Sleepin Dogs

The only thing stronger than the musical talents binding together the band Sleepin’ Dogs is their 12 mile area roots. “I think a cool thing about the band is we’re from southern Campbell County,” said Randy Steffen, 23, the band’s lead singer and songwriter. “It’s country out there. I love it.” The band’s other members are Joe Seiter, 22, bass guitar; Zach Rowe, 21, lead guitar and lap steel guitar; and Adam Record, 23, drummer. All have connections to Northern Kentucky University. Steffen graduated from in December with a bachelor’s degree in radio and television. Rowe is music major, and Seiter is a graphic design major. Record had attended NKU, and is employed as a union iron worker. Record said he grew up with Seiter on 12 Mile Road, but said he didn’t know Steffen and Rowe until high school. Seiter said forming a band came naturally because both his and Record’s older brothers were in bands. “We’ve always had people practicing music in the basement,” he said. They almost exclusively play their own original songs, and won’t limit themselves to one musical genre. “It’s a mix between rock and country, what we’ve all grown up with,” Steffen said. Steffen said many of the songs have country stylized lyrics and harmony with rock instrumentation. “We kind of have total freedom in the songs we want to play,” Rowe said. Rowe joined the trio of Steffen, Record, and Seiter in 2005, and the group named themselves The Sleepin’ Dogs. Each brings their own musical background. Rowe said he came from a metal rock’n roll scene, Seiter said his influences range from The Who and The Beatles to Lucinda Williams and Rodney Crowell. Steffen turns his ear to American roots music. “I like a lot of older music, even going back to the 30’s with old blues and country.” Steffen said he would like the band to end up recording in Nashville, but all the band members said right now they just want to garner the respect of their musical peers in the Cincinnati area.