Where could The Dogmatics have hoped to fit in during the mid-1980s? New wave had given way to pop and hair metal was still in the rising portion of its Icarus trajectory. Minneapolis was pumping out indie hits under the radar and a nascent grunge scene was bubbling under in Seattle, a revolution in the making that would soon burn the wings of hair metal bands everywhere, sending them crashing back to earth.
So how does a Boston band that plays a combination of garage rock and snotty doo-wop find a path? They were good enough and had enough cred to open for artists like The Replacements, The Bangles, and Beastie Boys, and were well known in their hometown. Was there a niche there to be found, a path to, if not rock ‘n’ roll glory, at least rock ‘n’ roll paying the bills? Unfortunately we’ll never know for sure as The Dogmatics broke up when bassist Paul O’Halloran died in a motorcycle accident in October, 1986, the same year their sophomore album Everybody Does It came out. They eventually re-formed and put out new music starting with some singles in 2019 and culminating with the 2025 album Nowheresville, their first full-length in almost 40 years.
Everybody Does It combines garage rock, rockabilly, a dose of punk, and a dash of doo-wop to give us something, well, fun. And that’s enough. I can imagine what The Dogmatics must have been like live in the 80s – jumps, kicks, denim, probably some smokes and beer as well. They sound like the perfect bar band, the one everyone in the scene knows and who are good enough that you’d go out on a Tuesday night to see them, even though you know you’d have to go to work on Wednesday morning hung over and smelling like an ashtray. The album includes a pair of covers, Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers “My Little Sister’s Got a Motorbike” (1977) and a modified version of Dion & The Belmonts’ “A Teenager In Love”, altered to be about, well, drugs, and changing the chorus to “Why must I be a teenager on drugs?” The winner to my ears though is “Everything Went Bad.”
You can learn more about The Dogmatics, including watching a 90 minute documentary about the band, on their website HERE.