Start Listening To: Dog Saints

Blending shoegaze, slowcore, and the intimacy of Midwest emo, Dog Saints are quietly shaping a sound that feels both deeply personal and defiantly loud.

Formed in London but rooted in far-flung hometowns from Pennsylvania to Malaysia, Dog Saints are a band built on friendship, reflection, and a shared love of emotionally raw guitar music. With their latest release ‘Wrestlevania,’ they capture the weight of memory and the warmth of collaboration, pairing heavy textures with heartfelt sincerity. We spoke with vocalist and guitarist Will and guitarist Hafiz about the origins of their sound, recording their debut studio tracks, and why their shows always end with one simple message: tell your friends you love them.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

Will: “My name is Will and I sing and play guitar in Dog Saints. I’m from the US but have lived in the UK for most of my life and met all my bandmates at university in London, where we’re still (mostly) based. I like to think of myself as making very American music. Most of what I write about involves my own memories of boyhood and seeing my family back in Pennsylvania. Sonically, too, I’d say we definitely pull a lot from modern American shoegaze and emo bands. When I was younger Midwest Emo was the main point of inspiration for me but now I’d say we take just as much from slowcore and ‘heavy’ shoegaze bands out of the Philly scene.

Hafiz: “I’m Hafiz, and I play guitar in the band. I’m from Malaysia, but grew up in Saudi Arabia with a bunch of American Mormons, which must have had some sort of subliminal influence on me in a way I can’t quite describe. Musically though, I owe a lot to the shoegaze scene in South East Asia, having grown up playing in a pretty twee dream pop band in high school. It’s really strange looking back on that now in the context of Dog Saints, where the kind of music that informs my writing is much more Skramz, Midwest Emo, and Americana influenced, and feels like a far cry from what I grew up listening to and all the albums that have been important in my life. Endserenading by Mineral is pretty much my holy grail now.

Can you share the story behind the title ‘Wrestlevania’ and how it reflects the themes present in your music?

Will: “It’s kind of amazing that we still haven’t changed the name for this song. When I wrote it I had just been watching the Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix and was reflecting a lot on my own memories around sports and fighting in the US and how you take that stuff in when you’re young. I don’t have any brothers but my uncle was a college wrestler and my dad was always trying to teach me how to be at least kinda able to defend myself. I have this memory of him trying to teach me how to put someone in a headlock while we were back in the US visiting all my cousins. I guess he was afraid I'd become soft and European. I’m still a coward anyway.

The actual title was a pun I came up with on my own in a kind of ‘how is this not already a thing’ way. On further research many people have already tried to combine vampires and wrestling in media. I see ourselves as part of a long and proud lineage.”

Hafiz: “To summarise: its called Wrestlevania cause I thought it was a really funny name and never wanted to change it”

Can you tell us more about the lyrics in the track?

Will: “I always write lyrics improvisationally at first and then try to fashion them into something more coherent as I move along. When I wrote this song I was going over a lot of weird half memories of watching people beat the shit out of each other on TV and then being surrounded by these, like, cultural dregs of sports. I remember making my cousin cry cause I told him his WWE ‘Hell in a Cell’ model cage was stupid. I guess I’m sorry Xavier.”

What was the recording process like for your debut studio release, and how did it differ from your previous singles?

Will: “I’m so happy with these songs cause they’re the first tracks that we’ve properly cut in something close to a studio. We could really try to make everything sound huge and it was such a blessing working with Judwyn (from Thistle). I am still really proud of our two previous singles but it feels so rewarding to be getting closer to our live sound on record. I still love making stuff in my bedroom but sometimes I feel like music doesn’t just have to feel intimate…. These are singles you could cut a car crash compilation to.”

Hafiz:. The recording process was just as satisfying. Angus McAlpine was kind enough to let us use his space, and we can’t thank him enough. We were shacked up in his parents’ lovely house in Northampton, with our drummer Harry tracking drums in the front entrance. The actual recording studio was in the back of the house, and had all this incredible vintage gear and was a super cozy space to track guitars and vocals in. Gus tracked all of his bass parts at Judwyn’s house, and I think that blend between having some DIY comfort but also having access to a great recording space kept us really relaxed, as everything still felt really familiar. It was also a huge breath of fresh air to be out of London with the band, and it really kept us all in a headspace that felt super light and open.

Judwyn really understood what we wanted out of the singles - it’s awesome being able to sit in a studio for hours and experiment with feedback, pedal tones, and slide guitar, all guided by our incredibly talented and articulate producer. All of our previous releases are really lo-fi, with us all either recording in our living room or Will recording in his bedroom by himself. There’s a real charm to that though and I think we preserved some of that juice for Wrestlevania and Hornets.”

What role does collaboration play in your songwriting, and how do you balance individual contributions within the band?

Will: “Wrestlevania makes me so happy cause it’s the first song that we’ve properly written together. It still feels like a real Dog Saints song to me but we all love playing it so much more cause we’re not trying to follow a vision that is only mine. The whole band started with trying to play songs where I’d written and recorded every part which was challenging and exciting in its own ways but I find it way easier now to bring songs and ideas that I’ve written into rehearsals and try to work them out together. I feel like it makes for a much more coherent live set. Dog Saints still feels like ‘my’ project in a way because I actually don’t have any other outlet for music (check out our bassist Gus and Hafiz’s band Bridal next time there’s a show; it's so much more hype live) but balance isn’t really that important to me. I feel like we all finally get what Dog Saints is trying to be so we run with what feels right.”

Hafiz: “Will is the brain and backbone of the band’s songwriting, and it’s amazing to get to make music with someone so talented. He makes my job incredibly easy, being able to tune into his playing and thought process when writing my parts. Gus and Harry (both being jazz musicians) are miles ahead of me and Will musically, and bring this technical quality to the music that really shines through live and on record. I love that it feels like a puzzle sometimes, with us all trying to craft Will’s broad ideas into one coherent structure, and trying to figure out how we all fit in.”

As a relatively new band on the scene, how do you feel about the current music community in London?

Will: “I’ve honestly been really surprised how welcome we’ve felt playing shows around London. For all the bullshit I’ve heard about the city being full of dead post punk, we’ve just been playing shows with our buddies and we’ve always had fun. I kinda get a kick out of playing such American music at places like the Windmill, which were such angsty British ‘post Brexit punk’ spaces in my imagination but that’s about it. There is a tendency for some people to take things too seriously but we don’t tend to play shows with them twice. We did a show recently where our friends had their first show with their new band Sweet Fish. They ripped and it was so joyful watching people get a kick out playing live for kind of the first time. That’s always the best shit.”

Hafiz: “London is our home and breathes a lot of life into what we strive towards as a band, but it can feel intimidating and disconnected sometimes with a music scene that’s so massive and rapidly-evolving. That said, there’s such a great wealth of bands all around the UK, especially in the DIY scene, that have built a community that really takes care of its own and celebrates everyone in it. Bands like My Rushmore, Shoplifting, I’m Sorry Emil, and Bearhug are absolutely tearing it up right now and it’s a really nice feeling to call them friends.”

What can fans expect from your upcoming live shows, and how do you prepare for performing in front of an audience?

Hafiz: “I think we’re learning to be a lot more confident on stage than we have been in the past. The less we tweak, the slimmer the chance of shit going wrong on stage! I think we’re all still really nervous people, and playing live hasn’t always been super comfortable for us - there's something about looking the crowd in the eye that still really freaks me out. Now though, I think we all have our little rituals before going on - I for one usually need to sit alone in a corner and doomscroll at least 10 minutes before we play.”

Will: “Hafiz is definitely right that we’ve reached a point where being on stage is just way more enjoyable, at least compared to how it used to be. I work full time in a school now so getting on stage feels like more of a release and a joy now than it’s ever been. In terms of preparation the thing that feels most important to me is actually the first song that we play. We always start with an instrumental intro called ‘Cusser’ and it kills my nerves cause I get to play without singing. Everyone gets their time to lock in.”

Can you talk about any challenges you faced while writing and recording your latest tracks and how you overcame them?

Will: “Honestly the offer from Judwyn and Thistle to come down and record with them for free relieved a lot of the stress we were feeling. They’re just such lovely guys and we are eternally grateful. I guess in some way we felt a pressure not to fuck up in the two days we had in studio but we knocked out two songs in two days and we couldn’t have had things go any better. The moment Judwyn whipped out the slide guitar I knew we were cooking. Compared to the last couple of singles, which involved making bedroom demos I already had presentable enough to release, technically everything was really straightforward. Getting everything mastered and booking shows has been a little tougher with Hafiz going back to Malaysia after college but I know we’re getting him back soon. Our buddy Matt has joined on guitar since Hafiz has been away and he is such an incredible musician it would be wrong to call that a challenge.”

How do you see your music evolving in the next few years, and what new directions are you excited to explore?

Will: ‘I’ve finally got into like actual screamo music recently and I’ll see where that takes me. I could never really scream but I do just want to make some stuff that feels really heavy live. Gabe (from Paper Hats) put me onto the Australian band Doris recently and that kinda changed a lot . At the same time I have a deep and unabating need to acquire a pedal steel.”

Hafiz: “I think we let Gus cook on his DS and see what happens…”

What do you love right now?

Hafiz: “The new TAGABOW and Wednesday albums.”

Will: “Not having a pedalboard and the new A Country Western singles. ‘Clouds’ is such a beautiful song.”

What do you hate right now?

Hafiz: “art-punk”

Will: “the LA Dodgers and the Blockchain are conspiring against me… But seriously, people are too ironic about trying to be good. I don’t think kitsch is real anymore- just be nice!”

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

Hafiz: “I think Deceiver by DIIV is an album that I’ll always come back to. It’s probably their best work, and all the ideas on it and Sonny DiPerri’s production elements are still so powerful. It’s been a really big reference for me sonically for the last 6 years, and it just rips. That or You Will Never Know Why by Sweet Trip - such an incredible album.”

Will: “I still get periods in my life where I can only listen to Alex G. When ‘Collar’ came out and all our similar artists were all scam accounts reposting forgotten Alex G and Skin Cells songs that was weirdly rewarding. DSU is still probably my favourite album.”

When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?

Hafiz: “I really want people to have a lot of fun listening to our stuff! We love shifting around stylistically and I think there’s a lot of different sides of Dog Saints that we’re really excited to express. I believe that there’s a special kind of sincerity present in the things that people create and put out into the world, and I hope people will pick up on the musical lexicon and little details that really define the music we make.

Will: “I just hope it makes them think about their friends. I try to write these really naive songs that are just about trying to be a good person. We have this thing at every show where the last thing I say is always ‘tell your friends you love them.’ It felt kinda dumb at first but I think I’ll do it forever. Tell your friends you love them. Do it now.”

Photography By: Malvina Tessitore