NEW MUSIC: DIRTY DIRTY
May 26, 2017, 9:02 AM | Updated: Oct 10, 2024, 3:14 pm
Image Credit Allisha Good
Seattle fuzz-rock duo Dirty Dirty is founding member Ian Forrester [Ever So Android] on Bass-6 and vocals, with Drew Shreve [Seeds Of Venus, Rabbit Wilde] on drums and the dudes are getting ready to release their brand new EP, Deadline.
Title track, ‘Deadline’, spotlights the gritty and bombastic tone that blankets the bands music. This psychedelic fuzz-rock project is aged in the dark winters of the Pacific Northwest with a solid foundation of thick, distorted guitars, howling melodies and distinctive grooves. The pair has earned a reputation as an enthralling, magnetic live band. Slinky, powerful and seductive, the band employs a stripped down instrumentation to create a lush and richly sonic wall of sound.
Dirty Dirty recalls the melodic stoner-rock vibes of Queens Of The Stone Age with the power-punch of bands like The Dead Weather and Death From Above 1979. The duo are dance-punk at it’s finest.
The band is set to release Deadline Saturday, June 3rd at the High Dive. Local indie rockers Asterhouse and Devils Hunt Me Down share the night for a double release party.
I had the chance recently to chat with with Dirty Dirty about their new EP, Seattle social experiments, the origin of the band name, before show rituals and action figures.
the mixtape: What are you doing right now besides answering this question?
tm: Give me a bit of the history of Dirty Dirty and how you came up with your band name.
Ian: The band name isn’t a very cool story. Three years ago in September I started the band with a different drummer, Ian Harper. Once the question of our sound came up in a conversation between us and Drew Murray (Ever So Android) I replied “it’s kinda just dirty rock n roll”. There were two us is, we were both named Ian. Dirty Dirty just had a ring to it and from there we could make it whatever we wanted.
tm: On your Instagram feed, you describe the page as “Seattle based music and social experiments”. Where do the social experiments come in?
Ian: I feel like promoting our shows is like a social experiment half the time at least. A lot is done over Facebook and suddenly my friendships start to become business data. Haha! Putting yourself out there in general is always somewhat of a social experiment. “How will people react?” kinda stuff. I know how it feels to hold parts of my identity back and I think it helps to figure out who I am and who my good friends are if I just put it out there more. Like when I get to yell into a mic with some drums every once in a while.
tm: For there only being two of you in the band, you have very a full, rocking sound. What’s the biggest challenge in having only two members creating?
Ian: Developing a rounded pallet of sound. Not all at once but writing a collection of songs that don’t all feel the same. We can only do so much at once if we want to continue to do everything live without introducing tracks.
Drew: As a drummer, it presents a unique challenge, normally my main role in the band is playing the groove and leaving space for the lead instruments…in this band I AM one of the leads. That freedom is great but can become its own trap. “Restrained Overplaying” is a challenge sometimes. haha
tm: You decided to release title track “Deadline” as the EP single. What kind of decision making goes into which song is to be the first one released? Why “Deadline”?
Ian: ‘Deadline’ was the first song Drew and I wrote when he joined the band and naturally became a symbol of what was to come from other new music. We felt it was a strong introduction to Drew as the bands permanent drummer and more relative to our developing sound. So basically it was new and we were the most excited about it.
tm: Throughout ones life, music is, for many, a daily thing of consumption. That said, as you’re going thru life I’m sure you pick up on certain bands music you REALLY like. I can def hear hints of QOTSA and Death From Above 1979 within your Deadline EP. If you ever get writers block, do you listen to familiar or even unfamiliar music to get the ball rolling again or would that be distracting?
Ian: Usually unfamiliar music can sail me back to a creative space. I associated most of my writers block with the feeling of repetition and new music can take me a step back or two to get that new perspective I might need or distract me so that when I come look back to the idea it’s fresh. That being said if it’s half way through a song that has me feeling like Fugazi I might put on Red Medicine if I get in a jam.
Drew: I never want to be too directly inspired by my favorite artists, so when I’m seeking inspiration I usually stay away from rock. I listen to a lot of jazz and Dr. Dre. Hell yeah.
tm: Your music rocks out in heavy fuzz and distortion and I can only imagine that your shows are super duper intense and engaging. What can people expect from your album release at the High Dive?
DD:
Ian: Some moods and some grooves man. The other bands we have in the line up, Asterhouse and Devils Hunt Me Down, are both fresh on the scene with newly released material like us and I think that adds a special kind of fierceness to this show that will compound into our set. We have a song from the EP that we haven’t played live since Drew joined and some new songs that we are really excited to bash out.
tm: You have to exert a lot energy while performing. Do either of you have to do anything special before a show to stay energized? Drink lots of water? Eat a huge steak? Get high AF? Tell me your secrets.
Ian: I need a lot of time to myself over all and I don’t normally eat a lot before I play. The alone time is crucial to finding my appreciation of the time I’m going to have on the stage. It can go by quick and playing live is a pretty electrifying experience most the time unless my head is on backwards. Sometimes even then I get electrocuted by grabbing a power tube or some dumb shit though.
Drew: Literally all of those things. My pre-show ritual: huge hearty meal during the day, lots of water, jog around the venue or do 50 push-ups and then a massive dose of “hippy cabbage” just before going on stage
tm: If Dirty Dirty was an action figure what accessories would you have?
DD: A removable set of clothes made of black denim and leather. Keys- For the doors he must keep things behind and his Blue van. (Jean Claude Band Van sold separately)
A lighter and probably a joint
A pocket knife
