Dirty Monkey has eight releases on their Bandcamp page, but today we’re only focusing on one: Division, their newest album, put out on December 26th.
How does this album differ from your previous material, in terms of technique, artistic direction, or creative territory?
Each release I create I definitely try and up the production quality. Like in the beginning all I had was a handheld recorder and listened to a metronome on my headphones banging on random objects then manipulated the sounds. This album I feel is a good look into the future of what I’m trying to do musically with more structure. I also have a much better setup for creating now, and it’s next to impossible to pull me away from creating.
How long have you been working on this album in particular, from the point of inspiration to completion?
I was actually in the middle of writing somewhat of a full length (1,000 years of misery) and something happened in my life that through a wrench into my gears, and new it was going to take much longer to write the whole thing. Like they say out of site out of mind, so I knew I had to put something out to give me more time. So I used 2 instrumentals I had from my (Fundamentals series) which is like a dark motivational speaker series. Updated their sounds with my new equipment, and started writing Division and Creep. So it kinda happened faster than most releases, but it’s still kinda being released still. With the current climate of the world a lot of orders are behind schedule. The album is streaming on all platforms and 2 of 3 videos are released. It will just be a little longer till the vinyl hits the streets.
On the album cover, I recognize the bottom image as the yin-yang. The top seems to be some sort of rune crossed out. Can you tell me what it means?
I grew up in the punk scene left home at an early age, and moved into what was like a halfway house of reject punks. We were heavily into the crust political scene. Which started my journey being a musician. I’m a big Crass hole and Aus-Rotten, so I created the NO PEACE symbol in the stylings of the old school crust/political stylings. The whole album art is a homage to that scene that cut my teeth in performing. Also I don’t play sides and try to keep away from politics, but division is kinda mirroring what’s going on in my country right now. Even though I did not go into writing the track with that propose.
Do you think the current sociopolitical climate will inspire any future work?
Like I said I try not to get political with my music. It’s definitely heavily defined by my emotions though. So if things keep getting darker and effecting me or the people I love there’s a good chance it will. For now I try to avoid seeing and hearing, but with the way we live (social media) is very hard to avoid the negativity. I just want the best for everyone including the people that touched me or I touched negativity.
What’s your favorite lyrical line off the album?
That’s a good one lol
“They say my friends are bad I’m in a family of thieves”
Any last remarks for your fans?
It doesn’t cost any money to like, comment, and share. It’s a great way to support the artist you love without breaking your bank, and thank you so very much for any and all support! Cheers!