Band’s ruse leads to concert

Vocalist-bass player Joe Kurke and drummer-songwriter Jon Fosdick hunkered down in Fosdick’s Screaming Skunk Studios and came out with a Dog Leg Preacher album.

They put their songs on the Internet and watched their little rock ‘n’ roll project spread across the world.

One song (“Ready to Fight”) became No. 1 on several playlists in Australia; they collected positive reviews from many countries; a song about France became popular in that country, and Dog Leg Preacher got an invitation from Milan, Italy, to come for a concert.

Only there was no Dog Leg Preacher.

“John had to make up a story because there was just the two of us. In the beginning there was no band. We used a couple of fictitious names for players, like Albert Fish. You have to know Jon, he’s a little abstract and a little eccentric,” Kurke said.

With the exception of a few tracks, drummer Fosdick played the other instruments and Kurke provided the vocals.

Today there really is a Dog Leg Preacher with a show tonight in Everett and July 22 at Lake Stevens’ Aquafest. The quartet’s musicians: Kurke, of Snohomish; Fosdick, of Machias; guitarist Dennis “D.A.” Palm, originally from Marysville; and rhythm player Chris Moser of Kent.

Fosdick is the baby at 39, said Kurke, who has been rocking professionally since 1971, with a Mtley Cre-style high-powered voice.

“Anymore, it’s not for the money or recording contracts. We’re beyond that. With the new wave of the Internet, you can get recognition. We put this album on the Internet and it spread all over the world,” Kurke said.

There’s a new album in the works, “Abscess.”

Fosdick recently had a rough time with a brain abscess and surgery, Kurke said, thus the CD title.

“It’s still rock ‘n’ roll, just a little more complicated, musically.”