Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Down & Dirty With ISHAN From DIRT CITY
Transcript
- 0:28Hey guys, this is Thish. I'm from Dirt City. We're gonna EP
- 0:31up today. I hope you enjoy it. I'd rock hat chat beautiful,
- 0:34this shad. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks Matte, I appreciate it.
- 0:38Thanks for having me. Oh so dirt City have today, or at
- 0:41least your degree self tit on EP may So, how would the nerves you
- 0:44would have been a bit bit agy going into it? Yeah, that's it
- 0:48because this this this EP has been around for a little while now, pre
- 0:52COVID, even coupy years before then started riding the rifts and started getting all
- 0:57the vocals down, and pre production was during COVID, So we've been seeing
- 1:00on it for ages and just wondering what everyone's going to think of it and
- 1:03how we're gonna release it and how it's all going to go because we've lived
- 1:07with these songs for a long time now and just excited to have it up
- 1:11there and started to play very soon and really get the city happening. So
- 1:15it's it's very exciting with the benefit of hindside braid on, do you think
- 1:19it's it's actually advantageous having that extra time, And yeah, I think it's
- 1:22very like you sit there and go fuck up, maybe I should do this
- 1:25different, or maybe I should do that, or you put it to bed
- 1:27and not let it worry. Yet. It's one of those things, isn't
- 1:30it, Like when is the work actually gone? So we kind of we
- 1:36knew, we knew there would be a bit of a way and we yeah,
- 1:38well it was all. We've pretty much had the Masters for probably a
- 1:42year and a half now and with that time. Oh it's a good either
- 1:47side, I think, because you do hear it and you're thinking, oh,
- 1:49it's spent a bit more time there. But the whole idea behind the
- 1:53city was to keep things raw and human and unprocessed as possible, and so
- 1:59I think with getting it all done in that short amount of time, getting
- 2:04it and then wading around it also adds to that vibe as well, I
- 2:07think, because we could have spent so much time like oh maybe we should
- 2:09redo this part, do this differently, organize some other topic, sound over
- 2:15here. But it's all about that in the spur of the moment where musicians
- 2:17we play hard rock, we just make it happen, no need to overthink
- 2:23it, just get in there and do it. And that's kind of how
- 2:25we approached the band, and I think that's how we've got to look at
- 2:29it going forward as well. It's been a long time, but that is
- 2:31us, that's how we sound, and yeah, happy for it too.
- 2:37Speaking about the sound, brol can go into the EP a little bit deeper
- 2:39for us musically or what do you've gone forward it? Yeah? Sure.
- 2:44So over the years I've been playing a lot of medical bands, gem bands,
- 2:47that sort of thing, and these days I've kind of got over that.
- 2:52Sounds all very tight prosts, quantized compt backs. It takes sound really
- 3:00to me anymore, doesn't sound like a really good time was playing or singing
- 3:04that sort of thing, and I kind of want to rail against with the
- 3:07city. And so what I did was put away all those high game apps
- 3:10and I took a pluzz pedal instead, and with a fluzz pedal, new
- 3:15rifts started to come out, sloppier riffs, but more real, more authentic,
- 3:21I think, more raw as well. And so that's been the whole
- 3:23idea behind Cities. Get away from the process for robotic sounds and try and
- 3:29get into a real human sound where you can hear the player playing, you
- 3:34can hear a mistake here and there. You can hear a bit of speeding
- 3:37up slowing down, but you're not hearing auto correction. You're hearing musicians doing
- 3:40what they do. And so that's where the real seed of this project came
- 3:45from and speaks as I got more of the guys involved with the band,
- 3:49they really love the idea of just playing and just enjoying those mistakes, enjoying
- 3:53the human nature of it, and yeah, just being like a real band
- 3:57and kind the way I try and try really. For example, if you
- 4:00listen to led Zeppelin and you quantize them and you comp them, that's not
- 4:04led Zeppelin anymore. And so that's a sort of vibe we're trying to go
- 4:09for here with the whole attitude of let's just play it raw and vibe,
- 4:14just see how it goes. Previously releases singles Squelch and Death in the Desert.
- 4:17So that's what people have been listening to from the band. Is that
- 4:21a good sonish representation of what do we expect from the ev I would say
- 4:26so, because to me, to my ears, Squelch and Death in the
- 4:29Desert are a bit different. Squelch is more on the industrial side, very
- 4:32filter like a bit of nineteen shaws going on there definitely Desert that's more on
- 4:39your hard rock, alt metal, alt rocks type vibe, and that those
- 4:45two are earliest essence of what we do. I think the industrial synth,
- 4:49dirty edge, but also just rickage straight through and through. But both of
- 4:55them do have the powerful vocal, the big catchy chorus. That's all what
- 5:00we're about as well. So fur's the question. Yeah, if you like
- 5:02Birth those songs, you're going to really like the EP. There. There's
- 5:06a few surprises there too. We've got to cover in there. We've got
- 5:11a few variations on themes. We've got a lot more world music happening as
- 5:14a testament. Desert has a bit of cittis and tablets and that sort of
- 5:17thing. So there's a couple of other songs they take on a few more
- 5:20formanco elements, more hard rock elements, more prov metal elements as well.
- 5:27So I think those two encapsulate out of the of the EP. So if
- 5:32you like, you're gonna like as as a new band broil like those two
- 5:35songs. They are basically your resumated the world to sort of lot people.
- 5:40This is their introduction, man, like, what did you choose those two
- 5:43to represent the band. Yeah, it's a hard thing, you know.
- 5:46Once you finish at EP, you've got we've got six songs there and we
- 5:49have to pick, all right, which one's gonna which one's going to be
- 5:53our first single? How are we going to do this? And I think,
- 5:56just going back to your previous question, it is all about what really
- 6:00represents us as the band, and to me, that industrial tinge but also
- 6:06the big heavy riff is where we're at. So which songs meld them the
- 6:11best? And we felt squel should that that really introduced our industrial vibe,
- 6:15really stamped us doing that because to me, not many bands are doing the
- 6:19industrial rock or metal thing anymore. And I think that gives a good unique
- 6:26start. And then with Death in the Desert, again a unique start with
- 6:30the citars and tablers and the Middle Eastern flavor, but also melded in with
- 6:33the big riffs. I think those two really do tell the story of Dirt
- 6:39City, and I think that's why we chose them. End of the day,
- 6:42it really represented us. Well, you mentioned the Middle Eastern mysticism that's
- 6:46with the music. That's that's a pretty strong feature throughout. But it's blended
- 6:50in such a subtle way that it's not it's not distinct differences. Music actually
- 6:56comes together really well. But where did that come from? Yeah? Yeah,
- 7:00so I would say it goes back to my heritage, I think,
- 7:02because I'm she Luncan by a heritage, and so I've heard stars and tableaus
- 7:08and a lot sort of thing my whole life. And usually people would say
- 7:14sitars is a happy instrument, but to me, I find something really dark
- 7:18and sinister about both the sitar and Middle East and instrumentation and scales, and
- 7:25I really throughout my life they're trying to incorporate those notes and those sounds because
- 7:30because there's something dark in there, and I really want to explore where that
- 7:32could go. And with a lot of the riffs, even with the big
- 7:38heavyry, it's not even the lead lines, there's a few of those scales
- 7:41involved. But yeah too, be honest. We also got a percussionist,
- 7:46a session percussionist then Luke Robinson. We brought in a lot of Middle East
- 7:49and percussion as well, which to really give this not just exotic teams,
- 7:54but yeah, that it brings some sinister nature to it, I found,
- 7:58and it really melted well with the western rock that we do, these Eastern
- 8:03oriental flavors to really create that sort of uneasiness I feel, and yeah,
- 8:09really want to push that, but not yeah, as you said, not
- 8:11in your face, this subtle texture throughout just to give you a bit of
- 8:15uneasiness. So if you use session musicians to get the main part of that
- 8:20on the recording, mate, like, how you're going to replicate that sound
- 8:22live? Yeah, that's an interesting thing because we walked out of that studio
- 8:28session, all the studio sessions that since going everywhere there's lots of guitars,
- 8:35percussion, we were scratching our health heads, going what the hell are we
- 8:37going to do? And so what we're gonna up doing is we brought on
- 8:41another guitarist, Luke, another Luke, and he's one of those guys that
- 8:46knows his kid, knows how to operate his equipment live and to give him
- 8:50a challenge, you'll do it with a smile on his face. And so
- 8:52I said to him, listening to all these tracks, these produced tracks,
- 8:56what could you do? And we had a rehearsal with him and he came
- 9:00along again with a smile on his face. He's playing riffs at the same
- 9:03time he's playing as since then he's doing some percussion top of them. So
- 9:07even though are using digital things involve in a set, it's alive. We
- 9:13all have to all no backings in there because that's the essence of what we're
- 9:18trying to do as well. We could have done it all a bunch of
- 9:20backing tracks, but we felt, let's see what we can do here,
- 9:24how can we pull this off? And yep, I'm pretty pleased without how
- 9:28that will happened, going like from the day we left the studio to how
- 9:33I feel now. It's a complete change. I too that much. That's
- 9:35man. Well, they're on the other subject of live shows made. I'm
- 9:37sure you've got a few planned to promote DP. Yeah. So next week
- 9:43on Thursday twenty four, we are doing our launch show at the Duke of
- 9:48Enmore and we're supported there by the rock Guys pain Job and a really great
- 9:54grunt of Bad Hawker and so that's hopefully going to be a great night.
- 9:58And after that we've we're planning a bit of original touring as well with Walker
- 10:03and so I get up to New South World original towns and see how we
- 10:05get over there, and then for twenty twenty four. Yep, we'll on
- 10:09again, see what we can do from many good brother all right, may
- 10:13well, thanks very much for your time. That I issue has been a
- 10:16pleasure of your self. Titled A thing is out now and any lovers of
- 10:18hard rock with a bit of a twist, mate, I suggest he's getting
- 10:20amongst because she's a fucking fella. What happened is your where you want to
- 11:39come round to me? Where did go? Right? Just like you know
- 11:56where? Not to time? Calling your web's life and see come just like
- 12:16no time? What's the one day at this time since ever you're playing back
- 12:28to see? See loround my grand I'm getting what did you do to U?
- 12:56Do it now? It will be fun? Which bays want you something?
- 13:05So you have to take it? Can like time? What the one
- 13:20she said? This time? Who can't see till I'm turning back and see
- 13:30see come to me? I don't brave. I'm getting chase here without last
- 13:46everything see which no one take it? Like your time? What what the
- 14:56things at this time? When listed in life back saying sail when