E.C.: How did you form and where did the name of the band originate?

Brian Grosz: Dave and I started playing together back in a high school punk band. Seth and I started playing together with Conquistador in and after college and, eventually, the three of us came together somewhere around 2002 as Dave came in to fill the shoes of Chris Miller who left Conquistador to tour with The Bel-Rays. Dogs of Winter officially came into being as Dave and I left a floundering project in the fall of 2004. About a week after our decision to defect and start anew, I had a little "incident" and broke my left hand, which effectively put me in a cast, loaded me up on pills and kept me away from a guitar for 6 weeks. I spent the next month and a half of physical therapy sketching out a handful of tunes with my right hand, my busted voice and a cheap keyboard. After a few months of working the songs in our rehearsal studio and auditioning some awful bass-players, we convinced Seth to come on board and the rest is what it is. As for the name, I wanted to do something Shakespearean, something dark, elegant and evocative - something that wasn't an obligatory Rock Band Name like "The Corpses" or "Magenta Vagina." There used to be this ancient alcoholic guy in my neighborhood who used to walk this pack of like 13 dogs. Well one day in December I was coming back from the bodega and as I was walking behind the old bastard, I realized that he didn't have a single dog on a leash. They all stayed in a tight formation. All I could think was, "Dogs of Winter - pure loyalty – that’s the name of this band."

E.C.: Where and with whom did you record CUT DOWN TO THE QUICK YET? Any studio stories you'd like to share?

Brian Grosz: We recorded the album over several studios. The rhythm section was recorded in one day at Bushwick Studio with Nic Hard (who has worked with The Bravery, Jesse Malin, etc). Then Nic and I ran up to the Catskills for 4 days where we recorded vocals, guitars, piano and assorted noise at The Ranch in East Jewett, NY. We recorded the strings in our rehearsal studio in DUMBO and a week later we ran the tapes back to Bushwick for mix-down and last minute bullshit. My experience on this record was a mild one, in terms of studio mayhem. This was my first record working as a producer, so I had to forgo the Keith Richards benders and actually take the reigns. Not to say that this album doesn't have a few bits that I don't remember recording - when you're drinking Old No. 7 all day to loosen up your performance, those vocal overdubs at 4am can be a trifle elusive. The chorus of "Hard To Let Go" was quite a shock to hear when I woke up the next day, but it sounded great so it stayed on the record. Early in the Ranch sessions, Nic insisted that he and I start saving all of the empty beer bottles in a steel trash can. We then wired up a 1950s military PA pre-amp, plugged it into an outdoor patio speaker with a blown cone and then buried it in the garbage can under all the broken glass. I think we duct-taped our most expensive mic to the side of the can to record it. It sounded like the birth of a sperm whale combined with an egret dying of emphysema. But, it was just what we were looking for... at the time.

E.C.: How would you describe Dogs to someone that never heard you before?

Brian Grosz: Rival Schools and Queens of the Stone Age listening to BADMOTORFINGER while on their way to a Tom Waits concert.

E.C.: What was the easiest song to record? Toughest? One you feel came out the best?

Brian Grosz: God, I don't know - they each brought their own set of challenges and I usually find a way to make shit difficult. I think that Thumbscrews was the song that clearly got to a higher level in the studio. They're my children, you know? They're simultaneously perfect and flawed and I've gotta love 'em unconditionally.

E.C.: What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of being a NYC band?

Brian Grosz: The obvious advantage is that wherever else in the planet you travel, you can tell them you're from NYC; and, conveniently in our case, Brooklyn. With that comes a certain level of respect; the flip side of which is a pretty big obligation to live up to your NYC cred. The disadvantage is that you live in the town where everyone this side of the Mississippi runs to the "Make It" - L.A. of the East with bigger teeth and shitty winters. You've got the best of the best and an overwhelming volume of mediocrity. Not that being a musician was ever a respectable gig, but most people in this town hear you're in a band and there's a part of them that automatically assumes your band eats shit. I dunno, maybe it's like that everywhere.

E.C.: Who are some of your influences? Any we wouldn't be able to tell?

Brian Grosz: People like Tom Waits and Josh Homme are incredibly inspirational to me because they make outstanding, beautiful records that never apologize; they consistently appear to push themselves into new, potentially uncomfortable territories and the albums sound terribly fun to have made. The RZA should be an inspiration to all musicians in the sense that this is an art form within a business, not the other way around. Rob Zombie and Frank Zappa both inspire me because they transcended their roles as "musician." You'll probably never see these names in the same sentence, but... Bjork, Led Zeppelin, Pixies, Mike Patton, Nina Simone, Wilco, John Coltrane, Deftones, Randy Newman, David Bowie, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Howlin Wolf, J Mascis, Mark Lanegan, Morphine - they've all made me say, "Fuck! If I can create something that makes me feel like THAT... I'll know I'm on to something good." There are bands we've gigged with that you'll probably never hear of whom I admire for their dedication. I could go on and on...theoretically, EVERYTHING influences you when you're making art. The real question is what INSPIRES you to get off your ass and actually do it. And, I'll admit, I have a real soft spot for Steely Dan and Martin Denny.

E.C.: Do you prefer recording or gigging and why?

Brian Grosz: Ideally, half my day would be spent in the recording studio in some unhealthy, Machiavellian/Tupac mindset while my evening hours would be divided between a quiet bar, a loud stage and a comfortable bed.

E.C.: What sets Dogs apart from other bands?

Brian Grosz: Well, we don't wear eye make-up or nail polish and fashionable hair cuts are basically out of the question. Apart from that, we're different just like everybody else.

E.C.: When I'm not in Dogs, I'm...?

Brian Grosz: The rest of my limited time is spent working as a voice-over artist for radio and television. I'd hate to somehow lose my clients, so in the interest of non-disclosure let's just say that if you probably hear my voice a few times a day. My voice pops up a lot of places and most people don't even know it's me.

E.C.: Describe the Dogs' writing process

Brian Grosz: 95% of the time, I'll have a basic sketch for a song which I'll record at home and then send the guys an mp3 so that we can maximize that actual time we spend in the rehearsal studio. From there we push and pull and slide the pieces around until it starts to seem like something that people might remember and want to listen to. I think if you're really keeping yourself open to what the song needs, you'll keep prodding it in the recording studio and even long after it's been burned to CDs and loaded into iPods.

E.C.: What inspired you to be a musician?

Brian Grosz: I think I was inspired NOT to be a graphic designer. I just love making sound; pushing the air around. I love making records. Is being a musician a conscious choice? I don't know. Trying to make a living at it is a conscious decision, but I think that people who FEEL music will always make music in one form or another. And, shit, who doesn't want to kick up a racket, get paid for it and hopefully inspire some people along the way?

E.C.: What's the best advice you ever received?

Brian Grosz: My father once told me that I all I had to do was ask myself two questions: "What do I want" and "How do I go about getting it?" If you can pin down the answers to those two questions, you're in better shape than most people on this rock.

E.C.: What would you like Dogs to accomplish in 2006?

Brian Grosz: Well, I'll probably never rest until I see myself immortalized as an action figure, but I'd probably survive if that didn't happen until early 2007. I'd also like my own space program. Outside of that, I want consistent movement and positive growth. We'll be touring as often as possible, getting our road-legs and collective pimp-hand strong. We'll get the full-length album started if not completed. We're going to have a successful radio campaign with our "Thumbscrews/Wicked Game" single and, if everything goes according to plan, we'll begin negotiations with a larger label about our next set of opportunities. I prefer to say, "I will" rather than "I would like" and fuck it if that sounds cocky.

E.C.: Final words?

Brian Grosz: Never trust a man with the same name as a major city.