Meet the Dirty Unkuls

The Dirty Unkuls are a rock band with strong influences in the 80s. Dirty Unkuls delivers a brand of original music that reflects these influences without copying them. My wife introduced me to the music of these guys and I quickly became a fan. I recommend you give them a listen. You'll most likely dig what you hear.

Members: Mark Tracy: Lead and backup vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, bass. Lance Morgan: rhythm guitar and backup vocals. Eric Day: keyboards, backup vocals. Kyle Phillips: drums, backup vocals. Joey Resendis: guitars, backup vocals

Carl Hose: If I had to describe your sound, I'd say there’s an overall country feel with some great rock undertones. Sort of hard to pin down, but there are a lot of influences there? A little like Brett Michaels' (Poison) solo stuff meets Toby Keith. Who were some of the biggest influences on your sound.

Dirty Unkuls: Lance: The strongest influences are the Hair-Metal bands from the 80's, Def Leppard, Poison, Dokken, Bon Jovi, Tesla to name just a few.  We also carry with us the impact from some of the bands that came along even a bit earlier like Lynyrd Skynard, Kiss and Boston.  Growing up in Texas we also have an appreciation for some country, but those types of songs are more of our departure than the norm.  Cool guitar riffs with some catchy melodies are what we seem to gravitate to, and those basics can be found in many bands from the past and are also prevalent in southern rock.

Carl: "She Likes It Dirty" is one of my favorites. Can't resist a dirty rocker. Great song, but it's not the only catchy tune you guys have. Who is the primary songwriter in the band and what is your songwriting process like? Are you open to outside songwriters or is it all you? Do you work from a lead sheet, notation, or just lay it down as a band?

DU: Lance: We are glad "She likes it Dirty" hit home with you. We consider that our "signature" song. Mark Tracy brought that main idea in.  Mark has written a few, Lance Morgan has written a few, and we are working on some of Joey Resendis' ideas right now, but everyone involved has influence in each and every song.  At the end of the session they are all Dirty Unkuls songs regardless of how we got it going.  We like it that way and we probably wouldn't sound better without the complete collaboration. It normally starts with one of us bringing in a basic idea with a verse, chorus, perhaps a pre-chorus mostly done on our equipment at home.  No sheet music, little notation, just straight from the brain or heart to the record button with guitar, bass, and microphone to give the rest of the guys the basic idea. We do use a drum machine at that point, so we always look forward to getting Kyle in the studio with his ideas on breaks and the nuances a badass drummer can add to make a song go from good to great and then to get some keyboard or piano from Eric to add the flavor.  Each of us can play multiple instruments and that allows us to be a "one man band" at home to get things kicked off. Then we gather together and work to improve the basic idea of the song, bounce ideas off each other, try a few things, scrap a couple adjustments that we decide we don't like as much... So far we haven't worked with any outside song writers, we've written everything ourselves and really haven't planned on outside help, but a good song is a good song.  There are quite a few of our influences we'd love to have the chance to write with at some point though. Probably a pipe dream to have Paul Stanley or Tom Scholz co-write something with us at this point, but we feel pretty good about what we bring to the table ourselves.

Carl: What was the process for recording the songs? Was it more an old school process or did you use some of the newer software and techniques?

DU:  Eric:  I would say that we are a little bit of both.  You see, there are some differing opinions in the group on where that balance between old school and use of technology actually sits.  As Lance explained we usually start off with an idea, riff, or in some cases what even seems to be a complete song sent across the email channels.  We all get the song and the first thing I do is drop it into the Pro Tools rig and the song is started.  Ultimately, the scratch track will be completely muted, but we use it for inspiration and guidance. Once we all get together in the studio, a few beverages down, the creative energy gets going.  We listen to the original idea and everyone starts commenting, advising that a break could go here, the bridge should include soundclips, etc. After the ideas are thrown around, we start with recording the drums.  Kyle can usually knock a basic track out pretty quickly – from there we think about creative nuances that can be placed into the song and how the drums may need to be modified in order to make those nuances work.  Kyle listens, takes to the drums, and knocks them out.  A final piece on the drums is making sure that we are in time with the click – at this point I have promised KP that I will never (he will even kill me for using the word) “quantize” his work.  So we listen through and if there are places where the beat deviates from the click then we will redo until all are happy.  That is the foundation for all that we will build.  Next comes the guitars and that would usually include tracks from Mark, Lance and now Joey.  They each bring a different tone and skill set so it makes for a very expanded plate of guitar tracks to work with.  After the guitars, either Mark or Lance will pick up the bass and lay down the bass track.  We use a digidesign Eleven rack for a lot of the guitar and bass recordings so I guess, from an old school/high tech balance, that really ends up making the recording process pretty easy and not difficult to gain good audio quality.  Finally, we will have Mark (although you can also catch Lance on the upcoming release “Lost In a Song”) lay down the lead vocals.  We currently use a tube driven Rhode mic with an ReFlexion filter.  We are able to gain decent capture of vocals through it.  Last touches in the tracking for us are usually determining how many backup vocal tracks we want to add.  Some of our songs have a basic back up harmonizing line while others we have gotten to the point of a near “Bee Gees” level of layered harmonies (upcoming release “Feel the Fire”).  To get to this point we have usually stayed up till 3-4am on both Saturday and Sunday morning.

After all of the guys leave on Sunday then my work really begins.  I like to get into the technology aspect of protools then.  Starting with clip gain and stripping of silence to clean the tracks up, addition of basic plugins for reverb, compression and eq on specific tracks.  I get a scratch ready to go and then send out via email to the group.  From there they send me back comments, I make changes, send back out, repeat process, repeat process, until we are happy with what we have.

From there mastering is what is left.  I have sent our songs off some times, I have mastered some of our songs myself.  It is a very intricate process and I am convinced that it will be a lifelong learning process for me.

Carl: Gene Simmons of KISS recently caused a stir when he said rock is dead. I think what he should have said is the music business as it once existed is dead. How do you guys feel about that statement?

DU: Lance: The music business as it once existed is dead. True Statement. "Record Companies" have lost control over the revenue they can generate from selling an artist’s "albums" or "cd's" in an exclusive manner.  Top name pop acts sign agreements to be on TV commercials, something that was seen a bit as selling out a few years back, just to get their latest music in front of a mass audience and hope an individual listener will go check it out and download it.  As a result of the loss of the guaranteed revenue stream to a record company, there is no real "seed money" out there to help new bands really get up and going that used to come from those "record companies".  There is no financial win in gambling on a new act without a guaranteed distribution link in the chain, and no guaranteed audience, so there is really no chance of a band being "discovered" as was the historical norm. I'm sure an argument can be made that the record companies controlled too much of the creativity at one point too though.  The after effect is you seem to have tons of bands out there, but none have any real financial backing to get their music heard.  It is up to the individual band to market themselves directly to whoever they think their listener is. But Gene is right in some respects in that since there is no real obvious revenue stream for any new band, there is really no marketing arm to get new rock heard. Rock, and especially Hard Rock is innately rebellious. Anti-establishment in most cases. It historically comes from the clubs and the streets up, not from the record companies down like pop.  Pop stars have a bit better chance to make it now but if you think about many of them that come out now, the majority got started on TV or Disney or some other avenue where they were already a known commodity and they cross-over.  I disagree with Gene that Rock is completely dead.  Rock is still rumbling under the surface in some clubs and like in our case, a home-based studio.  And since there is no "record company" to steer the creativity I bet much of it is really raw and good and unique compared to the over-processed pop and hip-hop being shoved down our throats right now. Something may change at some point to uncork what is bottled up out there.  Somewhere out there is the next Black Sabbath, Motley Crue or Nirvana.  We've seen it only takes one to bring everyone back home to a new genre of Hard Rock, and then it opens the door for many more to burst through.

Carl: I notice a few bands are starting to give away their music to anyone who buys a concert ticket. With all the illegal downloading, do you think this may be one way for bands to survive?

DU:  Lance:  It is a good marketing move.  Illegal downloading isn't going away.  If it helps sell a few more tickets than a band would otherwise, it is a win. In our case we'd probably be playing for free too.  At present it seems that we are the only people who know we are rock stars...

Carl: What advice do you have for songwriters or performers today? What are,some of the best avenues for getting you music in front of an audience?

DU:  Lance:  Write for yourself and see what happens.  There is no guarantee that many people other than your closest followers are going to hear much of it anyway, so don't try to write for someone that doesn't even necessarily exist.  Our song "Face of the New Democracy" was written in frustration and straight from the heart.  We were angry and it is a bit of an angry song with a political slant.  As a result some people have caught the message and have begun to spread it around the digital world.  Our Twitter, Facebook, SoundCloud, Reverbnation following have grown immensely based upon that one song hitting home with quite a few people.  If people like it and share, it goes a bit viral.  As a result we've been asked for interviews on several radio talk shows and have several interviews scheduled over the next few weeks.  That is helping us get the people who have really liked that particular song to listen to what else we have to offer.  We really just started the band for ourselves and that it has grown to even the humble level it has, is a bit of a surprise.

Carl: What is it like onstage for you guys? What approach do you take to interact with your fans?

DU:  Lance:  We haven't been on stage together in many years, although we are contemplating some live performances looking ahead.  We have had a few requests/offers from some people who have responded favorably to our music, but stopping the rest of our lives and families to tour is just not a reasonable expectation at present.  That harkens back to that seed money issue in the previous question and the fact that we are "unsigned" etc.

Carl: Do you have any advice for bands just getting started?

DU: Lance:  Yes, buy our songs!  I'm not sure we are qualified to answer this question, truthfully.  Although we've been doing this for quite a while we are not a household name, nor were we ever.  So if someone is looking for magic words of wisdom we have none to help anyone "make it".  I think we can say at least this from our perspective, play music with people you already like.  What is the point in doing something together if you can't stand to be around each other.

Carl: What do you guys do to unwind from the business of music? Are you all friends outside the band?

DU: Lance:  Our band time IS our unwind time.  We all have spouse's to answer to and family obligations and careers outside of music.  We are getting recognition as a band about two decades after we expected it.  The old "be careful what you wish for" scenario I suppose.  We've all been friends for a very long time.  Many years.  Since childhood, literally.  We are all from the same home town and played little league baseball and football together etc. Our parents all knew each other and treated us all like family growing up, and still do today.  We were all friends before we were band mates and before we learned to play our instruments.  Eric and I took piano lessons together in grade school.  He was better than me then and now.  Kyle's sister married Eric. Eric, Kyle, Mark and me were all classmates while Joey is the baby of the group, a year younger than the rest of us.  Or maybe he failed a grade, I forget ;)

Carl: What can Dirty Unkuls fans look for in the future?

DU:  Lance:  More songs being released and some radio interviews.  We are in the process of releasing our songs one at a time.  We have four available right now and 6 more coming out over the next several weeks.  But we aren't finished.  Joey has some ideas we are working on right now at Soaked Sofa Studio, and we will be moving those to completion soon.  Recording together is a blast.  We will keep doing that even if only for ourselves.  That's how it all got started.  That other people are taking notice is just a bonus to us.

Follow Dirty Unkuls on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/dirtyunkuls

Dirty Unkuls Bio:

These five childhood friends hail from Lake Jackson, Texas. They grew up on a steady diet of rock and 80's glam metal. Eric, Lance and Kyle were in a garage band together in high school called "InAsense". Mark and Joey were founding member of the band "Rokitt". All five moved away from Lake Jackson after high school to start families and careers. Mark fronted many metal bands in Austin, then switched to country, which led to a small stint in Nashville. Kyle kept drumming through out the years too. In the summer of 2008, Kyle, Lance and Eric went to the South Texas Rock Fest to relive some old memories of the music they grew up with. They had such a great time they decided to schedule a weekend to record some songs. Mark quickly agreed to be a part of the project. So they met up in Boerne, Texas at Eric's home studio on the weekend of Dec. 12-14. We all caught up with Joey in June of 2014 and welcomed him back into the fold.

The Dirty Unkuls (the name and concept came from Lance when Hurricane Dolly decided to park over Lance's house and he had a lot of time to think. Lack of electricity will do that to you.) is a band strictly for fun, nothing more or less. We have accomplished to write, record and prepare for release 10 originals. So far you have heard the first - "She Likes It Dirty" and last week saw the release of "Rio Grande". The plan is to continue releasing the remainder of those 10 songs at a pace of about one a month. All the while, we continue to write more originals.

Do you think these guys are having fun? That's what rock and roll is all about baby! Thanks for stopping by and please leave us your comments!