Slaughter and the Dogs’ glam-punk roots

Slaughter and the Dogs witnessed key points in U.K. rock history, going from emulating glam-rock heroes in the mid-’70s to being on the ground level for punk. The classic Manchester band’s founding guitarist, Mick Rossi, lives in Los Angeles, while the rest of the current lineup, including original singer Wayne Barrett, reside in France, but the group continues to share its U.K. glam-punk classics with crowds across the globe.

Forming shortly before U.K. punk broke in 1976, Slaughter and the Dogs had strong glam-rock leanings early on, thanks in part to Rossi’s guitar hero and friend Mick Ronson. “Everything I am as a guitar player is because of Mick,” Rossi says. “I met him as a kid and he took me under his wing.”

Even after discovering punk, Rossi stayed in contact with Ronson, who played guitar on Do It Dog Style cuts “Quick Joey Small” and “Who are the Mystery Girls.”

Perhaps the most storied Sex Pistols show was at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall on June 4, 1976. According to legend, members of the Fall, Joy Division, and the Smiths were in attendance, and were compelled by what they saw to form their own bands. Slaughter and the Dogs were the opening act. But like their peers, the group’s musical core was shaken that night. “We were watching the Sex Pistols sound check,” Rossi says. “Steve Jones started the first chords of ‘Anarchy in the UK.’ What we witnessed at that sound check let us know music was going to change ... We went back and accessed how we wrote songs.”

Though most fans come out to hear classics, Slaughter and the Dogs are still crafting new material. Songwriting for Rossi and Barrett is different now that both are on different sides of the globe; both artists take advantage of the digital age. “I’ll come up with a riff and make a song out on the guitar musically, and I’ll send it to Wayne and he’ll send it back,” Rossi says. “We also use a lot of Facetime, which is amazing because it’s like having him in the room.”

An album of these new compositions may be recorded after the band’s five-week European tour this fall, with downtime on the current tour used to refine the songs.

While the group won’t play its classic 1978 debut, Do It Dog Style, in its entirety, like it did last September at the Masquerade, cuts such as “Where Have All the Boot Boys Gone” perfectly capture the band’s glam-punk sound, shaped by encounters with the likes of Ronson and the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten, and remain staples of the band’s set. “We’d be stoned if we didn’t play certain songs,” Rossi says. “You hear bands saying, ‘I’m sick and tired of playing that song,’ when people know who they are because of that song. We are the opposite.”

Those familiar hits have aged well while still capturing the spirit of the glittery glam and gutter-punk vibes circa ‘77.