Unfiltered and Unleashed: The Dodies Redefine Raw Power as a Dynamic Duo
Nicole Brice
Jul 5, 2025
The Dodies’ music blends powerful riffs with fearless creativity.
As a child of the 90s, I’m really enjoying the wave of nostalgia in the world currently, especially when it comes to music. I can honestly say we had some of the best music back then. It was raw and impactful—not overly polished, yet still perfect. This sentiment perfectly captures the sound of the next band I have for you, The Dodies, and believe it or not, this band is nowhere near new, but they’re new to me, and now they’ll soon be new to you, too.
The Dodies are a grunge, alternative, garage rock band from the southern deserts of Israel, but when they are in the states, they call Texas their home. From the first listen, it's clear they are destined for greatness due to the tremendous sound that radiates from the speakers with every note played. Their poetic, introspective lyrics are paired with a deep artistic flair, featuring loud, crunchy guitars, heavy basslines, and powerful drums at times. However, they can also switch gears and perfectly orchestrate a softer, more poppy sound, as if it comes naturally. With their secret weapon producer, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal, this duo has crafted a sound that is uniquely crisp, tight, and full of energy, and I am obsessed.
Music, at its core, is a personal experience for each of us. I strive to keep my articles authentic and genuine. When I hit play on my iPod to explore The Dodies’ discography, my initial reaction when that first song started playing was, and I said it out loud, “This is so good!”
The Dodies consist of two musical talents: Yoni Avittan, the primary vocalist and guitarist, and Ran Aronson, who handles background vocals, bass, keyboards, and drums simultaneously. Watching Ran perform in videos is astonishing; I genuinely have no idea how he maintains the stamina to keep up with everything. It’s truly remarkable. Yoni Avittan’s vocals are always spot-on and showcase an impressive range, soaring like Justin Hawkins of The Darkness. He embodies the quintessential strong frontman with his hypnotic presence and sheer unfiltered talent.
Since 2020, the duo has released three full-length albums, and one live album, a notable achievement in an industry often flooded with EPs and singles. Each album was created with precise attention to every detail, down to the order of the songs and the artwork and remind me of some of the great albums of the past for their artistry.
In 2020 the Dodies released, It’s One Hell of a Ride, and it is a non-stop journey of exceptional music. Every track is strong, with not a single bad one. One standout for me is the lead track ‘Boiling Point,’ which even has a fantastic video on YouTube. I find myself dancing around in my kitchen when I listen to it, but truth be told, this entire album is exceptional, and deserves some serious listening time, so be sure to dive in.
In 2022, Floating in Limbo was released, and it is another amazing album. While listening to it, I couldn't help but wonder: can these guys produce anything less than great?
2025 marked the release of Dreamism, which starts off a bit softer before diving into the signature sound The Dodies have developed, and one can clearly hear a Radiohead and Muse influence with some of these newer songs. Once again, every single track on this album is killer. All killer, no filler, as I like to say.
But, believe it or not, The Dodies don’t just stop with music. Yoni is currently working on a book to complement their trio of albums, bringing everything together full circle. Dynamic, insightful, and brilliant, this duo is poised to blow the roof off modern music. Read on to learn more!
MaM: How did the partnership with producer Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal come about?
Yoni: We recorded our first album in Austin, TX at Orb Studios. Matt Noveskey knew someone who helped us reach Bumblefoot, and he loved our music. We were really wanting to push it over in the states, and Matt Noveskey was key in helping us reach other people.
MaM: One thing I noticed when listening to your three albums this morning was that with his involvement, you have defined your sound. Your sound is your sound. It’s refreshing to have come across your band. Yoni, your vocals are extraordinary. Have you ever gotten the comparison to Justin Hawkins from The Darkness?
Yoni: That is the most frequent one. I do love The Darkness, but I don’t listen to them that much. I listen to that British trio of Radiohead, Muse, and Coldplay – early 2000s type of stuff. That’s mostly what I listen to.
MaM: Your voice has such range. Is there something you do to warm up or keep it in shape?
Yoni: Well, sometimes I do have to do some warm-ups before shows, because if I don’t, it won’t be as good. It is a challenge to sing high.
MaM: I can only imagine. With you being a duo, how does that work for a live show, or do you bring in extra musicians to complement what you do?
Ran: We don’t usually bring in any additional players on stage. It works for us. It suits the genre, as well, because we do want to keep it basic and rock. I don’t think it would work if we were a prog metal band or something like that.
MaM: How do you even keep up to play that many instruments?
Ran: It is very physical, for sure. I feel like the more I do it, the more I get better. It gets better the more we practice. Working with Ron, with Bumblefoot has been one of the biggest contributions to our sound. He told us that’s your sound – keep it simple. Same thing you do live and just go to the studio with it, and stick to it. It’s very easy to fall into tracking and overdoing it.
MaM: I think it’s impressive as hell that it’s just you two in the band. You have such a thick and full sound to your music. How did it come about with just you two?
Yoni: Well, it was just more efficient for us. It was more efficient to tour with two people, too.
Ran: There are definitely advantages sound-wise, logistics-wise, and we actually used to be a three-piece, but yeah, we just love it in all aspects.
MaM: Three albums under your belt, and now you have just released Dreamism, which I love the album cover, so my next question is, who designed the cover art for that release?
Yoni: Well, I guess I just thought about what correlates to the name of the album. An image of an influx of info in a person’s head – addiction to dreaming and seeing excessive dreaming as a type of sickness or overthinking. We reached out to a certain artist to help with it, and he did a good job by taking a thought I had and making it his own.
Ran: His name is Spencer, and we came across him and found all his work.
MaM: Album art is big to me, and I still focus in on it because I feel the artwork brings it all together. The cover sets the tone.
Ran: It’s getting easier to fall into AI-generated covers. You can spot it right away. He did a great job, and it has his aesthetics with the collage.
Yoni: Also, we’ll be coming out with a book called Dreamism with the same cover to go with the album.
MaM: Tell me about this. That sounds awesome.
Yoni: The novel is about a young musician from southeast Texas who falls in love with his psychiatrist. I then detail their connection and how it helps him overcome depression. The first part of the book is titled “It’s One Hell of a Ride.” The second part is called “Floating in Limbo”, and the last part is called “Dreamism.” The music goes along with the story, and that’s pretty much the premise. It’s my life’s work.
MaM: I love that, and love that it’s based upon the three albums! I can’t wait to read it! How did you get the inspiration to do something like that?
Yoni: Well, I just went to therapy, and that was basically it, and it went well.
(laughter)
MaM: I love that – so you based it on your life? Fictionalized it. I love that, and I just love the whole creative process. Where do these ideas come from? How do we bring these ideas to fruition? Is there anything you’d like to tell us about the book that you didn’t touch upon?
Yoni: It’s getting ready to go, and I’m editing it now. We’re very excited, and we’re gonna post a lot about it online, and try to push it.
MaM: What’s the release date?
Yoni: I don’t have a release date quite yet, but we’ll let you know.
MaM: How would you describe your sound to a new listener who has just discovered it?
Yoni: I keep switching the genres. Usually, I just say we’re a rock band. It is kinda grunge.
MaM: How did you get influenced to do the garage band type of music you do?
Yoni: I mean, I guess I listen to a lot of early 2000s rock, but I do feel that the 90s rock captured something that has yet to be topped. The screaming in that music was the best and one of the last great things we ever had. The younger generations right now are still really into grunge and early 90s-style music. That’s pretty much what I grew up with, even though I didn’t grow up in the 90s.
MaM: I feel like the '90s were one of the last times musicians were truly creative and authentic. By the late 90s to mid-2000s, it had lost its creative spark and become more of a mass-produced, cookie-cutter type of thing. However, look at the industry. The industry stopped pushing garage bands and music with heart and started pushing prefabricated music with no substance. I agree that it was the last great time for music.
Yoni: Even in the early 2000s, though, I agree that it was more fabricated, but at least something was going on, you know. I think that after social media, and the rise of social media, it has deteriorated more.
MaM: Well, that’s the whole TikTok generation. Some of these artists are like, it’s been great for my music, and I’m like, how? People are hearing snippets, and then they’re not coming to shows, so where is the incentive in that?
Yoni: Yeah, they just don’t know what great is.
(laughter)
Ran: It’s crazy, you hear like one specific part of a song, so you don’t even know the whole song. Let alone an entire album. Yeah, we’re one of those bands who still believe in the concept of albums and want to tell a longer story. A longer, deeper story.
MaM: What inspires you to create, and how do you find your lyrical concepts come to fruition? For example, I’m a writer and an author, and sometimes a phrase or word will pop into my head when writing a piece, so I’ll write it down somewhere, and then I’ll assemble it all into something at the end. Take us through the creative process.
Yoni: Yeah, I feel pretty much the same. I have an idea for a song or lyrics, but I would rather have a melody to go along with it first, so I can fit the vowels correctly with whatever the song ends up being. I don’t want to stick lyrics that have nothing to do with the melody that I’ve written. The melody has to come first.
Ran: Yoni writes the songs, and what usually comes to me is the melody and lyrics, and then we work on it together. It becomes a mutual joint process after he has pretty much written the song. We then keep building stuff on it and add new parts. We try not to overdo it and try to give the proper respect for the lyrics and melody. We love to keep it simple.
MaM: You don’t force it. You let it happen organically.
Ran: Yeah, we don’t force it. If we feel that there’s a place for a violin part or something similar, we add it; if not, we don’t force it.
MaM: How long does it take you to develop a song?
Yoni: Yeah, there’s no formula for it. I guess some songs can take a few months to perfect, and some a few minutes, but overall, if it’s not really there after we first write, then I think it’s kind of useless. I know a lot of songwriters who would have a verse, but nothing else other than that.
Ran: Some of the songs from our newest album, ‘Dreamism’, we had already recorded even before we recorded 'It’s One Hell of a Ride'. They were already there. We had the concepts early on, and didn’t want to record a song that didn’t fit there. By the time we got to the studio to record the music that had already been in existence for a few years, it had changed, because we kept playing on it and kept working with it. It evolves.
MaM: What would you like to achieve in the next five years? Where do you see yourselves musically and professionally?
Yoni: I’m embarrassed to expose my wildest dream.
MaM: You can keep it vague.
Yoni: We want to push the music and book together, and hope that it works. We’re trying to add a deeper aspect to our genre.
As The Dodies continue their artistic journey, we can expect even more amazing experiences to unfold. These talented individuals showcase their divine gifts with every note sung and every word spoken, and I can't wait to see what they create in the future.
Their latest album, Dreamism, is now available on all streaming platforms. However, to truly appreciate The Dodies' music, I recommend starting from the beginning. Play their first album and immerse yourself in their entire discography.
To learn more about The Dodies:
Instagram:
The Dodies (@thedodiesband) • Instagram photos and videos
Spotify:
Facebook:
Bandcamp:
X:
The Dodies (@TheDodiesBand) / X
YouTube:
*All photos are sourced from The Dodies' Facebook page. If any photographers would like credit, please reach out. If it wasn't noted, I couldn't find it. I would love to give proper credit.
Questions or comments? Email us at: mixedalternativemag@gmail.com.