Love Dog
What's Our Deal
Love Dog is a continuing story of one man’s struggle to share a vision. Anchored by frontman and singer/songwriter Jason Witt, the music has been an ongoing adventure since 2003. The founding members are Jason Witt and Dain Silva. The band name evolved from Dain’s appreciation of the bands Mother Love Bone and Temple of the Dog and Jason’s 90’s rock influence.
The duo burst onto the Colorado Springs, Colorado music scene by frequenting open mic nights. Some of their favorite haunts were the Ancient Mariner (now Armadillo Ranch) and Benny’s. With a mission to spread their music, they played almost anywhere they could. Some of their favorite local venues were Louie’s Pizza on Tejon St, The Triple Nickel, and Kin Folks.
The Colorado music scene was dominated by thrash metal, bluegrass, and cover bands, but Love Dog never let that dampen their spirits. However, they felt it did cause them to have a revolving door of musicians. Along with the music, their crowd-friendly shows helped them rise to the top.
The first EP, Changing for the Best, was released in 2004. It all started with Jason sitting down with Vanessa White, a frequent band member of Love Dog, at her home studio and laying down some demos on an old Tascam Portastudio 414 MKII 4-Track Cassette Recorder. For unknown reasons, Dain didn't participate in this impromptu session.
In 2006, the first studio effort, Letters to Myself, was recorded at a local studio (E Double G Studios) in Colorado Springs. Although the studio typically worked with rap and R&B artists, they were excited to branch out and convinced us to work with them. Letters to Myself was intended to be an acoustic album. However, after the tracks were laid down, Dain decided to go back and add bass and drums. It came out wild and crazy, and they chose to run with it in true Love Dog fashion. The title track, Letters to Myself, was the first song that Jason and Dain wrote together. After much success in the local area, around 2008, Dain left the duo to pursue other musical projects. The two have always remained close friends and still jam together when possible.
From late 2008 to early 2009, Jason continued to play open mics. Eventually, he teamed up with a young airman named Dan Wise. Dan and Jason’s first studio effort was a single called Pleasure and Pain, recorded with sound engineer Greg Connava, at his local studio in March 2009.
Later that year, working with the amazing Christina Corbitt, aka Sunshine, at Sunshine Studios in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jason and Wise completed a new acoustic Love Dog album, Do You Wanna Go.
From there, they met up with bass player Eric Headle, whom they were introduced to by long-time friend and former band mate (FIN) Jackie Sampsel. Although the drummer position remained a hot seat, Love Dog was evolving into a legitimate full-fledged band for the first time.
In 2010, Love Dog continued to pick up steam in the local area and released a new EP named La Mala Muchacha. This EP was Love Dogs’ first full band studio effort, recorded in their practice space with the help of a sound engineer, J-Rugg. During this time, they briefly experimented with moving into the Outlaw country genre, adding a dobro player, Kelly Walker. By this point, Love Dogs’ reputation was spreading around the region. Unfortunately, soon after the release of La Mala Muchacha, they were thrown another monkey wrench. Dan Wise's military obligations called him away for a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Love Dog continued performing shows while they waited for Dan's return. At this point, Walker had left, and their sound started returning to a heavier sound. Once Dan returned, Love Dog attempted to update its image by changing its name to Jackwagon. Everyone knew them as Love Dog, though, and after a few shows, they decided to stick with the original name. They continued performing shows for a few more months, but unfortunately, personal life matters impacted several members, and eventually, everyone parted ways.
Jason still writes and records music under the Love Dog banner but has been working as a solo artist ever since. However, the ball is rolling once again with the new album release. Keep your eye out. You never know when Love Dog will rise from the ashes once again. After all, it's hard to keep a good dog down!