Welcome to Arching Dog Productions
I started Arching Dog after working with artist Jon Muq. I can say I am the guy who found him, sort of. He may not be a known name now but later I feel he will be as important to the world of music as Bill Withers is. I first met Jon through a small charity concert event that me and my Austin friends put together for refugee/asylee services organization called Casa Marianella. Jon was this guy from Uganda who wanted to come to Austin for this event and, unknown at the time, to escape working on a cruise line as entertainer. There is a whole lot more to this story and you can see that at jonmuqmusic.com. Our group had organized with our friend Dickie Lee Irwin to have Jon play between his sets at a local dive (and I say dive is all the best ways). Jon wanted to get a little practice down at my house before the gig and suffice to say when I first heard his voice I knew in just a second he was above your average musician and talent. I predicted he would take the house down that night and in a matter of a few songs did exactly that. I went on a long road of development with Jon and to my surprise, his talents, and connections I had developed got to record his first album, Trek, at Sunset Sounds Studios in LA with the 4 time Grammy winning Larry Klein. With that investment I decided to start Arching Dog and enter this crazy world of the music industry.
Hunter S Thompson is misquoted as saying, “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There is also a negative side.” Though the actual quote I believe is from his book Hey Rube, it was addressing the TV industry but the thought and truth behind it rings loud and clear. Some may disagree with me but the music business is an idiots game. It’s a gamble and many of its lawyers have their teeth and claws so dug in the freedom to make music is impacted.
Music is subjective. All art is subjective. This is shown by the fact that some guy can tape a banana to a wall and call it art tells that story. But music also drives our lives and gives us hope. It sings to us in all of our emotions. Music swells our feelings. We have our party music, our love making music, our angry music, our cry in the beer music, and music for pretty much every emotion out there. I’m in this idiot business to a) bring that quality of life to us all, b) try and to positively impact the industry to champion the art and artist, and c) most importantly to have fun. I don’t agree with music awards such as the Grammys because it is subjective and to call one persons music “Album of the Year” or best whatever song distracts from the fact that there are many wonderful recordings which all improve our lives. The recognition is more money driven to me than talent driven.
So, I am fresh to this game. I plan on developing artists and giving those who deserve it, through their talents, the opportunity to create a profession for themselves and become in charge of their own show. I plan on helping the industry to balance fairness to the artists and return some of our trappings back to society. Its already been a wild ride and I have barely just begun but looking to make some noise and bring joy to the masses.
Art First,
John “Moose” Dismukes
President and Founder
Arching Dog Productions
