The Dirty Nil makes messy punk rock with high production values, music for children of the 1990s who were raised on their dad’s classic rock records and came of age when bands like Blink 182 and Sum 41 were certifiably big deals. It’s fast and fun and full of hooks, squealing guitar feedback and Tom DeLonge (or Tom Scholz)-style pick scrapes.
And in the spirit of their pop-punk predecessors, the three guys out of Ontario, Canada, don’t take themselves too seriously. In fact, some of the most distinctive elements on The Dirty Nil’s new album, Master Volume — released in September via Dine Alone Records — were created during downright silly moments on the road and in the studio, says singer and guitarist Luke Bentham.
“We would do stuff to make each other laugh, and ultimately those things would make the cut,” he says. “Those moments — those funny little drum fills, guitar parts and lyrics — they came from just having fun and experiencing total and complete musical freedom.” As for the album’s inspiration, he says, “We’d listen to a lot of terrible music. We’d play new country music to troll each other, blast it really loud, then put on some Turnstile or some other band that we like less ironically and more genuinely.”
On Oct. 27, The Dirty Nil is playing Freakfest in downtown Madison; they’ll be on the Ian’s Pizza and WSUM Stage at Frances Street. This year’s raucous lineup includes headliners MisterWives, Tank and the Bangas and Big Freedia. Promoters have also booked a host of local acts, including Distant Cuzins, Son!, Solid Freex and Gender Confetti.
When it comes to The Dirty Nil, costumed concert-goers can expect a high-energy show full of goofy, Pete Townshend-esque stage moves (keep your eyes on bassist Ross Miller) and the fast and loud songs in the band’s wheelhouse (“Please, Please Me” and “Smoking Is Magic”). However, the setlist will also be sprinkled with more dynamically subtle tracks off Master Volume, such as the relatively downtempo “Evil Side” and the soft-then-loud “Auf Wiedersehen.”
Less aggressive songs are new territory for the group, Bentham says. He’s been embracing more of an anything-goes mentality as a songwriter, and it’s paid off. “I’m confident that I can bring almost anything I’m excited about to the band,” he says, “and we can turn it into a song.”
Whereas the band’s debut album, Higher Power (2016), was a collection of songs the guys had been jamming for years, Master Volume was written quickly on the road. Bentham sketched out the compositions with an acoustic guitar during spare moments, Miller added vocal harmonies, then they used 15-minute sound checks before shows to test out the new material with drummer Kyle Fisher. All of the songs eventually cycled into the setlist and debuted before live audiences before they were recorded.
“It’s funny, people say you have your whole life to write your first album, and then eight months or a year to write your second,” Bentham says. “That’s kind of what we experienced. It was somewhat daunting at first, but it was ultimately very freeing to have a completely blank slate and be able to explore whatever direction we chose rather than dusting off older songs. It all felt new and fresh and exciting.”
