The Big Dirty "Sensual Lover" Single released 26 June 2020

On 14 May 2020 The Big Dirty announced the 17 July 2020 release of their next album, "The Sex". To give us a taste of what we can expect, they tweeted a teaser for the first single the following day and now, inside the last month before the big album release-date, comes the second single "Sensual Lover".

Now, with such an obvious-sounding title, do we expect the usual Big Dirty double-(or, in their case, single)-entendre smut and in-(or in their case on)-your-face full-on hard-rocking? Or do we look forward to something mellow and grown up? The video trailer features guitarist C-Diddy, head bound and bandaged like a war-hero, brandishing an acoustic guitar with the rest of the guys in the desert adding a reenactment twist to the Jon Bon Jovi Dead Or Alive clip-setting.

When you're The Big Dirty, mellowing doesn't necessarily mean growing up, and while Dead Or Alive may set the tempo, the song builds through the vocal echoes and swelling (ooh err!) guitar effects through to the solo which has become these guys' staple. They can tie me to the bed, they will leave me there for dead and, like their version of Chris Isaak's Wicked Games on the hard-copy version of the last album, being haunted in the end is the least of it! You may expect one thing but James and the Northampton rockmeisters deliver something else again, as always.

The Big Dirty "Sensual Lover" - if this is what can be expected in July, pre-order the hell out of it! My copy is in the post and given the right conditions I would swim out to meet that shipment to get it here quicker!

PG (Jacky) Gleeson
21 June 2020

The Big Dirty - the first three releases

The Big Dirty- this not what one would expect when one uses the term, “British rock”. Raw Aus-pub feel with hints of US-stadium rock in a self-proclaimed hat-tip to the “classic legends of 70s and 80s rock and metal”.

These guys ramp it up in their Bandcamp contributions to the world of straight-ahead-rock music and promise more in an album-release later this year. 

What a fine introduction following a random tweet that answered the question “What are you looking forward to in 2020?”

Under The Crimson Moon (August 2016):
A veritable rhapsody until the vocals kick in from around 90sec. This is my and the world’s introduction to the band with a hybrid of Axl Rose/Guns’n Roses and Bernard Fanning/Powderfinger weaving throughout a big, dirty, hard rocking sound that promises much for this Northampton four piece

Rhythm of my Drum (March 2017):

More G’nFn’R in this assault on the aural senses. Straight out of the blocks, I am sure I’ve heard this hook on either of the J-stations I happen across from time to time. 

As with Crimson Moon there is a surprise to keep listeners on their toes.

It’s music like this that make me wish Australia wasn’t as far away from the rest of the world; that just popping out to see them in full flight was possible. We’ll just have to wait for the ground swell to make an Antipodean tour worthwhile for them.

Sex Rock City (December 2018): 
An extended EP? A mini-album? iTunes calls any music release an album but the usual definition is 10+ tracks. Whatever you call it, here is The Big Dirty in full flight with seven songs to keep you keen: 

• Sex Rock City: Detroit Rock City but dirtier? Hell No! This eats KISS for breakfast and shits them out at bedtime! Keen on tempo changes, surprise dips and multiple stops throughout a song, these guys keep it rockin’ like it’s 1979!

• Safeword: for when it gets too much to handle. Maintain the rage! Maintain the volume! Maintain the self-proclaimed hat-tips to 70s and 80s rockers with 30-40 years’ input to keep it as fresh as anything else being created today. James Shaw’s vocals rival the vocal exercises Freddie used to do during his live performances. 

• The Day The Devil Came To Town: was he carrying a fiddle? No, but he was reaching back to the early-70s dirty Les Paul sound that made bands like Kansas, Mountain, and Blue Öyster Cult the legends they are today, sans cowbell. Add in some Chris Cornell throat-killers to make this track keep kick it along

• Punch Drunk Crazy: Brings guitarist Chris Datson’s influences out onto his sleeve!!  

• Pheromones: My favourite track so far. Had me reaching for superlatives which wouldn’t ever be able to capture the pace and emotion of this song.

• Paradise on Fire: With an opening akin to Angus Young’s Black or Salute days, a quiet intro lures one into expecting a chill out. But no, the pace is maintained. Dedicated, perhaps, to the Australian summer experience of 2019/2020?

• Queen of Hearts: The Big Dirty want to give it to us, and they have done that in spades!! But where you might walk away from your device sated by all this hard rock, you wouldn't be finished just yet
  

• Wicked Game: If you're not a collector of hard-copy music any more, make an exception for this record, even if it's only for this last track. We all know Chris Isaak's version of this song, but don't expect anything from this one- just let it smack you like the rest of this record. In true Big Dirty style, this one keeps driving over the cliff like Thelma and Louise, but unlike those passed heroines, it keeps going after it bottoms out. What a way to finish!!
  

In Richard Ayoade-as-Moss’ paraphrased words, these guys kick bottom! All killer. No filler. And a new record in the offing as we speak. How they maintain this pace is described in their tweet of 16/01/2020: 

What's your poison this morning, guys? 

I'm on a triple-shot cappuccino with vanilla syrup, 2 cans of red bull, 50ml of rum, 2 ibuprofen, an extra large jam doughnut and I've got a Tony Robbins audio pep-talk on repeat! 😝☕️⚡️💪💪🍆💦

Today is my bitch!

Get onto The Big Dirty bandwagon now, before they explode. It will be so good to be able to say, “I knew them when...”!

Rock and fucking roll my friends. Rock. And. Fucking. Roll!!

PG (Jacky) Gleeson

17 January 2020 (edited to include Wicked Game from the CD version 31/01/2020)