What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences and are they the same as when you started out?
Ha! The name was something we went back and forward on a lot but nothing was quite right. Spud was having one of his grumpy days and was sick of being broke and muttered “Dirty Money” to himself and had a Eureka moment. Hence Dirty Money was born. As for influences, There’s so many. Guns n Roses have got to be a big one in there for all of us. Mark especially is a massive Slash fan. For me The Stooges are hugely influential. I honestly believe there is no greater front man than Iggy Pop at his peak and I would love to think I could project at least half of his danger and antagonism on stage. I LOVE Bon Scott as a frontman too. As successful as ACDC were after his death, for me at least, they were never the same band and never had that same energy or sense of fun again.
How do you approach songwriting and why?
Its mainly a collaborative experience. We all write together during rehearsals but we do all spend a lot of time working on ideas when we’re not together so someone will always bring something they’ve been messing with and we sort of flesh it out together. We don’t really have themes in the sense where we go, “We’re going to write about this today”. Our music is based primarily on observations of life. I dont think any music has the ability to resonate with a listener unless there’s the truth behind it that they can connect with. So it really does depend on what we’re feeling at the time. You really need to be able to make yourself vulnerable and expose that element of your own emotions in your music for people to connect with. That’s the beautiful thing about music, it has an honesty you don’t get in everyday life.
Honestly? Because its fun. Rock music was such a massive part of all 4 of our lives and its just genre we love. Don’t get me wrong we all have massively eclectic tastes across a plethora of genres but you have to write from the heart and I mean we’re not a particularly angry rock band, we’re more of “It’s the weekend, let’s go out and have a party” type rock band which has I think, with some notable exceptions, has been missing for a while.
How do you approach songwriting and why?
Its mainly a collaborative experience. We all write together during rehearsals but we do all spend a lot of time working on ideas when we’re not together so someone will always bring something they’ve been messing with and we sort of flesh it out together. We don’t really have themes in the sense where we go, “We’re going to write about this today”. Our music is based primarily on observations of life. I dont think any music has the ability to resonate with a listener unless there’s the truth behind it that they can connect with. So it really does depend on what we’re feeling at the time. You really need to be able to make yourself vulnerable and expose that element of your own emotions in your music for people to connect with. That’s the beautiful thing about music, it has an honesty you don’t get in everyday life.
Honestly? Because its fun. Rock music was such a massive part of all 4 of our lives and its just genre we love. Don’t get me wrong we all have massively eclectic tastes across a plethora of genres but you have to write from the heart and I mean we’re not a particularly angry rock band, we’re more of “It’s the weekend, let’s go out and have a party” type rock band which has I think, with some notable exceptions, has been missing for a while.
How do you decide what to perform live?
For me our strength has always been our live act and really we write our songs with the view to playing them live so there isn’t any particular transposition that we need to do to them. While overdubs and cool little sonic glitches can add to a record it boils down to one thing. If you can’t cut it live, you can’t cut it at all. Who wants to pay money to go to a gig and hear a recording? If you’re doing that, you’re an advert not a musician They may as well just stick a poster up of you and play the record.. Even with bands that use backing tracks to fill in parts, I just don’t get it.
How do you decide what to perform live?
For me our strength has always been our live act and really we write our songs with the view to playing them live so there isn’t any particular transposition that we need to do to them. While overdubs and cool little sonic glitches can add to a record it boils down to one thing. If you can’t cut it live, you can’t cut it at all. Who wants to pay money to go to a gig and hear a recording? If you’re doing that, you’re an advert not a musician They may as well just stick a poster up of you and play the record.. Even with bands that use backing tracks to fill in parts, I just don’t get it.
What plans do you have for the future?
We’re finishing up our Summer gigs at the minute and we released our debut single If back in June which has had some great radio play, (if you haven’t heard it, check it out on Spotify now!). We’re off into the studio in September to record the studio EP, we’re mixing a live EP as we speak and then we’re putting together a little mini tour for the winter so busy, busy, busy.
If you want to catch us at a gig, you can always find the info on our website or socials
https://www.facebook.com/dirtymoneybanduk/
https://www.instagram.com/dirty_money_uk/
Or if you want to listen to the single you can find it here
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5yJBuUrqIBSHWCxWmX5ij1?si=WguvzNkzQ0SPywOoGmJwzg