Interview: Dead Dog Summer

Thoughts Words Action recently caught up with Croatian melodic hardcore band Dead Dog Summer to talk about their brand new album, Building Again, released via Geenger Records and their own label, My Last Station. In our conversation, the band opened up about the songwriting and composing process behind the record, the lyrical themes that drive their music, and what the future holds for Dead Dog Summer.

Stream or pre-order “Building Again” on vinyl HERE

---

First off, congratulations on Building Again! How does it feel to finally share this record with the world after everything you’ve been through since A Place of Someday?

Igor: Thank you very much, it feels great! We are very satisfied how everything turned out, we finished the last recordings in August of 2025 so everything happened pretty fast. The whole process was a little bit different cause we recorded this album in 3 or 4 sessions, we didn’ t record everything in one take like we did with A Place of Someday. First single Scars was recorded in December of 2023 I think. And it took us two years to finish everything because we were pretty busy with playing shows and festivals in 2024 and first part of 2025. Then we decided to finish everything in summer this year so we turned some ideas into songs and that was it. It is always a little scary to release the new music out, especially the second album. You know the story about second albums, right? Cause for the first record, we had some songs before the band even existed and had 2-3 years to write them and a lot of time to play and practice them before recording. With this album we didn’ t have that privilege, we actually didn’t do it that way. But at the same time we did our best with Building Again and we are really proud of it. The plan was to not release it first on streaming services but wait for the vinyl, but we were too excited to not share it with our friends 😊.

You selected “Scars,” “Believe It,” and “Bridges” as the lead singles introducing new material. What made each track stand out as a strong introduction to the album’s sound and message?

Igor: There is really nothing special about those tracks and why we chose them as singles. The thing is that in these times that we live now, you need to be present and fresh always so we decided to release new songs from time to time. As I said Scars was recorded in December 2023 and released in January 2024 as a first single and that song and Believe it was the first songs we wrote for the album but Believe it was recorded in March 2024 if I remember correct. So that was the only reason why we did it that way. Those songs when you look at it now, represent the sound of the album very good. Bridges was the third single that we released this year and this is where the album title comes from. 

Did you ever consider other songs as singles, and if so, what tipped the balance in favor of those three?

Igor: For now we are not considering other songs as singles cause the album is out and this story is now out but you never know… As I said earlier, there was nothing special about that those 3 songs were singles, it was the only material that we could share with the world at that time, the only one finished. 

In what ways do those singles reflect the flow of the entire album? Are they gateways into different emotional or musical themes you explore in Building Again?

Igor: The flow of the album is always very important for us, for instance album opener is Bridges and this is the song about closing one chapter in life and opening the new one and building your whole life once again… It looks very easy now when we talk about it like this but the whole process is much more complicated… It is not like the shift overnight. Scars is the song about the stuff that made us where we are as a person, every little thing that happened to us and scar us and we are not aware why we act like we act in some situations. And when you became aware of them, then you find some traces that remind you of something and you are at the beginning again hahaha… The whole album is about the rebirth as a person and a constant change for better. When we were writing this albums, tons of personal stuff happened in our life that reflected on our music and lyrics. As nature have seasons, we have them also in our life the point of this record is, whatever shit you go through, if you invest in yourself, you can build the life you want, leaving the past behind and embrace the future cause we are the only ones who creates our today and tomorrow. 

Walk us through your writing and composing process now: do ideas emerge in isolation and then get shaped together, or is it a more collaborative effort from the start?

Igor: The writing process for this album was a little different than for the first one. All the songs were written in our rehearsal space, somebody always have some idea and the we play it for a little and it usually take some time to turn those ideas into a songs. So we can say it is more of a collaborative effort on Building Again. This time it wasn’ t like, Kreso or me had the whole song, we practiced it and then record it. The approach to writing lyrics was also pretty different, we always write lyrics when music is done and then we change them to fit the atmosphere of the song. I always have some topics I would like to sing and talk about and then I write the story about that. 

Did you adopt new methods, demoing at home, using new gear, and arranging differently, compared to your first album?

Igor: Not really, we recorded this album by ourselves, well we have a new rehearsal space and studio and that is it. When we have a new song we first record a demo of it and then listen to it for a while to see what we need to change and to write lyrics and when the song is “done” we start to record it for the release. We used different amps and guitars on this record just because we have them and we like how it sounds if somebody is interested in this. The guy behind the mix and master is the same, Ivan Jakic who you may know as a guitar player in Ponor but he is doing production and recording at the same time in his Kut Sobe studio. He is our longtime friend for more than 25 years and he just knows how those songs need to sound so it was an easy collaboration as always. But we did something diffent this time, we recorded some songs before we really learn to play it live so we are now rehearsing new songs for the upcoming shows hahaha.

How do you balance the interplay between melodic, heavier, atmospheric, and aggressive parts in these songs? Is that intentional from the start, or does it evolve naturally?

Igor: There is no plan when we are writing songs, this song will sound like this, we need a heavy or melodic part, it is just a natural evolution or something. What is changed on this album is that there are less guitars parts recorded cause as we are playing live as a trio we wanted the album to sound raw and as band sounds live. You can record tons of overdubs and when you play live it sounds empthy. There is no secret formula how many heavy or melodic songs should be on the record or this song should start heavy and then we will change it to melodic etc. What I never liked was bands with heavy screaming vocals on verses and then singing choruses cause all those bands sounded the same to me and you could predict every part of the song. This time we maybe have more melody on this record but that does not mean we will play only melodic stuff in the future.

Looking back on A Place of Someday, what would you say are the biggest changes in writing, performance, production, and mindset that shaped Building Again?

Igor: The only difference in writing process was that most of songs was written as a collaboration of all 3 of us and not just an individual who brought the finished song to a rehearsal and that is it. We were working on some parts for months maybe until we got something that we liked, we changed the parts, lyrics etc… Difference was also in recording cause we recorder songs as they were finished so our friend Jakic had a problem how to make them sound similar in the final mix and master of the record 😊. Sorry about that hahaha, we will not do it again. As we were playing in different bands for almost 30 years we knew how we wanted everything to sound like and when something is done and finished.

What lessons, musical, logistical, interpersonal, did you carry from your debut into this new record?

Igor: We did it the same way as we did the first album, we recorded it by ourselves, worked with the same guy who mixed and mastered the first record. What we did differently this time is that we had few songs out before the album, well we did that also with the first one but this time first single Scars was out almost 2 years before the album is out. We did 2 videos and one lyrics video before the album came out and we know we will not do that with the 3^rd album cause the waiting period is too long 😊. But we wanted to share some new songs and stay fresh. 

Has your approach to recording, mixing, or mastering changed?  

Igor: As I said earlier, not really.

What thematic threads run through Building Again? Are there recurring themes or lyrical perspectives you wanted listeners to pick up on?

Igor: Building again is the album about the rebirth and standing on your feet again stronger cause many things changed in our lives in the last 3 years personally, we lost some friends, we changed some personal views on some things, I can say it was a strange period of my life personally but that got me here where I am today and everything was a really good lesson. I really care and it matters to me what I sing about and I must resonate with the lyrics. That is why it took me so long to write them, music is easy to write but to write about personal stuff is kind of hard cause you must exit your comfort zone and share it with the world. Some of the songs started from the dark place but I always try to look the situations from the different point of view. But I am very happy that the last song that I write for this album Paint The Sky is a happy positive song, that is my state of mind right now 😊. I think somebody wrote somewhere that our lyrics are covering topics about midlife crisis, we are all in mid 40-ies so this is where we are now maybe hahaha. 

Musically, were there new influences or artists you gravitated toward during this period that helped push your sound in fresh directions?

Igor: Not really, we are trying to listen to new music and bands everyday, but most of the music that influenced us is from late 90ies and early 2000s cause it is the music that shaped us in what we are and defined our sound. Maybe the new sound is more melodic with less screaming and more singing but we did that cause we liked it that way much more, even it is easier to scream than to sing. We are never writing songs with prediction how it will sounds like, we have some parts and then we work and them and that is it. On this record we have some songs with fast parts, some slow post-rock parts, some melodic parts, some mosh parts haha, there is no secret formula how to write a song. But it still the same band and the same sound, it is not that we changed the sound like new AFI which I like very much by the way.

Did you aim to lean more into your hardcore roots, expand toward melodic/post-hardcore dynamics, or find a new hybrid identity this time?

Igor: Musically we never really plan to write songs in just one style, we listen to a lot of different music, from mid 90ies hardcore, melodic hardcore, old-school, new school, metal, post-rock, pop, 80ies hard rock, everything… And all that have some influences in our sound. It is the mixture of everything that we like.

Which songs are you most excited to play live and why?

Igor: We always like to play new songs because they are new and fresh and we need to learn how to play them. But we will combine the old and new songs on upcoming gigs cause I peronally don’ t like when band release a new record and then play only new stuff cause people still don’ t know the songs. We like to play all songs live, sometimes we play a cover or two but that happened maybe only once or twice. Right now we like to play Paint The Sky, Traces, Screens of hope, but we also like to play Diamonds and Thorns, Sometimes, Scars, Believe it… We like them all and are proud of all of them.

What are your plans next: touring, videos, or more experiments?

Igor: Plans are always big, we are now waiting for the vinyl release and we have some shows booked for this and next year, we are planning a tour next year and play as much as possible to promote this record everywhere. There will be new batch of merch cause you need to have it and people like it and we like it, there is no plan to record any more videos from this release and then we will start to work on some new songs and start it all over again. We are very excited about the upcoming gigs cause this is why we are really doing it. It is not only about the music but also traveling, hanging out and seeing old friends and meeting the new ones. It is the best feeling you can have.

Finally, if you could leave listeners with one thought or feeling after they finish the album, what would you want it to be?

Igor: I hope you like it as much as we like making it. Tell us what you think about the album, feel free to write us, speak to us at shows. If you are booking shows in your area, invite us to play in your city hahaha. We always try to be positive in our lives so that is what we try to transpose to our music and music saves lifes. It is great tool to not only smash the system but also to improve your everyday life.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions. Anything you would like to say to our readers at the end of this interview?

Igor: Thank you very much for this interesting interview and for the space on Thoughts Words Action and everything you do for our little universe that we call hardcore or punk. Listen to the record, buy it if you like it, go to shows, support local scene, young small bands and if you don’ t like the scene right now and everything is fucked up and was better in “your time”, do something about it. Cheers!