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For Immediate Release
August 6, 2015
Contact: hilary@epitaph.com
Dr. Dog and Pig Iron Theatre Company Join Forces For
SWAMP IS ON
At Philadelphia Fringe
Popular indie psych-pop outfit, Dr. Dog and genre-defying company Pig Iron Theatre Company have joined forces to create the concert and theatre spectacle, SWAMP IS ON. Featuring all new music from Dr. Dog, SWAMP IS ON is a DIY concept-concert with shades of the X-Files. Pig Iron performers and designers assemble a unique “handmade” live video feed that provides visual translations of Dr. Dog’s songs and soundscapes.
After the discovery of a cassette tape of unknown origins, The Dr. Dog Pop Detachment and The Pig Iron Psychedelic Signals Auxiliary launch an extraordinary staging of encoded pop music and live video transmissions to communicate with the elusive Psychedelic Swamp. The scientists, artists, and cryptographers conducting the experiment have it on good authority that the ideal time to begin transmission is September 9-12, during the 2015 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. This attempt at contact will commence each evening at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. Doors open at 7:15 each night. SWAMP IS ON begins at 8 p.m. Curious individuals of all ages are needed. Admission requires a $30 donation to the study. Donations can be made at www.utphilly.com, www.fringearts.com, Por at the Fringe Arts Box Office. Those participating are advised to wear proper footwear as there are no seats for the experiment.
Since 2002, the Dr. Dog Pop Detachment have received puzzling messages from a man named PHRASES. In the face of government interference, scientists and cryptographers will gather at Union Transfer, a former railway junction turned music venue, vowing "to agitate the cosmic order and commune in real time with the sights and sounds of another dimension."
Those ready for the journey are encouraged to bring old cassette tapes (the ones they can say goodbye to -- permanently) to the Swamp to get them shucked and decoded. Mix tapes from forgotten lovers, old light country cassettes, or blank tapes with a tangle in them — all magnetic tape from cassettes is welcome. SWAMP IS ON seeks a critical mass of combined magnetism to unlock the secrets of the Swamp.
Following this experiment, Dr. Dog will play a full concert of favorites.
Facts
Performance Dates
Wednesday, September 9, 8 p.m.
Thursday, September 10, 8 p.m.
Friday, September 11, 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 12, 8 p.m.
Location
Union Transfer
1026 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA
Support for SWAMP IS ON is provided by PNC Arts Alive and the Knight Arts Foundation.
About Pig Iron Theatre Company
Founded in 1995, Pig Iron Theatre Company is dedicated to the creation of new and exuberant performance works that defy easy categorization. To date the company has premiered 30 original works, garnering praise from audiences, peers, and critics. The New York Times hailed Pig Iron as “one of the few groups successfully taking theatre in new directions.”
Rather than beginning work from a script, Pig Iron begins with an idea and with bodies moving in space, allowing the ensemble to forge the piece through focused improvisation and discussion. This unique creation process has yielded an extraordinary array of performance pieces ranging from minimalist to maximalist, from dance-theatre to cabaret. Pig Iron’s original creations have received two OBIE Awards, two Total Theatre Awards from the Edinburgh Fringe, eight Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre (and 40 nominations) and a listing as one of the top 10 productions of the year in the New York Times. Pig Iron’s work has been developed in residencies at New York’s Public Theatre, Toni Morrison’s Atelier program at Princeton University, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Playmakers Rep, and La Jolla Playhouse among others. Pig Iron’s productions have been presented at Dance Theatre Workshop and Abrons Arts Center (NYC), Z Space (San Francisco), Woolly Mammoth (DC), Festival Konfrontacje Teatralne (Lublin, Poland), Teatr Rozmaitosci (Warsaw, Poland), Camden People’s Theatre (London), October Arts Festival (Ennis, Ireland), Strictly Mundial Festival (Salvador, Brazil), the Under the Radar Festival (NYC), as well as six tours to Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2015, Pig Iron partnered with the University of the Arts to begin offering an MFA in Devised Performance. The partnership will continue to offer a two- year Certificate in Devised Performance at the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training.
About Dr. Dog
The Philadelphia-based Dr. Dog are part of a long tradition of D.I.Y. pop oddballs who blend unapologetic ’60s pop worship with lo-fi recording techniques and an apparent disregard for current trends. Their first recordings, The Psychedelic Swamp (2001) and Toothbrush (2003) received a low-key, self-distributed release. 2005’s Easy Beat was picked up for distribution by the indie label National Parking. Following its release, the band toured with My Morning Jacket and M. Ward and performed several well-received sets during the 2006 South by Southwest festival in Austin. The stopgap EP Takers and Leavers was released in September 2006 in advance of We All Belong, which arrived in early 2007. In the summer of that same year, the group released Fate, the band’s most polished production to date and their highest charting album, peaking at number 86 on the Billboard 200 and earning positive reviews from outlets like Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. After touring in support of the album, the group signed with the ANTI- record label and released 2010’s Shame, Shame, a modern album that featured more guitars than the band’s earlier work. Following the release of Be The Void in 2012, the band set to work building their own studio, a process that found the band refreshed enough to release another album, B-Room, in 2013. In early 2015, the group released their first live album, Live at a Flamingo Hotel.
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