DIRTY VIBES

 

There’s really no need for a review of Dirty Vibes. In the space of their two word name, they’ve pretty much done it themselves. The only thing that is left to say is that the band rocks.

But it probably wouldn’t be fair to leave it at that. True, the dirtiness of the vibes of the six songs found on their EP more than justify the moniker, but as the band went to all the effort to send the CD over to me, it would be only fair to go into just a little bit more detail.

Dirty Vibes has it all: a thick, thick squelch sound of distorted guitars, with searing hot solos and a female vocal which channels the voice of every lady of rock since the dawn of time (think Janis Joplin and even a hint, perhaps oddly, of Stevie Nicks) – and a couple of gents too (Robert Plant and Axl Rose spring to mind immediately). KT-Jo’s voice is huge, shrieking like a banshee and soaring like an eagle: an eagle ready to devour her prey, it’s true, but an eagle nevertheless.

The result is a swaggering, high octane, remorseless assault on the eardrums. But for the relatively chilled out (I did say “relatively”), down a notch song “In Nirvana”, this is a riot from beginning to end.

Black Habit, the EP in question is full of all the references you would expect – if not demand – from any self respecting (or, as is the case here, self disrespecting) hard rock act. There’s sex, booze and hedonism by the bucket full. And there’s self hatred: loads and loads of self hatred, in fact. Actually, it’s pretty much the self hatred that glues the whole EP together.

You get the first glimpse of it on “Hit the Bottle” with the line “tell me who else has got it in for me?” but it soon descends into a riot of self inflicted anger: “I become the new hypocrite of the day” and “I wouldn’t listen to me” are the lyrics that scream out from “Don’t Listen to the Hypocrite”. And then in “Why I Am”, there’s a whole lot of self reflection going on with lines like “What damage have I done? Dark art condemns my being”.

Elsewhere, the loathing is externalised with lines like “she’s a freak all the same” (“Black Habit”), “There’s a crazy bitch in town/spreading fallacies only for her own gain” (“Lucy Fur”) or “I’ll guarantee you’ll be in awe of the person you hate (“In Nirvana”).

You might expect songs full of such introspection to be just a little more glum sounding. Clearly Dirty Vibes didn’t get that email. It must have just reached Coldplay and co. Instead, Black Vibes is unashamedly and brashly upbeat from beginning to end.

Which is where the hedonism kicks in. It’s a case of eat, drink and get completely out of your head for tomorrow we die, or, as Dirty Vibes put it: “I’d stay as long as you can/while you’re living with the dying” (“In Nirvana”).

Dirty Vibes are a noisy, raging mass of contradictions: self hating lyrics versus a to hell with it attitude, all underscored with an insanely loud chaos of scorching guitars and drums. And who could ask for more?

 

14/04/2011 • Black Habit EP Review

By Stephen Morris • Photos by

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