With the pieces of the Dogs in a Pile jigsaw puzzle in place, the quintet of Jimmy Law, Joey Babick, Brian Murray, Jeremy Kaplan, and Sam Lucid were staunch in their commitment to getting things rolling immediately. It was 2019, and the time to get to it was afoot. On stage, the technical chops of the Berklee three blended perfectly with the raw, go for broke vibes Law and Babick were creating around the Jersey Shore.
It was crystal clear early on DIAP, while young, had the ability to hang with any of the “up and coming” jam bands. But talent alone can only get you so far. After dropping anchor in the Jersey Shore, the band found themselves in the middle of an exploding live music scene. It didn’t take long to build on a local fan base that had been supporting Babick and Law since they were children.
Law looks back on the importance of setting a solid foundation for the band during that crucial growth period. “Everyone plopped in, and it felt good from the beginning. We were all guys that love the Dead who got together and liked the way it felt playing music with each other. As a musician, it’s very hard to tell if it’s good or how it’s going to be received when we’re just jamming. When we got it in a live setting all our local friends are parents were like ‘Dude you guys have got to play.’”
For the reserved, low-key Murray, the welcome he received from the Dog Pound (the band’s rabid fan base) helped his transition in the band. “The Dog Pound has been there from the beginning. They existed before I came around. It started in the back yard of our friend’s houses and the Stone Pony. That’s the original Dog Pound territory. It has a huge role. We thrive on the love and energy from the Dog Pound.”
Continually playing gigs around the area, it didn’t take Murray long to find his place in the on stage mix. “In the beginning I was coming in as the new guy. Trying to fit in any way I could musically without stepping on what people were doing. Trying to fill in the holes musically the best way I could. Jimmy was playing a PRS. He was always on the bridge neck or middle pick up. I had a switch on my guitar to make sure I was on two and four. Or the ones he was never on. Whenever he was low on the neck, I was on high. Whenever he was high, I was down low. If he was playing fast rhythmic stuff, I would play long arpeggio stuff. That’s how I slowly joined the band over time. It trained me to play solid rhythm guitar. That helped with the development of the sound. It’s like that today. We can play alongside each other in a complimentary way.”
The setlists in the early days were full of covers from the band’s wide musical influences. Plenty of the Grateful Dead and Phish. Soon the covers would give way to a growing number of originals. Incredibly, just four years into their journey, DIAP had released two studio albums. Their debut Not Your Average Beagle in 2021 and Bloom in 2023. Prolific is an understatement to the amount of original music the band has created in such a short time. Law adds, “I like to write music a lot. Brian and Sam are profound songwriters. Brian has a knack for it. He’ll sit there with his acoustic and play 100 mostly done originals. Once he joined the band it took a big turn. Were able to write so much more music. He has that drive. It’s cool.”
Law continues, “You learn so much after college. Berklee has all these different workshops and classes that are specific areas of the music world. Brian, Sam and Jeremy have brought so much of that back to us. Jeremy is great at arranging songs. If a song needs help, it’s good to know who to look to go to. Berklee has so many things other colleges don’t that helped them and us.”
Murray also fondly looks back at the early days. “We wrote a lot with Owen Leonard. He’s credited on a few Dog songs. It was the excitement early on that got us cranking out song after song. When we started playing them for crowds and people were singing along it was like what the heck. It’s still like that today. It’s one of my favorite parts about this whole thing.”
While the Jersey Shore offered the band plenty of opportunity to get rolling, they would have to expand nationwide if they wanted to reach their much loftier goals. A major boost was getting their live shows turned around quickly, adding loads of content to Nugs, Spotify, You Tube and the other necessary social media sites. The tried and true method of giving the music away has been ingrained in Law since his youth, “My dad has been giving me history lessons on the Dead for years. What Jerry said about once we already played the music, we don’t care what you do with it. Everyone in the band can relate to that. Casey McCarthy, our internet/tech guy uploads everything for us. Getting our internet presence looking good. He helps with our data base. It was harder for our sound guy Brian a couple of years ago. He was working on getting a decent mix with our ever changing gear and microphones. Now our gear is solid on stage recording wise. It just takes a couple of tweaks, and we can upload it instantly.”
Murray offers his thoughts on the importance of the band’s social media presence. “It takes a lot of work to get that going. We have it set up where each live show the audio is released the next day. We have a great group of guys that have a role in making that happen. We have Kieren Tooker doing our video. He spends a lot of time editing and picking the right clips to feature. Our manager Ross Peterzell plays a big role as well. He posts everything to social media. He keeps that fresh all the time. Constantly cranking out content. When we’re off the road we spend a lot of time promoting. We’re very focused on keeping the fans up to date on what’s happening.”
With their music available to all, the band branched out across the country. Law notes, their residencies in Colorado and California in ‘23 and ‘24 established a presence for the band far from the sandy Atlantic City beaches. “Ross, our manager recommended we do some residencies. We did two in Colorado and one in California. Both were super successful. The last time we went back, those places were now packed. We sold out a bunch of shows on our January tour. Our Steamboat Springs shows also had sell outs.”
For Murray, seeing the rapid growth of the Dog Pound is a welcome sight. “There are different groups all over. There’s a big one in Philly, Denver, and California. There are folks who write about us all the time online. Share music. Share stats and talk about the lyrics and setlists. The take the band very seriously. They also make cool art for us and are super supportive and focused. We feel the love from them all the time.” He adds, “The Dog Pound ranges from children to people much older. There are people in their seventies and eighties that come to a lot of shows. The special thing about the Dog Pound is it’s a very inclusive family kind of thing.”
Law echoes Murray’s sentiments. “It’s cool to see after a weekend of shows, you go to the Dog Pound on Facebook and see all the new people commenting. It makes my day to see the people say I just got to the Dog Pound and want to get into the band. They’re curious and want to be a part of what we’re creating. It’s so beautiful.” Law continues, “They started as all our closest friends. They design all this merch and have all these give aways. They’re always giving love. They travel too. It’s great to go in the middle of the country and you look out and see someone from Jersey. It just changes the whole day. It’s like now we’re at home. Dog Pound representing.”
Over half a decade in with hopefully many decades to go, Dogs in a Pile have entrenched themselves in the jam band world. They’ve put in the time and miles and have seen just the beginning of what their bright future holds. With some attainable goals not far off, Law reflects on the start of a great ride. “We’re at the point where we’ve built some motion with our behind the scenes stuff. Now, we can put our heads down and focus on the music which is so important. Trying to write as much as possible and getting out new material to keep people interested. One of our goals is to move out of 300-500 seat venues. Keep building bigger shows. Nothing crazy. Red Rocks. That’s a healthy goal. I’ve never been there.”
Murray wraps up part two with his low-key approach to future goals. “My goals are to continue what we’re doing. We’ve been going at it for a while. Things are going to get a little more comfortable on the road soon. We’re looking to get our first actual tour bus. That will be great and improve morale on the road. Keep making music that is authentic to us. That makes us happy and is interesting and exciting to the fans as well. Expand around the country. MSG is definitely on my bucket list. It’s my goal. I grew up in Long Island. I was a half hour away from there.”
Coming up in a special Encore section with Dogs in a Pile, Murray and Law take time to reflect on their non-stop journey since the Berklee three merged with Law and Babick. Plus, what’s on the horizon for DIAP including details of their third studio album. Stay tuned.