OXFORD: The Bullingdon

Saturday 8th February, 2014

7:30pm

Event information

Police Dog Hogan are a high-energy and eclectic seven-piece, combining fiddle, banjo, mandolin, drums and guitars with knockout four-part harmonies in an exuberant fusing of country, pop, folk, and rocking urban bluegrass. The Sunday Times has described them as “wonderful”; the Telegraph named them one of its ‘favourite new bands”; Radio 2 called them “a band to watch” and veteran DJ Johnnie Walker praises their gigs as “just a really good, fun time”.

Their literate and superbly crafted songs veer from the wistful and poetic to flat-out, foot-stomping tales of doomed barbecues, French mustard and falling in love on a Tennessee highway. Founded in 2009, the band is now gigging in earnest, buoyed by a rapturous reception at festivals last summer, with appearances at Cornbury, Camp Bestival, Larmer Tree and Kendal Calling, among others, in 2012.

Their new CD, ‘From the Land of Miracles’, produced by Eliot James (Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Noah and the Whale, Two Door Cinema Club), is out on Major Tom Records. The album, and a single, Fraserburgh Train, is available on iTunes.

Police Dog Hogan are:
James Studholme – lead vocals, guitar 
Pete Robinson – vocals, lead guitar, dobro 
Eddie Bishop – violin, vocals 
Tim Dowling – banjo, vocals 
Tim Jepson – mandolin, vocals 
Adam Bennette – bass 
Michael Giri – drums, vocals

Drew Holcomb.

Some artists are able to articulate a vision at the very beginning of their career, while others hone their craft over time, growing into their vision as they mature.

"I am definitely in the latter category," explains Drew Holcomb, a Tennessee-born, duck hunting, bourbon drinking, 1st edition book collecting, golf playing Eagle Scout with a Masters degree in Divinity from Scotland's University of St Andrews (he wrote his dissertation on "Springsteen and American Redemptive Imagination") who has spent the better part of the past decade as a professional musician - recording, writing, and touring with his band Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors.

Since releasing their first album, 2005's ‘Washed In Blue’, Drew & The Neighbors (Ellie Holcomb, Nathan Dugger, Rich Brinsfield) have established themselves as a formidable indie act, selling more than 75,000 records, playing more than 1,500 live dates, selling-out headline shows, and touring alongside such varied acts as The Avett Brothers, Ryan Adams, Los Lobos, Susan Tedeschi, North Mississippi Allstars, Marc Broussard, and more.