|
|
 |
Magic Dirt.
What are rock stars doing today? In the case of Raul Sanchez
I Jorge, guitarist with Melbourne noiseniks Magic Dirt, they're
walking the streets.
"I'm on the mobile, my car's broken down, so it's a bit of a...
hell," he laughs. "I'm walking home. It's just around the corner.
Besides all that, everything's going great. I think we've got
a real good, strong album. We're just rehearsing a lot and getting
ready for the tour."
The album he's talking about is the Dirt's new long-player 'Snow White', which is set for release next month. It's been in the can for a while now, but there's still a wait before the official release: not an ideal scenario. "Sometimes it means that we're a little over it before anybody gets to hear it, but that's just the way it is. I find the recording process is, in a way, the really solidifying moment. I think once you've recorded a track it sort of stays like that," Jorge claims. "But then again, there are songs that we play live that we have a live version and a [quite different] recorded version. So yeah, no." For someone born in Spain that last line was quintessentially Australian. "Yeah, no" he laughs again.
Reading between the lines of the official biography for 'Snow White', it appears previous record 'Tough Love' may have been a bit forced. Rather than blame record company pressures or scheduling, Jorge points the finger at the band themselves. "It wasn't anybody else trying to pressure us, it was more ourselves really. After years of seeing what happened, we felt 'well let's really tighten the screws and put ourselves under some pressure.' We just wanted to make it focused and really disciplined. I haven't listened to it in a while. I think it's a really good record, but now looking back on it, there probably are a couple of songs I would have left off of it."
Locket, the first single from 'Snow White', is an entirely
appropriate introduction to the record. It's a typically catchy
Dirt tune - with a nice Big Rock ending - and is the perfect
bridge from 'Tough Love'. It's perhaps the only obvious single
on the album, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
It's also a typical Jorge performance: effective without being
showy. "I try and play guitar every day, whether it's half an
hour or five hours, and I think the best thing to do is never
to think you're really good!" he laughs. "The very first things
you learn on guitar are very important. And even now, the stuff
I play is very simple. But I like punk bands and they just kept
it to a minimum: just let the noise and let your feelings do
the work." Well, that's partly what made Kurt Cobain so special
to so many. "Yeah, absolutely" agrees Jorge.
With a new single like Locket and an album in the wings,
Magic Dirt would seem ready to finally conquer commercial radio.
Jorge, however, isn't fazed. "We've been together for a while,
and in the early days there was a lot of critical acclaim, and
even some commercial success in the 'alternative' scene, but
that whole alternative scene these days has died off. I don't
think the mainstream really knows how to take us, but in the
end it's their loss. I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't help
to have a little more money, but I don't really care. I'd rather
be honest about the art and do what we feel, rather than compromise
that to the point where we don't feel good about it."
While Magic Dirt have toured Europe, they've never played in Jorge's native Spain. "We've done England and France and Austria and parts of Germany, but we've never been to Spain, which is a shame because they really love to party and they love their rock. My parents have been to a Magic Dirt show. That only happened recently. They came over and they checked us out in Byron Bay and they loved it." He laughs again. "I don't know if it makes me feel good or a little uncomfortable."
Wade Howland
 |
Locket is out now through Warners, 'Snow White' is set for release Mon 5 Sept and Magic Dirt play the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel on Fri 30 Sept.
|
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
