THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG EARTH PLC

Earth plc

Dogman explains his song was inspired by REM

The song Earth plc was written almost 10 years before it was first recorded as a demo and included in the first Dogman album, The Whisperer, released in 2010. It was a family ‘front room favourite’ at parties which sometimes included a novel and rowdy female backing group (I-Phone Girl, her sister Legal Eagle Suzanne and the Lovely Lesley, his brother in law’s partner) for its chorus:

‘And we know - when the world - is spinning around. We know  -  when our world  - is going to down and we know - when our feet  - are touching ground.  We know, we know - we know....’

Dogman used to play REM covers at house parties and gigs, including Man in the Moon and Losing my Religion, and announce that Earth plc was his own REM-inspired song.

In the song, we are all invited to take care of our planet – a sentiment plaintively heard in the lyric – ‘It’s you and me - we’re earth plc  - Buy shares buy shares - this is - our universe’

Dogman says, “We don’t know everything about our world and how the mind works yet and it would be fair to say we don’t always look kindly on others!”

David aka Dogman has long been convinced that we should probably stop looking for aliens and going to other planets and start looking after our own world. He even asks in the song that even if aliens were ever found would we even know how to deal with them. 

Earth plc is from the new Dogman album,‘The cat that solved the String Theory’, released by Expat Records in May 2011.

The superb visuals, created by the wonderful Swiss videographer 

Brigitte Norman can also be viewed on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jLcQVvAl-w

On VIMEO: http://vimeo.com/28066068

EXPAT RECORDS http://www.expat-records.com/Dogman/

http://soundcloud.com/drdavidsands/spotlight

Dogman on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/dogmandavesands

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-cat-that-solved-string/id438076388

SMALL ACTS OF KINDNESS - THE DARKER SECRET BEHIND THE SONG

Small acts of kindness

Dogman explains how this song from his new album was inspired by real life sad stories

The photograph, taken by Dogman in the beautiful hill countryside close to his home, was not posed. The couple were simply enjoying the sunshine and the incredible view and were not aware a picture was being taken.

‘Small acts of kindness’, as an expression, was the inspiration behind an idea - not to use people’s names - but to use a phrase that would say everything about them. The song was first a simple Dogman poem that, when it was first read out loud, brought tears to his wife. She even insisted that it should remain as a poem and not become a song but Dogman could not resist suing it as a lyric. The song melody came quickly to him, in part inspired by the music of Neil Young, and was the subject of an emotion about bullying.

Dogman was saddened by the story of East Lancashire teenager Sophie Lancaster who was so brutally killed and her partner seriously injured when drunken youths attacked them in a park. All, can anyone really believe, because they were dressed in Goth-style clothes. That bullying can go on in school, in work, in relationships upsets Dogman because, like many children that experience a dysfunctional childhood, he was once bullied.

Small acts of Kindness which first appeared on the Dogman ‘The Whisperer’ album is loved at Dogman live concerts. It is often quoted as a favourite track on his new album when its theme is explained. Incidentally, the brief guitar lead is played by Dogman’s son, Jonathan Sands, a Liverpool based musician who was visiting the studio during a recording session. It’s played on Dogman’s favourite Guild acoustic. Friends, family and fans who bought his new album, ‘The cat that solved The String Theory’, have sent in photographs, many with dogs, cats and pets, with the album and these have been used in the Expat Records video which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNuMZaDkBxw