PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
On the back of the release of their excellent album ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Accident’, we caught up with founding member and vocalist Sven to get the low down and dirt(y) on what makes the band tick.
Thanks for joining us here at Planetmosh for a chat. I’m going to begin by asking you to take us back to 2008 and the time surrounding the ‘Suicide Blues’ release, which I gather was pretty much a solo venture.
What were your ambitions and outlook at that time?
Thank you guys for this interview and for the awesome review. In the year 2007-2008 lot of changes came into my life. At this time I was a singer in a metalcore band, unfortunately there were some problems, so I started to write my own songs but they didn’t fit to the music and style of the band.
Due to the band problems I left the band and formed my own band with my own songs – DIRT was born. Then me and my buddy Thiemo Hille (I’ve known him for years from former bands I played with – now he plays the solo guitar for DIRT) recorded 11 new songs of DIRT for the album “Suicide Blues” which was released in 2009.
Dirt seems to now have become more of a band in the true sense of the
word, was that an important development for you before entering the studio to record current release ’Rock ’N’ Roll Accident’ ?
Between the release of “Suicide Blues” and the recording for “Rock´n Roll Accident” we got the real “band feeling” and we think you can hear this on the new album – we fit perfect together and chime well together.
How long was the writing process for the album?
As we recorded the whole CD in my home studio we had lots of jamming time during 2011 and due to this we got lots of song ideas for “Rock´n Roll Accident”. The final recording for the 10 tracks was from December 2011 till March 2012.
The press billed the album as Southern Groove Metal, is that a tag you’re comfortable with? To me it just seems like good time Rock ’n’ Roll.
Yes we feel comfortable with this genre, but you are right DIRT is a mix of Rock´n Roll and Metal with a high influence of southern stuff. Of course our music is influenced by other great bands (see next question).
Songs like ’Face Down’ and ’Crush’ for example are just glorious, head down, full tilt Metal. What bands influenced you as a musician?
The music of DIRT is influenced by the Rock of the 70´s (e.g. ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd etc.) as well as by the groove metal bands like Pantera or Black Label Society, furthermore it´s influenced by the 80´s metal and rock. A mix of all these genres and our own touch – this is DIRT.
Were there any songs that didn’t quite make the cut for the album? And if so, are you the kind of person that will revisit those songs at a later date?
Yes there are two more Songs which we recorded, but they didn´t fit 100% to “Rock´n Roll Accident” so we archived them for the next album :-)
We also thought about releasing an EP in the near future and maybe you’ll find these songs on it, we´ll see…
How are things looking on the live front? Have you had chance to tour with the new material yet?
After a few months of doing rehearsals we already had some regional gigs and there are some more fixed gigs and inquiries for the next months.
At the moment we are also trying to plan some gigs all over Germany and Europe, this would be great and we have to say that playing live is always great and we enjoy it very much, which hopefully the audience can feel to.
When does your attention start to turn to writing stuff for the next album? Are you always thinking of new ideas?
Marcel, our drummer and me we meet regularly at my studio and have jamming sessions with some beer and so we get some new ideas for new songs. It´s just fun and it´s good to see that so the best songs arise.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Young bands should get more support by the media (radio, tv,…) – yesterday we watched the music channel and we recognized that there are so many old bands who already lost their fire and play some middle class songs but they still got pushed by the media and the labels. So young bands which play some really good music don´t even have a chance to show what they do. So this is a pity we think. But fortunately there is the internet which is a good platform to show the world your music.
Away from the music side of things, what would the perfect day involve?
A day off – getting up late – Play station – having barbecue and some beer with my friends and listening good music.
Finally, if I could ask you to tell those who are yet to experience the pleasures of Dirt, what the band is all about.
A mix of good, handmade Rock music which you can hear everywhere (especially recommended in the car) at any time with good vocals and awesome guitar solos.
If you have the opportunity to see DIRT live you should not miss it – we have a killer live show.
Many thanks for your time and we wish you continued success.
Thank you for the interview.
‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Accident’ is out now through Massacre Records.
http://www.facebook.com/dirtmetal?ref=ts&fref=ts
http://www.massacre-records.com
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me8F-maSPlw?list=UUwmmUSG7DsF-6t2FEUfuVuA&w=560&h=315]
