Where we’ve been:
Around the world, alphabetically: Big V’s, Central Park in Faribault, Club Underground, Faribault High School, The Garage, The Hexagon Ballroom, Javalive, My Apartments, My Parent’s House, Seventh Street Entry, The Terminal Bar, The Turf Club, The Uptown Bar.
...is the music video for "honesty & happiness!"
don’t forget to check out our video page. it’s filled with marshmellow goodness.
to watch our world famous videos on the sleeping kitty network on youtube, visit this site:
our youtube site is @ www.youtube.com/user/thenextstepislast.
to buy merchandise, including albums and t-shirts, visit these sites:
our cafepress store is @ www.cafepress.com/thenextstep.
our cd baby site is @ www.cdbaby.com/cd/nextstep.
our local store is coming soon. "honesty & happiness" is currently available (in physical form) on cafepress and cd baby. digital downloads are available on myspace (scroll up), soundclick, apple itunes, bitmunk, inprodicon, mp3tunes, napster, ruckus, verizon, audiolunchbox, buymusic, interia, musicishere, payplay, tradebit, groupietunes, rvibe, mol, greatindiemusic, muze, liquid digital media and more.
to listen to our catalog of music, visit this site:
our soundclick site is @ www.soundclick.com/thenextstep.
to see a collection of photos, visit this site:
our webshots site is @ http://community.webshots.com/user/thenextstepislast.
dennis’ personal blog is @ www.xanga.com/vogeninlove.
"the streetlight diaries" is a trilogy of albums that the next step is creating. "love & fear" was released on september 26th, 2006, "honesty & happiness" was released on may 1st, 2007, and "life & death" will be released to conclude the series.
in past interviews, dennis has said that each album represents the three stages after a relationship. "love & fear" represents "the break-up," "honesty & happiness" represents "re-discovery," and "life & death" represents "self-actualization." each album’s representation also represents the use of a hyphen. word.
to receive a free promotional copy of "love & fear," please message us or e-mail us at [email protected].
now, for other frequently asked questions.
q: what’s up with the next step?
a: the next step is dennis vogen and his friends. dennis writes the songs, and then he records the songs, and then he produces the songs, and then he releases the songs. tony strandlof and kittybot are his friends, thus they are also the next step. it’s a simple equasion. check the math.
q: what’s up with kitty and kittybot?
a: kitty is also a member of the next step. he plays the pots and/or pans. kittybot is the next step’s drummer. he’s a robot from the future in the form of kitty. there’s also a theory that kitty himself built kittybot in the future, or that kittybot is kitty himself, in a robot suit. it’s complex stuff. most humans don’t get it.
our local store is coming soon. we’ll be featuring handmade merchandise, designed and produced right here in our apartment. message us or e-mail us at [email protected] with questions.
NOTE: Hollis Mason, in celebration of the Next Step’s new album, "Honesty & Happiness," is working on a new interview. Stay tuned.
"The Honorable Mentions." Hollis Mason interviews the Next Step, pop music’s final frontier. Article posted on July 6, 2006.
The first time I meet the Next Step, I determine that they’re falling apart, like an adorable cookie drowning in a glass of milk.
They’re filming their latest music video in Dennis Vogen’s apartment in the suburbs of Minneapolis. For anybody who’s anybody who knows who the Next Step is, they know that Vogen is the rebel with a musical cause, the ringleader of the band. He writes and records the songs, and makes the records in bedrooms and bathrooms. He formed the group with two friends in 2002 as an avenue to finally meet and greet girls. A noisy, charasmatic nerd who felt confined within the faux brick walls of Faribault High School, Vogen was definitely not the most popular kid in class. He didn’t play sports and he wasn’t invited to parties, but he did read comic books and loved the Cartoon Network and the Evil Dead series. He joined theater during his sophomore year, and even played Lt. Cable in the school’s production of "South Pacific." He scribbled drawings and wrote lyrics in class, and was obsessed with music he knew he shouldn’t be. Unacceptable music. Namely, boy bands and the bubblegum pop genre.
When I walk into his apartment at three in the morning, I’m greeted by two intoxicated young men: the first, Brian McDonough, has been one of Vogen’s best friends since his high school days. The other is Nick Arens.
Arens is the second member of the Next Step. Live, he plays bass and drums, but "not at the same time. It’s impossible," Vogen informs me.
If Vogen is the yin, then Arens is the yang. If Vogen is rock, then Arens is roll. If Vogen is peanut butter, then Arens is jelly.
They’re two great tastes that taste great together. They’re opposites, but wrapped together in the tortilla of life. Fajita brothers.
Their relationship is summer and wading in kiddie pools, but things aren’t going so swimmingly this early morning. McDonough and Arens are wasted, and Vogen (who wrote the script and is trying to direct) is frustrated and feeling overwhelmed. His actors can’t act. They can’t even put together sentences, like toddlers choking on legos.
"It was going so well," he puts his hands on his face and speaks to the camera. "It was going so well."
Between takes of McDonough burping and Arens crying ("Alcohol hurts when it comes out your nose," he whimpers after a drink tries to come back up), Vogen manages to get the shots he needs.
And then some.
"This’ll be funny in the morning," he tells me, "and I’ll have this tape to record reruns of ’Full House’ next week."
Later, Vogen will turn this disaster into entertainment when he premieres his 18-minute "Making the Video," a behind the scenes look at the shoot, in June.
And that’s one of Vogen’s talents: turning heartbreak, drama and tragedy into something comprehendible. Understandable. Digestible.
He literally turns disaster into entertainment.
When I meet the band for the second time, Arens is in Moorhead, Minnesota, at a theater workshop. Vogen is sitting by himself in a booth at Denny’s. He’s sitting in the smoking section, but he doesn’t smoke. He’s drinking a cup of coffee with two packets of sugar and two creamers.
He doesn’t like to talk about former band members. I don’t want him to buck the interview, so I was careful not to prod him with that subject. But he says he will address it. With music, of course.
"There’s a song on the next album called, "Uh, Oh, No," about Nate (Paquette, an original member and one of Vogen’s best friends until late last year, when Vogen had a falling out with Paquette’s girlfriend). It says a lot about what I was thinking and feeling after he left (they lived together). It’s a little gay if you analyze it, but most guys are a little gay. Even Scarface was a little gay."
But before rumors get started, Vogen lives with his girlfriend.
As we continue the interview, he nervously sips his coffee. He talks fast, and trips over his words frequently. He stutters when he’s excited, like his mouth can’t form the words as fast as his brain can create and deliver them.
ME: "How did you come up with The Next Step’s name?"
VOGEN: "When we created the group, it was supposed to be a boy band. So I was designing live shows and stages before I had even written a song. I was focused on two things: entertainment and girls. On one of the pieces of paper I was designing a stage layout on, I wrote down a couple band names. ’The Next Step’ was on that piece of paper."
ME: "Do you play live?"
VOGEN: "We played a few shows in 2003, when Andy was in the band and Kenny played drums. Then Andy quit, and I got desperate to play. So I tried to teach my cat, Kitty, how to play keyboard. He was good at playing the standards and blues classics, but I needed him to play at punk tempos. He decided to quit, too, after I put too much pressure on him and it started to affect our relationship. After Nick joined the group last December, we started to rehearse together and we did play a couple shows in May (including a headlining acoustic gig). I’m definitely planning on playing some more shows soon. Tell people in your article to stay tuned to our websites for information. Or, I guess I could. People: stay tuned to our websites for information. There. (Laughs)"
ME: "How, do you think, does the internet change the music industry?"
VOGEN: "The internet levels the playing field. Thousands of people know who we are. Dozens of people actually like our music. I have plans for the future that will utilize the internet in the way MTV revolutionized music and television. Did I just sound like Al Gore or something? Sorry. I won’t be so serious. I won’t be so Van Damme."
ME: "Would you sign a record contract with a major label?"
VOGEN: "I don’t know anymore. Like I said, the internet changes everything. If it was an offer I couldn’t refuse... then I couldn’t refuse it."
ME: "What’s your relationship with Nick like?"
VOGEN: "Homoerotic. Just kidding. But we’re like brothers. Or like the sisters in ’Sister, Sister.’ We haven’t known each other forever, but sometimes it seems like we have. Maybe in our respective past lives, like, I was Butch Cassidy and he was the Sundance Kid. I’ve never actually seen that movie. They were friends, right?"
ME: "Tell me about ’the Streetlight Diaries.’"
VOGEN: "Okay, but this is the last time. (Laughs) ’The Streetlight Diaries’ is a trilogy of albums that I have planned. I’m a very theatrical person. I like stories. I like concepts. I like ideas. So this is my new big idea. The first album is "Love & Fear." It represents the break-up. The second is "Honest & Happiness," and it represents self-discovery. And the final act is "Life & Death." Self-actualization. And self-realization... or whatever. (He pauses.) It’ll be our masterpiece. Our "Starry Night." Our "Mona Lisa." If the first two albums don’t break through, if they don’t reach the surface of the mainstream, then the third definitely will. I have no doubt. Does that sound cocky?"
I say a little.
"Sorry. I’m an ass. Is it okay if I go?"
I say, yeah.
So he pays the tab, shakes my hand and leaves. He said he has to work tonight. Vogen has a day job, at a local restaurant.
He says he can relate to people.
And I say they can relate to him.
And that makes me think he won’t have to wait until the third album to break through.
I think he might be breaking through as you read.
the next step = dennis vogen + tony strandlof + kitty + kittybot.
And don’t forget to check out Sleeping Kitty Productions’ Myspace (in our top friends)! Sleeping Kitty is the company behind all of our projects!
What Sleeping Kitty project are you most excited about?
