OFFICE DOG

In the organizer's words:

Whether in barber stores, church basements or empty lounges: in 2021, the same three musicians, who should by no means be taken for granted that they would find each other after all, were increasingly gathering in many of Auckland's four walls: Rassani Tolovaa (bass), Mitchell Innes (drums) and Kane Strang (vocals/guitar) only started making music and writing songs together after moving from Dunedin to the New Zealand capital. In retrospect, it is as unlikely as it was predicted that the three would join forces to form the indie rock band Office Dog, because at the start of the new project, future Office Dog frontman Kane Strang was still knee-deep in the maelstrom of his successful solo career. Strang's third and (for the time being) last solo record "Happy to Perform" was released in March 2021. Together with his new bandmates Tolovaa and Innes, Strang then created Office Dog's debut album "Spiel", produced by De Stevens (School Fair, Marlin's Dreaming). In 2023, the longplayer was released via Flying Nun Records, initially exclusively in Australia and New Zealand; in 2024, the band celebrated the worldwide release of "Spiel" with the label New West Records - according to Pitchfork, "an album about the joy of playing together". In its review, VISIONS referred to the "indie and noise rock tradition of the 90s from bands like Hum or Superchunk", while Ox-Fanzine emphasized the "choppy rhythms of PAVEMENT". In the same year, a follow-up was released in the form of a 7-track EP called "Doggerland", which was more accomplished and experimental in sound than the LP. The EP took its name from a piece of land on which people first lived and which was then swallowed up by the sea like a flood. Fittingly, the songs are about the moment of loss and the act of fighting back. Paste Magazine writes about the EP: "Cathartic and revelatory, the struggle and resentment of losing oneself is laid out and left behind with a step into the future". Office Dog are currently working on their second album. But the trio is also busy live: in addition to a gig at the renowned showcase festival The Great Escape in Brighton, Office Dog will be coming to Berlin in 2026 for their German premiere on May 28.