“The genesis of [the band] was sitting around a pub together, just mouthing stupid riffs to each other and then going ‘That’d be cool as a song,’ just that one stupid riff,” says guitarist Davd Lees.
And that one riff approach to songwriting carried right over into their debut album. “We went back to his place where he had his drums set up, and over the next couple of weeks we just bashed out these somewhat cool, somewhat stupid one-idea songs. That was basically the first album.”
The way they’ve set up their band’s career is quite different to the way most bands approach things.
“We like the idea of us doing this routine once a year,” Lees explains. “Get together for two months, write the album, record it as quickly as possible and then do a launch show for it, then repeat that again the next year. Hopefully we can repeat that cycle as much as possible.”
It was the whole grind of running a band in the regular fashion that prompted All Of The Dirt All At Once to take this very different approach. “With other bands we’ve gone through the whole process of practising every week and playing a lot wore us down a bit. It’s a lot of fun but it’s also a lot of work.
“We got tired of playing on a Tuesday night to four friends. It’s all good and fun, but we’d had enough of it. So we thought we’d make some music the way we’re happy with, and then play one show for each album, have an eight month hiatus, and then come back to it every time.”
Even though there have been a few duos pop up in recent times, the names King of the North and Jackson Firebird spring to mind, having a heavy rock or metal band with just a guitar player and drummer is still rather unusual. Lees believes the advantages of doing things this way far outweigh the drawbacks.
“There’s a huge appeal to being a duo,” he says. “There’s only two of you who have to make decisions, and there’s only two of you that you’ve got to arrange schedules for. And both of us tend to think pretty similarly 95 per cent of the time. It’s really easy being in a duo, there’s so much less shit to deal with. Duos are heaps of fun.
“I love all the guys I’ve played music with, but it is definitely a clash of personalities, the less you’ve got in there the better.”
The band’s second album Rock Friends will be launched next week.
“We’re really excited, we haven’t played at The Tote for years,” Lees says. “We’ve got good friends Pageant Family and Ohms playing with us, so it will be a family affair. We’re trying to promote the hell out of it, get as many people there as possible and have a huge riff-fest.”
The way All Of The Dirt All At Once run their band contributes to what comes across in their live show. “It’s a hell of a lot of pent-up energy,” Lees says. “We don’t tend to play live that much, so when we do it’s a real explosion of dirt and shit and muck.”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
