Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Cult UK national TV comedy stars The Mighty Boosh recommend The Dirty Feel's 'Get Down' in their WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW top 10. "Julian: it's porno rock, filthy and juicy". - NME
The Dirty Feel, The Social, W1, 20 November
The Dirty Feel is definitely one of the best kept secrets on the London rock scene. The three-piece are in their mid-twenties and have only been playing together for a couple of years. Their sound is big dirty funky rock and you find you leave their gigs wanting to do unimaginably filthy, naughty things. The band play as if they are channeling great skilled musicians from rock and roll past: Kez has his bass slapping technique down to perfection. Nick, the closest thing the ensemble has to a front man, has beautiful smiling eyes, which twinkle with mischief as he sings in a gratingly melodic style. He is technically stunning on the lead guitar with his fingers flying across the frets at an immeasurable speed. Virgil, the drummer, is one of the best drummers I have heard in a very long time: that boy can play! And he can sing too, deeply and unpolished, a contrast that works well with Nick's sharper tone.
The best song of the show was the foot stomping 'Why Love', which sees Virgil take the lead vocal and sing it like he's the encapsulated persona of every scorned lover in the room. The newer track 'Talk in the City' was a hip-swaying highlight for me: it showed versatility proving they've not allowed themselves to become self-pigeonholed. The band have so much passion and depth it would be nice to hear them play something a bit more broken down and slower paced: they have the ability to pull off something truly heartbreaking.
The Dirty Feel are raw, unprocessed, unstyled and utterly captivating. They play music you have to dance to in true ugly fashion: where your hair flies everywhere and you don't care what you look like as you're so caught up in the moment! There's an EP out early next year on an independent label and the major labels are currently sniffing around. Only time will tell if the Dirty Feel will be allowed to take their deserved place in the commercial rock world.
Michelle Righini
- Artrocker
"Their sound is a raw, visceral, feel-good punk funk which sounds like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers being flung down a spiral staircase by a Motown lynch mob. The three-piece take turns to do vocals, with the drummer recalling James Brown or even Screamin' Jay Hawkins. The soundscape is full, the funk rules the day, and the hooks are perfect." - Silobass.com
"The Dirty Feel, apart from possessing one of the greatest names we have ever heard, pull off the near-impossible task of being 70's in all the right places. As the name implies, they deliver raw, sleazy rock music with a distinctive funk element. And what really stands out about The Dirty Feel is their unbelievable musical acumen. They swan onstage in beautifully tailored tan and cream suits and launch into a set that blows our balls off." - Rockfeedback.com
Discography
'Talk In The City'
(Cat PD 001)
Debut EP
Released on Pipe Dream Records
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Described by the influential Artrocker magazine as "one of the best kept secrets on the London rock scene", The Dirty Feel's amazing live shows have brought them people like Annie Lennox (Eurythmics), Charles Shaar Murray (Mojo, Q), and national UK TV cult comedy superstars The Mighty Boosh as fans. "They deliver raw, sleazy rock music with a distinctive funk element, but what really stands out about The Dirty Feel is their unbelievable musical acumen" (Rockfeedback.com). Extrovert virtuoso drummer Virgil (whose alter ego is Scenario Records hip hop recording artist DJ Sparo) is the son of Steve Howe (Yes, Asia).
The Dirty Feel emerged from London's Muswell Hill area in late 2004 on a recording forced on them by the manager of their local rehearsal studio, desperate to capture the hi-bpm funk of the band's anthemic live set-closer 'Get Down'. That track immediately appeared on favoured venue Cargo's influential Demo City compilation album, which in turn resulted in an offer from MTV to showcase the band across Europe in their 'A-Cut' programme. Unimpressed by the programme's focus on Anastacia, the band took part but were too rock'n roll to last the course and departed mid-series. In the meantime their dynamic live prescence had earnt them support slots with Emmanuel Jal (for Amnesty International), Kula Shaker and Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols).
Recently recommended in NME by UK national TV cult comedy stars The Mighty Boosh in their WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO NOW Top 10, the band are starting to pick up festival dates on both sides of the Atlantic. "You leave their gigs wanting to do unimaginably filthy, naughty things ... they play music you have to dance to you're so caught up in the moment!" (Artrocker). Annie Lennox (Eurhythmics): "they blew me away... they're incredible!".
Their debut EP is out in early July.
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