Music
The New Led Zeppelin?
Article by S.A. Moore
September 24, 2007 - From the pop-punk weary streets of San Diego come Dirty Sweet, an intrepid resuscitation to the city’s musical veins and a musical atlas to the coordinates of when rock “rocked” and you felt wickedly good while it did it.
Less than a week back from their tour in Amsterdam, I caught up with guitarist and band co-founder, Mark Murino on one of his infrequent days off. A remarkably alert, and un-jetlagged Murino talked about his early days in the bands Jejune and Lovelight Shine (both with current band mate and co-founder, Chris Vanacore), and how continued writing sessions after the bands fizzled led to the formation of Dirty Sweet.
The band, which pulsates with Vanacore on drums, Ryan Koontz on vocals, and Shaun Cornell on bass, was made a perfect union when Nate Beale, freshly minted from Detroit, teamed up on guitar and vocals. The fusion is seamless, and Dirty Sweet have been sharing their sinfully tasteful concoction while touring in support of their debut release, “…Of Monarchs and Beggars.”
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| The Dirty Sweet's not a revival, not a Led Zeppelin wannabe - they just play good tunes and have mastered the 1970's Southern Rocker look. They are So Cal Rockers |
S.A.: When you [and co-founder Chris Vanacore] brought on the other three members, was it sort of agreed that yeah we’re gonna do this style or was it sort of let’s pull it all together and see what comes of this?
MM: I don’t think you could ever push for a sound. I think if you do, you might just be kind of doomed because, you’re gonna try to fit yourself into a blueprint, when you should just play what comes out.
S.A.: You guys have toured quite a bit…..
MM: Yeah. Since this record came out, we’ve really been hittin’ the road.
S.A.: What has that life on the road been like?
MM: It’s so crazy. You spend all day driving, you spend all late afternoon setting up equipment and sound checking, and you get an hour to run out and see the city, and get something to eat, and then you go back and play. That’s kind of the highlight of everyday.
S.A.: On this tour, how has the band been received across the US; international? What’s been your best show, you think?
MM: Oh man, there’s so many. It’s so weird because we’ll play in Los Angeles and then we go out to Chicago and play, and somebody from LA is in Chicago. This time we were in Amsterdam and we saw a guy that we see every time we play Arizona. It was just like what are you doing here? And why do we see somebody we know every single night?
Places that stick out in my mind in the U.S.; Boulder, Colorado’s been really good to us. We got to Amsterdam; it’s our first time in Europe. We’re playing this place called the Paradiso, which is, from what I gather, thee place to play in Amsterdam. We walk upstairs to go play, we turn the corner to go out onto the stage, and the place is packed. Front to back, side to side, it’s full. That’s the best feeling in the world.
S.A.: I was doing some online research on you guys, and I came across your residency at the Viper Room.
MM: Yeah
S.A.: How did that come about?
MM: People go, “man you guys should do this,” and it’s like, yeah if you can hook that up we’ll do it. Then next thing you know, the next day they write to you on the computer, it’s like, “so we were talking last night about playing,” “yeah great, what’s a good month for you? Perfect! Let’s do it!” And that’s just kind of how it works.
S.A.: Was it this networking that landed the Jimmy Eat World Tour?
MM: Our drummer, before I even knew him, he lived out in Boston for a while. And he was coming back to California. He met this band, Jimmy Eat World that was going on tour, long before [they were] on the radio. And he just simply walked up to them and said, “Are you guys going to California?”They said yes. He said, “I play drums. I’ll drive your van, sell your merch, and drum tech for you, if I can ride with you guys back to California.”
So, he went on the road with them. And they became good friends, and they kept in contact, and then, when he got to California, he was doing a band that I was in with him, and it was called JeJune, and we did some touring with Jimmy Eat World.
When they heard we had a new project, they called us up and were like, “Hey, you guys ready to play?”So our first show was to two thousand people opening up, sole support act for Jimmy Eat World.
S.A.: You’re telling me that your very first show as a band is on tour with Jimmy Eat World?
MM: Yes. And I’m gonna take it one step further, for ya. That was our band’s first show, and our singer, Ryan, was his first show he’s ever played in his life. Cause Dirty Sweet is his first band. We had no idea what he was gonna do on stage. We had no idea if he was gonna remember all these parts, or what.And we didn’t know if he was gonna freeze in front of people, or what. We were lucky to find out that the more people you put in a room, he turns on more and more.But, it was his first show ever.
S.A.: I also read that Dirty Sweet opened for the Killers in April.
MM: Yeah, yeah.
S.A.: Really?
MM: You know what?We just got to open for Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave.
S.A.: I love Soundgarden.
MM: Yeah, same here, and he was excellent.I mean, when you picture back, for me being fifteen years old, and listening to Ultra Mega OK, this is when they were on Sub Pop, and that may have even been before Sub Pop, I don’t know. This was like monumental band to me when I was a teenager. To like, years later, be playing with [him].It’s pretty cool.
S.A.: Yeah, and Chris had that voice that was just crazy.
MM: He was Robert Plant of our generation.He was the high power voice of the 90s.
S.A.: You get a lot of comparisons, by your fans, to Led Zeppelin, and are often referred to as the new Led Zeppelin. How does the band feel about that?
MM: It’s a huge compliment. Nobody’s Led Zeppelin. Anybody who plays [music] knows there’s not another Led Zeppelin. But, it’s a huge compliment. And it’s something I wouldn’t even want to say that we do.
The people that love us love us a lot. Every city we go to, there’s people we’re gonna catch up with, and that are gonna take us under their roof and give us a shower to use, and a washing machine to put our socks in. And we love ‘em. And they love us, and it’s just all through music.
S.A.: How long did it take you guys to put together your debut release, “Of Monarchs and Beggars?”
MM: When it came time that we had the songs, and we had the block cut out to record it, we did it in two weeks. So it took two years to get the songs together, and to get the recording time, and mixing, and then we probably sat on that recording for a good eight months before it was released.
S.A.: Now, who came up with the title of the album? And is there any sort of meaning behind it?
MM: You know what, I think, Chris, our drummer, who is definitely the book reader. And I think that came from, uh, shit, what’s the Greek mythology? The, uh… Help me out here. The….. Why am I blanking on the book? It’s, you know, the Cyclops and Medusa, and all that…
S.A.: Oh, Odysseus right?
MM: The Odyssey! Yeah, and it’s just a line out of there, and we’re just like, “of monarchs and beggars”, how perfect. Like I was telling you, we wanna be a band of the people, for the people. And it just seemed to fit exactly.
Q: What’s your favorite song from this album?
A: My favorite song?
Q: Yeah. You love ‘em all, but when you play this song, that’s the song for you on this album.
A: You know, I think when I’m listening to it, I think I like to hear songs, like maybe “Isabelle,” and, “Delilah.” Playing it, I like to play songs like, “Born to Bleed,” and “Baby Come Home.” If you listen to our record, you’re gonna hear a little sweet finger picked acoustic song and you’re gonna hear like some pretty heavy bordering on early metal. Like Judas Priest or something.
I guess that’s why we call ourselves Dirty Sweet. You know, we thought the name worked so well for us, because like I said, we have just huge influence from so much music. We can’t decide if we like Hank Williams or Led Zeppelin. But I guess we just have to play both. And I guess that’s a lot of the reason why we play the type of rock and roll we play.
It’s just a mish mash now, and that’s cool. It seems just like I put so much music into my head, into my blender, and then you know this is what I spit out. And so, I don’t, just, uh……. I can’t even remember what question we were talking about. I’m just talking now.
S.A.: No, it’s great. I have that problem too. People are like, “Wait, what?”
MM: What were you talking about?
S.A.: Exactly. “Where you sober when you started this conversation?” It’s like, I don’t know.
MM: No! Told you, it’s my day off.
S.A.: Well enjoy my friend. Enjoy.
MM: Thank you.
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