Before Wiredogs' new album is release tomorrow night at The Marquis Theatre, we asked lead vocalist/guitarist Dan Aid to give us his favorite tracks for a Pregame Playlist and to explain himself a bit more with words that aren’t blasted into the microphone.

Wiredogs is that band in town everyone should claim they’ve heard at least once to hold any kind of substantial coolness in the collective scene. The structure of the punk-rock trio elicits nothing but classic style, but is accessible enough they may very well be the reason a younger generation grabs hold of the old-school anti-establishment punk teachings and carries it over to the next.

“Kill The Artist, Hype The Trash” is Wiredogs new album and this Saturday, Jan 24 at The Marquis Theatre it will be released out unto the world for everyone to dig into. Before that happens, we asked lead vocalist/guitarist Dan Aid to give us his favorite tracks for a Pregame Playlist and to explain himself a bit more with words that aren’t blasted into the microphone.

We read the title 'Kill the Artist, Hype the Trash' was from an Iggy Pop encounter a few Riot Fests ago: Did you decide to use that as your title because you wholeheartedly agree with it and nothing else, or does it somehow mean more to you than just a statement?

Calling the album Kill The Artist Hype The Trash was our way of carrying on a tradition in music that we grew up in and love. None of us would be who we are in the world, or be doing music at all, if we hadn’t discovered punk — and Iggy Pop is the Godfather of punk — so when you’re lucky enough to be in a room with him, you listen.

By calling the album KTAHTT it’s our way of pointing directly to what we see is wrong with our industry, and this album we made is our response. We made this record as honestly as we could. We wrote it together. We recorded it live, standing in a room together to 2 inch tape, so if one of us screwed up we had to go back in as a unit and perform the song again. There’s no auto-tune on the vocals, the choruses of the songs don’t all hit 30 seconds, the drums aren’t quantized, there’s no trigger on every fucking hit; It’s not a ‘perfect’ record, but we learned a hell of lot more by putting out something that truly represents who we are as musicians and people, then by putting out something fake.

You worked with Andrew Berlin again at the Blasting Room; why is it so important to Wiredogs to work with him and record at that particular spot (aside from it being the baddest-assest Colorado has to offer)?

I think we all wanted to be comfortable doing this record. We chose Andrew and The Blasting Room not just because it sounds amazing, but because Andrew is really easy to work with. We knew we wanted to do the record live in a great sounding room, and there’s not many places to do that in Colorado.

As an artist do you really feel like your fans are listening to the lyrics with intent, or do you see them as fruitless and a lost cause at times?

I obsess over my lyrics. I write every day. I know how much it means to me when I find a songwriter who has taken the time to craft stories in a way that makes them personal to the writer’s life, and yet accessible and relatable for me the listener. As I writer I set out to do that with every song I put out.

Whether or not those lyrics have an immediate impact on the listener comes down to my ability to connect. I feel like in general I’m getting better at engaging with audiences, but when I don’t connect, the last thing I do is blame the listener. Ultimately people are listening to our songs or watching us live because they want to have a conversation with us around our music, and I take it upon myself as the writer of the songs to start that conversation. I think the greatest test of your lyrics is when you look out and you see someone in the audience singing your words, and using your words to tell their own story.

Does the music industry need saving? Can it be saved? What do you see in its future?

I don’t think the ‘industry’ needs saving, because as a business model it’s basically been fucking artists for the past 60 years.

I think the future of the industry is already here, in that, you see musicians taking the time to create themselves and learn how to stand on their own without the help of some business conglomerate propping them up and then pulling the legs out from under them. I see musicians continuing to create and find creative ways to interact with fans, whether that’s through living room shows, online streaming, recordings, etc. No matter how technology progresses, we’ll never be able to replace the interaction that happens live between artists and fans. You’ll never be able to replicate that, even with the best screens and speakers. It’s intangible. It’s ephemeral, and that’s why it’s beautiful.

What can we expect out of a Wiredogs show?

For this show we’ve been working with a lot of other local musicians on different collaborations. We’ve got Ross Hostage from Allout Helter, and Jakob Mueller from Slow Caves doing a Minor Threat cover with us, and we’ve been working on an original tune with Brer Rabbit from Flobots that we’ll be premiering on the 24th at The Marquis. We always try to bring something new to every show, I think it helps us feel fresh every night that we step on the stage.