The Sundogs
- Who we are
- Book the Sundogs for your party, festival, benefit, etc.
- Get Your Sundogs T-Shirts!
- Information for
Clients
- Upcoming appearances
- Recent (and not so recent) appearances
- Client Feedback
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The Sundogs play the Union Terrace, June 17, 2005
Who we are:
The Sundogs are a four-piece cover band based in Fitchburg, WI. We specialize in fun classic rock and pop-rock tunes from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and yes, even the present. We're especially fond of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cars, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eric Clapton, the Eagles, and other guitar-oriented bands of that era. We've been told by many of our enthusiastic fans, which range from college students to Baby Boomers, that we play "just the right stuff" from the Golden Age of rock. But a growing number of our songs are drawn from the past few years: Oasis, Green Day, Fastball, Semisonic.
Click here for our playlist and other crumbs of useful info.
The Sundogs are
Jon Martin -- lead vocals, rhythm guitar, and
dead-on Mick
Jagger
impressionist
Grant
Petty -- lead
guitar, backing vocals, and not-so-dead-on Eric
Clapton impressionist
Graham
Judson-- bassist;
backing vocals
(alas, the awesome band pic above still shows our former bassist, Matt
Ackerman, who's
now
off getting rich with his new originals band, Blamm-o).
Brian
Michalowski -- drummer and general purpose
level-headed
guy.
By day (and often night as well), Jon
and Grant
are professors
of meteorology
at
the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. In fact, a fair number of
the people who turn up at a Sundogs
gig are students
who still can't believe their
professors
are in a rock band. Graham works for Thermo Electron
Corporation, and Brian has a printing/graphics business.
In other words, we're all a bunch of white-collar establishment types for whom playing in a rock band is an adolescent fantasy come true. Other guys our age fuss over their lawns, their boats, or their stamp collections. We, on the other hand, blow off work-related stress by turning our amps to eleven and belting out Revolution or Fortunate Son. Be honest, which would you rather do, if you could?
If you've read this far, you probably suspect us of being total
hacks. But au contraire, we are at worst
only partial
hacks, as demonstrated by the fact that people sometimes
press
money into our hands to thank us for playing! At least
that's what we think
they're saying. Hard to tell when their
speech is slurred like that.
You can listen to sample sound clips from our December 2003 party gig by going to our Gigmaster.com page. Or request a demo CD.
Book the Sundogs for Your Party, Festival, Benefit, etc.:
For bookings, please visit our page
at
Gigmaster.com or send
us e-mail.
Please note that we are based in greater MADISON, WISCONSIN, so if you found this page via a web search, there's a good chance we're not in your neck o' the woods. That doesn't mean that we wouldn't be willing to travel to the ends of the earth to play for you, but travel and lodging costs add up quickly once we get outside southern Wisconsin.
As is hopefully very clear by now, we play in a rock band because it's fun. This means we can afford to be selective about the gigs we'll accept. Time permitting, we'll probably do any gig that is reasonably likely to be fun.
Regrettably, this rules out the following:
- We cannot play events where attendees engage in activities that could get us censured, or fired from the University, in trouble with our wives, or all three. This includes underage drinking , use of controlled substances , brandishing weapons, falling from third-story balconies , or tossing women's undergarments up on the stage while we're playing. On second thought, scratch that last one; we'll take our chances .
- Events where the entire audience is under 20.
- Events where the audience has never heard of the Beatles and/or yells out requests for Aqua or Sanitarium (see "under 20", above)
- Events where the entire audience is over 70.
- Events where the audience thinks the Beatles are personally responsible for the downfall of Western Civilization and/or for our losing the war in Vietnam (see "over 70", above).
- Events where any of the attendees are accomplished musicians and therefore capable of detecting when we have hit a wrong note.
- Any gig where at least some of the audience assumes we're getting paid and therefore we should be better than we are. This restriction applies even if we are, in fact, getting paid.
- Weddings. We don't have anything against weddings; we just can't play traditional "first dance with the bride's father" of music, and we don't wear tuxes - we're a rock band, remember? STOP THE PRESSES!!! When the above words were written, we didn't realize that we would soon be getting more bookings for wedding receptions than any other kind of gig! Seems some newlyweds like having a rock band to keep the energy flowing late into the evening and don't care that we don't wear tuxes! And they can always play polkas and slow ballads through our PA system during the breaks!
- Events where the client assumes that we enjoy playing so much that we're willing to schlep half a ton of gear out of our basements and devote at least a twelve-hour day to getting there, setting up, sound checking, waiting around, playing, tearing down, and driving home at 1am .... FOR ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS! Hint: It's not our playing that we're getting paid for when you press that thick wad of bills into our exhausted, sweaty palms at the end of the night.
Yes, for our most deranged fans, we now have actual Sundogs t-shirts in all human-appropriate sizes (while supplies last), and four color choices: white, light blue, dark blue , and, er, black.
We haven't really figured out what to charge yet. So if you really want one, come to one of our gigs and we'll engage you in Middle-Eastern-style protracted haggling until you simply give us the keys to your Mercedes Benz convertible in exchange for a shirt that's not even quite the right size, just to get the heck out of there.
For those of you don't own a MB convertible (and can't "borrow" one), don't despair! We will give out one FREE Sundogs t-shirt at every gig! While supplies last. And assuming we don't forget. All you have to do is be the winner of whatever crazy contest we happen to invent on the spot. It might be as simple as us tossing a shirt over our shoulders into the crowd. Like a bouquet at a wedding, only with less likelihood of bloodshed. And we wouldn't do this at actual weddings.
But no matter what you pay in the end, we promise you'll make a tidy profit in 50 years or less by re-selling your vintage Sundogs t-shirt to a popular rock-music-themed chain restaurant for their wall display. (This quite reasonably assumes, of course, that inflation will soon return to levels typical of, oh, post-WWI Germany. And that we will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.)
Client Feedback
Recent and
Upcoming
Appearances :
NEW!
For all recent and upcoming gigs, see the schedule posted at our
Gigmaster.com
page
February 5, 2005: Silent-auction fundraiser banquet at the Black Hawk Country Club.
December 4, 2004: The annual American Meteorological Society (local chapter) Solstice Party. Still our favorite gig! (Have you ever seen how meteorologists party? No, really!)
October 2, 2004: Private post-reception wedding party -- congratulations Will and Jen! Absolutely fantastic gig at the beautiful Hawk's View Golf Course near Lake Geneva. What a party crowd! Dance floor was so packed that Grant's mike stand kept getting knocked over ! <Note to selves: bring more duct tape!> Our first gig where people actually asked us for autographs and T-shirts (we could give them the autographs but not the T-shirts)!
August 12, and August 26, 2004: Two more
Thursday evening
shows outdoors on the cocktail patio at the Nau-ti-Gal. What
a
great way to enjoy the last warm evenings of summer!
July 29, 2004: Our first of three bi-weekly shows this year on the outdoor patio of the Nau-ti-gal on the Yahara riverfront. Great place to play, but dodgy weather kept us on edge and almost forced a cancellation. In the end, we got through it without getting electrocuted by wet equipment, but next time we'll also remember to bring our mosquito repellent!
July 3, 2004:
Post-reception wedding party. Our most
fun gig
ever! Great crowd, great atmosphere!
June 30, 2004: The Portal Music Cafe, on Williamson and Brearly. Small but very friendly venue with a great built-in sound system. It's great to be able to just walk in and play without the usual set-up nonsense!
May 5, 2004: Angelic Brewing Company - first time there since our public debut two springs ago! Also first time playing out at all since Grant broke his wrist on Christmas eve! Unfortunately, because of some misinformation(!) from one of the managers, we invited a number of under-21 students who, to our great chagrine, got shooed out only 20 minutes into our set. To those students, our heartfelt apologies!
December 6, 2003: AOS Dept. Solstice Party -- our favorite regular gig! For the first time, we had student guest musicians perform with us - Katie O'Brien knocked 'em dead with her Sheryl Crow impersonation on "My Favorite Mistake", Steve Decker belted out "Mary Jane's Last Dance", David Santek added crucial Hammond organ fills on "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Born to be Wild", Kris Wile took a turn on drums for "What I Like About You", and Jason Gillis on guitar got the crowd moshing with "Smells Like Teen Spirit"!
August 29, 2003: Outdoors on the cocktail patio at the Nauti-Gal, on the Yahara River. What a great evening! Too bad we ended up playing in total darkness (apart from the camera flash) by 8:30 with no lights (we forgot summer's almost over!)
July 29, 2003: Volunteer Appreciation party for Big Brothers/Big Sisters -- Capital Brewery, Middleton. Huge stage for our puny little PA rig, but we felt like rock stars! Not only that, but we had two VIPs in the audience: County Commissioner Kathleen Falk and Madison mayor David Cieslewicz!
July 19, 2003: 30th Anniversary High School Reunion, Watertown
July 12, 2003: Private 25th wedding anniversary party -- our first backyard gig! Great fun, but tricky to play with the sun in your eyes!
June 21, 2003: Repeat engagement at the Wayside 14 Club.
June 20, 2003: Rooftop summer solstice party for the UW Space Science and Engineering Center and AOS Dept.! In honor of the occasion, we played tunes from two other famous rooftop concerts (think January, 1969, for one). But man was it hot!
Photo
#1
Photo #2
Photo #3
Photo #4
May 23, 2003: The new Wayside 14 Club. Thanks to all the friends that came out to see us play -- we had a great time, and are looking forward to more of the same next month!
December 7, 2002: AOS Solstice Party - Unfortunately, our drummer Brian was out sick, but we managed to pull off the show well enough without a drummer that a spectator actually hired us to play another party! (No offense, Brian!)
August 15, 2002: Hare's Towne Bowl, Middleton.
June 27, 2002: Hare's Towne Bowl, Middleton. Best acoustics of any place we've played! Nice staff, too.
April 29, 2002: Angelic Brewing Company, AGAIN! These guys must be gluttons for punishment.
April 26, 2002: Jordan's Big 10 Pub on Regents, in connection with the spring party of the local chapter of the American Meteorological Society. Smallest "stage" we've ever squeezed all of our stuff onto!
Mar. 25, 2002: At the end of the previous gig at Angelic, the manager invited us to play again, so we did. Smaller crowd due to Spring Break, but still great fun. We're getting the kinks worked out of our sound system, so people could hear Jon better this time. New songs in our arsenal (U-2's "Pride", CCR's "Born on the Bayou") were crowd-pleasers.
Mar. 3, 8:00 PM, Cable Channel 4 (WYOU): Some of our students run a weather-oriented community-access cable TV show and generously devoted one of their half-hour segments to an interview with the Sundogs, including excerpts of our Feb. 25 show. Our first television exposure! Does anyone else see a similarity to VH-1's "Behind the Music"?
Feb. 25, 2002: We played a 2.5 hour show at the Angelic Brewing Co. and had a blast, despite some technical glitches and nerve-induced fumbles. Not unexpected for our first "real" gig. Thanks again to the 150+ friendly people who turned out to see us!!
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