Lost Dogs find unity
in their differences
Bangor Daily News October 22, 2002

Taking three frontmen from successful bands who are also occasional solo performers and putting them together in a single group might seem like a complicated dynamic.

That hasn't been the case for the roots-rock trio the Lost Dogs, who will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Camden Opera House.

"We never had ego problems, for some reason," explained lead guitarist Michael Roe. "We had worked that out by the time we started the group. We feel more like fishing buddies than band mates. The older you get, the more likely you are to concede a point rather than argue, because you just don't have the energy."

That's not to say Roe and his mates, Derri Daugherty and Terry Taylor, can't be contentious. But it's a fun contentious.

"It's good-natured arguing, all tongue-in-cheek," Roe explained by phone from his California home. "It's like arguing at the dinner table. It means nothing."

The three all are leaders of successful Christian bands. Roe (from the 77s), Taylor (DA, the Swirling Eddies) and Daugherty (The Choir) joined with Gene Eugene (Adam Again) in 1992, and produced four albums together. Then Eugene passed away in his sleep in 2000 at the Green Room, the recording studio that produced all of the Dogs albums until that time.

His death is something that the group is still getting over, as suggested by the title of its fifth album, "Real Men Cry."

"The fun will never come back all the way," Roe said. "It's 25 percent less fun, 25 percent sadder, but we're still having a lot of fun. Gene is still very much a part of our group. We talk about him every day. We miss him a lot, and loved him more than we realized at the time. But life still goes on."

The band's next album, "Nazarene Crying Towel," just needs to be mastered, and is set to be released next spring by BEC Recordings. They're now in the midst of their fall tour.

Taylor is the group's primary songwriter, with Roe and Daugherty pitching in.

"We're got one prolific guy and two procrastinators," Roe said. "The prolific guy wins out, and the procrastinators contribute occasionally. Terry does his best writing for the Dogs, I guess because he's challenged by our musicianship, our tunesmanship, if that's a word."

At most shows, each of the Dogs will play a solo set, then they will join together for a Lost Dogs set.

Although each has come out with a solo album in recent years, their main outlet these days is the Lost Dogs, which started out as a side project.

"We're so old and wretched that our original bands have lost their relevance," Roe joked. "We enjoy each other's company and the time we spend together. We've grown into [the Lost Dogs] as a primary source of expression, rather than a secondary band of choice to be in."