Album Notes

"Thumbscrews" originally appeared on Dogs of Winter's debut EP Cut Down To The Quick (www.cdbaby.com/cd/dogsofwinter). This two-song single features their blistering cover of the Chris Isaak classic, "Wicked Game" as the B-Side


It's hard to believe that a band born out of a broken hand and 3 bottles of hydrocodone painkillers could approach their music with such ravenous aggression, but if it weren't for a trip to the emergency room, Dogs of Winter may never have come into being. After shattering a metacarpal in his left hand, Brian Grosz (vocals/guitars) walked away from a guitarist position in a floundering NYC rock act and decided that it was time to take matters into his last, good hand. Over the following six weeks, with a head full of pills and the confines of a plaster cast, he began sketching what would later become the Dogs of Winter repertoire: a collection of dark songs that revolve around doomed romances and abusive relationships.

Grosz was no stranger to being a vocalist: he's been working as a voiceover artist for years for clients like Chase Bank, Rolaids, VH-1, American-Standard and Lycos. But that work was a far cry from the gravel-ragged intensity that Dogs of Winter was going to require.

He quickly recruited childhood-friend Dave Valle on drums and former collaborator Seth Berkowitz on bass (the two played together alongside future members of The Bravery in Conquistador) and the trio began their soldier's march into the fray of the NYC rock-scene.

With shadowy melodies, barbarically sexy rhythms and bursts of angularity, Dogs of Winter can best be described as Post-Hardcore; blending elements of Quicksand, Queens of the Stone Age, Cop Shoot Cop, Soundgarden and even Tom Waits.

For more information about Dogs of Winter, please visit www.dogsofwinter.com.