By Fiona McMeekin

Eugene should prepare for a whole new paradigm of rock and roll as Dogs By Desgn enters the music scene. The all-transfemme band from the deserts of Utah is here to shake up expectations of eccentricity with nothing short of theatrics. Bonnie Donnaville, the lead singer and bassist, gives us a taste of what to look out for, saying:

“For the people around here, they can look out their window, they can look out any window of their choice, and they'll see trees and green and rain. Little bits of dew cling to the leaves even now. And maybe their whole life, all they've ever heard is forest music and forest songs. But this band, this band is from the desert, where there are cactuses and little green things running around the sand, which is what we call the ground around there. So maybe this might be the first time they ever hear a desert song.”

Alongside what one could only describe as swamp funk or eclectic torture music – although classifying this music into any type of genre is difficult as one song is drastically different than the next, performances by Dogs By Desgn are filled with spastic monologues and skits creating an engaging performance even amidst a song change.  

Inspired by the works of Daniel Johnston, Bonnie Donnaville recruited the talents of Loutenent Fish (Madi Gascar) on drums creating the very first Dogs by Desgn album “Feed Your Head,” commemorating Johnston after his passing in 2019. Although “Loutenent” was initially unintentionally misspelled, the pair grew to like their play on the word in a similar fashion to their band name, saying, “language should sound pretty and look just as pretty.” The dynamic duo was officially coined Dogs by Desgn after a dehydrated stroll in the orange deserts where the somewhat delirious Donnaville and Fish heard a small shrill emanating from a well in the middle of nowhere Utah. Stumbling upon this random structure, the two saw a skeletal-like man dried up at the bottom of this barren well, staring up at them with jarring yellow eyes. Using an oddly convenient rope on hand, Fish and Donnaville pull the man up to safety. The only words he utters, as he points a long bony finger, is “Dogs by Desgn” before collapsing in their arms. From then on out, the two decided they would go by nothing more and nothing less. 

Since then, the two have created several albums of strangeness that taunt the overwhelmingly “straight man music” of Eugene. In conversation with Donnaville, she said:

“Eugene has this kind of, like, aura of, like, wannabe weirdness. You know what I mean? It's like everyone's like, yeah, this place is so weird. And there's, like, billboards and things like, keep Eugene weird, but I don't know, you go around, you listen to the music and all… It's very straight. It's a very straight-man kind of music. And I ain't like talking sexuality, but, you know, you don't really hear a lot of “out there” things. Mhm. And I think that this town deserves a better class of strange.”

Wanting to escape the rural desert that pairs well with a special type of transphobia, Bonnie Donnaville and Loutenent Fish headed West to Eugene to explore the band scene hoping to put a stake in their name. Since moving out here, Dogs By Desgn has recruited a new guitarist, Nat Smith, who is currently being trained on the ins and outs of how to be a dog. The three are working hard on tuning and prepping for shows on the horizon.

Dogs By Desgn is also currently working on recording a new album, “Swamp in a Smokescreen,” a series of sweet folk songs that could be best described as suitable theme music for “Perks of Being a Wallflower.” In the meantime, two of the Dogs by Desgn albums and a single are available for listening on Spotify and listeners can follow their Instagram @dogs.by.desgn to stay updated on the latest Dogs news.

Donnaville suggests newcomers listen to “Ranam” off “Amathon,” “Mazda Man” off “Feed Your Head,” and my personal favorite “Moons” off “Amathon.”Happy listening!