It was just a few months back now that Brooklyn’s
Dirty On Purpose debuted their first full-length album
Hallelujah Sirens, a release so good that it immediately marked the band as one of our favorite new independent artists.
Back then, we called it “dreamy, distorted rock with more than its fair share of smart pop hooks; the sort of music you want to follow you around throughout both day and night.”
And its haunting, uplifting, and hook-laden tracks like No Radio, Light Pollution, and Your Summer Dress have been shadowing us ever since with no clear sign of abatement.
We spoke to Dirty On Purpose guitarist Joe Jurewicz to learn more about the band.
Hi, Joe. How’s New York treating you guys?
Awesome. There is no better place. Well, actually there are a ton of better places. But those places don't have 24 hour bodegas or delivery services for..um... you know.
How did you start? How long you all been together?
We started the band in the summer of 2002, I think. George and I had a fairly large art studio that we built with a friend who was roommates with DJ, who in turn knew Doug. So we started a band. Pretty simple, it happened very quickly. It had to… We had a show booked before we had a bass player or drummer.
So, we've been together a little over four years, but George and I had played guitar together for a few years before that.
From reading previous interviews with you guys, it sounds like you’re all friends … or at least know how to play nice with each other. Is that true?
Yeah, we're all friends, sad but true. We don't hang out non-stop or anything -- we all have pretty busy lives outside of the band -- but on any given day, at least two or three of us will be hanging out at the studio working on something.
And over the last four years we have learned how to deal with each other and when to back off and all that, so arguments are over pretty quickly.
Not a whole lot of blood or anything. Few missing teeth, maybe.
Who or what influences your music?
Our music is influenced by the combined experiences of four people. To list all of the things that influence us would take days, but to give a short answer: We try to take everything that comes at us, process it, then spit it back out at the world, hopefully sounding somewhat pleasing to the ear.
You just toured with Say Hi To Your Mom. How did that go?
It went great. We’re friends with those guys, so it was a lot of fun being in strange towns with a bunch of people you can hang out with. Plus those shows were booked by them, so it was a new audience for us, lots of all-ages shows that we normally don't get a chance to play. Ask Say Hi to show you the video of the lady at the gas station… They'll know what you mean.
But you don’t tour very often. Why?
We haven't toured very often because we all had full-time jobs up until very recently, and touring is not exactly the greatest way to make any money to pay rent. We now have a really great booker, Daniel at Inland Empire, who makes sure we don't have to drive too long between cities, so we'll be out and about a lot more now.
What’s the name of your band from?
It was a reference to the prevailing aesthetic in Williamsburg around the time we started the band. (Williamsburg is our neighborhood in Brooklyn. I use the term "our" very loosely, as we'll probably be forced out in a few years, by rising rent costs.)
It’s by now seeped into middle America, I'm sure. You can probably go to any Wal-Mart and find jeans that are pre-ripped and dirty.
In a broader sense, it's about the decline of pretty much everything. No one takes time to do things correctly [and] everything is half-assed because somebody decided one day it was cool to do things that way. "This apartment has exposed brick!" Who on earth gives a shit about exposed brick?!
What’s next for you? Any new recordings in the works? Any plans to get out on the road again soon?
We’re currently working on the songs for the next record, and getting ready to tour again. We will probably end up recording a lot of the next record ourselves at Death By Audio, our home studio.
We learned a lot from Scott and Chris and the rest of the gang at Headgear Recording last time around, and I think we want to try and do more ourselves next time.
If we could afford it, we'd use Headgear for everything… They’re amazing. But it's nice to record at home and not have to worry about paying for time.
Last question: What bands are you liking the most these days?
I can't really speak for the rest of the group, but I have been listening to a lot of Simon & Garfunkel. And I hear a lot of my roomate's bands, A Place to Bury Strangers and Coin Under Tongue, just sitting around the house and listening to them practice.
Some other friend's bands that I am listening to lately are Jaymay, The Jealous Girlfriends, Outline Kit, The Shorebirds, The Lucky Bastards, and Th' Haint. I better stop naming them, someone will yell at me for forgetting them. Living in Williamsburg, you can't meet anybody who ISN'T in a band.
Listening to music is a lot different when you are in a band I think. I tend to only listen to new stuff if I know who is making it. Otherwise, I stick to old stuff.
I’m in negotiations to start a CCR cover band called Creedance Clearwater Revival Revival. Pretty sweet.
That’s it, Joe. Thanks for your time.
Mark your calendars...Dirty On Purpose hits the Lakeshore Theatre with The Album Leaf on November 12.
Who the hell is Jeffrey Lewis? I know I asked myself the same question when I heard he was opening for Adam Green. After his set, however, I was sad I never heard of him before (I guess, that's how one becomes a 'best kept secret').
