We Spoke With Dogs In A Pile About Their New Album “Distroid,” Playing Jerry Garcia’s Guitar, Inspirations + More [Interview]

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1 month ago

Dogs In A Pile is a rapidly rising jam band that demands your attention. From their recent residency at Garcia’s in Chicago, sharing their grooves nationwide, and playing renowned festivals like Bonnaroo, Hulaween, and dozens more, this burgeoning act just dropped their third studio album, Distroid

The band formed in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and consists of Jeremy Kaplan (Vocals & Keyboard), Brian Murray (Vocals & Guitar), Joey Babick (Drums), Sam Lucid (Vocals & Bass), and Jimmy Law (Vocals & Guitar). In 2021, the group released their first record, “Not Your Average Beagle,” and followed that with their sophomore project, “Bloom.” On top of that, they’ve released multiple live albums to streaming services.

Now, Dogs In A Pile has a collection of over 100 original songs and never uses the same setlist twice.

For their 2025 album, Distroid, the band is bringing out all the stops. With their third full-length studio effort, the Dogs really find a way to encapsulate their live show experience into the album format. With a mix of previously heard fan-favorite tracks from past sets and fresh new originals we are experiencing for the first time, Distroid is another stellar addition to the rising star band’s growing discography.

It’s got unique storytelling, just like all of their work, that’s playful yet equally powerful. Merging funk, jazz, and rock with psychedelia, the Dogs have concocted yet another elegant, kaleidoscopic adventure for their quickly growing fanbase.

We had the chance to speak with Jimmy from Dogs In A Pile about the new album, alongside both the band’s and his personal influences, a busy festival season, and so much more in this HIHF exclusive interview. Jimmy’s also an avid bass music fan, so you know we had to ask about that as well.

Big thank you to Dogs In A Pile and their team for setting this up! Let us know your favorite track of Distroid down in the comments or on socials below.

HIHF: We’re here with Jimmy Law, from Dogs In A Pile, to chat about their brand new studio album, Distroid. Jimmy, thanks so much for sitting down with us. What should fans know about Distroid?

Jimmy: So this is really the second time we’ve been able to go in and take the reins with full creative control. Brian Masella, our sound engineer, and Jeremy, who went to Berkeley to be a music producer, were the two main heads behind the computer. We went out to California and recorded in a really nice studio. It was great being able to take things to another level with this one, while still being our unique, goofy selves with the recording.

We got all of our backing tracks down. We didn’t have any outside producers. So we picked all of these songs that we have been playing for a while, that we at least felt like we’d been playing for a while. We just picked a handful that seamlessly fit together, and it just worked. All the energy we put into this album feels super real and very authentically us.

The songs we picked have really become some staples of our catalogue.

HIHF: Who are some of the band’s initial influences? What about you as a guitarist?

Jimmy: The band really bonded over our love of The Grateful Dead, so even though that feels like a cop out, it’s definitely our biggest inspiration. They’re really the reason we’re a band. Their songs are the glue behind all of this. A lot of us, either our parents listened to the Dead, or we discovered them on our own.

I grew up loving classic rock. Zappa. Steely Dan, AC/DC. Phish of course. We all fell in love with Dopapod at Peach Festival on Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA in 2019.

Me personally – for my playing – Jerry Garcia is obviously the main one. My dad had all of the “View From The Vault” Grateful Dead DVDs and we used to watch those all the time. I loved playing Jerry’s stuff, but I used to dress like Bobby Weir and just strum a guitar in front of a TV watching those.

My other main inspirations were Derek Trucks, Trey Anastasio (from Phish), Jimmy Herring (from Widespread Panic). Led Zepplin. I love Alice in Chains. Pearl Jam. Pink Floyd. My dad was seeing a lot of shows post-Jerry. Shows with Warren Haynes, who became my next big inspiration. I got a Gibson Les Paul for Christmas, due to being into Warren’s playing.

HIHF: Well, that’s a great transition – earlier in 2025 you had the chance to play Jerry Garcia’s actual guitar – how did that feel? How did that happen?

Jimmy: It really was all because of Jason Schooner. He’s a longtime Deadhead and collector.

He collects instruments with historical significance. He’s not even a player. He buys them so he can share the joy of playing them with the community.

He bought Jerry’s Travis Bean from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Sam Lucid from the band played Phil Lesh’s bass too that night.

This was the guitar that Jerry played at Cornell ’77, a huge, legendary Dead show to the fanbase.

You could basically feel Jerry’s energy on the guitar. It brings such an otherworldly feeling to anyone playing it because you just feel it, it’s such a timeless piece and such a unique guitar. Jerry gave it the sound that it was supposed to have. That’s what he did with all of his guitars; that’s how I really feel.

HIHF: We got the chance to see you at All Good Now Festival in Columbia MD, at Merriweather Post Pavillion earlier this summer. What other festivals have you enjoyed this year?

Jimmy: Even though the festival was cancelled after Thursday, we really had a great time at Bonnaroo Thursday night. It really felt like a big moment for us as a band. We also loved Hulaween just a few weeks back.

HIHF: What about when you are on the road or back home, just trying to relax or ground yourself? What kind of things do you do to keep your head clear? Any fun hobbies or anything you’ve picked up lately?

Jimmy: We watch a lot of HBO. We just finished Chernobyl, it was an incredible watch. We take it pretty easy, honestly. Try to find the best dispensary or thrift shops or Goodwill in the area. This run we are on is four days in a row and then three days off, so it really takes us those full three days to recover. Joe and a lot of us like to go to the gym. We have Planet Fitness memberships. We try to do that whenever we can.

I just got a mandolin! I’ve been trying to play that every once in a while. Hopefully more of that.

HIHF: Now you’re just finishing up a huge accomplishment for the group – a three-week residency at the legendary Garcia’s venue in Chicago. It’s six shows across those three weeks. How does that go about getting set up? Tell us about how that came to be.

Jimmy: So we just finished our last two nights at Garcia’s, the last night was an album party where we played Distroid all the way through. It’s really an honor. You know, Pete Shapiro, he’s the owner. It’s an honor to be asked by him and to feel like we are under his wing for a bit. He’s been making us feel very welcome at all of his venues. Seeing his excitement and seeing him at our shows makes us feel very good.

HIHF: Something that fascinates me is the mythos, or lore, behind these characters and stories jam bands tell in their work. Obviously you’ve got Phish’s Gamehendge but I also love Twiddle‘s and Goose‘s new worlds they’re creating. I just wanted to ask if there is anything like that in the creation of some of Dogs In A Pile’s recurring characters in their tracks – Craig and Pat, Johnny, Thomas Duncan, Nicolette – are these characters you’ve developed or is it just more like shouting out your buddies?

Jimmy: It’s kind of half and half. Craig and Pat are absolutely real people whom we have known for a long time. Family friends who didn’t know each other at first. They basically were picked as two random people who we think “its gonna be funny when they meet one day”.

We all kind of wrote that together, in a way. Honest, very simple humor.

As for Johnny, Johnny is Sam, our bass player.

Nicolette is not a person. Thomas Duncan is also fictional.

HIHF: What did they do to Thomas Duncan?

Jimmy: That’s really an interpretive question. Very deep, the world will never know. Or, maybe they will?

HIHF: We saw you on Instagram rocking a Kursa sweatshirt. He’s a super talented producer and one of our favorites here at HIHF. Who are your favorite experimental bass artists? How did you get into bass music?

Jimmy: Two of my best friends in the whole world put me on – both actually are named Casey – two of my favorite people to listen to with electronic music.

Casey S – he brought me to see Bassnectar in Atlantic City 2017. He said “Listen, this is what I’m into, come check it out.” He’s actually very eclectic. He’s not really into the hype and more into the music. He’s more of a nerd about the actual production.

Then – Casey D – Our parents were deadheads together. He started hanging out with another kid we went to school with. That kid went to Florida and started going to festivals…that’s where it all began.

We all started going together and started to see a different side of the festival scene, and really dove into bass music. Camp Bisco 2018 really got us into it.

I’d say my favorites are Eazybaked, Tipper, Detox Unit, Jade Cicada, Mickman, and Resonant Language. I also really like riddim, or ‘trench’.

My four favorite electronic albums are “The Reach” by Charlesthefirst, “The Chrysalis,” by Rhizomorphic, “Bad Vibes” by Shlomo and Jade Cicada’s “Brood V11.” I also want to shout out Nic Baker – Vide and Insp3cter – those are my boys.

HIHF: Thanks so much for chatting with us, Jimmy. Be sure to peep Dogs In A Pile’s brand new album Distroid below!