Kevin Alexander (left) and Mike Stone sit down to talk about their collaboration on the DiamondDawgs theme song.
by Dave Warner – MyLittleFalls.com
The DiamondDawgs have a treat for their fans this year. A theme song and music video that should get them fired up before every home game.
Mike Stone from Dolgeville is a regular attendee at the games, and he said, “It was a nice June night and I’m thinking – the boys need a song…they don’t have a song. I thought, well, if I don’t do it, who will?”
Stone has been a musician and writer for 50 years and while he was sitting there, the song just started coming into his head. “It was pretty much done before the game was over.”
He’s also been a regular at games, going back to before the time when they were the Mets…way back to when they were the Land Sharks. “That’s going back a long time.”
According to Stone, it’s baseball and beautiful summer nights. Something where you can take the family and not spend an arm and a leg to be entertained.
“I’ve known Kevin for a while and he plays and sings and he told me he had a studio. So, he’s close by (Herkimer) and we just started talking and it just came together once he got his new studio together. It was a piece of cake…very easy to do all the tracks,” said Stone.
Alexander has been playing and singing for about 17 years. “I started out playing in cafes and stuff. I play all over the place. I try to play every style of music, but I’m really inspired by folk music.”
He created the studio in his house because he wanted total control over the final product. “I didn’t want to pay for somebody else’s time. I wanted to be able to call the shots and really take my time with it.”
“There’s a lot of tweaking that goes into making music that people don’t really realize,” said Alexander.
“You want to adjust every track, get the best tone, the best sound, and then mix the whole thing together. You want the vocal to come through clearly so something is not too soft or too loud,” stated Stone.
According to both of them, the chant was really fun. “I had 20 people come over and come in and shout ‘let’s go Dawgs’ and a couple of guys I trained to be ‘band leaders’ to really get everyone into the song,” Alexandar stated.
Stone’s wife and daughter were part of that group and he said, “This was really a family affair.”
“That’s the main thing. It was fun,” he said.
Team owner Travis Heiser said, “Mike and his wife have been huge supporters of the team for years and when they told me about it, I really didn’t know what to expect.”
“When I first heard it, I thought it was amazing. Any time the community or fans get involved and create something like this, it’s a great feeling,” said Heiser.
“There’s a lot of teams that can’t say that they have a theme song with a music video to go with it. It makes us different, and that’s really what we’re trying to do. I’m just fortunate to have great fans and great supporters. It’s just another example of how fortunate we are to play in the Mohawk Valley,” he stated.
Stone said that he might be using Alexander’s studio now for some of his own work. “I do mostly instrumentals these days. I don’t play with a band, but sometimes I play with my son. He plays bass. I do the old American Songbook and mix in some of my own ditties.”
Alexander can be contacted through his Facebook Page and his CDs are available in Canal Place at the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts and the 410 Collective, as well as at the Co-Op.
If you’d like to hire Stone for background music at your event or restaurant, he can be contacted at 315-429-9881.