Dogs Eating Dogs
| Dogs Eating Dogs | ||||
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| EP by Blink-182 | ||||
| Released | December 18, 2012 | |||
| Recorded | November 2012, at Neverpants Ranch (San Diego, California) Opra Music Studios (Los Angeles, California) |
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| Genre | Pop punk, post-punk | |||
| Length | 19:00 | |||
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| Blink-182 chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 68/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk | 7/10 |
| Allmusic |   |
| Alternative Press | |
| Kerrang! | |
Dogs Eating Dogs is an EP by American rock band Blink-182, released on December 18, 2012 independently. Self-produced by the group and Chris Holmes, it was the sole recording that the band self-released after their departure from Interscope/DGC in October 2012, as well as their last recorded material with Tom DeLonge before his departure in January 2015.
After Neighborhoods, the band felt the recording methods used were inadequate. Tom DeLonge, who originally advocated the method of using separate studios/e-mails to dictate the majority of the recording, admitted that it led to a loss of unity.Travis Barker noted that, "there's some songs on there that I love, but for the most part it was disconnected. It was like, 'You do this part in your studio, and then you're gonna play on it and send it back to me.' When we're not in the studio together, you don't have the opportunity to gel off each other." In addition, Barker was still recovering from his 2008 accident and was still healing. During the band's 20th Anniversary Tour in Europe, Barker was the first to approach DeLonge and Hoppus with the idea of immediately returning to the studio in the fall. "It was like three days after Halloween and Tom was like, 'Dude, we should do that!'" They entered the studio on November 5. They found a flexibility to do things their own way without label intervention and it inspired creativity and agility. Mark Hoppus described: "It was great, ideas falling everywhere. Lots of long hours spent on five new songs. [...] The band is in a great place creatively. Having everyone in the same room at the same time makes all the difference for us."
The EP's opening track, "When I Was Young", revisits childhood from an adult viewpoint. Spin described the track as "cynical but sentimental", comparing the opening pipe organ to Arcade Fire. The title track is led by Hoppus and has been compared to Hoppus and Barker's previous side project, +44, and the band Alkaline Trio. Alternative Press referred to it as the "angriest, most aggressive song" on the EP. "Disaster" opens with "manipulated radio frequencies and anthemic marching drum hits" that recalls DeLonge's band Angels & Airwaves. "Boxing Day", originally titled "The Day After Christmas", began as an acoustic folk number before Barker added an electronic drum kit, creating what Hoppus described as a "real kind of indie, strange, cool vibe to it." A week prior to the EP's release, the song "Boxing Day" was streamed through Alternative Press. The fifth and final track, "Pretty Little Girl", was originally titled "I Got My Eye On You" and was written by DeLonge for his wife. It features a guest appearance from rapper Yelawolf. The track carries a new wave influence and synthesizers are most prominent in the mix.
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