Artist: Rock Ranger, Album: Rock Ranger, Song: Doghouse

Rock Ranger were a three piece rock band from Sydney, Nova Scotia.  The band formed in 1999 and by 2001, released their self titled debut.  They were Jay Smith, Mike Morrison and Dan Bauldwin.  Their sound was throwback rock akin to fellow Atlantic rockers, Sloan and Thrush Hermit (see blog 9/5/10).  They played on the east coast primarily and were nominated for an East Coast music award in 2002 for this album.  That is actually how I discovered this track, Doghouse.  They had strong support from college radio and some video rotation with Much Music.  By 2003, the band had shared stages with fellow retro rockers Tricky Woo (see blog 2/4/11), By Divine Right (see blog 2/19/11),  Danko Jones and Bionic.  Coincidentally, their sophomore release was produced in Toronto by Ian Blurton from Bionic (see blogs 11/22/10, 6/30/11).  Sadly though, that album would be their swan song.  Lead singer, Jay Smith, went on to play with Matt Mays & El Torpedo before embarking on his own solo career.  He has also co-written songs with Gordie Sampson (see blog 4/27/11).  You can follow Jay at http://www.myspace.com/jaysmithsongs.  You can check out the song, Doghouse, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb1y6piOwXg).  The self titled debut is a very rare find today.  At the time of this blog, I couldn't find any copies available for sale online.  The song, Doghouse, was also included on Much Music's 2002 ECMA compilation entitled, The Dog & Pony Show.  Amazon has one copy of this compilation for sale on their Canadian site for $10.  You can also check out a fan site for the band at http://www.rockranger.fws1.com/.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!