Tucsonan Tristan Jemsek never imagined that his band Dogbreth’s decade-old, debut album “Chookie” might one day get a boost from a wildly popular, video sharing social network service.
The release had long run its course, relegated to the stacks of CDs found at used music stores around the state.
“There was a time I thought they’d line my coffin with all of the old ‘Chookie’ CDs I’ve had under my bed for seven years,” Jemsek once wrote in a Tweet.
The project was all but forgotten, until a Phoenix-based TikTok user, known on the app as @drolingus or simply as “Shannon,” posted about it to her account.
Shannon had picked up a copy of “Chookie” last November at a Zia Records location in Phoenix.
She bought the CD because she liked the art on the album cover, but couldn’t hold back her excitement when she heard the music blasting from the speakers in her car.
“Of course, of course it’s good,” Shannon said in the video to her 80,000 followers, adding, “I love this!”
Unaware of the unsolicited endorsement, Jemsek was having a typical day working at Exo Roast Co. on North Sixth Avenue in Tucson when he spotted an uptick in Instagram followers.
“It wasn’t until some of my friends started texting me about the TikTok video going viral that I started to really take notice,” Jemsek said.
The TikTok video, which now has more than 300,000 views, boosted Dogbreth’s Spotify monthly listeners from around 600 to more than 23,000. The band describes its sound as Sonoran-style rock ‘n’ roll.
Jemsek said he was thrilled with the attention, but he was just as excited that Shannon purchased the CD at the same Zia he used to frequent when he lived in Phoenix.
“That’s what made the whole thing so sweet for me, is that it happened through this record store that I used to go to, and I was able to relate to the experience more that way,” Jemsek said. “I’ve never had TikTok. I do relate to just going to a record store.”
This surge in followers came just in time for the release of a new album Jemsek has been working on, which he estimates will be done by summer or fall of this year.
The origin of the name Dogbreth is not fully clear to Jemsek, but he does remember that he and his partner at the time of its inception were fostering an old pitbull with “the worst breath I’ve ever experienced.”
The band’s members have fluctuated since its formation in 2009, while Jemsek has remained the only constant member. However, some friends who played on “Chookie” are making appearances on Dogbreth’s upcoming album.
His friend Elle Murtagh helps play drums on the album. She happens to have been one of the seven attendees at Jemsek’s very first show. Jim Colby, his friend, and co-worker at Exo, is playing electric piano and organ remotely on a few tracks.
Aaron Goodman, who also played on the first album, plays sax.
“I guess I’ll kind of know after releasing if it’s going to be bigger than the last thing,” he said. “I’m hopeful that it will be. It was just a really sweet thing. It was so much fun to give your music to so many new ears that wouldn’t have heard it otherwise.”
Jemsek said despite his new found fans on TikTok, you probably won’t find him on the app any time soon.
“I’ve started noticing that the more I’m online, the less creative I am,” he said. “Some people can still do it, but for me, the more I’m on my phone, the less I’m thinking about songs or coming up with ideas.”
