Zac Breitbach and Austyn Benyak make Dogs Run Free, a 2 piece alternative group hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. I saw them for the first time at Brothers Lounge in Lakewood, Ohio and was immediately impressed by their outstanding musicianship and stage presence. This was a particularly fun interview to conduct - Dogs Run Free is a group that values integrity, honesty, originality, and being genuine. Their commitment to fostering positivity within the community is nothing short of respectable - they’re certainly a band to keep your eyes on.
“To preface this first question, I usually keep about 4-5 songs on rotation at any given time. Does this apply to you two? And what might these songs be for you?”
Austyn: “Right now, I really like this song by Godley and Creme called ‘Cry’, I’m real big into the ‘Era Vulgaris’ album by Queens of The Stone Age, I’m gonna say the first song off that… ‘Turnin’ On The Screw’. ‘The Chariot’ - They Faced Each Other, I love that song right now. And… hahaha, The Used, ‘A Box Full Of Sharp Objects’ I like that one right now”.
Gavin: “That’s quite a solid collection right there.”
Austyn: “Thank you.”
Zac: “That is a solid choice right there… alright, here’s mine… brace yourself: ‘Born in ‘69’ by Rocket From The Crypt, been listening to that. I’ve been listening to, you know, the Blink 182, ‘Enema of The State’, since it’s springtime. It’s like spring energy for me.”
Austyn: “You have to pick one!”
Zac: “Let’s go… let’s go with ‘Mutt’ for that one, ‘Mutt’ by Blink 182. And here’s some other ones…”
Austyn: “This is a hard question…”
Gavin: “I know, isn’t it a great starter?”
[All laugh]
Austyn: “But it is cool though! I liked it.”
Zac: “Let’s do ‘Yours’ by Now, Now, and ‘Big Blind’ by Story So Far
Austyn: “There we go!”
Gavin: “I was gonna say, most of those I don’t actually know. I’m a huge fan of Queens of The Stone Age, and when I was in high school I had a Story So Far phase. Who didn’t have a Story So Far phase, right?”
Zac: “I mean, I’m still in it. So…”
Gavin: “I respect it. But most of those I don’t know, so I’ll have to go back and check them out and listen.”
Zac: “Yeah! I think they’re good choices in my opinion.”
“So that brings me to my next question. On the same topic of bands, what kind of groups have been influential to Dogs Run Free? When I listened to your discography this week, I heard all sorts of influences and covered all kinds of bases as far as sound goes.”
Zac: “Queens of The Stone Age... I dunno. We kind of are all over the place, and obviously you can tell that in the music, but… Queens of The Stone Age, Tears For Fears...”
Austyn: “I think Queens of The Stone Age is my big one. To be honest, Joey Castillo, the drummer from that era of ‘Era Vulgaris’, that is like, the coolest sound. So I would say that right now, and Tears For Fears, because we like the duo, and doing a whole production of a band but its being two guys is kinda cool. That’s what we were trying to do I guess.”
Gavin: “That’s an underrated approach. You see that with groups like The Black Keys, Royal Blood, The White Stripes, and sometimes people these days are returning to that. I respect what you’re doing there a lot.”
Austyn: “Right now we’re kind of copying what The Black Keys are doing. I love them, I don’t really listen to them anymore, but I loved them when they were really coming up. I’m crazy about their recording style, we’re working on stuff and that’s what I’m looking to because it's nice and primitive.”
Zac: “And I really like a band called Death From Above, it was just a bass and drummer. It's kind of similar to what we’re doing, but with a full band approach as for us, but they stuck with just a bass drum and some synths.”
Gavin: “It’s a good approach. Bass and drums are the most important.”
Zac: “That’s what gets people dancing!”
Gavin: “I was watching an interview with Stewart Copeland a few weeks ago. One thing that really stuck with me was his description of music being the only art form on earth that can usurp someone’s motor functioning. That’s not untrue!”
Zac: “Hopefully people will like to dance to us someday! We would like to try.”
Gavin: “When I saw you guys at Brothers, you were definitely bringing on the energy. You’re definitely on your way.”
Zac: “That’s what we’re hoping for. One day we’ll catch on, and people will get it eventually.”
Gavin: “With getting people to dance, it’s totally trial and error. I was in a group last year, and we were also really into the heavier albums of Queens of The Stone Age and we wanted to get people to dance to our stuff. There was a lot of trial and error and we never quite got it. We experimented with dancier stuff, but it didn’t catch on the way we wanted it to. My takeaway from that though is that it’s trial and error, you really just gotta try stuff and see what sticks.”
Austyn: “It’s really flippin hard.”
Gavin: “It is, yeah.”
“In the same lane of influences, what’s the story on how Dogs Run Free came together? Why are the dogs running free?”
Zac: “You wanna take this one?”
Austyn: “Zac and I met about… 10 years ago in school, and then I saw Zac’s one band, and I just wanted to be in that band because I had not played music.”
Zac: “And then eventually, he joined that band. And then we made another band, and that band fizzled out. And now we’re in this one. And that’s it, yeah. As far as, if you’re asking about the name, I just literally heard that phrase on an NPR story and thought it sounded cool.”
Austyn: “It sounded cool. And DRF sounds cool.”
Zac: “I’ve always liked three word band names. Like Box Car Racer, stuff like that.”
Austyn: We’re not that special. We’re not really deep.”
Gavin: “There’s a rule of three in writing. I wish I could give a better explanation… But using things in threes can actually increase impact like that. Don’t quote me on that though.”
Zac: “Well hey! Let’s hope that works!”
Gavin: “Band names are hard. I’ve spent so much time scrutinizing my own ones.”
Zac: “At the end of the day, you just have to find something that basically isn’t gonna make you cringe.”
Austyn: “I just don’t think about it anymore. That’s the best part.”
Zac: “I bet a hundred bands wish they could go back and change their band name, but it just is what it is. I like ours so far, maybe one day I’ll grow to love it. Or hate it. But, it's good! It works.”
Gavin: “Understandable. At the end of the day, you gotta do what works. So on to the next question,
“How did everyone start with their respective instruments?”
Zac: “So… I actually started on piano. Then I started playing drums, and then I started playing bass, then I started playing guitar. So I kind of fell backwards into playing guitar. I’m from a small town, and there were maybe like, three kids that would play instruments and that liked the same kind of stuff that I did. So, I kind of just had to fall into it, cause no one else really wanted to play music or could play music. Well, what about you?” [To Austyn]
Austyn: “Well, ‘American Idiot’ came out and I just wanted to be Billie Joe. So then I got a guitar for christmas, and got guitar lessons, that was in like, 4th grade. I was 10. My dad played drums and taught me how to play drums and got me a kit, and then bass just came out of necessity for this band. I bought a bass and just played it, that’s about it!”
Zac: “He played bass in the first band we played together too”
Gavin: “It sounds like you both do a little bit of everything. That's great musically, that covers a lot of bases.”
Zac: “That’s why we can do a two piece. And it's nice to have him up front with me and singing. Instead of behind the kit. We’ve done it the other way and it's not as fun.”
Gavin: “Thats understandable, since it can be really easy for a bass player to hide behind the drummer. That wasn’t the case for you guys, you had great stage presence at the show at Brothers where I saw you. I think that's important where, you know, you’re building your brand as a group. That gives a really good impression of who you guys are. If your goal is to get people moving, engaging with them is a great place to start.”
Zac: “Exactly – here’s some words of wisdom: you don’t get a second chance at a first impression.”
[All laugh]
Gavin: “That’s true. You really don’t.”
Austyn: “That’s funny…”
Zac: “That’s been my words of wisdom this past week. It's just been on repeat inside my head for whatever reason.”
Austyn: “Really!? That’s just been playing?”
Zac: “I can’t get it out of my head.”
Austyn: “Ai’ight! It’s true.”
Gavin: “I respect that. It’s good stuff.”
“More on the music and song side, what are the backstories for the new singles, IKYKTIK and Farm? What stories are they telling? I’m very impressed with how you cover a lot of ground musically as far as genre and songwriting goes. I wanted to ask a little more about lyrics and what stories are you telling. What does Farm refer to, and what does the acronym mean?”
Zac: “Farm is actually a cover song. It’s from Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, he was in Tiger’s Jaw and now he does his own thing. We’re supposed to do a cover in split with another band but it didn’t end up happening, so these two songs were like b-sides to the normal EP. They just didn’t fit on that EP. So we had these two songs and just put them out pretty much. ‘I Know You Know That I Know’ is kind of like my response to a song called ‘Real’ on the EP, it's kind of like the sister song. Kind of just took what he wrote for that song and ran with that storyline, if there even is one. That’s what happened.”
Gavin: “Cool, I’ll be sure to listen to that one. I was walking through Kent, where I live the other day, like in the uptown area… “
Zac: “We went to Kent, that’s where we met!”
Gavin: “No way! That’s sweet. When I was walking around there, I had your song ‘Camera’ on repeat…”
Austyn: “‘Camera’!!??”
Gavin: “I probably listened to it like 15 times yesterday. I really like that song.”
Austyn: “Would you think it would be cool if we redid that song?”
Gavin: “Oh yeah! I’d be all over it.”
[Both excitedly laugh]
Gavin: “If you had any reservations about it, I’d say this is your sign to do it.”
Zac: “Alright. We’ll take your word for it.”
Austyn: “Thinkin’ about it. Yeah.”
Gavin: “It stood out to me. I went to the artist page on Spotify and hit shuffle, that one came on and I was just like… brother, this is it.”
Austyn: “I love that song.”
Zac: “That’s one of the first songs we did together!”
Austin: “Yeah… the Spotify mastering just got it messed up. That’s why I don’t like that song. I’m just being nit-picky about it. But I like that song.”
Zac: “There wasn’t like, you know… a big budget behind that song. We can’t fault the mixing person.”
Austyn: “I can’t, no.”
Zac: “It could have been better. It’s a good song!”
“What has it been like navigating the Cleveland scene, and navigating Northeast Ohio? Any advice you’d give to new bands who are just starting out?”
Zac: “It’s kind of hard to be a band that isn’t like a punk or hardcore band right now. I don’t think there’s too many indie-ish, or alternative rock bands that are doing… I don’t know how to phrase it, but like, just trying do you know what I mean?”
Gavin: “When you say ‘trying’, what do you mean by that? Do you mean trying to be inventive? Trying to find a way up?”
Zac: “Maybe we’re just not in the loop with them. I don’t know any other bands similar to us in our circle, trying to tour, make records, stuff like that. Like I said, maybe I’m just out of the loop.”
Austyn: “But I do think… If you do want that brotherhood of that punk/hardcore thing, it definitely exists.”
Zac: “Yeah.”
Austyn: “If we were to try to do anything, we’d have to go through them. And it’s kind of like, we don’t really fit that. And we don’t fit anywhere else, so we don’t know what to do.”
Zac: “I like a lot of the hardcore and punk bands right now. I like that kind of thing. There’s a lot of cool bands right now, doing things in that scene. We’re not a hardcore band so we can’t just jump on a hardcore show… I mean, we could, we’ve done it before, but it's few and far and between.”
Gavin: “Being a niche is not necessarily a bad thing. It leaves a lot of room for forging your own path, it leaves a lot of room for being inventive. That’s a really important thing for a lot of musical climates.”
Zac: “We are still trying to navigate the scene, and we’re still trying to figure out how to get new people at our shows. It’s hard, and we’re trying to figure it out. If we come to a conclusion, an answer here, I’ll let you know. It seems like Delayed Gratification has it figured out, their shows are always poppin’, they always have cool bands.”
Gavin: “Is that a venue? Or is that a group?”
Zac: “It’s a label. It’s a Cleveland based label that does a lot of punk/hardcore stuff. And at their shows, they always have people I’ve never ever seen before. Trying to figure out what they’re doing right, trying to figure out some of that magic.”
Austyn: “I’m tellin’ you, we have to create our brotherhood…”
Zac: “Our own brotherhood?”
Austyn: “That's what it is. I swear, there’s somethin’ to that.”
Zac: “21 Pilots had it figured out.”
Austyn: “That’s what I’m saying. Being a part of a community? That’s what it's all about.”
Zac: “We need a cool symbol you can type in on the keyboard like they have”
[All laugh]
Gavin: “Being able to build community is a skill by itself. Being able to build community, outreach, is its own skill independent from just putting on shows. That’s a great skill that I respect. A lot of people post-covid feel isolated, and building community can be hard.”
Zac: “I think thats why punk and hardcore has had this explosion. It's very fraternal and community based. Obviously the music is cool, but obviously the community is a whole separate thing that I think more people buy into, even than the music.”
Austyn: “People really just want to… I mean, I want to feel cool. And if I was given a community that I could, wear some clothes and listen to the right music and then I’m automatically cool, that would be cool. But you know, since I think I’m such a [in a whisper] individual…”
[All laugh]
Austyn: “It drives me nuts to kinda do that. It would be my dream if we could build our own community, and maybe help people feel cool.”
Zac: “We’ve tried sounding like other bands, we’ve tried fitting in in scenes that we really had no business in… we’re trying to be ourselves right now. That’s where we’re at.”
Gavin: “At the end of the day that's all you can do, being yourselves and being true to what you believe in. I had a bass guitar teacher in high school who taught me to stick to my ideals without being a jerk about it. That advice has been with me ever since, and I think that’s the best thing you can do musically.”
Zac: “I think it's a good way to live life in general.”
Gavin: ”One hundred percent. And I think that’s an awesome goal you have, as far as community building. I have a lot of respect for that, and I’m very excited to see what you do with that.”
“We’re almost out of time here, so we’re going to have a quick lightning round, I say as I am about to ask a super loaded question. What is your favorite thing about Dogs Run Free?”
Zac: “Dude, we can be ourselves! We don’t have any genre we don’t have to stick to. We can do whatever we want. If we want to sound like, one thing, we can do it.”
Austyn: “That’s truly the biggest thing. Yeah.”
[All laugh]
Zac: “Round two…”
Gavin:” That’s very concise. That gets the message across. So, this is my last question:”
“If you were a household appliance, which one would you be?”
Zac: “Ooo…”
Austyn: “Tough question.”
Zac: “I’m gonna have to think for a second… what are the household appliances? Washing machine, dryer… dishwasher, but not everyone has that. Shower?”
Austyn “Oh my goodness… you know what? This is a hard question. An appliance??”
[Gavin laughs]
Zac: “Does a lawn mower count?”
Gavin: “I’d say a lawn mower counts.”
Austyn: “You know what, I’ll say this. The best part of my morning is drinking my coffee. It makes me so excited, I look forward to that every night. So I’m gonna say coffee maker. Cause I like to give some joy.”
Zac: “I’m gonna have to default to that one, or should I try and pick something else?”
Austyn: “Well, try and pick something else while I think…”
Zac: “I’m gonna say a refrigerator. You don’t realize what you have until you lose it.”
Austyn: “That's right!”
Zac: “A fridge will do that. Easily. It’s the unsung hero. The power goes out? You gotta keep that shut. You can’t get what’s in there.”
Gavin: “Makes you want it more.”
Zac: “Exactly!”
Austyn: “You need food for life!”
Zac: “And… it can make ice.”
Gavin: “I hate to cut this short, but we are out of time, and Zac and Austyn, I really appreciate your time tonight. Your commitment to being genuine, honest, and stickin’ to your ideals without being a jerk is really inspiring. I have a lot of respect for that. You guys take care now.”
Zac and Austyn said goodbye back, and like clockwork, our zoom call ends here.
.jpeg)
