As a municipality, the town of Dundas, Ont., no longer exists as such, having been amalgamated into the larger conurbation of Hamilton, Ont., in 2001. Nevertheless, the erstwhile Dundas provided a great place for the members of the Dirty Nil to nurture their interest in rock and roll. "It was a very good place to have a band growing up," says Dirty Nil guitarist Luke Bentham. "Because there weren't any distractions, you could just focus a lot on music."

That focus has stood the Dirty Nil in good stead, as the three-piece rock band are making waves both in their native Canada and beyond. "I feel very fortunate to be a band from Canada just because of the grant systems that we have access to," Bentham says. "You have to have a certain list of accomplishments before you are able to access that kind of funding, but that really allows you to try and make a try of the entire world."

Bentham says as a kid, he also dreamed of playing rock and roll in the U.S., and on Sunday, Bentham and his bandmates — bassist Ross Miller and drummer Kyle Fisher — played a show at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, but not before stopping at The Current for a studio session hosted by Mac Wilson.

The Dirty Nil are touring in support of their latest album, Master Volume, and they're aware of the challenges of touring in North America, particularly that of traversing the expansive Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. "Ontario and the east are kind of their own region," Bentham explains, "and then you've got the lovely Prairies which we're very much still looking forward to hitting, but there are very long drives that we've known a number of bands that have broken up or cited that as the point of breakup of the entire band, driving across the Canadian Prairies, so it's a bit of a treacherous zone there."

Thankfully, the members of the Dirty Nil have their shared love of rock and roll to keep those ties of friendship firmly intact. In fact, they've earned plaudits for their stunningly faithful cover of Cheap Trick's "Surrender," something Bentham says is a bit of an accident. "We like to play a lot of covers when we're writing because it really just helps to cut things up when you're really just working on new material and kind of spending yourself that way," he says. "It's a nice kind of breath of fresh air into the jam space … just getting back to that raw exhilaration of playing rock and roll."

Use the audio player above to hear more from the Dirty Nil, including their favorite Halloween candy and Bentham's all-time favorite Halloween costume.

Songs Performed

"That's What Heaven Feels Like"
"Bathed in Light"
"Super 8"
All songs from the Dirty Nil's 2018 album, Master Volume, available on Dine Alone Records.

Hosted by Mac Wilson
Produced by Anna Weggel
Engineered by Michael DeMark
Visuals by Jules Ameel
Web feature by Luke Taylor

External Link

The Dirty Nil - official site

Gallery

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