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Magic Dirt.
It's been a long year for Oz rock stalwarts Magic Dirt. They've recorded and released their fifth album 'Snow White', played an extensive tour right around the country and even done a little forestry protesting on the side. Hence you can forgive lead guitarist Raul Sanchez i Jorge for wanting to just kick back and relax: speaking to him just a week after the end of the 'Snow White' tour, he understandably hasn't really put much thought into the band's immediate future - namely next year's Big Day Out. "We haven't really had time for it to sink in, you know, we've just barely got off the tour," Jorge admits. "But yeah, fuck yeah, I'm excited!
The 'Dirt's addition to the line up is a great way to end the year - which, despite the band's satisfaction with the new record, did hold some disappointments. "Yeah, um, I'm a little disappointed..." Jorge starts slowly. "I thought that this was probably our most accessible album, but I don't think the radio's really picked up on it, but you know, what're you gonna do? While we're making the music we just try and please ourselves but definitely afterwards you have to think about your livelihood and the longevity of the band. But, you know, so be it."
Jorge maintains, however, that the fans reception to the album
has certainly made up for the lack of airplay. "I'm fucking
amazed, actually, I am surprised. When we first played I
Love The Rain [live] it was in Sydney, and to have people
singing along just fully blew me away. So our fans, my hat goes
off to them 'cause they've really been supportive," he explains.
"I can just tell that the people that have heard the record
and that are listening to it and that have bought it... from
our website and everything the response has been awesome. We're
stoked, we know that we've done our job."
'Snow White' did represent something of a departure for the
band, whose brand of raw, punk-influenced pop-rock, led by the
powerful-cum-delicate vocals of charismatic frontwoman Adalita,
has seen them become Triple J favourites over the last ten years.
'Snow White' features slower, more melodic numbers, lush harmonies,
and complex, vocally driven production: new single I Love
The Rain features upwards of a hundred layered tracks. Jorge,
however, didn't see the change as a risk. "On all the records
we've always had slower, more melodic songs. I think the only
difference with this record is we kind of took them as far as
we could production-wise. Instead of stripping those songs back,
which is what we used to do, we said 'let's pile everything
on'." Musically it was harder to do, actually, then just rocking
out, just simply because I don't think we're that kind of musicians."
Jorge is excited about bringing the new Magic Dirt, along with the old, to the Big Day Out this year. The band first played it in 1995 and again a number of times since. "It's just so funny how you go through those stages, 'cause you know we used to be the young hacks, then we were kind of like, I guess, in the middle of it, and now we kind of feel like, 'yeah, yeah, we know how this works.' But it's kind of fun, you know, we get to hang out with the younger bands and kind of, I don't know, show them the ropes a little, the ol' tricks!"
In the decade since the band first hit the festival's stages, you'd figure that Jorge would have seen some crazy stuff - and you'd be right. "I think it was in Adelaide last time we did it, and The Darkness played," Jorge laughs. "And we're all sitting around the lobby of the hotel enjoying some drinks, and Justin Hawkins from The Darkness flies out of the elevator, comes over to the table and goes 'let's go bash up The Strokes! Come on everybody!'" Jorge chuckles in a terrible English accent. "So, yeah, that was pretty funny, but I don't think anything happened."
But, what is it that makes the Big Day Out so special? "There's a sense of camaraderie," Jorge reckons, "except for the occasional beatings among the bands - but you know that was all in jest. We call it the Big Day Off, 'cause it really is. You have that one hour where you play, then after that it's pretty much party!"
Matt Vesely
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Magic Dirt play the Big Day Out at Wayville Showgrounds on Fri 3 Feb.
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