Dirty Rascal in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Arts and entertainment

Dirty Rascal

Locality: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 401 780 707

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25.01.2022 In February of 2020, Dirty Rascal scored 3 spots at festivals around Melbourne. We also released our single Shockwaves and hosted our own show at Czech House in North Melbourne. Things were looking great and we were gathering momentum.We were featured in Rhythms Magazine and even scored a gig at the Union Hotel in Brunswick, a venue we had been trying to play at for quite some time. Less than a week after that the first of the COVID lockdowns began and as we know, all live s...hows stopped. People could not gather for fear of the virus, and so it has gone on for so many long months. What does a band do that can’t play gigs or even get together and rehearse? They do what every other band does and makes a music video! The song we chose was Rolling Thunder, possibly one of the most rocky tunes from the ‘You be the king’ album. It even features a freaked out, distorted bass solo and epic mass backing vocals. Each of the band members found their own space, at home or nearby, where they could perform, to themselves. Andrew was in the street outside his house, Ian was in his backyard with a second take in the living room, Jerry put on a hat and set up in front of his shed and Mal crawled into his chicken coop taking full advantage of the wood panel textures the chooks take for granted. John climbed onto his garage roof to try to capture some of the dramatic autumn sky, but ended up reshooting the video beneath the heavy bluestone walls of Pentridge prison. Alone, we pursed our lips and let the music take us. We strummed our quiet guitars in time with the playback and scrunched our eyes as if the amps were blaring, smacking drums and pumping keyboards like our lives depended on it. In the midst of such video takes, a pedestrian might come walking along through the shot and we’d feel a bit foolish, but go right on anyhow. So the rolling thunder video came about, a mash together of these genuine performances, separated by time but unified by intention. As I wrote in the first of these passages, we’ve come up with a new idea, something fascinating. Something which allows an insight into not only what we do as a band, but why. It sets out to explain how 5 men on the wrong side of 50 (but the right side of 70) get to feel like teenagers again. A band starts with what they can do right now, how they sound together and the music they can play, but it can’t stay like that, it would not have the momentum and dedication required to keep going. A band is built on dreams of what could be, what greater sounds and music can be created. Dirty Rascal invite you to join them as they dream of higher things.

24.01.2022 Episode 2: I "could not imagine" this rehearsal. Jerry explains his passion for producing, the band listens to some new ideas, a first rehearsal is cut short.

23.01.2022 What do we dream about when we play in an original rock band? Hearing our songs arranged and developed by a group of great musicians? Releasing albums to critical and audience acclaim? Winning awards? For many of us, it’s just about playing live and enjoying collaborating, creating and celebrating great live music. Early on in the Dirty Rascal story we decided to play as much as we could. Wherever we could get our foot in the door, the drum kit and amps would follow. This str...Continue reading

21.01.2022 There is a story that Andrew tells about Jerry crafting the songs on the ‘You be the King’ album. They sat down together and Andrew played Jerry a prospective song Great song says Jerry, where’s the chorus? So it was with ‘What Would Love Do’. Jerry brought in his ideas and together they built one of the strongest songs on the album. With killer guitar lines from the late, great Ross Hannaford and such tasty keyboard sounds from the very-much-alive Bruce Haymes....Continue reading

19.01.2022 Episode 4, 'The last rehearsal': With John away the rest of the band have a last rehearsal before recording. Working out keys and bass parts as well as communication.

18.01.2022 A still, cloudless day broke over the Mornington Peninsula. Despite being one of the early days of winter it was remarkably balmy as the band met at a small cafe back from the foreshore. John was the last to arrive but made up for it by towing down a trailer loaded with a large fibreglass lion. Videographer Sam O’Reilly was looking at angles while the band sunk one last coffee. We headed down to the beach, on the way collecting Matt Irwin, well known Melbourne photographer, ...who in this instance had traded his DSLR for a high powered drone. After a bit of chat between the two film-makers they decided to shoot some of the drone material first while the main crew looked at the second location. Matt had us walk purposefully up and down the beach while being swooped and dived at by the whirring winged camera. After a while of us getting different shots, Sam and his crew arrived back at the beach and had us dig out great holes in the sand, making a tall pile on the beach. While we had permission from the foreshore committee to be filming on the beach, we weren’t sure they would love the holes or the drone. Once Sam had captured our digging and piling we dragged the aforementioned lion down onto the sand and dug it in, attempting to make it look like something we had fashioned out of the damp grains. More closeups of us shaping and crafting the sand, then it was time to set up the instruments. Jerry had brought his second kit, but was still careful not to get it wet or sandy, the rest of us including former bassist Andy positioned ourselves and miming along while Be a Lion blared from a portable speaker. Once Sam was happy he had got enough angles, he set up some solo shots with Andrew, then it was time to relocate the main crew to St. Ernest, a cafe in the Blairgowrie strip which was our second location. Left at the beach with us and the drone, Matt got some more aerial shots, even dragging the drums out onto a sandbar so the drone could fly 360 degrees around us, catching the sunlight on the water. Up in St. Ernest, the narrative began to take shape with John typecast as the barista in a very quiet cafe. He posts a notice asking for a rock band which then materialises as first Andrew, then Andy, then Jerry until finally John leaps out from behind the coffee machine to join the band - the epitome of a cafe owner who’s only allowed to play in the band because he owns the venue! While Sam’s brilliant photography and direction gave us some stellar footage, and John’s budding editing skills told the story well enough, it was Matt’s drone vision that absolutely stole the show. That and the mill-pond-like water on that temperate bayside day. Please enjoy our 2018 video for Be a Lion.

18.01.2022 Dirty Rascal are excited to introduce their new web series. "Five men from Melbourne Australia, on the wrong side of 50 but the right side of 70, as excited as teenagers to be recording their second album." All the episodes will be available from http://www.dirtyrascal.com.au

15.01.2022 Dirty Rascal release "RollingThunder" from their You be the King album. This was shot in isolation during the coronavirus lockdown of 2020. It's shot in and around their individula homes, then edited together by band member John Fleming. Find out more about Dirty Rascal right here: dirtyrascal.com.au

12.01.2022 Episode 3: Arrangement ideas develop ahead of recording but not everyone is along for the ride.

11.01.2022 Dirty Rascal are very happy to release episode 1 of their web series. In the episode the band meet to discuss the new recording, Andrew and Jerry clash over process, a rough plan is made. Watch all the episodes at http://www.dirtyrascal.com.au

10.01.2022 Very exciting news! Our new single and video are featured online in Rhythms Magazine. They have mentioned our upcoming Saltwater Music Festival date and everything.... Check it out here... https://rhythms.com.au

06.01.2022 DIRTY RASCAL play the SALTWATER MUSIC FESTIVAL Sunday May 24 at 7pm ONLINE The saltwater Music Festival usually takes place in Broome WA, but this year it's happening everywhere and featuring many of Australia's finest independent music artists.... Dirty Rascal are gearing up to break some new ground when they live stream as part of the Saltwater Music Festival. With a full band setup, mixed down to a stereo mini plug, and a multicam shoot, streamed through one tiny iPhone, they will deliver a 60 minute powerhouse set via the SaltWater Facebook page. Make a note in your diary, cos you're not going to want to miss this! https://www.facebook.com/events/2326351697660499/

05.01.2022 Dirty Rascal move towards launching episode 1 of their web series, due next week. Here's a short taste of what's to come! All episodes will be available from dirty rascal.com.au

04.01.2022 Hi from Dirty Rascal and we really hope that all of you are surviving ok through this very unfamiliar time. Through the early part of the COVID period (the first lockdown, in Melbourne) as everywhere else, all live music shows in Melbourne were cancelled. We could not rehearse or record, things seemed to stop for us. Then as things opened up slightly we began work on a new project. The breadth and depth of this project has taken us by surprise, showing our band in a whole ne...w light. We are all very excited to share this project more broadly, as well as the new songs we have been recording, but alas, the second lockdown (in Melbourne) has meant those plans have been set back. In an effort to set the stage for this new offering, we thought we’d take a little walk through the history of the band, via our video clips. The first one ‘Self made man’ was shot by Cal Barker. Cal was the engineer and producer at Newmarket Studios in Melbourne and worked extensively on the ‘You be the King’ album with Andrew and Jerry. At the time there was a few people doing ‘tape room’ videos where a whole band was crammed into the tape storage room of a studio and that’s where the video got made. Of course, most studios record digitally these days and don’t even have tapes, but Newmarket still had a cosy, airless tape room which we crammed into. Jerry’s drums took up most of the room with former keys player Monique’s keyboard, then Andrew and John, and former bass player Andy, finding little places to stand. A few talks later and once all the video was brought together, the project was taken on by John from the band who cut the clip together. Usually video clips have band members miming along to the studio recorded audio, but in this case all of the audio was recorded live in the tape room. All the mics are live and if you listen to the album version of the track it is noticeably different. Here, from November 2017, is Self Made Man, live from the Newmarket Studios tape room.

01.01.2022 It seems like so long ago... doing live shows and travelling with the band. This is a montage of the festival dates we did back in Feb (only a month ago) and also out Shockwaves launch at Czech House. Huge thanks to Reuben, Ollie, Michelle, Brian and Leanne for helping us to capture the video, it's a team effort every time.