Country Fried Punk Rock

December 2007: Featured Musician

Nik Flagstar and his Dirty Mangy Dogs draw heavily upon a wide assortment of influences to create a sound that is truly unique with a punk rock edge, but also with the familiarity of down home, classic country and bluegrass.

“‘Indiebilly’ is the word I came up with to describe it,” said Flagstar.

Flagstar and his band dip their hands into the past to find inspiration from Hank Williams Sr. and Ernest Tubb to the more modern sounds of the Clash and Dead Kennedys.

If this is confusing to the average person, Flagstar and his group enjoy the paradox, and Flagstar himself loves to expound on the roots of his music.

“They’re really all the same.” said Flagstar. “It’s American roots music from the South. Funk is sped up blues. Rock is country and the blues sped up. You put an old 7-inch punk album on and turn it to 35 and it sounds like country music.”

It’s this provocative mix that has sent the band onto whirlwind tours throughout the Southeast.

“We’ll play in a place with 20 people one night and the next will be over 200,” he said. “We love the energy and to get the kids up and dancing.”

Starting the band
Flagstar was destined to be a music lover from the beginning. His parents both played music around the home and Flagstar soon joined in, playing along on piano. As he entered his teen years he picked up the guitar and hasn’t looked back since.

“My mom loves country music – the old stuff like bluegrass with Jimmy Dixon. My pops, he’s an old biker dude,” Flagstar said. “He got me started on the Beatles, CCR and Steppenwolf.”

This convergence of country, bluegrass, gospel and early rock-and-roll would forever influence Flagstar as he began to discover other forms of music, such as punk and metal.

When he turned 17, he began what he calls the Nik Flagstar Project, which in turn became a different series of bands over the years. In the process he met J. “Panhandle Slim” Pecker, who plays bass in the Mangy Dogs, and when a new drummer was added, the set became Nik Flagstar and his Dirty Mangy Dogs in 2005.

“The drummer doesn’t like to use his real name,” said Flagstar. “We just call him ‘The Black-Faced Bandit.’ He wears an executioner’s mask, and it’s really just an inside joke.”

Although the name of the band may imply that it’s solely Flagstar’s baby, he said the name itself is indicative of the band and their sound.
 
“We’re a unit. The name is more of an aesthetic choice. It goes back to country with Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three and groups like that.”

The band’s love of sifting through the past to find inspiration mirrors Flagstar’s private life as an archaeologist.

“The two are definitely related. It’s not about doing anything new, but realigning what came before,” said Flagstar. “It takes a certain type of person to sift through dirt and trash for an old piece of glass. It also takes a special type of person to sift through a record store searching for the rarest of the rare Hank Williams Sr. albums.”

Writing music and performing
As a contractor for Eglin, Flagstar spends a lot of time alone walking through the woods. But, these aren’t wasted moments for a man whose mind is always in motion.

“I never write a song the same way. They just hit me. I’ll write them down on napkins or whatever I have around. I lose a lot of them,” Flagstar said laughing. “When I’m walking out there I just think. It can’t be too organized, otherwise it kills my creativity.”

These songs get hammered out with the rest of the band in a slowly evolving process.

“They’re complete before anyone else hears them,” said Flagstar. “The live experience can change a song, depending on the energy of the crowd. The tempo can go way up or way down.”

Performing is what thrills Flagstar, who relishes getting the audience pumped up and out of their seats. Preferring smaller concert venues to bar gigs, the band has toured relentlessly throughout the region and has gained more and more fans.

The band is on a brief respite after touring from Dothan, Ala. to Austin, Texas with their friends, the F’N A-Holes, who come from Mobile, Ala.

The Mangy Dogs do play locally and Flagstar says he’s noticed an increase in interest for his brand of music.

“Around here, the Downtown Brew has been really supportive,” said Flagstar, “and in Pensacola you have the Handlebar and Sluggo’s.”

Recording albums
On their brief moments of down time, Nik Flagstar and his Dirty Mangy Dogs are working on their second album tentatively titled “Wolf” which they hope will be released in late 2008.

“It’s going to be a full-length CD. Right now, we’re getting the songs together,” Flagstar said. “I’m also working on a solo project called ‘The Heritage’ which is going to be pretty low key.”

Nik Flagstar and his Dirty Mangy Dogs released their first album “Coyote,” a six-song EP, in 2006 under the Black-Faced Bandit’s label, Headline Noose. The album can be purchased at their live shows or on the band’s MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/nikflagstarandhisdirtymangydogs.

Gaining recognition and support
The band has received support from around the country. Radio Free Bakersfield, out of California, has highlighted the band during one of their Podcasts. Radio Free Bakersfield gives much needed exposure to independent punk bands throughout the country.

The strong sense of community in this country-fried punk rock scene has only gotten stronger with the explosion of the Internet.

“The Internet is great,” said Flagstar. “It gave the power right back into the hands of the people. My success and popularity will be based solely on me, my songs and how hard I work.”

Flagstar believes that the current uproar over file sharing is tedious and that it’s just another example of people reclaiming their power from record companies.

”This has all made punk rock that much more universal. You play the music you want and the people at your show want to hear.”

Finding Nik Flagstar and his Dirty Mangy Dogs
Nik Flagstar and his Dirty Mangy Dogs may be pioneers of the “indiebilly” sound, but they reach into the past to pave the way for the future of their music. With a punk rock attitude and a country sensibility, the sky is the limit for these local rockers as they burn their own trail on Hank Williams Sr.’s lost highways of the Gulf South.

For more information on Nik Flagstar and his Dirty Mangy Dogs, or to purchase their CD, visit their Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/nikflagstarandhisdirtymangydogs

You may also purchase their album “Coyote” by visiting  http://flyingmonkeyrecords.com/catalog/zencart/