Split Dogs – January 2025 Interview
“I think we appeal to people differently because we look so different on stage. Harry’s on stage in a sequin outfit, dancing like Tina Turner with a full-pelt rock’n’roll band behind they/them, and I don’t think you often see that in 2025, especially from a new band. It’s curiosity; not morbid curiosity though.” (laughs) – Mil.
This Punk77 interview with Split Dogs was conducted over WhatsApp with the band in a Morrisson’s caff in Weston Super Mare on a wet late January 2025 Monday morning as the band was about to go to rehearsal. The glamorous world of rock’n’roll eh!
Though called a Bristol band, the members live all over the place in London, Stroud and Weston Super Mare so they have to travel some to rehearse. The lineup has now stabilised to.
- Harry Martinez: Lead Vocals
- Mil Martinez: Guitar / Vocals
- Susie Boyle (Suez Boil) – Bass
- Chris Huggall – Drums
It’s this line up that’s delivering a highly visual righteous unholy stew of Punk and rock n roll meets Tina Turner, Slade & Status Quo and which makes them such an exciting live and recording prospect.
It’s also a surprise package because on paper the lineup, look and sounds shouldn’t work but it’s one of the beauties of rock ‘n’ roll that get the right people, attitude and approach, bend those influences and it can just magically click.
Later this month they release the highly anticipated second album Here To Destroy on Venn Records and they have given a number of teasers for it.
In the beginning before Split Dogs there was…
Susie: My first band was The Walking Abortions in the mid to late 90s when I was 16 and played the bass. We played the first Holidays In The Sun in Blackpool. We were the opening act and don’t think it was even midday before we hit the stage. It was mad. Like we didn’t get anywhere to stay so we just slept in a bus shelter. I didn’t play for some twenty years so it’s nice to be doing it again as a grown up with this lot and it’s wicked. [legendary! – see picture right from 1996 with Susie on right]
Chris: I used to be in a band called Mouthwash, which was like punk/ska kind of very London-sounding band back in the day. We toured a lot and did a record with Tim Armstrong’s Hellcat label, but then unfortunately things went wrong. I hadn’t played for 12 years and I’d resigned myself to never playing another gig again until Mil got in touch.
Left Mouthwash circa late 1990’s
Mil: I grew up playing in, like, punk and Oi and rock’n’roll bands. I used to sing and play guitar. A lot of bands but nothing of any major notoriety, and it was always around the London punk scene. Then I moved to the West Country and stopped playing for about 13 years and just was playing at home doing little bits of things. Then during the lockdowns I started writing again and Harry started writing with me and we started putting stuff together that led to the first album.
Harry: I have been in other bands before, but not like not like this. Not playing the music that I really, really wanted to play. I’ve kind of like, dabbled. I joined a little soul band when I was younger with a friend and a few different things singing wise, but this is my first proper band.
Influences
Harry: I love lots of different things, like just anything that really has like a big groove. I love Motörhead. T Rex, Slade, The Cramps, Status Quo and boogie woogie rock’n’roll and just stuff that you can dance to. That’s what gets me going.
Susie: 1976/79 classic UK punk, Nirvana, Metallica, Faith No More, early nineties Metal & Grunge, New York thrash but also a little soft spot for the old classic rock. There’s too much narrow attitude in punk that you have to like just this or that but we don’t have that here. We talk openly about our influences and love a wide range of music.
Rocking the denim, double denim & flares!
Down Down Deeper and Down!
Mil: The album really shows a lot of the influences I’ve had in songwriting and stuff like I’m hugely inspired by the sort of early 2000s era of European rock’n’roll bands like the Hellacopters and stuff. I felt that I feel that there’s like, so many elements of rock’n’roll that get missed out in punk music and kind of deemed as not punk rock but were so important to it.
People at some point just found Status Quo so cheesy and naff. Now when we’re playing shows, people come up to us all the time and be like, oh, that’s a bit of a Status Quo riff in that song. That’s really cool.
The first album was kind of a little bit paint by numbers where it was me getting back to songwriting and Harry finding their/them feet in songwriting with punk music. The new album definitely shows a lot more of our influences and a lot more of our passion towards other genres because I don’t ever want the band to just be pigeonholed as a punk band. I love what Lemmy used to say, that Motörhead wasn’t a heavy metal band; they were a rock’n’roll band.
I think punk is more of an ethos than a genre, and I think that so many sounds fall under the banner of punk. This album’s pushing the boundaries for ourselves again; to enjoy the sounds that we like a bit more and less to appeal to people that want to think they’re going to like it. There’s so much great stuff that doesn’t get touched in punk.
Recording the new album at speed
Harry: I think it really it really helped us. It was very do it, listen to it back, is that good? Yeah we all like it. Job done. Don’t overthink it and don’t over produce and take the soul away. It was done in like two 2 1/2 days. I mean it was budget as well that made us work that fast but Pete the producer also suggested to work that way and it worked out well.
Mil: I think the one thing the first album didn’t show was how good we are as a live act and how excited we are about playing music, and this album captures that, though when we recorded Here To Destroy none of us had actually played a live show together.
I feel like the first album was like the demo album. I’m super proud of it and people buy it and they love it. So it’s so fucking cool to have people who still want to buy it.
But this one is more what we want people to see and the sound we want people to hear and stuff like that. What’s more I’m really so excited after doing this album about the progression to the next album and being able to utilise what we know now and spend a bit more time on the songs.
Harry: We’re all really proud of the Here To Destroy album but talking personally,I know that I like being able to play songs live first to test them out and we’ll be doing that more. We did a new song yesterday, so we’ve already written stuff and we’re all really excited about it.
Favourite song then off this album that you like to play.
Harry: Meg is dropping just before the album comes out and we filmed a video for that at Marshall Studios with a smoky seventies homage/vibe done on a stage live backed with loads of Marshalls stacked behind us so looking really powerful.
Susie: To be honest we often just play any of the album songs in rehearsal or whatever, and we’ll just be like, that’s a banger!
The album has songs about life in a seaside town And What? Being talked down to Precious Stones Northern Soul clubs Lafayette and …..Be A Sport featuring a cowbell, football song bovver beat and lyrics about tupperware & hate! What’s that about?
Mil: Be A Sport is a play on words as in “you’re a bit of a cunt!” and then obviously the football bits comes because loads of rock n roll and Oi bands used to do it. It’s a little nod to all the old punk songs you used to listen to as a kid.
Success?
Chris: We’re on our way to San Tropez now. (Laughs). Remember they are sitting in a Morrisons café.
Mil: Yeah, we are starting to get some really lovely opportunities and offers for this this year in particular.It’s just cool, isn’t it? Like we’ve all been in bands when we were younger. We all know what it’s like to have to beg promoters for a show. So when you do start getting an e-mail through going “Hey, man, do you want to play this gig?” It feels lovely and you’re always grateful.
I still get blown away like when we played at Redditch and it was packed. We didn’t know any of the people and it wasn’t like it was our friends.
Harry: “My friends don’t like the band!” (laughs)
Harry: But for us, it doesn’t matter if there’s 20 people there or 200 people there, we’re gonna rock this house like you would not believe and just be fearless and put on a wicked show. We always give it.
Mil left (uses a Telecaster, Gibson SG and if a big enough van a flying V! and Susie right – Photos – James Collins
Typical audience –
Harry & Susie: Redditch actually was we were talking about it earlier with this little girl aged 7 that was just at the pub playing darts with they/their brother and didn’t know that there was going to be a show on. They/them heard us in soundcheck and became our #1 fan.
Mil: We played in Lewis last week and we had an old fella in the front of the audience and he was hugging a bag of almonds and he was like he was rocking out. Even Harry at one point was like, “Are you alright mate?” And he’s like “I’m doing my night my way!”
We just want people to when they come to a show to be able to let their hair down and just have a good time and forget about all the shit that’s going on and just let loose.
So what do you think sets Split Dogs apart?
Susie: I think it’s two things. I think it’s Harry and the songs
Mil: I think we appeal to people differently because we look so different on stage. Harry’s on stage in a sequin outfit, dancing like Tina Turner with a full-pelt rock’n’roll band behind they/them, and I don’t think you often see that in 2025, especially from a new band. It’s curiosity; not morbid curiosity though. (laughs)
Harry: I think it’s all of us are just being ourselves as well. We all give each other the safe space to be able to do what we want and express ourselves. We enjoy it for us first. I think that’s really important. We’re a band that really kind of champions everyone’s passion for things, even if it’s not punk music.
Mil: I think that’s a huge thing growing up when you first form or join bands that you almost don’t wanna go out of your comfort zone for fear of being judged or fear of not liking as cool music as your mates do. Like, that’s a huge thing. I know in my 20s I wanted every member of my band to think I was cool. I didn’t want them to think I was a nerd. So if I had come in and said let’s do a Status Quo number they would have all laughed at me.
So how do you think the music scene is now for yourself and younger bands?
Harry: I think that music always finds a way to survive and it always will. Like all the different punk communities found a way to continue. People still want to connect and putting aside how where you find music now is different those communities are still there trying to put their stuff out trying to find they’re trying to find each other. You know, things like TikTok can be really great to help you find the music that you love. If you can’t get out to shows or if you don’t live anywhere that necessarily has a scene or didn’t know there was a scene, you can still find those people online and connect with them.
Mil: I think the coming out of lockdowns gave a lot of the younger sort of punk generation a bit angst and a lot of stuff to talk about. I don’t pass us as a political band at all. We’re just a rock’n’roll band. But there is incredibly great politically driven punk stuff coming out at the moment and they wouldn’t have been coming out if it wasn’t for the lockdowns.
The modern way is people now have had to utilise social media in a better way to sell their music and that sucks in one way. You’ve got to play this fucking game where you have to post because if you don’t your band won’t be in an algorithm and you won’t get any followers that month or whatever. But at the same time, we have to still connect.
Bands have come out of what I believe was a really shitty situation and I think I think there’s two sides to the coin. You know a lot of venues are shutting down because there’s not much money in live music venues. Do I see that there’s not enough bands coming around? No, not at all. It’s all corporate now where it’s the big promoters who are running venues and not using local promoters through our venues and things like that. So it’s just changing so much.
It’s a monster that’s eating itself in a weird way, so it’s about all of us just got keeping on playing rock ‘n’ roll!
Punk77 Postscript For me Punk was always a broad church that went from Eddie & The Hot Rods to Cabaret Voltaire and all points in between. In 2025 with bands like The Meffs, Loose Articles, Lambrini Girls and of course the wonderful Split Dogs on the rise, punk/alternative/rock ‘n’ roll has just as wide a remit and looks very healthy.
Split Dogs Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp
Photos are taken from various sources online – if they are yours please contact me and I’ll credit them.
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