1.Growing Up

As a kid I really loved soul music, particularly Aretha Franklin. In the ’80s, as a teenager, I started to listen to rock’n’roll bands like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, and by the time the ’90s came along I was a firm fan of Monster Magnet, Clutch and Nirvana, to name a few.

2.Inspirations

I have a very broad influence base but my absolute favourite vocalist and greatest influence is Lisa Kekaula of The Bellrays.

3. Your Band

The Dirty Earth morphed from a band that Jim, Raff and I were briefly in previously. We’ve had a few different drummers since our inception but we have a great fit with Leon, who only joined around six months ago and our little band family is close. We share a love of ’70s rock’n’roll coloured with fat, fuzzy guitars.

4.Music You Make

I don’t think we can be pigeonholed easily. We play rock’n’roll but we don’t fit easily into any particular rock subgenre. Recently Raff has been drawing more heavily on the guitar sound he used in his Thumlock days. It’s that warm, fuzzy guitar with a nice, thick tone. He mixes it up, though, and I think that’s what makes our music so difficult to categorise. As our bio says, The Dirty Earth is a biting blitzkrieg of chugging guitars flecked with powerful, velvety vocals.

5.Music, Right Here,Right Now

There are some amazing local rock acts around at the moment. I’d suggest checking out Arrowhead, The Archaic Revival, Electric Mary, Los Hombres Del Diablo, Don Fernando – too many to list. The live music scene has endured a lot recently with some pretty significant venues closing their doors but it’s refreshing to see a number of smaller venues popping up.

Autonomic out Friday August 15 through Foghorn / MGM. Catch them atTattersalls Hotel Penrith onSaturday August 9,Frankie’s Pizza onSunday August 31.

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