The Big Dirty- Whiskey Pistol; single released 22 May 2020

The Big Dirty- the name says it all. Self-described as “smut rock”, these guys know how to party, and how to produce music for your very own seriously-good-time!

On 14 May 2020 the band announced the release in July of their next album: https://twitter.com/bigdirtyrock/status/1260624265767981059?s=20

And to give us a taste of what we can expect, they tweeted a teaser for the new single, due for release 22 May 2020, the following day: https://twitter.com/bigdirtyrock/status/1261247228225732609?s=20

So, what can we expect from the lads? Pfft- if you have to ask this question, you are clearly living off the grid in a hole under a rock!

Three words - In! Your! Face! as only these guys can! And right when you think it’s come to an end … well, no spoilers, but maybe expect the unexpected! While the world is locked down and many musicians are whingeing that they can’t do what they love to do: get out and get on stage; these guys have been busy creating the follow-up to last year’s Sex Rock City.

Big and dirty is not only their name: it’s how they party as well. Chris’ heavily distorted guitar builds gradually to the same treatment of vocals from both vocalist and bassplayer Jameses, but the whole band kicks in with those trademark unison vocals that rival any classically-trained vocalist; matched by layers and layers of guitar tracks that broaden the production beyond a straight-ahead rock track.

Chris “C-Diddy” Datson takes up the story:

We started using a bit of a gimmick at gigs where we’d fill up a big water gun or super soaker with whiskey and spray it into the mouths of people in the crowd (if they wanted it). It’s become quite a cool feature in our live sets and something people always shout out for at gigs now..... anyway.... We called it The Whiskey Pistol, and on one occasion we were promoting a gig on social media and talking about how we’d have the whiskey pistol with us, and someone commented saying that Whiskey Pistol sounds like a cool song name. So it got me thinking and I thought it would be cool to write a song specifically around the whiskey pistol. The extended instrumental section at the end was written specifically so that when we play it live we have a decent amount of time for Jonny to spray the whiskey into the crowd while the music is still going hard. Lyrically we tried to make is sound like it was a bit of an old western/cowboy movie, and of course there’s lots of metaphors and room for innuendos in the lyrics. But yeah, it all stemmed from wanting a song where we could put the actual whiskey pistol to good use on stage.

So while I thought it was related to, and more alliterative than, KISS’s metaphorical Love Gun (or as metaphorical as one could get when openly singing about sex back in 1977), it is literally a water-pistol, or super-soaker, full of whiskey, which aids the audience-participation at gigs! Like Pete Townshend’s smashing of instruments wasn’t meant to become what it is today! Didn’t I say they knew how to party!!?

The Big Dirty – not a band to let a silly thing like a deadly virus hold them back! Come 22 May, wrap your ears around Whiskey Pistol. The worst thing about it is having to wait another month and a half for the full album!!

PG (Jacky) Gleeson
18 May 2020

The Big, Dirty Interview with The Big Dirty: February 2020

Peter: Chris, James, Jonny: I am so rapt to finally meet you after my introduction to your work through a tweet by @AnneEstellaRock. Anne he asked her Twitter audience what we were looking forward to most in 2020, to which you replied “Our new album!” That’s where I pipped in. Having listened to and thoroughly enjoyed what you guys have done to date, what can we expect from the upcoming collection?

The Big Dirty: Thanks, Peter. The new album shows a much more matured sound from us, at least in terms of song writing and production. We’re still playing fun, energetic and sleazy rock n roll, but we’ve honed our craft quite a lot since Sex Rock City. We have a better understanding of how we each think and operate, which has enabled us to write in such a way that really puts our individual talents to use like never before. As such, the music we’ve written is much more concise and coherent. We’ve got big anthemic choruses, gorgeous melodies, smutty lyrics, face melting solos, and some surprising twists and turns in our songs.

Chris (C Diddy) has also really been working hard on his production and engineering skills, and as a result the album is sounding bigger with much more depth and clarity than any of our other releases to date.

PG: And that hard work is certainly translating itself into your music. I can hear Guns n Roses in James and Chris’ work. Chris also gets into AC-DC/Angus Young from my listening. To whom else did each of you listen whilst you were growing up?

C Diddy: We’ve all got quite a broad musical taste, and we each listen to a wide variety of artists. I was a huge Ozzy fan as a kid. Zakk Wylde was my guitar idol but I also really enjoyed blues guitarists. I had a period of being massively into Stevie Ray Vaughan and these days I’m really enjoying Eric Gales’ work. I know Tobi was, and still is, a huge Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks fan and J.C liked a lot of iconic rock from the 2000’s. Jonny was too drunk throughout his teenage years to remember any music!

PG: Well, rock and roll is always about sex and drugs and, obviously, drink was J.C.’s drug of choice and, from your spot with Anne recently, it’s something you all have in common. But what was it that first brought you guys to Northampton, and what brought you together?

J.C: We all grew up in Northampton, apart from Tobi. Jonny and I went to school together and played in a few bands before starting this one. We met Diddy after he did some work on our music video to Rhythm of My Drum, and shortly after he joined us when our old guitarist left. Tobi moved here about 6 years ago to join a band that are no longer together and moved into session drumming after that. When our old drummer, Dave, left the band, we recruited Tobi and now we’ve kind of cemented our sound, style and Identity as The Big Dirty.

PG: So a Big Dirty family tree would have a few branches in it. It certainly sounds like we have the core unit now. And I’m just as certain that I’ve heard “Rhythm” on the radio in Australia. I listen to @TripleJ, @DoubleJ, and @SWR999 and am definite that the hook has featured on one of these stations. Are you getting much support from radio, either locally or around the world? How much do bands rely on radio nowadays? With Bandcamp, SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify, and the Interwebs in general, is it as important as it once was, do you think?

C Diddy: I think unless you’re in a bigger, more established band with lots of people pushing your music from behind the scenes, then it’s quite tricky to get some serious radio play. We’ve had a few tracks on some local stations but are yet to get onto more mainstream stations, although, with our music that might be difficult. At this early stage in our career, streaming is the best platform for reaching new fans. And while it does have disadvantages, for example how little you earn from it, it’s still widely used by consumers so you’ve got to adapt to it and exploit it as best you can.

PG: And that’s the biggest let-down: you can’t make a living doing this unless you’re big. I just hope this happens for you soon! Now, on the last album, you covered Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”. I have to say, I was knocked out by your version. What led you to choose that song to include on the album? Can we expect more cover-versions on the new record?

Jonny: I just love that song and have always thought it could be a great track to make a bit ‘rockier’. It’s got a lot of raw emotion in the lyrics and I thought it would be cool to translate that into the music as well. I think people really enjoy hearing it in a new light, and it’s always popular when we play it at gigs. Unfortunately there aren’t any covers on the new album, but we do play a few other covers live, which are always fun to do.

PG: That’s not a bad thing: fewer covers means more room for your own original material. In your interview with Anne Estella, you mentioned support of our recent bushfires through your outgoing merch at local gigs. Would this gear be available online as well for those gigs you would be streaming online?

TBD: When the new album is released we’ll also accompany it with a load of new merch. We’ll look at ways of getting this distributed worldwide. At the moment we’re kind of doing this ourselves, which is quite time consuming, so we definitely need to look at a more streamlined approach.

PG: Guys, it’s been an absolute pleasure. I am so looking forward to the new record and will be writing it up for sure!

TBD: Thanks dude! Appreciate it! Can’t wait to hear what you think of the new material!