Interview with Dirty Deeds
Interview with Dirty Deeds
| DIRTY DEEDS
is yet another fine example of how you can stumble across a musical
gem and have it turn into an absolute obsession. The groups debut album,
"DANGER OF INFECTION" is a chunk of heavy metal done in the old
style with just enough of a shine to bring the whole package up to date.
The disc's eleven tracks are a wake up call to all of those metal mavens
who cut their hair and blended into the "alternative" scene. It's safe
to come out fella's! DIRTY DEEDS have positioned themselves to lead
the next wave of British heavy metal and with but a single listen you
can hear that this is no trip down memory lane. Infectious is the perfect
descriptor. Having been chosen to fill the opening slot on IRON MAIDEN's U.S. tour, the group made it's way to Michigan a short while ago and I had the chance to speak with both Pete Franklin(vocals) and Dave Cavill(drums) after a particularly raucous set that left much of what followed that night in the dust. This also had to be the most surreal interview in rock and roll history. The fact is that my family and I were on our summer vacation and Dave and Pete invited both of my children into the dressing room for the interview. Between chasing the kiddies through the showers and trying to keep the little rascals out of the catering we managed to hit most of the pertinent rock and roll topics. If the simple fact that these four guys have managed to piece together one hell of an album wasn't enough for me to encourage you to plunk down some cash for "DANGER OF INFECTION" then their tolerance of my young ones tearing apart their dressing room certainly put it all over the top. Great bunch of guys here who just happen to make incredible music. MUSIC AMERICA : I know that the band was the first signing to Steve Harris's BEAST RECORDS but I don't know how you managed to achieve that. Was someone in the band one of his footballers or something? PETE FRANKLIN : Tony was. Tony our bass player plays football on one of his (Harris's) teams. It was just by accident that he joined the team and he was in the dressing room and there was Steve Harris standing there in front of him! They had the same interests, like rock music, they both play bass, tennis, football and you name it. They became friends. He got to go down and see the band a few times and he got to do an album because Harris thought the stuff was really good and then the rest is history. In fact he (Harris) asked us to go on tour in Italy. They were in Sicily and they said, "If you can get your ass down here you can do the rest of the tour because on e of the support bands has run out of money." No one had since us in Europe or France or anything like that and the reactions straight across the board have been fantastic especially for a band that hadn't had an album out yet. MA : I should have asked this first but why did you choose the name DIRTY DEEDS? The AC/DC image comes to mind every time I say the name. PF : Yeah, we get that all the time. What you do is, you go "It's just a saying. It's just when bad things happen to you." It can work negatively but most of the time it is positive. I mean, you don't forget the name. MA : Was the band having much success before Steve Harris became involved? PF : This is really all new for us.(Gestures around the room) Me and Tony got together about five years ago and through Steve we got Barry(Fitzgibbon, guitars) from a band called BRITISH LION. Dave I knew before and then from then on Steve was in on it. It is all fairly new to us. We have only, really, ever played big places. We haven't really ever played small pubs. In fact, in Britain, we have only been on tour with UFO and that was great and then when we go back we will be with IRON MAIDEN AND you can't ask for better than that can you. UFO and IRON MAIDEN are two of our favorite bands. MA : You probably won't ever get the chance to go out with UFO again now that Schenker has quit the band. PF : Not with Schenker anyway after he threw a wobbler in Japan. They are looking for another guitar player and they are going to tour with him. MA : Coming from an American perspective, UFO is at its best with Michael Shenker. DAVE CAVILL : Oh, yeah. MA : Me, personally, I would go and see them whether Schenker was in the band or not just to hear some of the classic tunes. PF : Yeah. DC : Yeah. MA : Were you guys all MAIDEN fans before you were signed to Steve's label? DC : Sure, yeah. PF : I mean, I get to get up on stage with them every fucking night! It is the greatest thrill in my life. MA : How long have you been out and cavorting on the road with MAIDEN now? PF : At least six months. This tour started in Europe. France and Italy and took us to places in Spain and then we came back for three weeks. Now we are here in America and then we go back and go around Europe again. Different places and then end up in Japan at the end of the year. That is great because that is where the album has already been released. MA : Japan seems to be one of the few places in the world where metal music is still commercially popular. PF : The thing is, it is still there and the mainstream press don't like that. If there is anything that they could print about it, they never do. To me nothing has changed. It's just more people now are coming over to the fact that it just hasn't gone away. It has just gone a bit more underground. MA : The cd has several dimensions to it. It is raw yet very polished and it obviously was meant to be played live. Was there a feeling for the record that you were trying to get across or did it just all fall into place naturally? DC : A bit of both I would think. It's just us is really what it is. PF : That's just the way the band sounds. MA : Is the material on the album stuff that you have had sitting around for a while? PF : It took a long time to get the album released for one reason or another. We started playing first and then we went out on tour and then it was back into the studio and done the album then back out on tour. It has taken a lot of time. MA : What impresses me the most is that there is a new band that is willing to play music that is hard and heavy. This style of music seems to only be played by bands that are reforming or have ben doing it steady for years. Very few new bands play this style of music or if they do this well. PF : We play this type of music because we like it and to be able to do it as a job is fucking unbelievable. MA : How are the songs constructed? Who comes up with most of the ideas, musically? DC : There is no set way where we say "We'll do this or that." or "We'll do it together." The songs are just first to us. MA : You have all been friends for some time but I would imagine that living so closely together on a tour bus must grate on your nerves from time to time. DC : Oh of course!(Everyone laughs) But really, if anyone gets too hot about something the rest of us will just say "Go have a soak mate!" PF : We have seen what has happened to some bands and we are not fucking idiots. We are more tight as a unit than four individuals and that is just the way it goes. MA : What were the last shows that you guys actually went to see as fans and were not playing on the bill? PF : VAN HALEN the last time they came over with Sammy Hagar, that was pretty good. DC : VAN HALEN. MA : Did you wear your IRON MAIDEN soccer jersey? DC : That was before I got it. (Our conversation was interrupted several times by the fact that I had to run after my kiddies who had been tearing up the dressing room. Now, as I transcribe this interview I have found several messages that Pete Franklin left for me on my tape recorder. PF : "Now he's fucking with the kids! He's bringing them back. He's got one under his arm. The other one is following him. Now, she has stolen an orange and is drinking my Coke! My god the kid is on the florescent lights! Get down! I told you this was the most bizarre circumstance for an interview! By the way I know one of you swiped the babies bottle. If you drank the milk you should know it was breast milk!) MA : As artists, how hard is it for you to turn over a piece of artwork that you made with your own sweat and blood to a record company who's main concern is making money off of you? PF : I don't know. It is a business and these people do need to make money. That is their job and we understand that. MA : Where is the line for you between artistic integrity and just plain old commercialism? PF : That is where you have to remember where your roots are. Everybody contributes something to getting people here to see us play. If I have a bad throat one day I still have to go on because if I don't the rest of these guys don't get paid and neither does the crew. This is where bands go wrong. Then some bands will try to write music that they are not used to writing and its not as good music as they have done before and instead of more people coming to see them less do. You have to stick to what you know. Stick to your guns. If you are going to change to be commercial you are just going to fuck yourself up and everyone else as well. MA : What should people know about DIRTY DEEDS before they plunk down the money for a record or a concert ticket? PF : We are a very powerful band. A very passionate band and very lively on stage. And basically our music is wonderful!(Laughs) DC : Basically that we are a lot of fun and if they come out and see us they will have a lot of fun too. (...as I was off to chase the kiddies... PF : "The thing that you all need to know about DIRTY DEEDS is that we are all very good at changing nappies and that is what we are going to do now. Thank you! See you later kids. Time for bed now!") So ended a very enjoyable evening with a very exciting and talented bunch of Englishmen who just happen to love children in their dressing room. If you can possibly afford it, you should pick up the groups brand new disc. It is a very fine piece of work and worth every penny spent. If you are feeling particularly thrifty buy an extra copy so that the band can replace or repair the carnage left by little Ian and Katherine. IAN SCOTT ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC AMERICA MAGAZINE 9773 SANDYPOINTE FAIR HAVEN, MI 48023 810-725-6471 |