excited for coming up?

Australia was fun, especially with the Black Keys and BT. We're looking forward to Coachella this weekend; we're especially excited to see Leonard Cohen and Paul McCartney.

How do you think the band has grown and changed over time? Do you find it challenging to record with more tracks and a more produced sound?

We've definitely become a more cohesive band; we only existed as a recording project for years, so now that we're much more of a live band, we're trying to capture more of that on record. We're going to try working with a producer and tracking live rhythm tracks, which we've never done before. We've always recorded ourselves and overdubbed everything, so it's going to be interesting.

After the jump, Zach talks about whether or not it's actually always sunny in Philadelphia and whether or not that explains the band's need to wear sunglasses at night.