I was sitting at a barbecue chatting with my friend  Joe – a man I’ve known for some time – when I discovered he was in a punk band that I had no idea existed.

“Yeh, don’t really give a fuck”. Was pretty much his summary of the band.

They don’t have a Facebook or a Twitter or a website, but they are rather good:

I caught up with Sam from the band and asked him questions:

Alright Sam, introduce us to your band

The Dirt is made up of surviving members of my old band The Pretty Young Things. That’s myself and Joe Nicholson plus Scuz Brophy. Scuz just stood in on bass for one practice when a prospective new bassist couldn’t make it, he was obviously infected with the groove and general feeling of hate, lust, and sheer uncaring abandon and decided to stay. Well good.

 What does The Dirt sound like?

The Dirt is as filthy as sound can get while still managing to cling on to a rhythm, and pretty much as dystopian in lyrical content as you can get without becoming goth.

Joe told me when you were in The Pretty Young Things , things could get… hectic

Yes I punched some cymbals inside out (allegedly) as well as I recall one time our guitarist Chris getting rather angry that I made a perfect bite mark in his brand new Fender Jaguar guitar the first time he ever used it onstage. Also there was this DB limiter I had a disagreement with.

I was enjoying myself!

We got switched off a lot. Fucking power crazed bar managers not knowing a good rock n roll show when it (literally) hit them in the face.

Did you enjoy smashing other people’s possessions up?

I much preferred damaging my own shit! My parents used to buy me big multipacks of microphones for Christmas and birthdays coz a mic would only last maybe two shows before it was bust since I used to smash out the beat with it on my chest. They made wicked little checkered bruise patterns over my breastbone.

What can we expect from your performance now you’ve… aged out

Well….in an attempt to keep all the audience in the same room for the whole of the set, I have strapped a guitar round my neck to at least try to keep me on the stage and not exposing myself to the front row of the crowd. Although I cannot promise anything at this early juncture. Although I am in no way at all an accomplished player, there is an amazing bassist who plays like he’s got a lead guitar (Scuz), and a drummer (Joe) who is the heaviest player you will ever have your ears damaged by. And the rest is just punk rock. Ugly but an outlet. For everyone.

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The Dirt perform their debut London show with Shitwife, Darkshaft, Brunel, New Cowboy Builders at Birthdays Dalston on October 19th. They are on at 7.30pm so get down there early!

Birthdays Dalston, London  Weds October 19th.
The Blue Moon, Cambridge Thu October 20th