Before Show

Today is the most beautiful it’s been yet. Warmer, sun is out. I had a stoner rock power lunch with Ryan Garney of High Desert Queen — all business, definitely not sharing our concerns for aging parents or anything — and afterward, did some meandering in a street market that had closed a block of Fremont St., where the venue is. It’s the kind of weather that I’m not going to talk about with my wife who is back in subzero conditions with maybe-more-snow. “Oh it hasn’t been that nice.” Like you can pretend 70 degrees Fahrenheit in January is hard times. Nah, it definitely is that nice.

After lunch, I found a shady spot to sit for a bit and write, watch people come and go, do the thing. Tonight is night three of Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI, but even going inside felt a ways off, and it was good to relax a bit. Six bands were to follow, and the last of them was The Atomic Bitchwax. It would be plenty of evening.

Kids running by. Dude railing against the injustice of a vending machine by shaking the living crap out of it. Hard. Big mad didn’t get his M&Ms. His friend told him to break the glass. It’s high stakes in Vegas. Sights, smells, a galleria made out of old shipping containers a couple blocks up with an appreciated public restroom, cars up and down the street. A kind of quiet weekend day, except busy with families and such. I spent a little bit further up Fremont, by Slotzilla and that way-overwhelming screen roof and all that. Felt like I was in Minority Report.

Meanwhile, at The Usual Place, The Atomic Bitchwax and Kind soundchecked back to back. Loud, duh. Knowing that’s coming doesn’t hurt it for me. Tonight I’ve seen four of the six acts playing, with Black Water Rising and The Heavy Eyes new, so that’s a thing to look forward to too, along with the rest of the night. Again, duh. The walking around was fun. I ran into Riku from Kaiser, who was literally walking out from his own wedding, so yes, it was a joyous meeting. Life happening.

Got caught up chatting and didn’t write a segue. Here’s the night:

The Show

Kind

Good for the soul. I knew it would be, and that’s not me trying to toot my own horn, but there’s not a ton of things that make me nostalgic for living in Massachusetts — I couldn’t be there when my mother had cancer; I worked jobs I hated and lost a career, such as it was; I put the best dog to sleep; I couldn’t make a baby and I developed an eating disorder that kind of almost killed me — but a greater chance of seeing Kind on the regular is a big one. The last record, 2023’s Close Encounters (review here), I would float as their best, and the new single “Bladelicker” (premiered here) is likewise killer and was aired, but live they’re an entirely different level of fun. An air of smirking shenanigans with Craig Riggs up front, Tom Corino hitting it hard on bass to punctuate Matt Couto’s inimitable swing on drums while Darryl Shepard’s guitar makes ready to scorch the ground they’re standing on. Riggs explained early on they’d be doing two songs from each of their three albums and then two new ones, and they did precisely that, rolling out a density of groove that felt kin to the concrete floor playing havoc on my old man knee this weekend, but when they hit into a gallop, that push is no less immersive for the urgency. Great band. “We really are, unapologetically, a stoner rock band.” And the first anti-ICE shirt I’ve seen this weekend, so thrice commendable at very least and that’s before you get to the fucking riffs or how nice they all are.

Dirty Streets

Wanna see something cute? Here’s a single premiered here in 2013 for Memphis heavy blues rockers The Dirty Streets that was sponsored by Scion A/V. Remember them? I swear, the things you find in the back end of this site. I’m sure all that stuff is collectable now to someone. Me probably. But if I’m nostalgia all over the place tonight, fair enough for the day it is (more on that later; look at me be vague on the internet) and for the classic/classy mellow-hangs heavy blues wrought by The Dirty Streets. They boogie a bit, but don’t need to push hard, and they dig in and feel jammy without really giving over to that impulse — everything in service to the song, is the ethic I’m talking about. They’re a songs band. I apparently haven’t seen them in 14 years, but I’ll tell you, I still knew to look forward to a bit of funk, and they brought that along too. I’ll never be 100 percent sure whether I should call them Dirty Streets or The Dirty Streets, but whichever it’s supposed to be sure did rock, and that includes the make-it-tasty “Stayin’ Alive” cover. Disco ball was going and everything. And sure enough, Saturday night. Clever. Underrated band with the the tonal equivalent of shag carpeting, and a cool pick to follow the early blowout with Kind, reorienting to a clearer tone and more straightforward approach, but keeping the focus on melody and songwriting. Or maybe the theme for tonight is riffs. I guess we’ll find out. All the bands tonight are from the US as well, which makes it unique among the four.

The Heavy Eyes

It’s been six years since The Heavy Eyes (they’re definitely The) released their last album, Love Like Machines (review here), and that means it came out at arguably the worst time in the history of releasing records, but it was my first time seeing them, so it was all fresh to me. They played the first Planet Desert Rock Weekend in 2018, and are a band that fest curator John Gist has championed all the while. The reasons were readily apparent from the stage, as the four-piece led by guitarist/vocalist Tripp Shumake, who mentioned from the stage he lives in California now; the rest of the band, so far as I know, is Memphis-based. That means they share a hometown with Dirty Streets and they shared a bit of the bluesiness of their vocals with them too, but it was a fuller fuzz push from The Heavy Eyes, dirtier and more in line with Kind when they locked in a bigger groove or two, sort of drawing elements of the first two bands together, taking the flow of the evening in their own direction. They had the biggest crowd of the night so far. Night three you enjoy watching your friends having a good time as much as the bands.

Throttlerod

Apart from the bands I’ve never seen, I think Virginia’s Throttlerod hold the record for it being the longest time since I last saw them, Sept. 2011, in Philly (review here), at a Small Stone Records show. Granted they haven’t been touring all the while or anything, but that’s coming on a decade and a half. They’re such a fascinating band, right up to what Matt Whitehead is doing now in Shun, bridging heavy rock, noise rock, post-hardcore, Southern vibing and so on. It’s a blend of influences that’s probably only possible coming from VA, now that I think about it, but even among VA bands (and I’m pretty sure they’re not all in VA anymore, but the influence of a place and its atmosphere and effect on your life don’t go away because you move), Throttlerod stand on their own. There’s nobody else at this festival that do what they do, and yet you wouldn’t call them a radical departure, what with the full-bore riffage steamrolling everybody in the room. I guess it’s the musical honesty. And the heart. There aren’t a lot of bands who can tap into where they’re coming from, make something coherent and theirs from it, and then get onstage and kill with that thing they made, but that’s apparently where Throttlerod are at. I’m very glad and very fortunate to have found out tonight in the manner I did — see “steamrolling” above. There was some technical issue with the guitar. Didn’t slow them down. Ron was pleased. That’s all you need to know. Phenomenal.

Black Water Rising

They’re from New York. That’s a thing I found out. They were here in 2019. I needed to learn this stuff because I’ve never seen Black Water Rising before and so I’m trying a bit too catch up with the riffs they rolled out. Themes? Riffs, American heavy, singers always. That kind of night. Black Water Rising were professional sounding as hell. They were kind of on the line between hard and heavy rocks, and could probably play on a bill with some kinds of metal. It didn’t really turn out to be my kind of thing in terms of sound, but no arguing with the delivery. They were filling in for Saint Karloff from Norway or Fuzz Sagrado from Brazil/Germany, depending on how you want to look at it. Not an easy slot to take at all, but they held their own in it, not sounding like either but holding it down on stage. Also I learned that guitarist/vocalist Rob Traynor was in Dust to Dust. I remember when that first Dust to Dust record came out. I was doing college radio at the time. Like I said, nostalgia all over the place tonight. No escaping it. It’s okay. I’ve lived long enough to know someday I’ll be nostalgic about this too.

The Atomic Bitchwax

Speedriff heroes of my beloved Garden State, The Atomic Bitchwax might be the band playing this weekend I’ve seen the most — I don’t have those numbers; it goes back further than this site — but it remains a pleasure when they take stage. The Chris Kosnik-led three-piece, of course with Bob Pantella (Kosnik shouted out his birthday) on drums and Garrett Sweeny on guitar/backing vocals, are over a quarter-century removed from their debut, and they’ve had their ups and downs like everybody, but they hit harder now than they did two decades ago, and they’ve pushed themselves to become the band they are, creatively and physically, because yes, some of their stuff is pretty fast. Capping the night, they did a bevvy of the hits between “Hope You Die,” “Birth to the Earth,” the Core cover “Kiss the Sun,” “Coming in Hot,” “Ninja,” etc. People had stuck around, so it was a good late crowd, and the Bitchwax did what they do. I would wager most in the audience knew what they were in for — I’m sure it was somebody’s first time, but not everybody’s — and the band still managed to knock you off your feet. I didn’t get to harass them about when a follow-up for 2020’s Scorpio (review here) might be coming, but the set they played was so air tight and had so much nuance with intro riffs, little asides, sprints and whatnot, that I found myself thinking of a live record more. Could be time, though obviously if they happen to have a new studio LP in the can and just haven’t told anybody yet, that’d be just fine as well. Band rules. I take them for granted, but they’re a treasure of New Jersey heavy and the voluminous reminder they issued of that fact was very much appreciated. Thanks, Bitchwax. I’ll hope the next one comes around soon.

After Show

Hard not to feel an adrenaline charge after the Bitchwax. All that infectious shred and the t-t-t-total freedom.

I went up to the guy who owns The Usual Place tonight. His name is Carlos, I found out. I didn’t tell him who I was, because I’m nobody and who cares, but I said his place was awesome and thanked him for hosting this festival for four nights. It’s a great spot, and I got to take in a bit of the area around it today, which I hadn’t before — the parties were going hard on the walk up Fremont to where Adam had parked — and that only emphasized the point. I also met Glenn Dehmer from 8-Trax Sound, who’s been running the board all weekend. It has been bass-heavy and stellar. Thick, soupy groove. Fucking a.

The cats from Spaceslug — actually they’re people — are staying at Adam’s tonight and I think tomorrow too after they play. I look forward to hanging out a bit tomorrow and there was talk of more look-at-old-rocks sightseeing, and you know I’m up for that.

But tonight’s over for me and I’m about three minutes away from falling asleep at the keyboard, so photo-sorting in the morning it is. Today was a big coffee day. Tomorrow I anticipate will be much the same.

More pics after the jump.

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Bit of shuffle to the lineup for Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI next January in Las Vegas, as Swedish and Canadian bands are traded out on a one-per-one basis — The Quill and Familiars added, Huanastone and Mooch dropping off — and Memphis heavy blues rockers The Dirty Streets are added.

I don’t know when the last time The Quill came to the US was, presumably some metal festival somewhere along the way, but I have no idea. That’s a band with 30-plus years of history behind them. Familiars are rad and I’ve never seen them, and it’s been a long time since I caught Dirty Streets, whose addition here is exactly the kind of “ooh, nice pick” that emphasizes the quality of curation for Planet Desert Rock Weekend. I don’t know that Dirty Streets, or The Quill, or Familiars will or won’t be promoting a new album at the start of 2026, but they’re being brought to Vegas anyway at the festival’s behest, and it’s not an accident. Ever.

The announcement follows, as per the PR wire:

Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI lineup has 3 new additions to it and each with a very distinctive different kind of sound.

We are super excited to announce the addition of a band that has been rocking the stage for 30 years! The Quill will be coming over from Sweden to play Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI in Vegas! The Quill has consistently put out super strong albums with all of their last 3 albums landing very high on Vegas Rock Revolution’s end of the year lists and their 2024 album landing #24 on the March Doom Charts. This band is the essence of pure heavy rock and roll with a high accent on stupendously strong vocals, driving riffs and songwriting that captures what rock music from its early roots is all about. We know the addition of The Quill continues to show broaden the scope of bands we want to represent Planet Desert Rock Weekend.

Bluesy rocker Dirty Streets out of Memphis has long been a band that Vegas Rock Revolution has championed and we are pumped to have the trio come out! Their bluesy based sound really captures part of the roots of what rock music was founded from. Heavy accent on great vocals from singer/ songwriter Justin Toland and an unmistakable groove by his bandmates get the feet moving live. If you are a fan of bands like Rival Sons, The Cold Stares, Heavy Eyes, Slow Season, El Perro, 20 Watt Tombstone and others then you just might have found your new favorite band. Their version of Stayin Alive is epic!

PDRW has a running tradition of having cool Canadian bands as part of our weekend with Sandveiss and Sons of Arrakis playing back to back years. Well in 2026 the Canuck tradition continues with the band Familiars. They have been steadily putting out stuff since 2014 with a sound that has some good range to it. No doubt some heavy psych leanings in there but also some stoner rock make up as well. In addition, some folk-rock aspects enter the picture as heard on their 2024 release “Easy Does It”. As they call it they have a Canadiana vibe to them that derives stories from days gone by and a soundtrack of summer drives with the windows down. Their music is patient, well thought out and this power trio is known for being excellent live.

Also, we have to announce two bands that will not be joining PDRW VI in 2026. Mooch and Huanastone unfortunately won’t be part of the event as they say “timing is everything”. Although disappointing, we have hopes they can come out for a future year. So, we already are finalizing a number of bands from “our list” to slide in with no drop-off in the quality of bands.

We currently have a 4 night pass special going on now but the price will be going up after the next big band announcement….

Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1254021715709

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1890287758376482/

https://www.facebook.com/VRRProductions/
https://www.facebook.com/vegasrockrevolution/

Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI Preview Playlist

The Quill, “Left Brain Blues”

The Dirty Streets, “Stayin’ Alive”

Familiars, “Rocky Roost” official video

As of two days ago, Memphis blues rockers Dirty Streets are on tour heralding the Sept. 29 arrival of their new album, Who’s Gonna Love You, through Blue Élan Records. They’re out supporting Radio Moscow-offshoot El Perro, and they’ve unveiled the second single from the upcoming record to further mark the occasion. “Get Out” appears in a live-in-studio video, as if to prove once and for all that Dirty Streets‘ mellow boogie isn’t the result of some studio chicanery, they’re actually just that sharp as players. The funk underlying “Get Out” is emblematic of a decent portion of Who’s Gonna Love You in songs like “Bitter End,” “Just for You” or the earlier “Blinded,” and it builds off the maddeningly catchy hook of album-leadoff/prior single “Alright” in hinting at some of the shifts throughout the 11-tracker as a whole.

To wit, “Who’s Gonna Love You” — the title-track quickly arriving behind “Alright” — meshes acoustic and electric guitars atop an ever-solid rhythmic foundation provided by bassist Thomas Storz and Andrew Denham dropping hints early of sweetening up the groove of “Helter Skelter” but taking its own direction ultimately. The subsequent “Poison” ups the bluesy quotient with a soulful underpinning in guitarist Justin Toland‘s vocals, which are always a strength for the band and help ease the dynamic shifts from “Poison” into “Blinded,” “Blinded” into the semi-twang ’90s ballad “Not That Man,” “Not That Man” into the soft-shoe reset of “Get Out” as the centerpiece, and so on. “Ghost” is as quiet as they get, approaching a minimal take on heavy blues, which fits the back and forth as “Bitter End” looses its strut to begin the closing salvo with “Just for You” and “Sunday” wrapping in likewise more rocking fashion, the latter pulling from Led Zeppelin similar to how the title-track worked off The Beatles. But let’s be honest. This is the sixth full-length from Dirty Streets. Their sound is nobody’s but their own.

I suppose if that seems incongruous for something that’s also so much steeped in classic styles and atmospheres, then yeah, you get the point of what Dirty Streets do. They make that not incongruous. More than a decade after their second album,  Movements (review here), sent them out on the road in 2011/2012, and four years since 2018’s Distractions (discussed here), their latest LP with the 2020 live album Rough and Tumble (review here) notwithstanding, Dirty Streets are assured of who they are, set on their process in terms of crafting sweet, almost-humble-feeling songs that balance heavier and softer, louder and quieter impulses while remaining memorable unto themselves. Long and persistently underrated among heavy rockers, Dirty Streets reaffirm their essential character on Who’s Gonna Love You while finding new avenues of expression through songwriting. If you don’t know them, the only barrier to getting on board is hitting play. They could hardly be more welcoming.

The live clip for “Get Out” follows here. The “Alright” video is down near the bottom of this post. We’re still a while away from the release date, but if you’re the preorder type or just enjoy marking your calendar for things, maybe that’s a thing worth thinking about.

Oh yes, and the tour dates are below as well, while we’re thinking.

Enjoy:

Dirty Streets, “Get Out” live video

DIRTY STREETS are releasing more new music – second single, “Get Out,” is available now and a live video shot at Southern Grooves Studios, is premiering today. The trio also just hit the road with El Perro for a U.S. tour ending July 1st in Louisville, see below for full itinerary.

Dirty Streets spent the last two years of their pandemic-induced forced time off creating new music and finding a new home with the Los Angeles-based independent label, Blue Élan Records. Their seventh studio album, Who’s Gonna Love You, was produced by Grammy Award winner Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine) and is set for release on September 29.

“Get Out” is a song about the illusion of escapism. As singer, Justin Toland explains it, “The first line refers to ‘moving out west to the rolling hills’ which is really just the concept of any place other than here. Moving around throughout my life and going on tour has really made me think more about how the idea of going to a new place can be so inspiring, but can also be a trap within itself. The song is really just about how there is no escape from life itself.”

DIRTY STREETS TOUR w/El Perro
Wed 6/8 – Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room
Thu 6/9 – Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club
Fri 6/10 – Dallas, TX – Three Links Deep Ellum
Sat 6/11 – Tulsa, OK – The Whittier Bar
Sun 6/12 – Colorado Springs, CO – Vultures
Mon 6/13 – Denver, CO – HQ
Wed 6/15 – SLC, UT – Garage on Beck
Thurs 6/16 – Boise, ID – The Shredder
Fri 6/17 – Seattle, WA – Funhouse
Sat 6/18 – Tacoma, WA. – The Plaid Pig Live Music Lounge
Sun 6/19 – Portland, OR – High Water Mark
Mon 6/20 – Eugene, OR – Old Nick’s Pub
Tue 6/21 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
Wed 6/22 – Los Angeles, CA – Permanent Records Roadhouse
Thu 6/23 – Palmdale, CA – Transplants Brewing Company
Fri 6/24 – Las Vegas, NV – Count’s Vamp’d Rock Bar & Grill
Sat 6/25 – Tempe, AZ – Yucca Tap Room
Sun 6/26 – Albuquerque, NM – The Historic El Rey Theatre
Tues 6/28 – Oklahoma City, OK. – Blue Note Lounge
Wed 6/29 – Lawrence, KS – Replay Lounge
Thurs 6/30 – Eureka Springs, AR – Chelsea’s Corner Cafe
Fri 7/1 – Louisville, KY – fifteen TWELVE

DIRTY STREETS:
Justin Toland – guitar/vocals
Thomas Storz – bass
Andrew Denham – drums

Dirty Streets, “Alright” official video

Dirty Streets on Facebook

Dirty Streets on Instagram

Dirty Streets on Bandcamp

Dirty Streets website

Blue Élan Records on Facebook

Blue Élan Records on Instagram

Blue Élan Records on Bandcamp

Blue Élan Records website

New song new song new song. Memphis blues rockers Dirty Streets got a new label — hi there, Blue Élan Records — a tour coming up, and a new record on the way. All of that’s great, but today they’ve also go a new song posted and that’s where it’s at. You might recall their last release was 2020’s live album Rough and Tumble (review here), and the Sept. 29 arrival of Who’s Gonna Love You will mark their first studio offering since 2018’s Distractions (discussed here) — a four-year break that’s the longest of the band’s career, though one could easily chalk that up to either the search for another label, the global pandemic, or, most likely, both and more besides.

Either way, as they look to get out again in June before the album’s release, they would seem to be full speed ahead, and that’s likely a steady, bluesy roll when it comes to them, thoughtful in melody, classically grooving in rhythm, and resting on the borderline between heavy rock, blues, Southern rock and any number of other microgenres. However you want to classify them, they’re killer and they’ve got new stuff coming. And a new song up.

So get on it:

Memphis-Based DIRTY STREETS Joins Blue Élan Records’ Eclectic Roster

New Album – Who’s Gonna Love You – Produced by Grammy award-winner Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine) Due September 29, 2022

The Memphis-based rock band DIRTY STREETS spent the last two years of their pandemic-induced forced time off creating new music and finding a new home with the Los Angeles-based independent label, Blue Élan Records. The bluesy rock trio join an eclectic roster, which includes Soul Asylum, KT Tunstall, Liz Brasher, America’s Gerry Beckley, Grammy-Award winning guitarist Eric Johnson, and more. Their new album, Who’s Gonna Love You, is set for release on September 29 with the first musical taste, single “Alright,” out today – Listen HERE: https://dirtystreets.lnk.to/alright

In late 2019, when the band headed into the legendary Sam Phillips Recording studio to record Who’s Gonna Love You, with the Grammy-award winning Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine) in the producer’s chair, the band immediately felt the connection. “Matt Ross-Spang is like nobody I’ve ever worked with,” recalls singer/guitarist Justin Toland. “Bringing the songs into the studio, he really listened and sat with them. Most of the time he would be laying on the floor with his eyes closed, or hunched in the corner on a chair, just fully open. He was really into us performing them in the room while he just concentrated and soaked it all in before making any swift judgements.”

Justin continues, “There is a knack some people have for sensing a feeling in one bone of a song and building a whole skeleton. Matt is one of those people. He works more like an artist than a producer, shaping sounds and guiding without effort. It was just such a natural relationship between us that I felt like he was in the band the entire time we were recording. Some of the songs took an entirely different direction from the original concepts we had, but we were able to trust his insights, because they seemed to have an essence of purity and true creativity.”

Writing the album went quickly for the band, using forced time off of the road and their life experiences to carve out most of the material. Says Justin, “Our first single, ‘Alright,’ originally came out of the pressures of everyday life. Working, deadlines, disasters and all the other things you have to fight through. Into the pandemic it seemed to become more of an anthem for the pressure that we feel every day. This all happens while telling ourselves that we are making it just fine. In the end, that’s an attitude I try to stick with. I’m not in denial about what’s going down, but I just think of hardships as a means to grow and learn. The song is sort of a one-two punch against the world falling apart around you. I wanted to create a picture of tenacity against relentless storms so that I could mirror it in myself.”

DIRTY STREETS TOUR w/El Perro
Tue 6/7 – Memphis, TN – Growlers
Wed 6/8 – Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room
Thu 6/9 – Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club
Fri 6/10 – Dallas, TX – Three Links Deep Ellum
Sat 6/11 – Tulsa, OK – The Whittier Bar
Sun 6/12 – Colorado Springs, CO – Vultures
Mon 6/13 – Denver, CO – HQ
Wed 6/15 – SLC, UT – Garage on Beck
Thurs 6/16 – Boise, ID – The Shredder
Fri 6/17 – Seattle, WA – Funhouse
Sat 6/18 – Tacoma, WA. – The Plaid Pig Live Music Lounge
Sun 6/19 – Portland, OR – High Water Mark
Mon 6/20 – Eugene, OR – Old Nick’s Pub
Tue 6/21 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
Wed 6/22 – Los Angeles, CA – Permanent Records Roadhouse
Thu 6/23 – Palmdale, CA – Transplants Brewing Company
Fri 6/24 – Las Vegas, NV – Count’s Vamp’d Rock Bar & Grill
Sat 6/25 – Tempe, AZ – Yucca Tap Room
Sun 6/26 – Albuquerque, NM – The Historic El Rey Theatre
Tues 6/28 – Oklahoma City, OK. – Blue Note Lounge
Wed 6/29 – Lawrence, KS – Replay Lounge
Thurs 6/30 – Eureka Springs, AR – Chelsea’s Corner Cafe
Fri 7/1 – Louisville, KY – fifteen TWELVE

Photo by @loudandclearphotography

DIRTY STREETS:
Justin Toland – guitar/vocals
Thomas Storz – bass
Andrew Denham – drums

https://www.facebook.com/thedirtystreets/
https://www.instagram.com/thedirtystreets/
https://dirtystreets.bandcamp.com/
http://www.dirtystreetsmusic.com

https://www.facebook.com/blueelan/
https://www.instagram.com/blueelan/
http://blueelan.bandcamp.com/
https://blueelan.com/

Dirty Streets, Rough & Tumble (2020)

 

Dirty Streets and the parable of the band in-between. In the widely splintered umbrellar existence that is rock and roll, it happens a lot that bands, styles, sounds, get put into groups. One sees this all the time in arguments of genre: “Is this heavy,” “does it doom,” and so on. The truth of the matter is who cares if it’s good, but given the chance to do so, humanity has proved time and again to be ready and willing to separate itself into tribes and microcultures, even when the thing uniting people in doing so is the need to splinter off from the larger subset.

These are generalizations — it’s easy to imagine a sociologist with rolled eyes — but when I think of Memphis three-piece the Dirty Streets, they seem to fit that bill of the outlier act who’ve perhaps suffered by not being so neatly cast as one thing or another. Fronted by guitarist Justin Toland, with Thomas Storz on an ever-righteous bass and Andrew Denham offering a classic swing on drums, they’ve been at it for well over a decade at this point, releasing their first album, Portrait of a Man, in 2009 before following it with 2011’s Movements (review here) and getting signed for 2013’s Blades of Grass (review here) by Alive Naturalsound Records, which has backed their offerings ever since.

Now, that’s not inconsiderable backing to have, but as 2018’s Distractions readily demonstrates, the Dirty Streets are a better band than people know, and they have been all along. What do you do with the fuzzy opener “Loving Man” except groove? What about the heavy blues of the “The Sound” or the later “Take a Walk” — with its subtly trippy vocals and rhythm so set to move you it feels like it inspired the name of the song — or the acoustic-led, semi-twang vibing “On the Way” ahead of the rousing funk-riffed “Trying to Remember?” There’s 10 songs on this record, it’s 34 minutes long, and from the slide guitar in “Dream” to the trucker-blues of “Death’s Creep,” there really isn’t a dud in the bunch.

This is what the Dirty Streets have always done. They’ve put together a killer collection of killer songs. Classic sound that’s not too much tipped toward vintage stylization, organic performances from all three players — and all three players of a caliber that would be a standout in another band; a multifaceted power in the power trio — quality material, quality sound. Distractions works from a high standard, and it’s a standard that the Dirty Streets have seemed to have set for themselves all along. And they’ve still managed to grow as a unit over time, only developing more chemistry and nuance of arrangement while making their songs sound almost humble for how unindulgent they are. Like “oh nothing too fancy just a hook that’s gonna be in your head for the next three weeks.” If this was another group, there’d be keyboards and strings all over “On the Way” and it’d be eight minutes long, or “Can’t Go Back” would have a 10-minute jam in the middle.

And maybe that’d be awesome, but that’s the thing about Dirty Streets — it’s not their bag. For all the accolades one might shower on their performances or production, they’re a songwriting band. “Can’t Go Back” is damn near perfect. So’s “The Sound.” I mean, really, what more would you want rock and roll to be? But that’s part of it too, because while Dirty Streets have been doing this thing and doing it so well for so long now, they’ve never really been willing to either jump up and down for attention in the pandering way of modern social media — “hey everybody what’s your favorite song of ours?” blah blah “you want us to tour?” blah blah — or to pigeonhole themselves into a niche within their niche. On the broadest level, they’re a heavy rock band, but that doesn’t account for the blues, the country, the soul, the classic heavy (well maybe that) or even the sometimes-there edge of psychedelia in their sound.

I don’t know if it’s that Distractions is doing anything so different from, say, 2015’s White Horse (review here), which preceded, but it shows the trio going full-on with who they are. They’ve never sounded more efficient or refined than they do in these tracks, and maybe even the sheer level of class in what they do is part of what’s kept them so consistently underrated. “Riding High” is a party and if you’ve got a fuzz quota, they fill it early with “Loving Man.” Why isn’t this band on tour with Clutch? Why am I not getting vague, largely-info-less press releases about their records six months in advance to start building the hype?

The obvious answer is maybe that’s not what the band wants. Maybe they don’t want to be on the road all the time, or to have all the inflated hoopla surrounding their outings. Maybe their endgame is that the records do the talking for them, and frankly, that’s fair enough, because often in the parable of the band in-between, that’s exactly what happens. The Dirty Streets are underrated now. Maybe in 20 years, divorced from the context of the various genre-tribes as they are now — of course there’ll be different ones then, no worries, and they’ll probably call themselves the same things — someone steps up and reissues their catalog and they’re heralded as lost classics. The kind of records that, in hindsight, leave listeners scratching their heads like, “Why wasn’t this band huge?” like so many Akarma-unearthed ’70s LPs or any number of Euro treasures from the original ’90s stoner rock era waiting to be re-pressed. Email me for a list.

Seriously, I don’t know that that’s ever going to happen or it’s not, but it’s certainly possible. What I’d say instead of waiting around for that is that you take the time today — not even that much time, damnit! 34 minutes! — to put on Distractions and try to listen without them for a while. Put your head in the right space and go where the record takes you. I think you’ll find the Dirty Streets are worth appreciating in the here and now, and that whatever comes however many decades down the line or doesn’t, you’ll not regret having already been on board.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

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I could detail you any number of mundane miseries from the week or tell you about feeling disconnected and wrong in my own body, wanting not to eat, eating, not sleeping, but I’m gonna go play with my kid in the snow. Great and safe weekend. Have fun, hydrate, watch your head. All that stuff.

FRM.

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The thing about Dirty Streets is they’re really, really good. This poses a peculiar kind of challenge when it comes to writing about the Memphis three-piece, because when it comes right down to it, what more do you really need? After some five studio albums, the heavy-blues-soul rockers present Rough and Tumble through Alive Naturalsound with 10 tracks and an unassuming sub-35-minute runtime, live-recorded for Ditty TV in Memphis, shot and recorded straight through as a set. And you know what? It’s really good. They’re a really good band. There you go.

One recalls being taken aback by the clearheaded professionalism of their second record, Movements (review here), in 2011, and the simple truth of the matter is they’ve never wavered from the standard they set there or even on 2009’s debut, Portrait of a Man. Founded by guitarist/vocalist Justin Toland and bassist Thomas Storz with Andrew Denham on drums before they even set about recording that first album — formative, grittier than they’d wind up, but still headed in the direction they went — the band seem to have always known their purpose in terms of writing classic heavy blues and soul songs, and Rough and Tumble highlights not just the chemistry that their maturity has wrought across the last decade-plus, but the effectiveness of the craft that’s driven them all along.

As players, there is not one single member of Dirty Streets — sometimes also The Dirty Streets — who, if you put them in another band, wouldn’t be very likely to be the best player in that band. Denham‘s strutting snare pops on “Take a Walk,” for example. The F-U-N-K funk in Storz‘s bassline on “Think Twice” from 2015’s White Horse (review here), and Toland‘s follow-the-guitar vocal melody at the outset on “Good Pills” from that same record, leading the shuffle and initial kick of energy to get things rolling — each one of them brings something special to what they do. Further, each one makes the band stronger. I won’t deny Toland is a significant presence here and throughout the band’s history — I said as much just the other day — but as Rough and Tumble plays out, it’s not just about him, or just about Storz, or Denham. It’s all three; how they communicate as players and how they convey the material that comprises this utter joy of a set.

Cuts come from as far back as the slide-infused “Itta Benna” off Portrait of a Man, and after “Good Pills,” the trio shift into two covers of ’70s Americana-ish singer-songwriter Joe South in “Tell the Truth” and the more twang-inflected “Walk a Mile in My Shoes,” the hooks of both tracks blending almost seamlessly with those of the original songs that follow as “Itta Benna” leads into “Can’t Go Back” from 2018’s Distractions, the band’s latest studio LP. That particular pairing highlights the point above — while Dirty Streets have certainly grown as a band and the sound of their records bears that out from one into the next, the underlying aesthetic mission has been steady all along. One way or the other, new material or old, originals or covers, Dirty Streets are locked in. That’s really all there is to it. They’ve never operated any other way. At this point, I don’t think they could if they wanted to.

Among their albums, Movements and 2013’s Blades of Grass (review here) — the latter of which was their first for Alive Naturalsound — are unrepresented, and the focus is rightly on Distractions as the most recent outing. “Can’t Go Back” leads into “Think Twice” smoothly, the start-stops of the latter’s verses opening into a fluid and memorable chorus, with Denham moving to the crash to drive a solo section ahead of a final runthrough of the hook later on. Structurally sound, perfectly paced, mellow but heavy, it’s nothing less than Dirty Streets at their best. By this point in the proceedings, the vibe is set and Toland, Storz and Denham are absolutely on a roll, which only makes the arrival of “Take a Walk” with its funky wah guitar and push of drums all the more welcome.

Understand, it’s not a flawless performance throughout Rough and Tumble in the sense of a live album that’s been overdubbed and worked on in the studio. But would you really want that? What Rough and Tumble presents instead is Dirty Streets as they are, and frankly, that’s plenty. I’m not sure either they or the record live up to moniker or title — they’re not particularly dirty and the songs are hardly rough — but there’s no question Dirty Streets are in their element performing live like this. It’s worth noting that the two longest tracks on Rough and Tumble are “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” (5:10) and “Itta Benna” (4:11). A cover and a song from their first LP. The rest of what surrounds is on either side of three minutes long.

That includes, tellingly, the closing salvo of “Trying to Remember,” “The Voices” and “On the Way.” The bookends come from Distractions, and “The Voices” from White Horse, but the meatier riff of “Trying to Remember” picks up from “Take a Walk” and carries that energy forward in more winding fashion in a transition to something of a comedown at the end of the set, as “The Voices” and “On the Way” are both acoustic. This was likely done with the video presentation in mind, but it works surprisingly well on the live album too, making it so that there’s not so much a big-rock-finish or blowout at the end, but a more pastoral feel in line with the country-soul they’ve shown elsewhere. Denham moves to a shaker rather than the full kit, and even though none of the final three tracks is over three minutes long, they still manage to make some of the most striking impressions of Rough and Tumble as a whole.

So you see the dilemma. It’s not that one would want to rag on Dirty Streets or offer some non-constructive critique of what they do. Far from it. However, “golly this band is good” doesn’t exactly cut it as hard analysis either. But they are, and what they do continues to defy the notion that stylistic achievement requires high-minded progressive genre blends — nothing against them — or anything more than an organic conversation between players. Dirty Streets have their roots and they know it, but they’re their own band and one can only be thankful for that.

Dirty Streets, “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” (Joe South cover)

Dirty Streets on Thee Facebooks

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Bands and festivals have begun to announce 2021 dates and all that, but let’s be realistic: it’s going to be years before live music is what it once was. Especially in the United States, which is the country in the world hardest hit by the ol’ firelung in no small part because of the ineptitude of its federal leadership, an entire economic system of live music — not to mention the venues, promotions and other cultural institutions that support it on all levels — needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. It isn’t going to be just as simple as “social distancing is over and we can all crowd into the bar again.” Maybe not ever.

You’ve likely seen a band do a live stream at this point, even if after the fact, and I have too. Not the same as a real-life gig, duh, but if it helps raise some funds and keeps creative people working on something and gives an act a way to connect with its audience, you can’t call it bad. I’ve found, though, that with the dearth of live music happening and the nil potential that “going to a show” will happen anytime soon, I’ve been listening to more and more live albums.

This, in no small part, is because there are plenty to listen to. Some groups attempting to bring in cash either for themselves or relevant causes have put out live records in the last few months and made use of the downtime that would’ve otherwise been given to actually being on a stage or writing together in a room or whatever it might be. It’s been a way for a band to not just sit on its collective hands and wonder what the future will bring. When so much is out of your own control, you make the most of what you’ve got.

In that spirit, here’s a quick rundown of 10 recent live outings that I’ve been digging. If you’ve found you’re in the need of finding comfort in live music and whatever act you want to see isn’t doing a stream just this second, maybe you can put one of these on, close your eyes, and be affected a bit by the on-stage energy that comes through.

Thanks as always for reading, and thanks to Tim Burke, Vania Yosifova, and Chris Pojama Pearson for adding their suggestions when I asked on social media. Here we go, ordered by date of release:

Arcadian Child, From Far, for the Wild (Live in Linz)

Released Jan. 24.

Granted, this one came out before the real impact of COVID-19 was being felt worldwide, but with the recent announcement of Arcadian Child‘s next studio album coming out this Fall, including From Far, for the Wild (Live in Linz) (discussed here) on this list seems only fair. The Cyprus-based four-piece even went so far as to include a couple new songs in the set that’ll show up on Protopsycho as well this October, so it’s a chance to get a preview of that material as well. Bonus for a bonus. Take the win.

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Kadavar, Studio Live Session Vol. 1

Released March 25.

Germany began imposing curfews in six of its states on March 22. At that point, tours were already being canceled, including Kadavar‘s European run after two shows, and the band hit Blue Wall Studio in Berlin for a set that was streamed through Facebook and in no small part helped set the pattern of streams in motion. With shows canceled in Australia/New Zealand and North America as well, Kadavar were hoping to recover some of the momentum they’d lost, and their turning it into a live record is also a part of that, as is their upcoming studio release, The Isolation Tapes.

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Øresund Space Collective, Sonic Rock Solstice 2019

Released April 3.

Of course, I’m perfectly willing to grant that Sonic Rock Solstice 2019 (review here) wasn’t something Øresund Space Collective specifically put out because of the pandemic, but hell, it still exists and that enough, as far as I’m concerned. As ever, they proliferate top notch psychedelic improv, and though I’ve never seen them and it seems increasingly likely I won’t at the fest I was supposed to this year, their vitality is always infectious.

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Pelican, Live at the Grog Shop

Released April 15.

Let’s be frank — if you don’t love Pelican‘s music to a familial degree, it’s not that I think less of you as a person, but I definitely feel bad for you in a way that, if I told you face-to-face, you won’t find almost entirely condescending. The Chicago instrumentalists are high on my list of golly-I-wish-they’d-do-a-livestream, and if you need an argument to support that, this set from Ohio should do the trick nicely. It’s from September 2019, which was just nearly a year ago. If your mind isn’t blown by their chugging progressive riffs, certainly that thought should do the trick.

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SEA, Live at ONCE

Released June 19.

Also captured on video, this set from Boston’s SEA finds them supporting 2020’s debut album, Impermanence (review here) and pushing beyond at ONCE Ballroom in their hometown. The band’s blend of post-metallic atmosphere and spacious melody-making comes through as they alternate between lumbering riffs and more subdued ambience, and it makes a fitting complement to the record in underscoring their progressive potential. The sound is raw but I’d want nothing less.

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Sumac, St Vitus 09/07/2018

Released July 3.

Issued as a benefit to Black Lives Matter Seattle and a host of other causes, among them the Philadelphia Womanist Working Collective, this Sumac set is precisely what it promises in the title — a live show from 2018 at Brooklyn’s famed Saint Vitus Bar. I wasn’t at this show, but it does make me a little wistful to think of that particular venue in the current concert-less climate. Sumac aren’t big on healing when it comes to the raw sonics, but there’s certainly enough spaciousness here to get lost in should you wish to do so.

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YOB, Pickathon 2019 – Live From the Galaxy Barn

Released July 3.

They’ve since taken down the Bandcamp stream, but YOB’s Pickathon 2019 – Live From the Galaxy Barn (review here) was released as a benefit for Navajo Nation COVID-19 relief, and is an hour-long set that paired the restlessness of “The Lie that is Sin” next to the ever-resonant “Marrow.” Of all the live records on this list, this is probably the one that’s brought me the most joy, and it also inspired the most recent episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal, which jumped headfirst into YOB‘s catalog. More YOB please. Also, if you haven’t seen the videos of Mike Scheidt playing his guitar around the house, you should probably hook into that too.

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Dirty Streets, Rough and Tumble

Released July 31.

If you’re not all the way down with the realization that Justin Toland is the man when it comes to heavy soul and blues guitar, Dirty Streets‘ new live record, Rough and Tumble, will set you straight, and it won’t even take that long. With the all-killer bass and drums of Thomas Storz and Andrew Denham behind, Toland reminds of what a true virtuoso player can accomplish when put in a room with a crowd to watch. That’s an important message for any time, let alone right now. These cats always deliver.

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Amenra, Mass VI Live

Released Aug. 7

Look, I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I’m the biggest Amenra fan in the world. I’m not. Sometimes I feel like they follow too many of their own rules for their own good, but there’s no question that live they’re well served by the spectacle they create, and their atmospherics are genuinely affecting. And I know that I’m in the minority in my position, so for anyone who digs them hard, they put up this stream-turned-record wherein they play a goodly portion of 2017’s Mass VI, and even as the self-professed not-biggest-fan-in-the-world, I can appreciate their effort and the screamy-scream-crushy-crush/open-spaced ambience that ensues.

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Electric Moon, Live at Freak Valley Festival 2019

Releasing Sept. 4.

Yeah, okay, this one’s not out yet, but sometimes I’m lucky enough to get things early for review and sometimes (on good days) those things happen to be new live records from Germany psychonauts Electric Moon. The Always-Out-There-Sula-Komets are in top form on Live at Freak Valley Festival 2019 as one would have to expect, and they’re streaming a 22-minute version of “777” now that rips so hard it sounds like it’s about to tear a hole into an alternate dimension where shows are still going on so yes please everyone go and listen to it and maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll really happen. The magic was in you all along.

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I recall distinctly being bummed out in 2018 when Dirty Streets were getting ready to release their fifth LP, Distractions, and I never got to hear it for review. I did what I do in those cases, which is roll on to the next thing, but the Memphis three-piece have been undervalued since their outset as purveyors of heavy soul blues and, well, they’re fun to write about. That release was independent and their new one, Rough and Tumble, is a live-in-studio outing — you can hear “Can’t Go Back” from it below, and you absolutely should — which will be out July 31 on Alive Naturalsound. More often than not, I’m not cool enough to get their promos either. Woe, and such.

For what it’s worth, I just hopped on the Dirty Streets‘ Bandcamp to buy a copy of the CD — the stream of Distractions, also below, sounds awesome — and there are none left. None on Amazon either. One on Discogs for a $45 that seems prohibitive on the day my wife finds out about being furloughed at work. Serves me right. Next time I’ll have to listen to that FOMO impulse, I suppose.

Here’s news about the new one:

DIRTY STREETS – New album “Rough And Tumble” out 7/31/20

Check out the single “Can’t Go Back” here!

Scan the press on soul-groove outfit Dirty Streets and you’ll see numerous references to rock, soul, and dirty-blooze touchstones like the Faces, Humble Pie, Otis Redding, CCR and more. Spin Dirty Streets’ records and you’ll hear all of those echoes, plus others—some jazz timing, some acoustic balladry. But by and large, what you’ll hear is a raw, rowdy blend of Motown, Stax and rock—the pure American blood-beat moving through the heart of Memphis groove.

Austin-born Justin Toland (guitar/vocals) found his own musical food early through his father, a classic-rock aficionado who turned Justin on to the Stones, Creedence, soul music and the Stax sound. At 17 Toland moved to Memphis and met Thomas Storz (bass), a native of the city, through mutual friends; the pair found common musical ground and began playing groove-grounded rock with a series of temporary drummers. Andrew Denham (drums), a Shreveport-born drummer and British hard-rock fan, joined up with Storz and Toland in 2007.

The trio began demoing using a basic setup: a single cassette recorder, no tracks, no real separation, just mics on the bass/drums and guitar and vocals live in the room. Without the option to isolate, tweak or sweeten after the fact, Dirty Streets became accustomed to running through a take 40 or 50 times as they worked to get it right, all the way through. By the time they began gigging live, that level of discipline had honed Dirty Streets into an instinctual, responsive outfit. Bootleg recordings of their shows in and around Memphis helped to generate buzz, and established Dirty Streets’ rep as a band whose timing was as sharp as their sound was ragged.

Albums followed—Portrait of a Man (2009), Movements (2011), Blades of Grass (2013), White Horse (2015), Distractions (2018), and their forthcoming live effort Rough and Tumble, an LP drawn from an in-house performance for the DittyTV Americana music television network. All of these albums are steeped in the raw rock-soul groove that serves as the band’s taproot, the musical core from which all of its explorations still proceed. And within that core, too, is the element that gives their music, the music they love and play, its unique character.

Rough and Tumble includes eight positively explosive takes from three of the Memphis trio’s previous studio albums, and also features two meaty, revved-up covers by the great Joe South.

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Dirty Streets, “Can’t Go Back”

Dirty Streets, Distractions (2018)