This week sees Canadian trio The Dirty Nil return to UK soil after their riotous debut show at London’s Black Heart earlier this year. We caught up with guitarist/vocalist Luke to find out some of the band’s stories from the road, their touring necessities and more.
Favourite thing about touring:
In America: sampling the gas station coffee from state to state. As a rule of thumb, the darker and more terrible tasting, the better. In lovely Europe: luxurious green rooms and back stage food spreads, beers whose names we can’t pronounce.
Least favourite thing about touring:
Florida.
Five essentials for the road:
1) Lots of reading material (again, darker the better)
2) A book to write in: Record your highs lows and everything in between, you’ll thank yourself later.
3) Miniature Marshall Amplifier: Home is wherever you can produce distortion. There are always more Jesus lizard songs to learn.
4) Skipping rope: constant touring is a kind of prison. Your daily life is constrained by your travel schedule and punctuated by long periods of down time. You might as well use that time productively.
5) Open mind. Say yes: to new food, experiences, drinks etc. No one cares about the time you DIDNT accept an invitation to tumble through the bars of Hamburg at 2am. It’s a wonderful world ladies and gentlemen.
Your favourite way to pass the time:
Playing “would you rather”. Exact examples aren’t to be repeated here due to their depravity, but use a little imagination with your band mates and there’s many a howl to be had.
“The Most”
Memorable moment:
Hanging out at Ian Mackaye’s house
Hilarious moment:
Scarfing down space cakes shortly after being pulled over by the customs officials, on our way out of Amsterdam.
Embarrassing moment:
Warped tour.
Outrageous moment:
Peeing out the top floor window of Toronto’s most elegant hotel, the Royal York, at a private party.
Drunken moment:
Recording the “little metal baby fist” 7″.
Rewarding moment:
Crossing the ocean in January and seeing kids in London sing along to songs that hadn’t yet been released. Ladies and gentlemen, HIGHER POWER: now available wherever fine records are sold.
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You can catch The Dirty Nil at one of the remaining UK tour dates:
May
Wed 4th – GUILDFORD – Boileroom
Thu 5th – MANCHESTER – Sound Control
Fri 6th – NEWCASTLE – Jumping Jacks
Sat 7th – BIRMINGHAM – The Sunflower Lounge
Sun 8th – NORWICH – Owl Sanctuary
