BIOGRAPHY
In London right now, there's a strange sub-division of the music scene called new acoustic music (or cult indie folk as some might say) and when you go to one of these nights you find a lot of people playing a lot of new material in small clubs...oh and they're acoustic. The drink flows, the people play, the clouds of herbal tobacco smoke float and hey.......another night is over.
On just such a night you might be fortunate enough to have a HANK DOGS experience : imagine a laconic dysfunctional family playing guitars (and maybe a guest fiddle or accordion) together, singing songs of despair, hope, love , loss, death , visions, life and self defence. JOANNA "Piano" PACE still at the centre, a woman, a stirring voice and her enigmatic existential songs. On one side of her is ANDY ALLEN, riffing up a never ending storm on his diamond white guitar, in and out of bands for 20 years, including a spell in the SEX PISTOLS (after Sid escaped this mortal coil), with LIGHTING RAIDERS and then with The PROFESSIONALS. LILY RAMONA, a young angelic looking woman, is playing percussion on the other side, daughter of Andy (and of one of the SLITS!), voice from above.
After The Professionals Andy stayed out of music world until he met Piano, who was back in England having spent three years in Jamaica. He encouraged Piano to learn playing guitar and after a while she suddenly began to write songs with original and scary lyrics. Piano was mainly inspired by Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams and the various Vega, O'Connor, Chapman and Shocked, so at the very beginning (circa 1992) Hank Dogs played mainly covers. They also began to run a weekly evening at Peckham Easycome Acoustic Club (like RODDIE HARRIS of MIRO', A.D.SWEET or Tim Whitaker of TYLOR) and issued a ltd. cassette to sell at gigs. This one contains several songs now well known, but also three good otherwise unavailable songs, "Pipe Dreams", "Camberwell Beauty" e "Hank". After meeting again with old school friend MAX REINHARDT, Andy and his little band (already augmented by her daughter Lily) went in touch with the legendary JOE BOYD who did a little showcase for both Hank Dogs and KLETTER sisters (ex-BLACKGIRLS) at the Cecil Sharp House in 1996. At last The Hank Dogs signed to Rykodisc in November of the same year. "Bareback", their first CD, was supervisioned by Joe Boyd, produced with the help of ex-ALFALPHA/ACT SAM HARLEY, and released Spring 1998 by Hannibal. It made its debut at 16 in the UK's Virgin Roots Chart in May. Across Europe the release lead to enthusiastic enquiries from press, promoters, distributors and fans in France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
The band promoted the CD touring the UK from the Northern Isles to the balmy beaches of the South and, after a short tour on the West Coast in September, went briefly to Usa and France. The '99 sees the US release of "Bareback" in coincidence with a 6 weeks tour up there (mostly as support act for JOAN BAEZ) and back in UK for the April tour with Canadians RANKIN FAMILY. May and June should see Hank Dogs in studio for some new recordings.
The long awaited "very" difficult second album (working title was "Sailor", but mutated later in "Half Smile), still produced by Joe Boyd, should be issued at last on the 21st of May 2002 by SpinART label, meanwhile the Hanks still go on managing the Easycome Acoustic Club at the Ivy House every wednesday, giving room to loads of new emerging talents.