Selina’s lockdown blues leads to a lucky 13...
AREADING band discovered that they had the blues over lockdown. And now they have just released their debut album.
Selina and the Howlin’ Dogs are regulars on the live music scene across the Thames Valley.
They have appeared at events including Wokingham Festival, Marvellous and Reading Beer Festival. Recently, they supported renowned R&B artist Geno Washington.
Their self-produced album Blues Revisited is a collection of 13 songs, drawing on the influence the blues genre has had on the band during eight years of playing together.
It has already received attention from radio shows including The Blues Show on Bishop FM, The Rock and Blues Show on ABC radio, Blues Corner on Rock Radio, and Blues@.
Howlin’ Dogs members Tobi Andersson, Alan Burgin and Mark Peace have been playing together since 2002, when Tobi and Mark answered an advert placed by Alan to be a band. Lead vocalist Selina Arch came on board in 2014.
All of the band members have families and full-time jobs as well as playing in the band.
Tobi says that the cancellation of live bookings due to lockdowns gave them a chance to listen over their back catalogue.
“We have a lot of musical influences and play a wide range of styles — indie, funk, rock, even a bit of hip-hop — but we noticed that we have a strong blues influence when listening back.”
“So this album marries something old, something new and something blues.”
Selina explains that the band wanted to find a way of making music together during lockdowns.
“Our first project was a video which we made using contributions from our communities and our fans,” she says.
“The idea to record an album grew from there, because we enjoyed it so much and just wanted to play.
“Up until now we had put out singles and EPs, because albums are really timeconsuming — lockdowns gave us the time to do it.”
The band recorded the album collaboratively online from their own homes. Tobi’s home office is also furnished with a drum kit.
“At one point I had my head in a wardrobe while singing, for the acoustic effect,” Selina adds.
The album was produced entirely by band members, from art work to production and publicity.
It is set to be reviewed in specialist magazine Blues Matters.
Later on in the year, they are supporting prominent blues artists Alice Armstrong and Matt Long at The Acoustic Couch in Bracknell.
“We’ve been welcomed by the blues community, things are really falling into place,” Tobi says.
Selina and the Howlin’ Dogs will play Wokingham Festival in August.
Work on their second album is already under way.