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  Dirtburg Interview
interview 0187 added 14.03.04 words: Nikesh Shukla
technical:
QED
Dirtburg: The Dirtiest
Bucket of Funk
Remember when music was fun?
Nah, me neither. At the moment, it’s all about moody atmospherics, shouty
polemics and multi-syllabics. I pray for the arrival of a goodtime band,
who’s not afraid to have fun, enjoy the music they make, not take
themselves too seriously and let us shake our asses.
I am absolved. Dirtburg, the dirtiest bucket of funk are here to, well,
drink a little, shout a little, snog a little, play some banging tunes
and then fall over drunk. Just like the rest of us. All whilst laughing
and having a good time. :gulp: can this be true? Dirtburg have been
slowly creeping up through and surpassing the initial shadow of the
Pistachios branch of the Buttercuts crew for a while. Their brand of
good-time funk and Hip Hop, all completely live, is a refreshing relook
look at the fundamentals of Hip Hop, without the use of a single
sampler. Dirtburg relish in playing live, and snap up every opportunity
to flex their live chops. Their concert experience and honed gig skills
are damned near some of the best in the UK scene. Through self-financed
releases such as “Feeling Vanderbilt” and “Rare Japanese Bootleg
Import”, they’ve been getting their name about. The CDs unfortunately do
not encapsulate or fully represent a band that needs to be experienced
live.
Lingo and I caught up with Johnny Boneca (vocals) and N Dogg <the
Sophisticated Party Robot> (drums) before their first gig of 2004 to
talk about quality websites, waitresses’ asses, live Hip Hop and the
shocking state of their bassist’s hygiene.
Please introduce
yourselves and the band you represent
 B: Ooh, I’m Boneca… Bone.
ND: I’m ND066, the Sophisticated Party Robot.
B: The concept of the band is Hip Hop party funk. With a little
something to think about maybe. But mostly about having a good time.
ND: Yup.
Describe your
sound
B: A little bit of the Meters, a little bit of the Native Tongues, a
little bit of 1920’s French Jazz. Whatever we like.
ND: It sounds really different cos it’s completely live and there’s no
one really doing songs from a live point of view. Writing the music with
live instruments. Most people just write the hook then instrument it
afterwards.
B: Even like Ahmir Thompson from the Roots says something in his liner
notes about “Stop making my live drums sound like they’re coming out of
a drum machine.” I think lots of live bands, you wouldn’t know it was
live unless you went to see them. Make it sound live.
Would you say your
sound is a rebellious attempt to take Hip Hop out of sampler culture?
B: Oooh, I love sampler culture. That’s my thing. It’s not a rebellion
cos I love that too much. It was more about the fact that those were the
resources we had to hand. Most people start with decks and stuff because
that’s what they had around and could afford. We had the other thing
where we had the instruments and we like funk and Hip Hop.
ND: It’s like going full cycle really. Cos you’re trying to emulate what
a producer does with loops and sampling old funk. But they’ll always
start sampling that back up again and playing it with a full funk band.
"...The concept of the band is Hip Hop party funk..."
Who was the first
in the band to get the funk?
ND: To get the funk? Some of us still haven’t got the funk.
B: I’ve been into P Funk and that since I was about 12. I was definitely
one of the premier funkateers. But then Jimmy 2Sockets was also a big
funk man. There’s a very wide range in influences in what we all listen
to and that in the band.
ND: Yeah, Sanchez is a total metaller, metal and psycho-billy. JD Hogg
is a drum and bass head. Jimmy 2Sockets is a bit of bluegrass and a lot
of funk.
B: New Orleans funk we both have a bit of passion for.
ND: I like metal and drum and bass and Hip Hop. And bootlegs! I like a
lot of bootlegs.
B: Me and Riz are into a lot of soul. He’s a big funkateer….
ND: Actually, we got Riz on to funk so he was probably the last one to
get the funk.
B: The reason I met Riz was we were both going to see the Gap Band. I
didn’t go in the end but he said it was one of the best things he’s ever
seen. Charlie Wilson and that.
How did you all
meet?
 ND: I met Bone at university. I met Jimmy 2 at school, so we’ve been
playing together for about 11 years now. He met Sanchez at university.
JD Hogg is our mate’s little brother.
B: We’ve all been in different bands with each other over time.
ND: Bone met Riz on the internet.
B: Yeah, I was battling him on the UKHH forum and then invited him down
and he was wicked.
How did the name
Dirtburg arise?
B: I remember this quite well. Basically, we were pissed and we were
talking about each other’s nicknames. We were trying to extend ND066’s
name. It was originally…
ND: Howlin’ Mad N Murdoch Dirt… Burg… Er. We kept adding things on to
the end.
B: And so, Dirtburg came about and it was better than the name we were
thinking about at the time. Originally, it was Efe’s, which is the name
of a drinking joint down the road. We didn’t really want that. It didn’t
really mean anything so we weren’t gonna get into trouble. Plus, it’s a
bit of a dirty burg round here in a way so…
ND: The wicked thing is, as well, if you type it into a search engine,
the only result is our band. Which is quite important.
OK, a lady has
just walked into the room. What funky line would the Dirtburg posse use
to guarantee a pulling…?
(Laughter)
B: “I’m addicted to sluts.” Hehehe, it’s not actually worked before,
but I’ve tried it…
…you walked up to a girl and told her you were addicted to sluts…?
B: Well, I’ve used it… “Are you a rapper then?” “Yeah” “Go on, then,
give us some lines…” “I’m addicted to sluts…” It’s usually a good
icebreaker.
ND: I’m not a charmer. I usually get so drunk I don’t remember what I’ve
said the next day.
B: Normally, I’m the filth splitter.
Knock em on the
head drag em home…?
B: Yeah. Two in the goo, one in the poo. That’s another favourite.
Filthy man…
ND: It’s the spirit of Dirtburg isn’t it? Filth.
B: I try to strengthen the lifestyle. Gets me into trouble.
What originally
got you into Hip Hop and how would you compare that with the scene now?
 B: I got into
Hip Hop through the Fat Boys and the Beastie Boys and it
was about having a laugh really. What got me was that you could say a
lot more and get a lot more gags in whatever you wanted to say. I just
love the way a beat kicks…
ND: I got into it through the Beastie Boys and cos I thought the lyrics
were funny. Like Eazy-E and NWA. Listening on your headphones so your
parents can’t hear you. I remember my dad telling me off once for
playing Derek B in the car. And he said the lyrics were disgusting. I
listened to it the other day and there’s hardly any swearing in it…
B: I was lucky. My dad was quite open-minded about it. He used to think
it was funny how a bunch of girls would come to visit my little sister
and my room would have Public Enemy or Death Certificate pumping out of
the room and these girls would freak out and run off. I think my old man
quite likes Hip Hop.
ND: I think music is going back to those days. It’s becoming more fun in
general, really. Everyone was so trainspotter-ish and po-faced about it,
especially a couple of years ago. If you look at Goldie Lookin’ Chain
that are coming out, we reckon they’re gonna be massive this year. And
they’re just having a laugh.
B: Also, when I got into it, there wasn’t a really commercial or
underground scene. It was all pretty underground, like EPMD going gold
was an amazing thing. And now you have two defined separate things. And
the stuff, I’m more into is the stuff that people were making ten years
ago and is a bit retrospective. There was a thing in the Times about
bands like Kings of Leon… Oasis were supposed to have started it… bands
that are treading the same furrow as people did before but why not,
because it’s not been explored enough so do it again, kind-of thing…
"...Some people listened to the first song on the last CD (“I Can Do This”)
and thought we were Big Brovaz or something..."
How do you compare
being in a live band and that scene?
B: I think it’s more of a spectacle when you go and see it live. I’ve
paid too much money to see too many shows where a geezer’s getting aggy
at the crowd and grabbing his nuts and rhyming at a spot of mayonnaise
on his Jordans. There are people who make that work but not everyone can
do it…
ND: I think also, you get more interested in songwriting when you’ve got
a live band. Working with musicians who pay more attention to structure
and put middle eight’s in songs and more bridges, whereas conventional
producers are just gonna have verse, chorus…
B: Sixteen bars, chorus, sixteen bars, shouty bridge… Whereas they (Dirtburg)
will be like, “Show us the lyrics, alright let’s drop out in these bits
and what about that bit…Change before this bit…”
So, being a band
that needs to be experienced live, do you think you can represent
yourselves fully on record?
 B: We haven’t done… yet. The first two releases, we tried our arses off
to get that live sound but it wasn’t working, cos of where we were and
who was producing it and where it was recorded and all that. But the new
stuff definitely has the feel… I think we’re all chuffed with this new
stuff cos it’s more like going to see us live.
ND: I think we get more Dirtburg converts from live shows, than people
hearing us on CD. Although, one of our CDs went over to Trinibad or
Mauritius, and we’ve got a lot of Dirtburg fans out there.
B: We don’t feel like we’re being held back as such, yet. My last week
in Cannes (at the Midem festival) showed me how little we know about the
music industry. There are people in the right places that can do things
for us that think we have something. And that’s good enough for me. We
only ever started making CDs to get gigs.
ND: Cos we’re constantly evolving and playing bigger venues, we’re
getting more of a reputation…
Where was your
first gig?
B: WKD.
ND: It was terrible. All our mates came though…
B: It was a good party, it went down well, even though we were as rough
as a banker’s arse.
ND: The band we were supporting looked like they were about to cry when
we finished and they were about to go on, because they were so weak…
They had a real diva singer who spent an hour in soundcheck cos her
vocals sounded too dry. Terrible. Good laugh though…
(Both look at their drinks wistfully at this point.)
Where would you
like the band to be in five years?
ND: I’d like to be in the position Ozomatli’s in. Everyone’s always like
you gotta go see Ozomatli, they’re amazing live.
B: They…sell fuck-all CDs… Some industry guy said to me that we’re not
gonna make any money selling records, and I’m inclined to agree. Gotta
keep on playing out. We love playing out, we relish it.
ND: We would have no name for ourselves if we didn’t play live as well
as put CDs out. The fact that 200 new people can see you every time you
play out and they tell their friends…
B: Word of mouth… the most hits, non-UK hits we get are from US army
postings across the world. I’d like us to be a regular touring band and
for people to go ape-shit at shows. It would be nice to make enough
money to not have to work, but I don’t see that happening. I know people
in bands with record deals, and they’re still doing the same shit jobs
they were in before.
ND: I’d love to be able to do the main stage at Glastonbury. That would
just be the pinnacle… the ultimate for me…
What’s the
Dirtburg stance on groupies?
 ND: I’ve never had a groupie. Well,
actually, I once had some 35 year
old groupie but she thought I was from the other band and was a bit
disappointed when she found out I wasn’t.
B: Totty or notty. We’ve had girls up on stage before. But half the
time, the band members aren’t single so it just depends.
What improvements
do you think could be made to the UK Hip Hop scene to improve it?
B: It’s improved a hell of a lot over the last few years. I bought a
load of it as a kid, like Chris B and Ruthless Rap Assassins and London
Posse. I think the production has improved a lot. I think it used to
sound tinny and thin but there are a lot of good producers out there.
And there’s a massive wave of acts that I don’t recall it being that way
before. I got back into it after getting the Fleapit album a few years
ago. Blood and Jonez, and aMMO and Pedigree Chumps, the Buttercuts Crew,
Reality?
ND: And Killa Kela… he’s doing so well at the moment. It’s weird, I was
reading about Dizzee Rascal being the big UK hope for breaking stateside
but…
B: Yeah, he’s getting popular. But people in the states have heard of Ty,
and Roots Manuva and… we’ve got an alright chance, cos we have girls
coming to our shows to dance… I think we have a better chance than your
average geezer in a bedroom with a sampler, of being heard over there.
UK Hip Hop doesn’t have enough characters, I don’t think…
B: And people are too moody as well. People want something they can
relate to as well. They don’t wanna be bashed over the head with… hard
times… I’ve been in fucking dire financial straits, but I’m fine and
debonair. It’s like, get over it.
What makes a good
rapper?
B: Originality, mostly. There was an interview with Ice Cube once… shame
he doesn’t listen to his own advice but… he was talking to Fab Five
Freddy about how MC’ing used to be about finding a word that no-one else
had used before and trying to rhyme that with another word no one else
had used before. Mostly, voice… there’s MCs I like that you wouldn’t
class as being the most skill-ient. Greg Nice and Smooth B, I like them
as much as Kool Keith. Without meaning to sound like Pop Idol, there is
an X-Factor.
With all the
references to smoking, drinking and shagging in your lyrics, are you the
Happy Mondays of Hip Hop?
B: I’m not quite as bad as Shaun Ryder.
ND: You’re better at dancing than Bez.
B: We’re definitely hedonistic. We like a bit of hydroponic and there is
a drinking culture in Dirtburg, definitely.
What pedestrian interests do you hope to introduce into your lyrics?
B: We’ve got one about being B-Boys in about fifty years time.
Music for the ageing B-Boy?
B: Well, Hip Hop’s thirty years old this year. There’s no reason why it
shouldn’t go on for another thirty.
Hip Hop’s starting to get a proper history. I feel old…
B: Well, the thing is: you’re gonna feel that now cos Hip Hoppers have
grown up. There’s more grown-up MCs than there used to be.
"...Without meaning to sound like Pop Idol, there is an X-Factor..."
Any advice for
up-coming artists please?
ND: Make friends with us and we’ll put you on as a support act.
B: Be our friends!! Just, do your own thing and don’t try to copy
anyone. Make the tunes you think are a laugh and not the tunes you think
people wanna hear.
Who’s been your
biggest supporter?
 ND: DJ Sam Seed. He played before us at our second ever gig. And now he
promotes and puts us on and vice versa. Always puts the word around…
B: I would also say, Big O. A wicked producer. I’ve got a crew with him
called the Bastard Lords. It’s me, him, Cariz and Keez. And he comes to
every gig of ours.
Your biggest critic?
ND: Someone emailed me the other day with an email that just said
“You’re shit.” Except it wasn’t “You’re shit” it was “your shit.” My
shit?
B: Maybe he wanted some of your shit.
ND: Maybe he was criticising my shit. Like your mum… your shit!
B: Not everyone gets it and not everyone likes us. Some people listened
to the first song on the last CD (“I Can Do This”) and thought we were
Big Brovaz or something. And the whole point of a cheesy love song at
the beginning of the CD, was that it was followed by tear-up roughness.
ND: Actually some geezer from dot:alt magazine did a bad review of us,
which was one paragraph long and he had three spelling mistakes in it!
B: If you can’t spell, how can you understand us?
ND: He said we’re “not very god.” As in god… we thought, “Fair enough,
we are not god. It is early in our career.” Your review was really
constructive actually.
B: Yeah, we’ve taken it on board.
ND: I think we’ve got good enough sense of humour that if someone does a
bad review, we can just laugh about it. Anyone who wants to do a bad
review, you just think, “What are you doing?”
B: There’s constructive criticism and there’s writing “they’re rubbish
cos I don’t like this type of music.” Water off a duck’s back really.
People are always smiling at our shows.
ND: You look out at a crowd and everyone’s enjoying it. If a roomful of
people walked out of our show, then I’d worry, I’d be gutted.
"...We’re definitely hedonistic…. there is a drinking culture in Dirtburg,
definitely..."
Who’s the dirtiest
member of the band?
ND: Dirtiest or smelliest?
However you want to intepret the question…
ND: Bone’s probably the dirtiest, sexually.
B: I’m the filthy man.
ND: Jim’s the smelliest.
Any
shout-outs/shameless plugs/anything else you want to tell us?
 ND: We’re playing at Mother Bar on Sunday 7th March. Playing at 3rd Base
in Brixton on Friday, 12th March. Eat My Funk. We’ve got a booking in
Hull with Reality? Apart from that, trying to get on any festival bills.
B: There’ll be some vinyl coming out soon for the DJs, so DJs can start
playing us out.
ND: I want to shout out: Pedigree Chumps; Blood and Jonez; aMMo…
B: All of Deprogrammed…
ND: Big O and his R.Kelly/Sean Paul record collection…
B: Reality?; 70-80.
ND: The waitress here with the nice arse.
B: Yup, and ladies everywhere…
ND: Imperial Leisure crew, Buttercuts.
B: Nikesh… Gujerati Yam Boy.
ND: Yeah, he was wicked at that UKHH night…
(table erupts into hysterics at interviewer’s expense. Interviewer
grimaces.)
ND: Shameless plugs…?
B: Butt plugs? Not really.
www.dirtburg.co.uk…
ND: oooh, yeah…
www.robbscelebs.co.uk.
B: Yeah, we’d like to be sponsored by them.
ND:
www.milfhunter.com;
www.bubblebutts.com;
www.thehon.com.
B:
www.watchersweb.com and reader’s wives everywhere.
B: Remember, Dirtburg is spelt with an ‘R’. Dirtburg… not Dirtbug!!!!
ND realises that it’s nearly time to go on stage and we decide,
wisely, to cut the interview short there. For what happened next, insert
Lingo’s gig review here:
http://www.ukhh.com/reviews/live/1535.html. Then add side-stories
about buying root potatoes in Stoke Newington at two in the morning, the
band co-ercing their poor bassist into drinking a yard of ale, which he
was brave enough to attempt, and a busload of loud Australians. It was a
great night, put in place simply by a tight strong and fun live show.
Dirtburg may feel that their future lies on stage rather than the record
shops, but a touring band bringing their brand of fun, funk, drinking
and debonair dirt to audiences all over… well, it makes me feel all
tingly inside.
-
Nikesh Shukla
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