Interview: Dirt Farmer

I love music, hence the blog. But I especially love music that has the great summer vibe to it. Listening to those songs gets you either excited for summer or, if it is summer already, gets you to love life and be happy with your close friends and have the best time of your life. You forget about all your problems and enjoy the moment. And one awesome band that will put a smile on your face and enjoy life is Dirt Farmer. The indie-pop band from Australia have some of the best summer-vibe songs I have ever heard. Especially with their latest single Delilah Lightning. So it only made sense that I ask Stuart Barlow from Dirt Farmer about the band and what they have in store for you.

Members:

Stuart Barlow – Guitar/Vocals

Patch Oram – Guitar/ Harmonica

Thomas Barlow – Drums

Christ Wright – Bass/Vocals

Nic Duplex – Guitar/Slide Guitar

How did you come up with the name for the band?

Levon Helm from ‘The Band’ made a solo album in 2007 called Dirt Farmer and we may have stolen the name from him… quick next question!

People put you in the indie, pop and folk genres, but how, in your words, describe your music?

We’re really influenced by older music like Velvet Underground, Neil Young and Stones but of course listen to new stuff like Strange Boys, Cloud Control and Pond. We’ve heard from people that they wish they were sitting on a beach or in their back yards drinking Coronas (other drinks available) whilst listening to Dirt Farmer, so I guess I’d describe ourselves as Sunny/Summery/Slacker Pop and Roll.

According to triple j Unearthed, you are set to release your new E.P. in mid 2013, what can fans expect from this E.P. and how is it different to your debut E.P. from last year?

We’ve put a lot more thought and effort into this new E.P. so fans can expect slicker production, thanks to Anna Laverty, our new best friend. There’s still a very summery vibe just like our debut E.P. but the new one has more oopmh and stronger energy. We wanted to try out some new things and had time to mess around with pedals and tones so hopefully fans will like it!

You recently released, as I would describe it, the summer-vibe, psychedelic-indie track Delilah Lightning. What was the inspiration for track and what is about?

The track is about a female Ryan Gosling in the movie Drive and her name is Delilah Lightning… She listens to Dylan and the Boss and chews two tooth picks at once, making her twice as cool as Gosling.

What do you think or hope people get out of listening to your music?

I hope people listen to Dirt Farmer and either plan a holiday with their friends or partners, reminisce about younger days or dance in their back yards like cray-cray.

What is your favourite track to perform on stage and why?

We’ve got some new songs, which are really fun to play but my favourite would be Delilah Lightning because people think its over before it begins… the fuzzed-out ending of Delilah Lightning isn’t something that we do that often so I think it has more impact when we throw it into the set.

If you could cover any track and had to put it on your next E.P. or album what would it be and why?

It would have to be Easy Lover by Phil Collins because Patch thinks it’s the shizznittlebam.

For those you don’t know what the track sounds like, but you should, here it is:

When you are not making music or performing what does the band like to do in their free time?

I’m making people’s back yards and gardens look beautiful. Nico is Melbourne’s real life Spider-man, he hangs off buildings and constructs crazy buildings. Pato, Chris and Tom are all nearly pro surfers and have been pretty tied up with that for a couple of years.

Finally, apart from the E.P., what are your plans for the rest of 2013?

Were pretty keen to get back into the studio as soon as possible with producer Anna Laverty, we’ve done a couple of home demos, which we’re really happy with but don’t plan on releasing just yet. We’re not sure whether to make another 5 track E.P. or just save up for an album. At this stage we’re definitely going to release something else later this year or early next year, 2014.

A huge thanks to Stuart for answering the questions and Adam Christou for organising the interview. I really like the band and their music. Their songs help me to escape reality and I’m sure you now feel the same way too. They are an awesome talented band and I cannot wait for their E.P., which is out mid 2013.

Check out more of their music on Soundcloud here. If you want to find out more about Dirt Farmer then go to their Facebook page here. Or their Twitter page here.