Dr. Dog and Pig Iron Theatre make 'Psychedelic Swamp' rise from the muck at Union Transfer
Back in 2001, the Philadelphia psych-rock pop band Dr. Dog made a cassette-only album called Psychedelic Swamp. The concept album concerns a man named Phrases who gets trapped in a marsh, where he receives an encoded tape from outer space that needs to be translated into music by Dr. Dog.
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Back in 2001, the Philadelphia psych-rock pop band Dr. Dog made a cassette-only album called Psychedelic Swamp.
The concept album concerns a man named Phrases who gets trapped in a marsh, where he receives an encoded tape from outer space that needs to be translated into music by Dr. Dog.
Naturally, the album, never officially released, has attained mythic status among fans. And at Union Transfer on Wednesday, a packed house got to hear it brought to life most imaginatively in Swamp Is On!, a collaboration between the band and experimental Philadelphia troupe Pig Iron Theatre Company.
The performance - followed by an intermission and a more-conventional hour-plus Dr. Dog concert - is being presented through Saturday by the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. (Friday and Saturday's shows are sold out.)
The concept is that the members of Dr. Dog, led by Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken, are working with scientists in lab coats on a stage set with a giant satellite dish and lots of retro gizmos to try to contact Phrases and receive transmissions from the swamp.
The playful enterprise is brought off with panache. Scary-looking Secret Service-Men in Black-types roam the crowd, surveilling the scene. On stage on the pseudo-1950s sci-fi movie set, the Pig Ironers hold McMicken upside-down while he plays a guitar solo, or cavort in costumes that make them look like alien castaways from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.
In one bit, Dr. Dog musicians do their best One Direction boy-band choreography while the video screen, which alternates between prerecorded collages and a live feed shot on stage, announce "The Number One Hit of the Complete Century." By the end, Phrases emerges covered in cassette tape, a singing Creature from the Psychedelic Swamp.
The staging was ingenious, but what made the whole thing work was the music. Dr. Dog has a knack for buoyant melodies and a snappy groove - kudos to drummer Eric Slick - as the crowd-pleasing closing set made clear. But the revelation was just how fully formed, and full of heart and soul, the alleged experiments are. The show succeeds - and will hopefully live on past this week - because the music is worth retrieving from the swampy past.
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Dr. Dog & Pig Iron present "Swamp Is On!" through Saturday at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. Tickets: $30. Information: 215-232-2100, www.utphilly.com.