Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Lashings Of Emotion With LUKE BENTHAM From THE DIRTY NIL

Transcript

Lashings Of Emotion With LUKE BENTHAM From THE DIRTY NIL · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My name is Luke Bentham and I play in a
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: band called The Dirty Nil from Dundass, Ontario, Canada. We
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: are just gearing up to release our fifth studio album,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: which is called The Lash, which unequivocally, in my.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Opinion, is our best album. And am I am?
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I really do mean that sincerely. I know you probably
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: get a lot of people on here saying that.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Through perhaps gritted teeth, but this.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: One we do feel very strongly about it, and so
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: we're extremely proud to present it to the world. But
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: comes out July twenty fifth, and I'm happy to be
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: here on your podcast.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: By absolutely pleasure prob and I have to say that
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: probably is one of the most sincere people saying it's
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: the best album. Yeah, you do get some of them
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: say it, and you can say it's like a run
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: of the mill promotion type thing. But you can do
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: also tell with people's eyes in their face when they
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: say it if they mean it or not, and you mean.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: It, I do, I do.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I'm nothing if I'm not sincere.
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: That's what we like to hear it. Brother.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: As you say, the Dirty Nil release your fifth studio album,
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: The Last on the twenty fifth of July, So that's
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: still a couple of months up right, But how do
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: you feeling anxiously and nervous excited.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: I'm excited, and I think, like, you know, we've done
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: this a few times at this point now, so I'm
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: just I'm really focusing on the enjoyment of the entire
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: process and the entire kind of timeline rather than you know,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: letting any kind of insecurity or any kind of.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Fear kind of take a hold.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Of course, you have concerns, just like, oh yeah, if
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: it's not something I can do anything about, then I
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: just kind of throw it away. But you know, we've
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: got a pretty heavy touring schedule coming up, so that
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: kind of keeps the mind pretty focused.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: But you know, I'm just I'm really really excited to
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: get it out there.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's we recorded it last year, so you
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: know when you sit on it for a year, like
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: you're just you're just stoked for people to hear it,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Stoked to be able to.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Play more of the songs live this summer and beyond,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: and yeah, just bring another, bring another.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Uh slab of rock and roll music from the basement
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: of Dune Nath to the world.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: But stats we'll get into this a little bit more.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: Itam it. But the album has been called like its
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: very personal, Like it's been called a therapeutic album for yourself.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: So because you're laying a lot more on the line
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: of time, like doesn't get a bit more anxious, I
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: guess and in the lead up to it, because you're
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: letting some of it yourself, are they not?
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I mean I I don't.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm happy to to describe or or at least
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: try and tap into feelings that I think we all feel,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: you know, and and I I feel I I at
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the risk of sounding too hallmarky or warm and fuzzy,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: like I I like the opportunity to be able to
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: connect with the the the the less positive of side
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: of of of human experience that we all that we
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: all experienced at certain times. And I I I think
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I feel priud to be able to kind of express
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: some of that less than happy stuff.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: I can tell people more about the last the point
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: of view and what you had done for the summer.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So this one we definitely in terms of the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: recording pro the recording process was much faster and more
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: stripped back than what we've pretty much ever done before.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: We did it in two weeks with our friend down
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: the street.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Traditionally we've worked with a producer named John Goodmanston from Seattle,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: who is an incredible producer with a huge resume of
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: incredible albums, and this time we just did it with
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: our friend down the street, so it was a very
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: different process that way.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: But we're.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I would also say that we're kind of arranging the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: material during the album side. For the last album, there
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: wasn't a huge break or anything, and I think we
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: were just really feeling confident as a band, and the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: material came together very naturally and easily, And I think
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why I have such positive
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: feelings about it, is because it wasn't a struggle. And
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: you know, sometimes getting a song together is a struggle
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: and it takes a long time a lot of effort.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: But I tend to enjoy the songs that that just.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Kind of present themselves a little bit more naturally.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: So this is this is an album pretty much made
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: up of those type of songs.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: So there's the fact that you have you spent two
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: weeks in the studio, Does that mean that you haven't
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: polished everything so it's like a lot more rule sounding.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, I think that, you know, with the amount of
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: with the infinite amount of tools available for you know,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: people in the recording studio, there is a tendency to
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: let self doubt creep in and edit things and or
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: make things, keep making things better, and keep making them better,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and trying to beat things and.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Enforcing a bit more of a.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Deadline, a fun deadline on ourselves, you know, forces you
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: to kind of run with it. You know, we could
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: have booked more time if we wanted to, even towards
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: the end.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: If we were struggling, we could book some more days,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: but we.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Wanted the challenge of being able to make it in
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: a short amount of time and and kind of get
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: into the mentality of of of not editing things and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: just and leaving in some of the scrappiness that we
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: find exciting in the rock and roll records that we like.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: And you release the singles Gallup of the Hounds the
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Spotted Dream, which two different songs musically, But did I
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: sum up the record as a whole sonically?
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: Do you think?
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I think that there's a it's a pretty good preview
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: of some of the extremes of the album. There is
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: some louder material, louder than Gallop of the Hounds, and
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: then there is some quieter material, quieter than Spider Dreams.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: So it definitely gives kind of a an indicator of
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the certainly not the extent, but of the full extent,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: but some of the dynamic extremes that we got up
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: to this time. But yeah, I think it's the material
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: is kind of all over the map.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I think it's the most diverse.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: It's definitely the most diverse album that we've made in
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: terms of you know, slow songs, fast songs, quiet songs,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: loud songs, and everything in between, you know. So I
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: think that's another the reason why we are very proud
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of this one is because it is kind of we
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: go into areas that.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: We haven't really gone into before.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: But we you know, we're not getting out the glockenspiels
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: and the synthesizers.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: We're still using guitars and drums and stuff.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: There are some violins and cellos by our friends Sarah,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: which is the first time we've used that kind of
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: those those instruments on any of our records. And yeah,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: it just I we haven't really made an album that
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: sounds like it, and so that that that's very exciting.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: How did you go integrating the cell out of the
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: violin into your sound like, It's not as if you
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: just throw it in there.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Will you know you'd have to work it, wouldn't you.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, Sarah is just an absolutely incredible violin player,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: and we had there's there's a song on the album
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: called this is Me Warning you. It's very quiet, delicate
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: sounding song in relation to the rest of our catalog.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: But you know, when I first wrote it, I just,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I really it was my dream to get a violin,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and it's very sad kind of sounding song, and we
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: just wanted We thought that this, our most hopeless of albums,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: is the time to bring out the strings. And so Sarah,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Sarah very very beautifully laid down some very thoughtfully arranged
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and and minimal but very tasteful violin and I said,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: what about cello? And she said, I've never touched the
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: cello before.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: And I ran out and rented or one and I
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: threw her out one. I'm like, you can figure this out.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Come on, it's gotta be it's gotta be pretty similar
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and out of complete ignorance, but anyway, she figured.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: It out and did it, so kudos to Sea.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: It's like cool, Nick, you got to insprise her from
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: lots of different prices for this album too, including the Vatican.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: That sounds like an interesting story and tell us some one.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so we're just we were just about to gear
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: up to release Free Reign of Passions, and I took
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to hop over to Italy with my partner
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and see that for the first time.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: And neither of us are particularly religious people, but I said,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: all right, let's go to the Vatican, let's see it.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: And I was blown away by the violent imagery in there.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: For any fans of heavy.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Metal artwork, or thrash metal artwork or just extreme stuff,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I highly recommend a visit to the Vatican.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: But in the.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Basement there was kind of a dusty corner where nobody
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: else was really observing or you know, taking in the artwork.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: And there was this room full of bronze reliefs, which is,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: you know, a big slab of bronze that's been carved
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: and kind of has a very very minimal image into it.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: And I saw this one called the Pity of War
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: by an Italian sculptor named Francisco Messina, and it basically
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: depicts two soldiers that are fighting over a knife, and
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: both of them has this consigned face of resignation and sadness,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: like they don't want to be there and there. It's
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: just a very powerful piece of art that I could
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: not stop staring at.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: And we basically I kind of.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Just had that in my mind as we were making
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: all of the music for this record, you know, as
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I was sitting in my room writing the songs, as
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: we were down in the basement arranging them, We're bashing away,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: trying to jam out a new one whatever.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: I just kept thinking of this image. Everybody loved it.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: We tried to get it as the cover of the album,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: but we got to cease and desist from the Vatican.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: So you know, that's a that's a new career highlight
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: for me. But yeah, I mean it is. Don't tell
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: the Vatican, but it is going on our deluxe edition.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: They can they can.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Uh well, we'll wait on the paperwork from them, but
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: uh yeah. So anyways, that that visual imagery really kind
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: of put the the the coll in my furnace. Musically,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: it's in It's funny like I've never been inspired by
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: a visual piece before and translated into music, but this,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: this time had happened.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: I've got a greevity Brad.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: Like I've been to the Vatican jew and I have
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: not got one religious phone within ten cometers of my body.
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: But there's something about that place, like you walk in
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: there and you can just feel something, whether it be history,
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: whether whatever it is, it's just gotta it's gotta feel
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: about it.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know, it certainly does.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: And and some of the the lesser known stuff, I mean,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: like you know, it's impossible not to, you know, have
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: some awe when you look at the Steam Chapel. But
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: you know, I would highly recommend going off the beat
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: It's it's so massive, there's so much artwork in there, artifact.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I'd recommend going off the beaten path. And and if
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: you're going there for the first time, I would budget
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: many men set like the entire day because it is
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: really worth exploring the whole thing. And as I said,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I am a I am not a religious man. Not
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: anyone that's read or listened to our music, they'll they'll
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: probably know that or that'll come as no surprise.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's still very much.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: So. Nonetheless, it's it's very striking and worth checking out
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: even for the more secular minded.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Damn straight now, you mentioned your album Pray Ran into
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: Passions before, so that time out in twenty twenty three,
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: So how does the Lash gift a musically to that one.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: It's way better. It's just it is. It's a better album.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I like a lot of the songs on Free Rando
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: path Essions, but I think that we were we I'll
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: speak for myself, we were. I was really anxious going
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: into the studio. I don't think I got the best
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: on myself. I'm still proud of it, and some songs
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: more than others. The Light, Avoid and Everything is one
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: of my favorite songs I've ever written. Uh so proud
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: to bring that into the jam space and be.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Like, listen up, you listen up, got.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: Around me listen to this one.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: I was really stoked about that one.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: But in general, it's when I hear the album, I
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: can hear my my kind of caution and hesitation with things,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and this one, uh, there's none of that.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: It's just it's Uh.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: This one probably should have been called pre Reign of Passions. No,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: what it's called The Last because it's it's way.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Grimmer than the than our previous records.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I WoT the Scotsy album Top the Chade, which
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: is awesome, like he's got a.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: Ton of an old stool eat fly about it. What
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: was what were you going for there?
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Well, we decided that on our last couple of albums
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: we've used basically the entire full spectrum of color uh
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: and and in line with the music of the record
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: and the kind of themes, the lyrical themes uh and
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: the Messina relief that I.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Just mentioned, we wanted to go with something much.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: More austere and and more kind of uh uh, you know,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: basically colorless. We wanted to We wanted to have it
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: much harsher and simpler, and obviously the thrash metal world
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: is full of that kind of stuff. We're big thrash fans,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: and so we were lucky enough to link up with
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: an English artist named Jack.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: And he hand draws all this stuff and he was
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: he was just cooking, you know.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: So you never know when you link up a new
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: with a new visual artist what they're gonna be able
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: to produce.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: The talks can.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Go really well and they can show you what they've
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: been working on and you just realize you've been on
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: two completely different pages.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: This time.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: He was just sending through fire so quickly for all
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the singles, all the tea everything, and he's working super quickly.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: I think he just clicked with the project. He got
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: it like he really loved the album.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I chatted with him over email, and I think we
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: just found the same wavelength.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Together and he really really delivered for.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: Us and nice. You don't seem to me he got
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: sort of like to stagnate musically.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Bro.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: So, how would you say the band's sound has changed
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: to a grown from your twenty sixteen debut album Higher
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Power through to the last.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Well, we've certainly gotten more competence at our instruments, and
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: so I think with that just through playing them for
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: thousands of more hours. So I think that with that
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: kind of you know that improved competence comes improved confidence,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: and we've kind of gone into other areas that we
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: feel more feel much more, you know, confident to tackle
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: and comfortable tackling such as quieter things.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: And even louder things.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Our dynamics have certainly grown much more extreme since the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: early years. I think that, yeah, it's just as we
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: still just love getting together and trying to play Hot
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: for Teacher by van Halen, getting thirty seconds in and
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: abandoning it. Like we love trying to just like jokingly
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: get better at.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Music, and once in a while there's.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Actually some appreciable improvement, and so we're always trying new things.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: We just love playing music, get together. We play a
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: lot of covers just for the fun of it.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: You know, you'll meet some bands that where it's like
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: they get together when they have to work and they
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: have to produce.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: We're not like that.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: We just we're we're, as I said, a couple guys
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: from a really small town in Canada who were one
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: of the only bands in town growing up, And we
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: grew up together playing songs, and that's still.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: What we do. You know, we're thirty four now and
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: we still just love it.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: Fascin all those lines by Luck, Do you think you
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: got much musical growth left in you?
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: Or do you think after five albums you pretty much
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: found his sound?
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I think that we'll always keep moving. I mean, I
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: think there are limits to what.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: My mind can conceive of with the less Paul custom
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and a Marshall in terms of sound palettes. But I
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: do think that there's always another banger. There's always another
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: banger to be had, and I am forever going to
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: post up my fishing rod into that hole and see
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: what I can catch.
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: Fantasy, Well, it's been a pleasure to speaker, but you
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: might the last. He's out to lie.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Twenty fifth sounds like a crack of sci fi, but
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: like I said, oh yea, I'm what to forty and
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: the rest of it.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: So best of luck.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much, and thanks for dedicating some
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: weekend time, and I hope you have a great weekend.