Music
Press
By Dan MacIntosh
So you love all those old No Doubt recordings, but that darn Gwen Stefani has just gotten a little too pop for your tastes. So what do you do? How about trying Dirty Children? This band features the spoiled and snotty-sounding vocals of Nadia Fay, who also writes the band’s songs, and she/it just might fill that void left by Stefani’s recent march up the pop charts.
Shut Off The World is a punkish rock disc, which may remind you of The Divinyls because of its emotional aggressiveness. There’s even a cover of Sheila E.’s “Glamorous Life,” where the band breathes a refreshing bit of rock power into this previously funky groove. The song’s message is just as relevant today as it was in 1984, back when E. was still one of many female Prince protégés.
A track like “Gravity” however, gives a hint as to why this band reached back to 1984 for a cover in the first place. It’s a song that sounds a lot like the mid-tempo singles acts such as Berlin and Madonna commonly put out then. Additionally, it shows off the lighter, prettier side of Fay’s voice. She can get down and dirty alright, like a catty girl or a tomboy. But “Gravity” reveals that she can dress up, just like the rest of the other party girls.
Dirty Children is not a name, by the way, that says a whole lot about this group’s music. DC is certainly not rated-X, for instance, or anything naughty like that. These strongly melodic songs, combined with Fay’s obvious vocal chops, bode well for the group’s future commercial success. Additionally, it is commercial, without being lame and predictable. Can Fay and friends become the next Stefani-like success story? There’s almost No Doubt about it.
- www.Indie-Music.com
As seen on , July 3, 2005.
by Amy Lotsberg
In the mood for some 80s-style punk? Then you need to check out Dirty Children.
The group, consisting of Nadia Fay (lead singer) and Jay Condiotti (lead guitarist) has got this genre
down pat. I kind of feel like I'm jumping around my dorm room with a plastic cup of beer in my hand
and a sneer on my face. Ah, nostalgia.
Yet the music still feels fresh. Nadia Fay's voice is perfect for this style of music. She growls and
wails like the best of 'em. Jay Condiotti plays a mean guitar.
They have unusually intelligent and involved lyrics for a punky band. I mean, The Ramones were
great, but not exactly wordsmiths, you know?
I also like how they're able to rock out like crazy as well as take it down a notch (or three) on some
tunes that almost resemble ballads (until they explode) and they pull them off equally as well.
A fantastic party CD, all around!
Stand out songs: "God Got In The Way" has intriguing lyrics and great sound (little distortion on
vocals, etc), "Keep Running" really shows off Fay's vocal capability and their cover of Sheila E.'s
"Glamorous Life" is great!
- CollectedSounds.com
As seen on Subba-Cultcha.com, September 1, 2005.
Dirty Children
Shut Off The World
Noizy Ninja
To have a punk rock band fronted by a woman is to encounter a million and one comparisons to the other handful of female fronted bands. It would be too easy to pigeonhole Dirty Children as a new Blondie, and while Nadia Fay has Debbie Harry's in your face attitude, and the band claim to have a'new 80s' sound, they're more glam than that. Dirty is the operative word here, with sleazy vocals and choppy riffs, but 'Shut Off The World' resists being one-dimensional too. Songs like 'I Did It' and 'Glamorous Life' are simple, blast 'em out tunes in line with the album's name. They make you want to jump about your room and have a reason to feel teen angst all over again - and that's ok!
- Subba-Cultcha.com
Dirty Children - Shut Off the World
Now that everyone under the sun is doing the retro ‘80’s New Wave rock thing, it’s high time for something good to come of it. Well Dirty Children would like to wave their magic wand and offer up their take on all that. Coming armed with a singer mere inches removed from the majestic goddess known as Gwen Stefani in Nadia Fay, Dirty Children
look to insert their own door stopper in the revolving door of one-hit wonders.
- J-Sin
http://www.smother.net/reviews/modernrock.php3?ID=1019
- Smother.net
In 2004 Dirty Children win a national songwriting contest and record at The Village, a state of the art recording facility in west Los Angeles with 11 time Grammy award winning producer Al Schmitt (Madonna, Phil Collins, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra, etc.). With 3 of their songs placed in independent films, a strong presence on the internet and a riveting debut album, Dirty Children is entering 2005 as one of L.A's most promising new bands. Their debut album "Shut off the World" is on sale now!
- Chick Singer Night
“This is ready for radio right NOW”
“You’re like Nirvana fronted by Debbie Harry”
“Cool! Finally, something worth listening to!”
“Your dramatic and high energy live performances make me feel like I’m fourteen and my parents suck”
“I'd love to see you guys live, great tight band, very unique!!!”
“This is Red Bull Rock!”
“Excellent songwriting, stellar performance, and solid production!”
”Phenomenally rocking. The guitars manage to combine a modern and retro sound, which is very cool. The voice is what stands out from the rest for me however. She combines pop with punk, she can change from moody to angry in the same line. A great talent.”
“The singer sounded like Gwen Stefani on steroids. I was afraid that she was going to jump through my computer and beat me up.”
“The lovechild of Marylin Manson and Shirley Manson (of Garbage.)”
“Smooth production and very tight musicianship!!”
“B-52's meets Elastica! Full power and modern. The vocals and mix are great. B-52's meets Elastica? What a good idea, Oh... now I heard a touch of Siouxie and the Banshees in the vox. I was in NYC in the early eighties so I know of what I speak. Wouldn't change a thing. Good luck!”
“Reminds me of some of the 80's glam rock stuff.”
“Like The Pretenders meets The Offspring.”
- Garageband
Discography
Hear streaming music on www.Garageband.com and at www.DirtyChildrenMusic.com. Dirty Children's debut CD, "Shut Off The World" is available for sale at CDBaby.com and www.DirtyChildrenMusic.com for $10.99.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY AND
SHUTTING OFF THE WORLD WITH
“PUNKSEXY” DIRTY CHILDREN
Popular L.A. Based Indie Band, Fronted by Wild and Untamed Lead Singer Nadia Fay, Defines Roaring
New Eighties Rock Sound On Explosive
Debut Shut Off The World
Club Scene Vets Place Three Songs From Disc
In New Independent Films
Described as “physical, nasty, punksexy rockers” by no less than legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff, the raucous and joyfully frenetic trio of Nadia Fay (vocals), Jay Condiotti (guitar) and Kit Loose (bass)—collectively and mischievously known on the L.A. indie music scene as Dirty Children—want only one thing: to rock you senseless in a trippy, crazy, new 80s rock kind of way. They’ve done it over and over the past two years at every local club that books trendsetting, cutting edge acts (The Mint, The Roxy, Hard Rock Café, Knitting Factory, Cat Club, Anarchy Library), and have even played at clothes store openings on Melrose and high fashion shows.
Now, Dirty Children’s ever-growing fan base, which includes thousands of visitors worldwide on the tastemaking website www.garageband.com, are gearing up for the release of Shut Off The World, their explosive indie debut from NoizyNinja Productions. Produced by Condiotti (a native of the Bronx) and Fay (an Angeleno of British parentage), the disc features 11 originals that run the gamut from crunchy-punky, defiant and aggressive (“I Did It,” “Beautiful Freak”) to cool, melodic pop (“Insecurity”) to new wave ethereal (“Gravity”). Several of these songs are featured in new independent films, including “Before It Gets Good” (director Maria Petros’ Ascension) and “I Did It” (Gigglerz, which was scored by Loose, the newest Dirty Child). Dirty Children give a clever wink to Loose’s hometown of Minneapolis on the disc’s lone cover tune, a sizzling rave-up of Sheila E.’s “Glamorous Life.”
“The idea of calling the album Shut Off The World is that we want people to come with us, listen to the album, rock out, blast it in their cars, take the emotional journey and shut off everything outside,” says Fay. “It’s like an invitation. The title song is totally autobiographical about the mundane urban experience, sitting in traffic and losing touch with the things that really matter. Like creativity, which is stifled sometimes in the chaos of life and having to survive. It’s about wasting a lot of time when there’s so much I want to do and learn. Typical artist angst. I like the fact that some of our fans say my lyrics are universal and they can relate to them.”
That’s not all those fans are saying. Pull into garageband.com and you’ll see a lot of spontaneous reviews that defy typical music journalist clichés—“You’re like Nirvana fronted by Debbie Harry,” “Your dramatic and high energy live performances make me feel like I’m fourteen and my parents suck,” “This is Red Bull Rock!”
Although Shut Off The World is the band’s first official release, Fay and Condiotti—then calling themselves Neo, before they discovered there was another local group with that name--made an extended, untitled EP of some of their early compositions two years ago that proved popular with their fans. Condiotti likes to say that he “met Nadia’s voice before he met her” when a songwriter brought him a song she wanted him to re-demo in his studio. Condiotti was so taken with Fay’s vocals (“which were sexy, sultry, thick, not hesitant, aggressive and confident”) that he told his client that the other singer she wanted was unavailable. Fay came in to recut her tracks, and the two vibed immediately and were soon writing songs and booking gigs.
“I don't think the 80s vibe of the band was planned in any way," says Condiotti, "it just sort of came out naturally. The 80s were a fun time for music, and the songs were quirky and funny back then. There was this whole electronic movement, and you heard a lot of quirky rock guitar things. What other decade could have produced ‘The Safety Dance?’ I was into all the new wave, but I was also a big fan of Van Halen and Ratt". Nadia went to high school during the L.A. riots and there were racial fights in her school and people selling looted items. "That's when I discovered Hard Core Gangsta rappers, Ice Cube, Ice T, Paris, etc., whose urban anger and hard beats corresponded with the racial tension in my school. That's also when (Dr.) Dre's "The Chronic"
came out which was HUGE then. There was so much tension and energy in that music. I ate it up.” Kit's got the ‘80s Minneapolis thing going, growing up with Husker Du and The Replacements. His first band had
Prince's drummer Michael Bland. “We knew growing up in the eighties in Minneapolis with our skinny ties, pointy toes shoes and excessive eyeliner that we were part of a cultural revolution of fashion and
music.”
Talking more specifically about Dirty Children’s evolution, Fay says, “The first album had a darker Alanis or Evanescence edge to it. But we decided after playing those
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