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The Dirty Streets Headed West this Month

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 7th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

You wouldn’t be wrong to call The Dirty Streets influenced by classic rock, but more than a lot of bands who take cues from the heavy ’70s, the Memphis trio seem less concerned with the aspects of the music that are of that era than of the parts of it that are timeless. You know what I mean? They’re not trying to sound like it’s 1973 so much as they’re translating what worked about that then into something that works now. Their third album, Blades of Grass (review here), came out this summer on Alive Records and they’ve been supporting it with a steady stream of live shows ever since.

The latest batch of gigs finds the warm-groovers headed to the West Coast. Making their way out through Texas and Arizona — one can only hope they’ll make the requisite stop somewhere in the desert to take promo pictures — they’ll wind up out Californey way before swinging back through the Midwest. I’ve had my eye out hoping for some East Coast touring since the record dropped and haven’t seen it yet, but wherever they’re headed, it’s good to know they’re headed out.

Dates follow, courtesy of the PR wire:

DIRTY STREETS on tour!

Hitting the road in a few weeks and heading out west. A few more dates hang in the balance and might be announced soon. See you guys out there!

The Dirty Streets ON TOUR!
Oct 22 @ White Water Tavern – Little Rock, AR
Oct 24 @ Muddy Waters Bar – Dallas,TX
Oct 25 @ Hotel Vegas – Austin,TX
Oct 27 @ Tempe Tavern – Tempe, AZ
Oct 28 @ Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
Oct 30 @ The Satellite – Los Angeles, CA
Nov 1 @ Velveteen Rabbit – Las Vegas, NV
Nov 4 @ Lost Lake Lounge – Denver, CO
Nov 5 @ O Leavers – Omaha, NE
Nov 6 @ Foam – St. Louis, MO
Nov 7 @ PK’s – Carbondale, IL

Dirty Streets, “Stay Thirsty” from Blades of Grass (2013)

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The Dirty Streets, Blades of Grass: Done Found Themselves

Posted in Reviews on July 15th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Memphis heavy rock trio The Dirty Streets proved their mettle with their 2011 sophomore outing, Movements. Between the album itself (review here) and the quality of their performance during subsequent touring (live review here), it wasn’t much of a surprise that the band were picked up by Alive Naturalsound for the release of the follow-up, Blades of Grass. The third full-length finds the three-piece of Justin Toland (guitars/vocals/percussion), Thomas Storz (bass/percussion) and Andrew Denham (drums/percussion) taking on the role collectively of producer alongside engineer Adam Hill, who recorded and mixed the 11 tracks/39 minutes of Blades of Grass in Memphis. Aside from a guest spot from Lucero‘s Rick Steff with piano on opener “Stay Thirsty” and organ on “Try Harder,” there isn’t much change evident in The Dirty Streets‘ overall ethic, though. Their songwriting remains perhaps the strongest element working in their favor, with memorable hooks peppered throughout the collection beginning with the already-noted opener and running through the title track and the later highlight “Keep an Eye Out,” and the performances of Toland, Storz and Denham come through clean and crisp with just enough edge to them to hold onto the summer-bluesy feel the band presented so naturally throughout the course of Movements. That’s not to say there are no signs of creative growth, however. Both in terms of the overall cleanliness of the production — Hill, who also contributes backing vocals and percussion, has worked with the likes of George Thorogood and The Raconteurs at Ardent Studios — and in the clarity of the band’s intent, Blades of Grass is a step forward from where The Dirty Streets were two years ago, and they seem to have that much more of an idea of how they want to sound moving forward. To that end, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if at some point they picked up a full-time keyboardist/organist, since Steff‘s work on “Stay Thirsty” and “Try Harder” fits so well with the band’s organic, grassroots-feeling heavy blues rock style, Toland‘s vocals keeping an edge of Blue Cheer inflection to them but becoming even more his own than they were last time out.

High points come at frequent intervals. “Stay Thirsty” starts Blades of Grass off strong with a commanding stomp and smooth transition to its hook, which despite being reminiscent of those Dos Equis commercials, is one of the album’s best and complemented suitably by the emergence of a secondary chorus in the bridge. The structure and roots of the band are traditional, but there’s nothing overly retro to The Dirty Streets‘ approach, and if anything, Blades of Grass sounds even more modern than did Movements, second cut “Talk” backing “Stay Thirsty” with affirmation of the record’s approach and a touch of start-stop funk to the lyrics, concerned with social issues but not engaging anything specifically as Storz offers an easy-rolling groove on bass that proves among the most satisfying throughout. Toland steps to the fore on guitar with “No Need to Rest” — not quite a shuffle musically, but close — as the band shifts gears from relying so heavily on the chorus to making the most of their instrumental chemistry, which is more than ample enough to carry them through. A mostly-acoustic reworking of the Movements title-track, dubbed “Movements #2” follows in well-percussed fashion, marking a turn more in superficial style than the underlying structure of the material or the warm, natural sensibility at the heart of The Dirty Streets, and both “Try Harder” and “Blades of Grass” prove standouts of the album as a whole, the former for what’s added to it via Steff‘s organ contribution and the latter because it’s the most accomplished blend of the various aspects of the band’s persona, putting light touches of Americana to work in a vaguely funky context (answering the earlier “Talk” and surpassing it in realizing some of the same ideas) with fluid rhythms, strong hooks and a tossed-off, spontaneous feel at a comfortable, mid-paced push that starts the second half of the album on a note even more striking than that which began the first.

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audiObelisk: The Dirty Streets Premiere Title-Track from New Album Blades of Grass

Posted in audiObelisk on June 14th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Come July 9, Memphis heavy rockers The Dirty Streets will make their debut on Alive Naturalsound with the full-length Blades of Grass. Their follow-up to the impressive 2011 outing, Movements (review here), it’s an album with a lot to live up to in terms of the smooth, blues and classic rock vibes the trio was able to capture their last time out, writing memorable songs rife with laid-back atmospheres that remained consistent even when tracks like “What Do You Know” were at their most driving. The band announced the record by unveiling the song “Stay Thirsty” — which added keys courtesy of Lucero‘s Rick Steff to their already potent brew of wide-pastured sunny summer blues — and today I have the pleasure of hosting the premiere of the Blades of Grass title-track.

The Dirty Streets, “Blades of Grass” from Blades of Grass

Recorded by Adam Hill at Ardent Studio in Memphis, Blades of Grass doesn’t so much clean up the sound the band presented on Movements as it does clarify it. The Dirty Streets — guitarist/vocalist Justin Toland, bassist Thomas Storz and drummer Andrew Denham — still come off as organic and prone to a touch of grit on “Blades of Grass,” which begins with a tension building guitar line of starts and stops that unfolds into an easy groove once Storz and Denham join Toland‘s progression. Ideas are clear, structures are unabashedly traditional, and they waste no time getting to the hook, which answers quickly any doubt about The Dirty Streets being able to follow what they delivered their last time out.

Toland‘s voice, still owing some of its cadence to Blue Cheer‘s Dickie Peterson, is more his own as, after the second chorus, Denham leads the way to a stop from which they emerge with the building lines, “I can’t move/I can’t walk/Blades of grass,” giving way to a solo that never goes over-the-top but feeds into the momentum built anyway and rounding out with heavy funk start-stops that finish the song with an undeniable groove. In setting anticipation high for the album to come, “Blades of Grass” does an excellent job of giving a sense of just where The Dirty Streets are coming from this time around — unless the rest of the record is polka or something. You never know.

The Dirty Streets will release Blades of Grass on July 9 through Alive Naturalsound. Limited colored vinyl is available for pre-order at the Bomp-mailorder store.

The Dirty Streets on Thee Facebooks

Alive Naturalsound Records

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The Dirty Streets to Release New Album Blades of Grass on July 9

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 31st, 2013 by JJ Koczan

It’s not quite the debut album, as the PR wire headline below indicates. Memphis-based The Dirty Streets issued Movements (review here) in 2011 and had one before that as well, but the news is good anyway, and the forthcoming Blades of Grass will certainly mark a new era for the band, who make their label debut on Alive Naturalsound on July 9.

The trio have made the new song “Stay Thirsty” available to stream and download for free, and you’ll find that under the news below:

ALIVE NATURALSOUND RECORDS TO RELEASE DIRTY STREETS’ DEBUT BLADES OF GRASS ALBUM JULY 9TH

MEMPHIS-BASED ROCKERS OFFER THEIR NEW SINGLE “STAY THIRSTY” AS A FREE MP3

Formed by Thomas Storz (bass, percussion), Justin Toland (vocals, guitar, percussion) and Andrew Denham (drums, percussion), and originally from Mississippi, the power trio Dirty Streets now calls Memphis home. That’s where they recorded their new album Blades Of Grass, at the legendary Ardent studio, under the guidance of sound engineer Adam Hill. The core trio also enlisted the talents of Lucero’s Rick Steff on keys for this effort. Blades Of Grass is an old school rock’n’roll record with nods to the sounds of Humble Pie, Jeff Beck Group and others. It’s heavy music bathed in blues, folk and psychedelia, with chops to spare and a working class point of view. The band already has two independent releases under their belt, including an album with renown Memphis producer Doug Easley, and has toured extensively in the Southeast, with a couple of East Coast runs, and an eight week U.S. tour with Radio Moscow. Summer 2013 U.S. tour dates to be announced soon.

Dirty Streets’ Blades of Grass will be available in all formats on July 9th. Limited Edition Color Vinyl exclusive to Bomp-mailorder.

BLADES OF GRASS TRACK LISTING:
1. Stay Thirsty
2. Talk
3. No Need To Rest
4. Movements #2
5. Try Harder
6. Blades Of Grass
7. Keep An Eye Out
8. Heart Of The Sky
9. Truth
10. Twice
11. I Believe I Found Myself (bonus track exclusive to CD and digital download)

FOR MORE INFO ON DIRTY STREETS:
https://www.facebook.com/thedirtystreets
http://www.alive-totalenergy.com

The Dirty Streets, “Stay Thirsty” from Blades of Grass

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