We’re spinning another sizzling Rockin’ Dogs hit requested by the Wallflowers’ Dave Rinck, this one from early in the band’s extraordinary collaboration.
“‘Always On the Run’ was one of the first songs we did,” writes Rockin’ Dogs co-founder Dave Ellison. “I’m pretty sure Sam wrote it before we started the band. It was always a part of our set … at least for as long as I was in the band.
“I always liked playing the lead on this one, but I think I screwed it up a little here. Oh, well … no time to do it over when you’re a young musician on a budget!”
Like “Candy Rock” and “Back of Your Heart,” this track was recorded at AccuSound Studios in El Cajon, Calif. “Always on the Run” features Sam Wilson (vocal, guitar); Dave Ellison (lead guitar); Cole Smithey (drums); Jane Bunting (bass).
This is a dub of a dub of a dub, I think. The original recording was muddy, but not this muddy…hopefully we’ll get the brighter version up tomorrow.
When we did this I had just switched from bass (my original instrument) to guitar… and Im pretty sure this was before we found Jane, so Im not sure who played bass.
We really didnt know how to get the right guitar sounds at a low studio volume. Sam used an overdrive pedal for that, but it was much more distorted than the way he usually sounded live. So my guitar sounded too clean and Sam’s was a little too distorted. When we played live I think they meshed a little better.
I’m standing by to post the cleaner version, Dave!
Do you think this possibly pre-dates the AccuSound session that generated the other tracks?
I’m holding out hope for a live Rockin’ Dogs tape! You guys were an awesome live band.
brings me back. Why do I associate the rockin dogs with the king’s road cafe? You guys were cool, and, you looked cool too.
Ted, thanks man! Did you see us at Kings Rd? that would have been when we were still in high school, like 1982.
Matthew… no, that was done at Accusound when Cole first joined the band. We’d recorded there before with the previous lineup…probably the same songs. I wish we had a live recording. I dont know why we never thought to at least bring a boom box to a show and tape it… the sound probably would have been no worse than Accusound…haha.
At that time we rehearsed in Cole’s garage, which we converted into a studio with a frame we built out of 2x4s and layers of moldy old carpet draped on top and nailed to it. Tiger Jimmy, the tattoo artist that Toby mentioned in his tattoo post, was Cole’s landlord there.
This is fantastic, I’m usually partial to a band’s early stuff, but this is especially tasty. Rocking and plaintive all at the same time….
>>Did you see us at Kings Rd? that would have been when we were still in high school, like 1982.
Dave Ellison: Ahem! According to our handy Performance History, the Rockin’ Dogs joined the Salvation Army and Manual Scan at King’s Road Cafe on Saturday, April 10, 1982. 🙂
Oh man, this is such a great rock and roll song! This is right next to “Candy Rock” in my book as the greatest song in SD music history. I love this one! Play it loud!!!
I can’t even remember who it was that set up the connection between our bands, but someone (a club ownder I think?) called me one night out of the blue and said “hey Dave Wallflower, you gotta meet these guys the Rock’n Dogs, you guys would be a great bill together” and they gave me Sammy’s number. I had seen the Dogs’ name spray-painted on the side of the phone company building in La Mesa, and I figured that any band that used graffiti as a marketing medium would would go well with the Wallflowers, so I was excited to meet them and learn more about them.
So I called Sammy up and the first thing we discovered was our mutual worship of Johnny Thunders. Before we know each other, I think we all attended the same Heartbreakers concert once in L.A. at the Whisky (Dave Ellison was there too), which by the way to this day I cite as bar none, hands down, head and shoulders above the rest, THE best show I have ever attended ever. I know he was usually a stoned-out mess, but on a good night JT was the king. It was always a bit of a risk laying down hard-earned money for a Johnny Thunders show, since he was usually a no-show, or a wreck. But if you missed seeing him just once when he was in form, you missed a big chunk of rock and roll. Clearly there was reason enough here to warrent a Walfloers -- Dogs summit meeting. Well, once we got together, we quickly discovered that we had many mutual interests, and thus the Wallflowers -- Rock’n Dogs partnership was born. Oh man!
We played many great shows with these guys, including a Friday/Saturday combo once at two clubs where we took turns headlining (haaha of course we got to headline on Friday though… ha! no just kidding). That flyer is in the gallery here, what a fun weekend! Those were the days.
I remember hanging out at Cole’s house many an afternoon where the Dogs set up that studio. What a cool space. One fnuny memory I have was Sammy and I were sitting on the porch there, and we’d just heard about AIDS for the first time, and being total hypocondriacs in those days, we were wondering what if we had it, and Sam says “well, I heard it breaks down your immune system, so I guess you just start getting every head cold in the word.” and every time we’d sneeze or something, we’d be like “oh shit man” haaha
Sam and I used to drive around in his pick-up truck listening to this very same tracks you are hearing now on the Che Underground. Those days with the Dogs and other bands like Hair Theater and Noise 292 were for me the golden age of SD rock and roll. Man, I miss these bands, there really just aren’t bands like this around now, and they just don’t make’em like the Dogs anymore… L.A.M.F.
Editor’s note: I swapped in the brighter dub of “Always on the Run.” Enjoy!
Once I was hanging out at a party with a group of SDSU students. When I told them the name my band, they all said “YOU’RE in the Rockin’ Dogs??” …as though we were famous. It turned out they all lived in a house right near that phone company building building that Dave R mentioned with our “advertising” on the front.
It seemed like it was there for years before they painted over it, and even then you could still read it because they only painted in the shape of the letters. So it outlasted the band by about 10 years.
Graffiti is so key to good marketing.
>>>Rocking and plaintive all at the same time….
Sam was really great at writing songs like that. Even songs like Candy Rock…where you’d think the lyrics were just about having fun and rock and roll and that kind of stuff… there’d be a few lines in there about the misery of day to day life that made the song much more powerful.
I’m always amazed at how classic the Rockin’ Dogs sound is…the songs stick in my head for days and they all rock like mad.
Along with the wicked drive of the delivery and vocal hooks there are all these wonderful, supportive details in the arrangement — like the descending guitar riff that merges with the word “lonely” into one thought. Perfect.
Awesome song and great guitar interplay, Dave I understand what you mean about frustration with getting the sound you want at recording volumes, but still the nasty-distorted tone and the clean sparkly riffs on this track complement each other quite well. As do your voices on the songs you sing together.