BAND SPOTLIGHT | Dog Of Panic

In a Macomb dorm room circa 2008, a struggling college student dreamed of leaving the academic world behind to write and play music. Dog of Panic began when Dan Rohde wrote 15 songs in that lonely room, left school, moved to Springfield, found a job and began the tedious process of forming a band. Through a Craigslist ad, drummer Jason Holmes joined and the two jelled well. While searching for the elusive third member they “went through bassists like Kleenex” until old high school buddy Chris Maxey handled the original music’s unusual structures with aplomb. Maxey left due to scheduling conflicts and another high school chum, Casey Cantrall, became bassist until he left and Josh Begue joined. Maxey returned as lead guitarist as the band morphed into a quartet about three months ago. With lots of self-penned material on CDs and in digital music outlets plus gigs aplenty in central Illinois and beyond, Dog of Panic continues as a leading purveyor of original music on the area scene.