In our latest Band Interview, we chat to Ross Miller, bassist for Ontario alt-rockers, The Dirty Nil.
S] How are you doing today?
Hey! I am doing well today, just enjoying my morning coffee, happy to talk to you. Hope you are doing great today as well.
How are you looking forward to the ‘Dancing 2 Thrash’ tour?
I am very excited for the “Dancing 2 Thrash” tour. We have a lot of special ideas planned and the visuals are looking really cool. Happy to play a lot of old songs and a lot of new songs. Fortunately we got to play a handful of shows earlier on in the year before things got locked down but it’s definitely been the longest break we have had in years. Happy I’ll get to be in at least one room with the guys playing our songs. I think everyone will enjoy it!
S] Any aspirations for UK dominance when we are out of this in like…2030?
Oh! 2030! Well, I hope it doesn’t take that long to get back to the beautiful UK to see our friends but if it has to take that long then 2030 will be victorious. We always have an incredible time playing there.
S] How do you look at ‘Master Volume’ now?
I still love ‘Master Volume’. It was a great productive time for the band. I joined the band around the beginning stages of writing the record and I will always look back at that time fondly. Luke and I would wake up at 7 in the morning most days of the week (he pretty much had to pull me out of bed) and we would grab a coffee and just work on every little detail. Kyle and I would work on rhythm section things, so we were playing well together and then we would all meet up later in the day to rehearse all together. I still think the songs are very strong and really fun to play live. I definitely wouldn’t change a thing. Luke and I were chatting about ‘Evil Side’ (the last song on the record) yesterday and were excited people were using that song for their wedding. Super special.
S] How does ‘Fuck Art’ push you in new ways as artists?
‘Fuck Art’ was a real cool record to make. It was almost the same process as Master Volume. We were touring most of the last two years on ‘Master Volume’, so it was kind of the same writing process. We would get home from tour, take like max two days off and get to work.
We toured with a lot of great bands in the last few years such as Against Me!, White Reaper, Dead Soft, Bouncing Souls and many more. I would say that their friendship and talent definitely rubbed off on us as people and musicians and I sometimes hear them in our new songs. We pushed each other really hard on this one. Luke has written some of my favourite lyrics on this record and Kyle played some of my favourite drumming to date. I got into playing a lot more hardcore in the last few years so I feel like that rubbed off a little. I think this record sums up the last couple years for us and I am very proud of it.
S] If you could rip out the soundtrack to any existing film, with the sound of The Dirty Nil, which film would you pick and why?
That’s a tough question. I am definitely not the movie guy in the band, but I do find that people carefully pick the soundtrack for a movie to complete the grand picture. I would pick Rocky though, cause we are fighting for love and victory.
Thanks for your time, keep safe and I hope you enjoy the new music. See you earlier than 2030!
