Hamilton-native rock band Dirty Nil nails it on way to JUNOS
It looks like a promising 2022 for The Dirty Nil.
The Hamilton-native rock band performed at the sold out Bridgeworks over the Easter weekend and shook the building. On May 15, they will be hitting the JUNO Awards red carpet in Toronto, with a promise to make a splash there, too.
Luke Bentham, The Dirty Nil's frontman and guitarist told The Spectator the band was excited to play Hamilton's new concert venue and smash the building down into the ground."
It felt absolutely incredible. We have a special feeling any time we are playing at home. Nothing feels like home" said Bentham. In the spirit of Easter, the band entered the stage to Jesus Christ Superstar and threw chocolate to the crowd.
The band performed at Bridgeworks, a community hub and event space on Caroline Street North, in what used to a carpentry shop. Long before becoming a music venue, Bridgeworks was Hamilton Bridge Works, a factory which made steel and iron pieces for bridges in the country as well as Hamilton's high-level bridge.
After being away from home for a long time, Bentham said he feared the crowd would start wearing down during the concert, but by the end of the show, people were yelling and asking for more.
It was a great feeling. It does a lot to alleviate any kind of thoughts that may have formed in the absence of playing in front of a live crowd," said Bentham. Will people still like us? All those, you know, meandering thoughts were put to bed by the response on the weekend. So, yeah, it was beautiful for sure."
The concert's set list was the longest the band has ever played. It included covers to get the crowd rowdy, like Hit The Lights by Metallica and Riff Raff by AC/DC, tracks from previous records, EPs and some new songs; a treat for the ones who managed to get a ticket.
Saturday was pandemonium," a concert goer said on Dirty Nil's Instagram post which thanked Hamilton for the great weekend.
When the frontman stepped away from the microphone to check the monitors, he was touched by the people yelling the words to the songs. It would be the entire building shaking and singing"
Besides the wild crowd, Bentham also welcomed two VIP guests, his parents. The frontman mentioned one of the band's element is to tweak their parents a little bit."
My mom really hated the album title F-k Art. I saw her blush at the back, shake her head at me and smile," said Bentham. It would be impossible to have them on the show and not do something to slightly embarrass them. I think that that comes with the territory of being my parents."
The Dirty Nil waved goodbye to its 2021 F-k Art album with both a release and a farewell party at the Easter concert and called it the closing of the book of The Art era. It was the last time that we played our most recent album F-k Art in full. So, we were really excited to do that for the fine folks of Hamilton," said Bentham.
It had been a long time coming for the band. Back in December 2020, they performed a livestream, but Bentham said ,it's not the same as playing for a crowd" and in December 2021, concerts were cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
After the show, Bentham said the band hugged it out and revelled in the hometown glory."
Even though The Dirty Nil is no stranger to the JUNOS - the trio took home the Breakthrough Group of the Year Award in 2017 - a recent nomination caught the band by surprise. F-k Art, the band's third record, is running for Rock Album of the Year this year.
That's always a lovely nod from the institution," said Bentham, who said he is astonished by how their music resonates to fans and to the JUNO jury. It's nice to be included."
The Dirty Nil is gearing up to bring new music and are looking forward to the future, but what's coming up next is still a secret.
We are still kind of getting all of our ducks in a row in that in that department," said Bentham, who confirmed that 2022 is going to be a very good year for the band and shaping up to be"
Dirty Nil's journey began 16 years ago in Dundas, when singer/guitarist Luke Bentham and drummer Kyle Fisher, best friends since kindergarten, started making music in Bentham's basement. Last year, the bandmates introduced a new bassist, Sam Tomlinson, also a Hamilton native.
The band counts with more than 109,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and its top three songs Evil Side,' Doom Boy' and That's What Heaven Feels Like' have accumulated more than a million streams on the platform.
We are always trying to discover more about ourselves and amuse each other with our music, that's our mission statement," said Bentham.
Now, performing again before a full house, the trio is back to seeing themselves as just a few guys living out their childhood dream"
Beatriz Baleeiro is a reporter at The Spectator.bbaleeiro@torstar.ca