In a city where every third person has a guitar pick in their pocket and a publishing deal on their mind, The Velvet Dogs are something of an anomaly. No original songs. No country. No Skynyrd, no Seger. Just a group of middle-aged guys from Bellevue who get together to play hard rock because it's what they love. And because, as band founder and bassist Ed Atlas puts it, somebody has to.
"There's a law in Nashville that every middle-aged guy or older has to be in a band," he says. "We're the most un-Nashville band, I think, that's out there. We take a little bit of pride in that."
The origin story of the Velvet Dogs is, depending on how you look at it, either a cautionary tale or an origin myth. The story begins with a Guitar Center bulletin board, a forgotten flyer, and a co-founding member getting kicked out of his own band.
"I got kicked out of it because I was such a terrible player," Atlas says. "It was the band I co-founded and I got thrown out." But that was nearly 20 years ago. What followed was a long and winding road through roughly fifty or sixty potential bandmates before the core Velvet Dogs lineup finally took shape about 13 years ago. That lineup held together for over a decade before naturally evolving into its current incarnation. Leaner, harder rocking, and built around a handful of players who share a specific vision of what a night out should sound like.
The band's name traces back to a small, unpretentious bar in New Orleans, right across the street from Preservation Hall. "It was the most inconspicuous bar you would find," Atlas says. "No neon. It was just a little shotgun bar, neighborhood. It was a real neighborhood vibe." The Velvet Dog didn't survive Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but the spirit of that place lives on in what the band is trying to do.
As for the sound, Atlas describes it simply. "We're the but rock band," he says. "Nothing but rock." The Velvet Dogs play harder, more modern rock — Staind, Breaking Benjamin, Shinedown, Linkin Park, music that is, as Atlas says, about "20, 25, 30 years old." They take pride in playing material that most bands don't or won't attempt.
"We take our playing very seriously," he says. "We try to be the best we can possibly be, but we don't take ourselves seriously at all."
One of the most compelling recent additions to the band is Atlas's son, Sam, a freshman at Belmont's Curb School of Music. Sam has been around the band his entire life. In fact, there's a photo of him at six or seven years old playing a djembe in the middle of a practice session. When the band needed a bass player about a year and a half ago, they asked Sam to learn six songs and come to practice.
"He came in and sounded really good," Atlas says. "Then we're like, 'Hey, learn these six more for next week.' He came back and it sounded like a band. So we just said, 'OK, that's it. You're in the band.'"
Sam has since switched to guitar. Which means Atlas, who had never played bass before in his life, is now holding down the low end. He says, "I have no idea what I'm doing," But watching his son play from across the stage has made every fumbled note worth it.
"He plays with this joy and fearlessness that I hope he never loses," Atlas says.
Bandmate Kevin Murakami, a guitarist and owner of Kevin's Rock and Roll Emporium in Fairview who has been with the band since the beginning, noticed it too. During a recent practice, he leaned over to Atlas and said, "This has got to be such a proud papa moment for you." Atlas agreed, but with one caveat. "I can't really pay any attention to him because I'm just afraid I'm going to train wreck everything on bass right now."
The other bandmates include lead vocalist Vivak "V" Bhatt and drummer Andy Byrn.
Ask Atlas what The Velvet Dogs are really about and he'll tell you it has nothing to do with fame, fortune, or even tips — though they've eventually made peace with the Venmo tip jar that Nashville's bar culture seems to require.
"A lot of guys play golf and a lot of guys are starting to maybe play pickleball," he says. "None of us do any of that. This is what we do and this is our recreation."
The goal is simple. Play 10 to 12 quality shows a year. Play music that challenges them. Give the people in the room a good time.
"My advice to all," Atlas says, "Get out and play. It's so much fun and there's no such thing as going on stage and embarrassing yourself."
The Velvet Dogs are currently booking upcoming dates around Nashville. Follow them for show announcements at VelvetDogsBand.com