Interview By John Cooper
LUM: Hi guys, we’ve been listening to your album Electric Grit a lot recently and thoroughly enjoying it; for any of our readers who may not have heard your music how would you describe yourselves?
DH: Well I hate to pigeon-hole bands into one genre and would hope that we never get stuck in one as well, but if I were to describe our sound as best as I could without sounding arrogant or silly, I'd have to say that we are an alternative indie-rock band, with elements of blues, classic rock and grunge. Influenced by everyone from David Bowie and The Clash, to Nirvana and Johnny Cash.
LUM: Tell us a bit about how you got together as a band?
DH: Some people, I think, are a little confused by our biography on certain social media sites and truly believe that we met sharing a jail cell here in Las Vegas. Which is funny to us, considering we have different genders in the band. I guess it's possible if Anthony Ratto and I were arrested in drag, but the truth is that we've all known each other from prior Las Vegas bands within the music scene and eventually had the idea of starting a group that would hopefully have something sincere to say and be a little different from everything else going on locally at the moment.
LUM: We heard of you by reading a glowing online review and then listening to you via Spotify. Ten years ago, it wouldn’t have been so easy for us here in the UK to stumble across your music. How do you feel about the way music is heading and the way the internet and social media is driving it? Do you embrace the online opportunities an unsigned band had to put themselves out there to the world these days?
LUM: You’re from Las Vegas and I think many people just see it as a place where the crooners go to perform in their later years, not so much of a place with its own local music scene. Would you say this is an unfair image of the town and is there much of a younger, local music scene going on there at the moment?
DH: We definitely have a lot of $5 all you can eat buffets and Elvis impersonators, but truthfully I feel those are all tourist traps the casinos set up to keep people inside and gambling their life savings away. Things that most locals here don't really take part in entertainment-wise. I feel Vegas does have a unique music scene though and always has. Bands like The Killers, Panic at the Disco and now, Imagine Dragons, have turned into successful national acts and seemed to have shed a little more light on Vegas musically. But, because of it's 24 hour access to its 1 million clubs, bars and cheap entertainment, I DO think it's a harder scene to shine in, opposed to a scene in a rural town with less options.
LUM: Other than yourselves, what local Vegas bands would you recommend we go and check out?
DH: I think Black Camero is a legitimate and talented band, deep-rooted in the local art scene. They've been writing music and doing things there own way out here since the mid 2000's without a label. I'd recommend them to anyone, especially if they're a fan of Ween, Modest Mouse, or The Flaming Lips. The Mad Caps are another great Vegas band that relocated up north recently but are worth checking out. Kid Meets Cougar, The Rusty Maples and Love Vendetta are some others people may dig.
LUM: The only band we can think of who have come from Las Vegas recently and had major international success are The Killers (a band who seem to divide peoples opinions here in the UK). How are they regarded in the Vegas music scene - are they seen as local heroes – or are they not regarded very highly?
DH: As far as the Killers go, I'm not sure I can answer for the entire music scene. Every band that has gone national from Las Vegas in recent years, have kind of flown under the radar locally and seemed to have overnight success. They may have played around town for a bit, but weren't the talk of the town. None of them were these veteran local acts with large followings and were expected to make it. Musicians, in my opinion, are the eccentric art kids that never really quite fit in and can get cynical and complicated when someone else is successful and they're not. So I'm not sure if anyone is considered a hero, but regardless of whatever music genre you're into, I think it's pretty undeniable that The Killers are some of the most talented songwriters in contemporary rock music today. Hot Fuss is an incredible album.
LUM: Your album was released last year; are you proud of it and how has it generally been received?
DH: Collectively we've played just about everywhere in Vegas within our previous bands, so we felt that instead of slapping together some demo and immediately hitting the bars and clubs, we'd spend as long as it took to write and record something that we thought was genuine to us and hope that people understood it. So far we've been very fortunate to have received the positive feedback that we've had lately and we're extremely gracious to those who've written about it.
LUM: What have you been up to in the first half of 2013? What are your plans for the rest of the year?
DH: We've generally just been trying to get our name out there. Playing gigs and exposing ourselves through any medium we can. We have a few local gigs this summer and possibly some L.A. dates in the works. Come late October, we'll be performing at the Life Is Beautiful Festival here in Vegas with Kings of Leon, The Killers, Beck and a lot of other amazing artists, so were definitely looking forward to that. Our main goal isn't to play every show that comes our way, it's more of being taken seriously as artists, and writing and recording the best material that we can. I feel we have enough song ideas to write two or three more albums so it may not be long before we lock ourselves away and start recording the follow up to Electric Grit.
DH: I feel the music industry these days is as unpredictable as it was five years ago and that the internet is a double-edged sword, full of pros and cons. Artists you'd never dream of in the past are releasing new singles via TV commercials and social media. It's amazing that a band can release their album on sites like iTunes without a record deal, make a video themselves and post it on YouTube, as well as connect with fans from around the world. Like you said, ten years ago none of this was possible. On the other hand, everyone and their grandmother are in a fucking band it seems nowadays and these wonderful sites that gave musicians this independence and momentum, are now saturated with every high school and bad teenage garage band on the planet. This makes it hard to discover new artists who are worth a listen and deserve the attention. Not to mention bands stooping to levels as low as buying "likes" on Facebook for popularity and covering a popular radio song on YouTube, in hopes that people will stumble on to them somehow, as well as YouTube payola from labels. It's all a bit depressing, but all in all, I think social media is a good thing and in many cases, a modern bands lifeline.
LUM: Do you have any tours planned and what do you think are the chances of us seeing you play in the UK sometime in the next year or so?
DH: We've talked about planning a short Midwest tour through Arizona, Texas and parts of Oklahoma around SXSW time, but nothing set in stone at the moment. We'd love nothing more than to tour the UK! It would literally be a dream come true, considering most of our biggest influences are UK based bands and artists. It's tough financially as an unsigned band to make that trek without a label supporting you, but hopefully within a few years we can make that happen and have a beer together :)
LUM: Thank you we’ll hold you to that beer and we look forward to hearing more from you throughout the year. We hope you go from strength to strength and we certainly recommend our readers to Listen Up for The Dirty Hooks!
You can listen to the Diry Hooks on Spotify or check out their website at www.thedirtyhooks.com