Features

Two more days. That’s all that separates us from the The Dirty Nil’s first ever full-length, “Higher Power”. To tie you over, we did an interview with Kyle Fisher. He's the one that can be seen beating the living shit out of his drum set during shows. Oh, when you go see them live, make sure to shout out 'Freebird' a bunch of times and see what happens.

PRT: You just wrapped up your first European tour. Well, kinda... how come you only played in Germany and just one show in the UK?

Kyle: Well the whole thing started with the show in London. We were going to do a one off there and fly back to Canada. Then we got an offer for some German dates and added those. We also played a show in Brighton, which was fucking great too. So it was two shows in the UK. Basically that was all we could afford at the time. We are working on coming back this spring though and expanding on that a little bit.

PRT: What has it been like? Any big differences between Europe and touring in the US?

Kyle: There aren't really any crazy differences. The drives are shorter in Europe and they give you more food and booze so that's the bonus right there. Europeans try to fatten you up a little more.

PRT: You have released a steady stream of 7" and EPs, which has all led up to the release of your debut full-length. Was that your way of experimenting a little and finding your sound?

Kyle: It was a bit of finding out our and sound mixed with our abilities and financial capabilities at the time. We've done every release ourselves up until the Fat Wreck 7" and the full length now so we had some limitations there. Another issue was that all three of us went to school for different lengths of time so that was a bit of a distraction and slowed things down.

PRT: When did you decide the time was right for a first full-length?

Kyle: Being a band for 10 years is a long enough time to decide right? RIGHT?

PRT: For the people out there who haven't heard The Dirty Nil yet... if you were the lovechild of two other bands, which bands would have had sex and which position were you conceived in?

Kyle: The Who (Live at Leeds) giving it to the Replacements doggy style while the MC5 watch.

PRT: I've haven't had the chance to see you live yet, but the songs on "Higher Power" come with a very strong live feel. How important is it for you to capture your live sound on tape?

Kyle: For this record it was important to us just to present what we sound like now with very little studio tricks or anything like that. Pure, unadulterated rock and roll.

PRT: Your songs are in your face and abrasive, the kind you want to go nuts to at a basement show. But at the same time they have this big stadium kinda feel. Does that make sense to you? And if so, is it a lot of work to balance those two sides or do the songs just tend to turn out that way?

Kyle: We were born out of Luke's parents basement listening to stadium rock and roll for most of our high school years so that description makes a lot of sense. Not that we set out with a goal or outline of what we wanted to be or anything like that. That sound just kind of came naturally as we became attracted to volume, fuzz and starting out by playing shows anywhere and everywhere we could.

PRT: One of the exceptions to what I just said is "Fugue State", the loudest and vilest song on the album. Can you tell me a little bit more about that little hardcore gem?

Kyle: We recorded it a few years ago as a kind of dare from our friends record label/promotion company Indoor Shoes to make a hardcore song for their compilation and that's what came out. So it was intended as a one off but we decided to add it to the record.

PRT: You have already released a couple of covers in the past. Do you take requests at shows as well?

Kyle: We don't very often but sometimes when people ask and we all remember how to play the song we'll play. Usually only at hometown shows though. And if you request shout something stupid like Freebird you can get the fuck out.

PRT: What's up next for you guys? 

Kyle: The record comes out this Friday, February 26th and then we will be touring until we die or the Earth gets swallowed up by a black hole.