It seems that I have always known about Dirty Laundry. Certainly this electronic Melbourne-based band, comprising of two DJs, a divine black female singer heating up the stage with her male vocal counterparts, an alto saxophonist and a percussionist, can be proud of their devoted following. It’s a tribute to their success and fine musicianship, that from its inception three years ago Dirty Laundry commands a great deal of respect – not merely from electronica enthusiasts, but also from professional musicians around the country. Thanks to the innovation of Dean Cherny, JJ Styles and Seany B, Dirty Laundry has gradually built up their reputation as one of the finest and most unique electronica acts in Australia. Dean Cherny – Dirty Laundry’s bandleader – notes that “finding the right name nearly destroyed the band before it began. We had another incarnation for a night that we weren’t comfortable with – Phat Catz – but after our first lack-lustre performance we decided on a fresh start and after MUCH to-ing and fro-ing Dirty Laundry was born. Take note trainspotters!” Dean crows, “that will be a Trivial Pursuit question in years to come!”
Featuring Dean and JJ on decks, the divine Patricia “Miss P” Patterson on vocals, Cisco on percussion and Stevie “Mr Sax” Richards on alto saxophone, Dean notes “We’re different from all other DJ/muso ensembles, because we have a far more structured relationship. Our musos don’t ‘play over the DJ’. They integrate with the DJs, working together to create original interpretations of dance music. It really is more of a band structure than a couple of DJs, MC, vocalist and a percussionist fighting for the limelight. Our set is broken into three parts. Firstly in addition to creating original music – we cut up pre-existing tracks, our mash ups that span various genres, decades, languages, and then put them back together for a totally new sound. These mash ups incorporate dance rock and pop, with Sean and Miss P’s vocals intertwined. Then there are the tracks that Sean has written lyrics for specifically. Sean’s lyrics have their own personality and we pick the right combination of tracks to get that feeling across. Miss P has also written specific lyrics for certain tracks, and we go through a similar process to portray the right feeling for her tracks as well. And finally there is the freestyling that Sean and Miss P will pump out commentating on the night as it unravels before us.” Certainly, I have had the privilege to experience the muted heat between Miss P and Seany B during their onstage performances for myself. The relationship between the frontliners are always integral to the success of any band, for their exchange and banter form the essential foundation to a successful performance and connection with the crowd. It thus seemed that Dirty Laundry lineup had it all sewn up for ultimate success.
However, 2007 marks a number of significant changes for Dirty Laundry. Anyone in Australia would have to have lived under a rock for 2006 to have avoided the perpetual stream of TV Rock’s “Flaunt It” featuring the smooth vocal textures of Dirty Laundry’s frontman Seany B, which stayed for five weeks at number 1 on the Aria Charts and culminated in two Aria awards for Best Dance Release and Highest Selling Single, reaching double platinum for sales. Even now, you will readily hear “Flaunt It” on any radio station at any given time of the day. From all appearances, the success of this single has propelled Seany B’s career into atmospheric heights – only to be expected really, as his talents and good looks are obvious to every female over the age of thirteen. But for Dirty Laundry, this has meant bringing on board fresh faces to cope with Seany B’s full schedule. And thus, the introduction of Pete “Heights” Harrington-Olsen on vocals and MC Matt Charles to Dirty Laundry signals an airing of the closet for 2007. Dean notes that “Pete has an extensive history in musical theatre as both a singer and dancer. He is also a member of the Wicked Force Breakers, Australia’s premier break-dancing crew.” Pete’s dancing skills will no doubt be a valuable visual addition to Dirty Laundry’s onstage presence. Meanwhile, Dean also proffers that “Matt has only been MCing for the last 12 months but has made a huge impact in that time. With good mate and DJ, Aaron Tropman, Matt often performs under the name of Ddwarf.” The extra performer on stage will no doubt add significant energy to the already vigorous performances so familiar to Dirty Laundry, and these recent additions are certain to impact favourably on the Dirty Laundry vibe.
”Change is always something that is hard to take and there is no doubt that the show is different both musically and dynamically,” Dean confides. “With two vocalists in Pat and Pete, as well as Matt as our new MC, the addition of a male vocalist has given us more diversity in the style of tracks we can perform and we’ve found that this has rounded out the show.” If Dirty Laundry are at all edgy about the change in lineup, Dean is secure that Dirty Laundry will continue with its adage of “good times, tight rhymes and funky-ass basslines. While we have had a couple of rehearsals to get the guys up to speed, our live set can only be described as structured mayhem….we just jam on stage – a dance version of jazz improvisation. Our goal is to have fun while we’re performing, not necessarily to deliver a technically faultless set. That’s not to say we’re not professional in our approach to what we do.”
“Melbourne’s live music scene is enthusiastically enormous compared to Sydney,” I point out. “Do you think this environment has assisted in fostering Dirty Laundry? Or do you think you would have had just as much success based in Sydney” Dean asserts that “while we are ‘live act’, we generally work in nightclubs and at dance events, so we’re probably outside the traditional ‘live music’ venues. Sydney had it’s fair share of successful acts recently with The Presets, Sneaky Sound System and Tonite Only all killing it at the moment,” he points out. Stevie “Mr Sax” Richards maintains (with some possible Melburnian elitism thrown in for good measure) that “Sydney has been getting worse since the late 1980’s. Melbourne remains reasonably healthy but is threatened by unreasonable noise restrictions and by-laws. Maybe Dirty Laundry would have had a more difficult time without the support of great venues like Veludo’s. For me,” Stevie claims, “it all started there.”
“What do Dirty Laundary pride themselves upon?” I tentatively ask Dean. “Good times, tight rhymes and funky-ass basslines” Dean promptly repeats. This is certainly apparent as Funk grooves and rhythmic cells are a vital aspect in their catchy hooklines and musicianship. No where is the funk more apparent than in Stevie Richards’ performances on alto saxophone, where his tight hornlines, screaming jabs and howling wails are certainly reminiscent to Funk architect Maceo Parker. Stevie notes that he himself is self taught, having never formally studied saxophone and getting his start playing in Punk bands during the 1980’s. Stevie also credits Mark Simmonds, legendary jazz musician from reknown jazz collective Freeboppers (including jazz notables Paul Gabrowsky, Scott Tinkler and Simon Barker) and Aria award winner for his incredible 1994 album ‘Fire”, for a secure embouchure technique and the achievement of a focussed sound. “Every thing I know about playing Funk comes from Maceo Parker’s solo on ‘Goliath’ from James Brown’s album Gravity,’” Steve confides to me. “Maceo can say more with 2 or 3 notes played rhythmically than most people can do with 50.” Stevie’s charisma onstage definitely adds a trendy impetus to the group’s performance. Stevie also asserts that “Cisco (on percussion) and I are 100% improvisation all the way! We flatly refuse to go to rehearsals – we don’t operate that way. If what we do was rehearsed, it would be lifeless and no-one would enjoy it. So we keep it fresh and make it up on the spot!”
When I broached Dean with the question on where Dirty Laundry draws their inspiration and motivation from, Dean confides, “On stage, it’s definitely the crowd and each other. Much of the Dirty Laundry performance relies on improvisation, so we will often be looking at each other and just jamming. In the studio, we’re inspired by artists such as Basement Jaxx to Parliament Funkadelic and N.E.R.D. to Lenny Kravitz – the common thread is a funky DNA!” Stevie cites “The crowd and the vibe on stage and doing what you love to do as a job, not a hobby” is a noteworthy stimulus for his performance. “What are you most proud of?” I ask Dean. “At this stage,” Dean comments, “probably the live performance aspect of the show. We’re different from all most DJ/vocalist/musician ensembles, because we have a far more structured relationship. Our vocalists and musicians don’t ‘play over the DJ’. They integrate with JJ and myself to create original interpretations of dance music. I think we’ve helped pioneer this style of performance in clubs and love the fact that there are now so many people who are doing it, having been inspired by our show. In a year’s time, I hope the answer will be our first original album.”
With the release of “Pacha” featuring various artists and mixed by Kaz James, Dirty Laundry and Sarah Main from the Central Station Records Label, Dirty Laundry is intent on its phase for the up and up. Dirty Laundry deliver an elaborate mix of re-edited tracks, acapella interludes that incite one to “get on down, get dirty”, live percussion, instrumentation and live vocals; cementing their status as “Mash Up” masters. Featuring tracks and remixes from Kortezman, Scissor Sisters, Sucker DJs, Armand Van Helden, Shakedown, Sharam Jey, Princess Superstar vs Da Fresh, Daft Punk, The Prodigy, and Outwork, Dirty Laundry also Include exclusive original material and many mash ups as featured in their infamous live sets. “With such secure and great performances on stage, how do you translate this to the studio recordings?” I ask. “Translating the live show into our studio recordings has been really challenging,” Dean replies. “When we produce our mash-ups we can, and do, plunder any great track from the annuls of musical history. When you’re writing original music, it’s up to you to come up with that killer hook – not always easy. Our preference is always to make original Dirty Laundry tracks, but it’s a lot of fun to mash up history’s most iconic tracks.” Stevie meanwhile muses over his thoughts. “Dunno,” he claims. “We just do.” Perhaps exasperated by my inability to grasp his views, Steve suggests that we “have a listen to the Pacha Mix CD – it sounds really live! I’ve had a lot of experience with session work and recording, so it all feels natural to me.” Dean adds that “It’s always been important for our mix CD’s to be indicative of our live performance and for the Pacha CD we had to have a completely different approach to our previous 2 CD’s Dirty Work… and Late Night Filth (primarily for promo purposes). For Pacha, we had to license every track (and there’s 38 of them!), so we put a hit list together and waited for the approvals to come in. We also had to co-ordinate with Pat, Pete and Matt as what tracks they where going to write lyrics for, hope that they where approved, and then record them. Some of the mashes had to be done in the last 48 hours as we where still waiting on approvals to come in.”
With the Pacha release culminating in a tour around Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane for Good Vibrations, Dean promises that “other than great music, we’ll be giving everything we’ve got and will be dripping in sweat.” Certainly, Dirty Laundry are airing out their dance closet and preparing themselves for the unknown – but the impressive heights they aim for will undoubtedly be theirs for the taking as this electronic group maintain their upward propulsion and drive. And may our dance wardrobes be ready for their imminent exposure.
‘Pacha mixed by Kaz James, Sarah Main and Dirty Laundry’ is in stores now, released locally through Central Station/MRA. You can catch them touring around the country to support its release throughout January (check dirtylaundry.com.au for more info). Don’t forget that Dirty Laundry will also feature on the Good Vibrations lineup nationally this February.
