Getting to Know… Dirty Money | Interview 🎤

In the 365^th Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from Oxfordshire rock band, Dirty Money.

“We’re incredibly high energy and don’t believe in separation between the band and the crowd.” WORD, 🎙 Dirty Money! Prior to that colorful response, the band expounds characterizes their style as, “a beautiful hybrid of classic and modern rock with a tinge of proto-punk every now and again.” WOO! Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on the Oxfordshire rock band’s genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Dirty Money: Interview No. 365!

For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes Dirty Money distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

We’re a beautiful hybrid of classic and modern rock with a tinge of proto-punk every now and again that has a second to none live show that will melt your face off. We’re incredibly high energy and don’t believe in separation between the band and the crowd.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Dirty Money form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

🎙 Ross Hutton and 🎙 Mark Walker had a band together and at the time, Ross ran a pub in a village in Oxfordshire up the road from Mark’s house. I (🎙 Spud Hudson) was living in Los Angeles, but my mum lived in the same village so when I came home one year for Xmas, I happened to wander in to Ross’ pub and met them both which turned into none of us leaving for 3 days and quite a monumental hangover to say the least. I went back but we all kept in touch and when I moved back for good a few years later, me and my wife stayed with Ross and his wife while we were looking for a place. I had drunkenly got up and sung a couple of tunes with their band one night and when they broke up, the three of us decided to put something together. Then that little pandemic hit which scuppered our plans a bit but once it was over, we carried on. We had the hardest time finding a drummer though. Apparently Oxfordshire is quite low on its drummer stock. We had about 4 or 5 sit in with us and they just didn’t work some because they were good enough, but the style wasn’t quite right and one in particular who wanted to be Phil Collins, (whole other story).  Ross came up with the ingenious idea of going through ads for people looking to sell their drums and trying to convince them not to and try out with us instead. [This] is how we got 🎙 Luis Silva and right from the off it just clicked. He was the missing piece.

We’ve always just concentrated on the next step. Initially, we wanted to get some stuff written and get on the circuit which we did. Then, we wanted to get something on the radio which we did and then, it was expanding out across the country, which we’ve done as well. So now it’s on to the next step.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

No not really. At the core of it we’re four guys that just enjoy playing together so after that, anything else is a bonus. We’re now going to get the EP released towards the beginning of October and then it’s all about getting on the festival circuit for next summer and getting the album done, 80% of which is already written. We’d like to sneak a couple of European dates in there as well next year.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

There’s so many. Guns n Roses have got to be a big one in there for all of us. Mark especially is a massive Slash fan. For me The Stooges are hugely influential. I honestly believe there is no greater front man than Iggy Pop at his peak and I would love to think I could project at least half of his danger and antagonism on stage.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

We ended up playing a biker clubhouse one night for a friend of ours who’s a member and that was pretty wild. The PA blew up and we had to jimmy rig a replacement on the fly, but we got through it. There’s about 4 hours of the night that none of us can account for and I woke up on the back seat of my car with a monster hangover and no memory of how I got there. There was also one gig where the sound engineer looked like he’d partaken in one substance or another and spent the whole gig disconnecting and reconnecting one cable that was actually going into his desk and when we eventually asked him what he was doing he looked at us bewildered and said, “I have no idea.” Mark also smashed his head off a low beam at our gig on Sunday and was in a heap on the floor and none of us noticed (this one is news to me as he’s only just told me so that’s how much we noticed).

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

Would have to be 🎵 “Ego”. It’s just such a lively and venomous tune that always the crowd going, and we just get to really cut loose live. It’s a lot of fun.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

Ross and Mark are both left handed and Spud can change his accent to pretty much from anywhere on command.

Closing out, what is Dirty Money currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

As I say we’re planning to release the studio EP later in the year and get on the festival circuit for next summer. We are actually mixing a live EP at the minute as well from our gig with The Meteors in Manchester. We’re also playing at The Stag’s Head in Hoxton on Aug 4^th, MK11 in Milton Keynes on August 27^th and The Phoenix in High Wycombe on September 16^th if you want to catch a show.

Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

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Getting to Know… Dirty Money: Interview No. 365 [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Dirty Money; Tumisu via Pixabay]