Six Degrees Of Separation

It's not only who you know but it's who you know that may lead you to others. The path that lead us to Dead Dog Express began in the Spring of 1976.

Todd and I had gotten into some trouble in school that required us to get jobs to pay restitution. In our home town of Plymouth Michigan, a new dinner/dance club had opened by the name of Napoleon's where we found work in the dish room. As we got to know some of the wait staff, we met a girl named Amy. We found out that her brother, Bob, was a musician and had a small studio in the basement of the family home. She informed us that Bob would occasionally take on demo projects for other area musicians.

After exchanging the contact information, we contacted Bob and a few months later, we recorded our first demo at his studio. We would eventually record three different demo sessions at his place. These demos never really went anywhere but it did give us some valuable experience in developing our songwriting skills and gaining a better understanding of the recording process.

Several years later, as we were trying to reform the band, we were seeking a location for rehearsals. I had the thought that Bob might be able to assist in some direction. Once I contacted Bob, he mentioned that his mother had worked for local studio owner, Danny Dallas, who ran Sound Patterns DXM. He told me that Danny might be able to connect us with a situation that would work.

Gaining this referral, I called Danny to set an appointment. We met with Danny Dallas at his studio in Farmington Hills Michigan. He gave us a tour of his facility and we sat down and listened to some of his "war" stories. Initially, he had offered to let us rent place in an unused room within his building. As we began to discuss this option and negotiate an affordable rate, we all agreed that it would not work out.

Danny gave us a referral to his landlord, Gus, who owned several properties in the area. We contacted Gus McCreedy and arranged to look at some remote property he owned where he stored several pieces of construction equipment. There was an "out-building" on the property set off about 300 feet from the main road. We looked at the property and came to terms. Thus, we found what we would come to call - Dead Dog Express.