THE DIRTBALL INTERVIEW
With one of the fastest mouths in the west, this week The Dirtball drops his third solo album (Crook County) on Suburban Noize Records. It features everything you would expect - banging beats, a quick-fire vocal delivery and lyrical creations that only a true outlaw would confidently spin. So here is The Dirtball to tell us all about it.
The Pier: You started as a drummer in the band Chola, when did you feel confident enough to make the transition to an MC?
The Dirtball: That band was together for about five years and it ultimately took me all that time to develop in terms of stage presence, but I had been rapping for 12-13 years trying to take it seriously. So it took me five years with that group for me to jump off the drum set and try the whole rap side of it. I am now actually about to bring the drumming back into the mix, as Lou Dog from the Kottonmouth Kings made me a stand up digital drum-kit and I am going to showcase my drumming and rapping skills out that way on stage soon.
The Pier: Oh real nice. So when was it that you realized you had mad vocal skills?
The Dirtball: You know what? I think it was when I started putting together some vocal patterns with my raps and my drums. There was a definite point I remember thinking that if I keep doing this long enough; rapping to my drum beat, dude this is going to be crazy. I even had to wear a headset mic cause I kept smashing my mouth into the mic. It is really weird to be back there with all your limbs functioning and even doing off-beats to anything you are hitting on drums with your mouth. I always thought if I could harness this thing I got going on it could be a cool deal.
So that is really how I taught myself to rap, not just from listening to old school music, but through playing the drums.
The Pier: Does your superfast delivery come naturally to you or is it something you have to practice and work on for each new song you write?
The Dirtball: Now it comes naturally to me. I never even set out to be that way. I think the drums just brought it through, but now when I sit down and write with a fresh beat it comes quickly to me. It’s just crazy though cause now I will also have so many patterns come to me I have to try to harness that. When I am listening to something I have to calm my brain down or I think I could do so many choices. I think I have got to that level through watching artists like Tech N9ne who is the master of quick rhymes.
There really are no songs that take me a long, long time to write, because if it takes too long I will just scrap them because of that fact. So it usually takes me three to four hours sitting down writing the lyrics and then a couple of hours recording it. I can pump out a couple of songs a day while still being serious about it and making it tight without cruising. However, there is usually a song or four when I am working on a record that come out even faster than that cause of how fresh the beat is or I am just really feeling it.
The Pier: So tell us how did you create the music for this latest album of yours, Crook County?
The Dirtball: On this album I took it full force. On Raptillion I would just piece it together from different tracks that sounded cool and would exemplify my fast style. On Crook County, I thought well you know never know if it is going to be your last record so I wanted to bring this album home a little bit. So I did a bunch of loops on the drums with my drum set and I just worked on patterns that I used to rock and felt really comfortable with and have rocked the crowds with for a while. I made those beats and gave them to Mike Kumagai that does the Kottonmouth Kings beats and he built his sounds around my drums. On a handful of Crook County tracks you can actually hear the live drums I originated with.
So we spent a lot of time on production and throwing some guitars on there, we spent tons more time on the actual songs this time before I started working on the lyrics. I am pretty proud of it and enjoy listening to it.
The Pier: What was some of your inspiration for this record, in terms of lyrics?
The Dirtball: On this one I tried focusing on writing some songs conceptually. In the past I would write songs on a more general level, which I still do as I like to write universal lyrics that anybody can drop themselves into it. On this one I also stretched the drug side of me a little bit and put it out there into the public and some of my boozing. I wanted to make a CD that had a lot of appeal to it, so each track has a different kind of style.
The Pier: So this approach of being more open on this album, now that is done and is out in the public domain do you still feel comfortable about that?
The Dirtball: Yeah for sure. A song like Mushroom Cloud it’s a complete replication of a mushroom trip in my eyes and we just did a video for it that came out yesterday online. It’s all out there now so I have no choice how I feel about it (haha). We did that video at Big Bear Lake, it’s funny because I never set out to have that song pushed out there, but it is a cool track and is doing really well. We have got tons of hits already for the video so it is a pretty exciting time.
(Mushroom Cloud Video)
The Pier: For those that might not know, you spend a lot of time living on a farm in Bend, Oregon. Tell us about that and what kind of reaction do you get from other musicians regarding that (haha)?
The Dirtball: I love the North West dude, there is no way I could live down there in LA. So it‘s the least I can do but stay up here in my off-time. The last four years I get to spend three to four months total a year up here. We stay on the road for eight months just doing tour after tour. I am kind of a home person so it is a struggle for me sometimes, but it is also an awesome situation and it shows dreams can come true.
And yes I get a lot of shit from others, but most of it is inquisitive. Tech N9ne was playing down here a couple of weeks ago and I had all their whole posse over here at the house partying and I have had the Kottonmouth Kings over. So while Bend is kind of small we have a lot of people go through here, so that is what saves me from people thinking I am a complete whack job (haha). Once I move out East though that is when I will be considered a complete outlaw at that point and that’s what I am after (haha). I just like the solstice, being on the road is so crazy I just need the space to get far out East as I can.
The Pier: How has your relationship with your label Suburban Noize Records developed over the years? Tell us a bit about that.
The Dirtball: Well it started out in about 2003. I have been signed for five years. I had been sending them demos of my old band Chola and then I did a CD called the Dirty-D Project and sent them that. SRH, the clothing side of all that, signed me as its "Artist of the Month" for about three months in a row, so from there that’s when Daddy X and Kevin Zinger decided to sign me. I have been slowly grinding away and been humbling doing my deal for about four years now and am trying to grow a fan-base for myself. They have done a lot for me and I am now in this most crazy position.
(Big B & The Dirtball)
The Pier: What can you tell us about your partnership with fellow rapper Big B and how did you two come about working so much together?
The Dirtball: Well the first shows I did was on the Ten Years Deep Tour and I guess that would be back in '04. That’s when I met Big B at Slim’s in San Francisco. From that point on well… we just got on together cause we are from a similar background: he had his old band 187 and I had Chola, we also had the same hustle and we just decided joining forces was great for holding each other’s backs. Now we just nurture each other’s rap careers through our solo and joint project with Subnoize Souljaz’s. It’s a triple win for us.
The Pier: Have you ever thought about doing an album with just the two of you together?
The Dirtball: Yeah we talk about it all the time. We are going to do this thing called ‘Weekend in Vegas’ I think. We have already got tracks too. TJ Lavin, the BMX rider, is a good friend of Big B and we have tracks with him that are done. He is a super rapper and has an album coming out too. We have conceptually thought about this as an entering Las Vegas thing and that the whole album will be this 40 minute trip into a weekend in Vegas kind of deal. It’s funny you mention us working together on an album because I have put together about seven tracks to work with him on the road and see where we end up in the next few weeks.
The Pier: I really dig your guest spot We in Stereo on the new Phunk Junkeez album. Tell us about working with them.
The Dirtball: Yeah what’s funny about that, is when I was younger I used to listen to them on my headphones and drum along to some of their first albums like Sex, Drugs Rap n' Roll and Injected. Man, I used to drum all the time to Injected (haha). When I first met those guys they gave me my first opportunity to tour nationally with them and Big B. So it was super-cool to work with them on that song.
The Pier: Do you have any other guest appearances coming up in the next few months?
The Dirtball: The biggest thing for me is Tech N9ne asked me to be on his new record Killer which comes out July 1st. I am on a track called Paint a Dark Picture. That is the biggest thing for me right now. I am also on the new OPM, I just did a track for that and that turned out banging. Their new CD is off the hook, I heard a handful of tracks in the car and the production is amazing.
The Pier: Cool. So I saw you you perform at the Key Club in LA last year. For a good portion of the show you were up onstage alone. What's it like having to perform on stage by yourself sometimes? Do you ever get nervous about that?
The Dirtball: I really don’t, it is so liberating for me and I feel like I can hold my own and not in a cocky way. It just feels good. I feel I can work a crowd and when you are doing this one person deal you are putting your nuts so far out there that it becomes a whole ‘nother thing. You put yourself out there so you can’t show any weakness and that’s what gets me through it. I can’t really say I am a master of it and that you should do it but it works for me. I am actually preparing for this June Harvest Tour and opening for (hed) PE in July by myself.
The Pier: So finally, do you have a favorite tour or show that has been particularly memorable?
The Dirtball: If we are talking about tours then I have to say the Hallowicked Insane Clown Posse Tour. We did a 55 show tour and if you can make it through those shows as an MC then you are "doing it" because it is gnarley. The Juggalo fanbase is so kick-ass, but if you are slipping then you are done-for in that situation. However, we made it through that - so I definitely proved something.
Big thanks to The Dirtball for dropping by The Pier.
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