Interview With The Mexican Demon Lovers Dirty Woman

Dirty Women are a Mexican stoner rock band that play a unique blend of classic rock and modern stoner-sludge.  Their latest album "Demon Lover" (Sade Records) has is a hard-hitting hybridization of Grand Funk, AC/DC, NWOBHM and COC.  I had a chance to sit down with these guys and shoot the proverbial shit with 'em.

Q:  Dirty Woman, my brothers to the South, thanks for doing this interview.   You guys are an up-and-coming band from Mexico and just put out your second LP "Demon Lover" in 2009.  Why don't you guys introduce yourselves, and let people know who I'm talking to and what your duties are in the band.       

Edson:  Thanks Alex for let us talk with you and the readers of Doommantia, I’m Edson and I play guitar 

Angel:  Hi bro! Thanks for this opportunity. I'm Angel Castillo, the bass player.

Lutz: Hi, Alex, good to be with you. Actually you and I are sort of namesakes, Lutz Alexander Keferstein is my name and I sing with these dirty women.

Edson: Julio, the drummer, couldn’t be here.

Q:  In your bio, you mention that Dirty Woman has gone through several lineup changes.  What exactly happened there?   Was this initial revolving door created as a result of personal problems, creative differences or something else? 

Edson: The reason is that DW is a dictatorship run by me! (Laughs) No, seriously, most changes were due to the lack of commitment and the little interest in conceiving the band as a serious project. Can you imagine? Some guy could not attend the rehearsals because he had to go to the market with his mom, come on! 

Angel:  Before I got into DW, I'd been looking for a band with serious musicians and commitment. With DW I found a potentially great development if we all got into it. When I got into the band, neither Lutz nor Julio were in yet. As time went by, not everyone in the band showed the same interest and that's how we ended up with this line up. 

Lutz: Those are stories that I only lived once, when we changed drummer. In that precise case it was, as Edson tells, because of a lack of serious approach to the band. I mean, it’s hard to live from rocking, so if you are going to do it for pleasure you better do it right. We’re no rookies, we’re all 30+, so why wouldn’t a person show real interest and commitment to what she’s doing?

Q:  How did everyone in your current lineup meet?  Have you all known each other for a while, or did you meet somewhere along that crazy trip that is Life?

Edson: I put a flyer outside a mental institution.

Lutz: Edson and I met since we were teenagers. He played at a very popular Hard Core band named Atoxxxico, while I played at a Death Metal band named Bloodsoaked. We used to hang around a little bit at a place named Chopo Market (a flee market dedicated just to rock). But we ceased seeing each other when I moved back to Germany in 1998. Ten years later, already back in Mexico I placed an announce looking for a roommate and a guy called. I wanted a girl to live there, but I needed the money, so I accepted this “unknown guy” to visit the apartment. When he arrived and I opened the door, it was Edson, who not only needed a room but a vocalist as well! We recognized each other immediately. Sort of a thing from fate, because I thought I would never rock again and I missed it very much.

Angel: I didn't know Edson personally but had seen him a few times around. I played with Lutz in another band a few years before and hadn't seen him for a while until one day Edson comes and say he had found the vocals. The next rehearsal Lutz was there. I met Julio through Edson, they played together in another band.

Q:  At what point do you know you've settled on the right lineup?  Is it just a feeling?  The way you play together?    

Edson: More than a feeling, I’ve seen the evolution of the sound through the different lineups and, with these guys, I noticed that the songs I created finally sounds as I thought in the first place.

Angel:  The way I see it, it was clear that we all were into it. We played every song with everything we had...

Lutz: My opinion is the same as Angel’s.

Q:  To give people an idea of what you guys are all about musically, describe your sound and the new album in five sentences or less.

Edson: the band and this new album have the spirit of the seventies hard rock mixed with groove and strong rock-metal riffs.

Lutz: A Mexican band that rocks as hot as hell, as hot as Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2 and as hot as Chilli. Just pure old God’amm’ rock & roll.

Q:  Talk about cutting "Demon Lover".  I've always been interested in what goes into a young band's recording process.  i have this vision of a bunch of poor, desperate but creative dudes bursting at the seams to lay their tracks down.  (Maybe I watched Motley Crue's Behind the Music a few too many times.)  Did you guys buy studio time; how many times did you lay down each track; any fights over who got pushed up in the mix?  Did you have all the songs written before you walked into the studio, or did you do a lot of the work their?    

Edson: We entered the studio with all songs written, though we made some arrangements there.  During the recording process, I found that Angel did not knew the songs (laughs).

Angel: I remember asking Edson to review some stuff before getting into the studio. That lazy bastard wouldn't do it and later he wanted me to change my bass line 2 seconds before I started recording one of the songs!!!... I told him to fuck off... lol... and continued with my business...

Lutz: Actually there are some footage of the recording process in youtube. The happenings are quite registered digitally. Including Edson and Angel’s mutual condemnations!






Q:  Sade Records.  I haven't heard too much about them, and after searching on the net, I wasn't able to come up with much.  How long have you been with this label?  When did you sign with them and how are they treating you?

Edson: Sade is run by an old friend. He has released albums for many years, we thought that was a good idea to publish “Demon Lover” with him and we did. But unfortunately the promotion has not been what we expected and we're done with the label.



Lutz: That’s the way life is. But we have to be thankful up to a certain level, because Sade Recs. paid for the whole first edition. However, time to move on.

Angel: We seriously need a record label!

Q:  Give us a sense for the song writing process.  Does someone lay down a riff and everyone else work off of that?  Are the vocals written separately or is it more of an organic process?    

Edson: As I said before, DW is a dictatorship; all the songs are mine, (evil laugh).

In fact, I created all Demon Lover songs since 2006 to last year, but every guy in the band helped to improve these songs.

Lutz: For the Demon Lover album all songs were written by the time I arrived to the band. My participation in the song writing was only correct some metrics of the lyrics, some expressions that are not necessarily used in English, and so on. Although I changed almost the entire text from I sold my soul. Bring down the tyrant!! (laughs)

Q:  What about the stoner scene attracted you?  Have you always had a love of the riff, or did your interest in music begin elsewhere? 

Angel:  I listen to a lot of music, but yeah riff is a powerful force that makes me stick to stoner rock.

Lutz: I used to listen to lots of death metal until I got bored of its everlasting formula. Nothing new is brought by Death Metal anymore. Stoner is refreshing more varied and has it’s roots in all the music we heard when we were kids. If a person considers herself rocker or metal-head and doesn’t know Grand Funk, The Who, The Kinks, Saint Vitus, Gravy Train, Blind Faith, Captain Beyond and so on, that dude is actually either too young of a fellow (obliged to sooner or later know the roots of rock) or a poser (if he refuses to go and give the 70’s a try).


Q:  I noticed that you guys cite Grand Funk, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, CoC and others as influences on your music.  When I cover new bands, I'm always looking to situate them in context and find other bands as points of comparison.  To what extent do you like being compared to other bands, or would you rather be judged on your own terms as Dirty Woman? 

Edson: Do not think much about being compared, I believe that’s up to the listeners of the band, because each person receives and transforms the music differently, of course we flattered when someone compares us with a band we like.

Lutz: Man, in a review they wrote “with vocals on the line of rainbow”!! (laugh, loud, loud laughs!)! I felt realized, but far I am from that great fellow. Of course I liked it and I wouldn’t mind if they hyperbolize again (laughs).

Q:  What does Dirty Woman brings to this particular genre of music that fans won't be able to find anywhere else?  What are people gonna hear when they pick up "Demon Lover" that's gonna knock them on their ass?  

Lutz: Man, we’re a Mexican stoner band! That places us immediately in the collectors’ choice! (laughs)

Edson: You know, “Demon Lover” is not postmodern avant-garde stuff, so, you can find a rock band with well-defined heavy riffs and a variety of stoner atmospheres from blues to metal.

Q:  To my ears, "Demon Lover" is a straight up rock record -- not much bullshitting going on here.  As I've written a lot about on this site, I've noticed over the past couple of years a trend in the stoner scene.  It seems like everyone and their mother is trying to incorporate all things "progressive" into their music.  I'm seeing a lot of studio trickery, psychedelic freak outs and just a general "line blurring" so-to-speak between various genres of music.  And it's paying off.  Bands like Sunn 0))), Mastodon and Baroness have become media darlings over here in the US.  To what extent do you feel the pressure to move in this direction?  Would such a move be inconsistent with Dirty Woman's philosophy, or are you open to change? 

Edson: You say well: it is a straight up rock record, we are more in the stoner wing that likes the structured songs that make you bang your head, instead the 17 minutes psycho-improvisation songs, personally I don’t feel the pressure of musical trends.

Lutz: I like rock straight up through the listener’s ass. I like it that way and the songs from the next album are even rocker and rougher. I guess that’s exactly what we offer as a distinction from the rest of the bands: pure old good rock & roll.



Q:   Describe the stoner rock/metal scene in Mexico.  Is the community generally supportive of your music, or has it been tough to win people over? 

Angel:  I would say the stoner scene is getting just about the minimum support to survive thanks to the bands, to friends who disseminate and organize gigs, a small but hardcore public and a true love to rock'n roll, but it is tough because of the lack of spaces, and the massive spreading of  crappy music on the media...

Q:  What's the best show you've played.  The worst?  

Angel: The best was a festival with a line up that included bands from Monterrey and Guadalajara.  The worst was when we got to the gig and there wasn't enough amplifiers and the drums were two pieces... bass drum included!

Edson: The worst: a party with very bad sound quality, a bunch of people which never heard before rock music, no drinks, a horrible surf-rock band with an awful go-go dancer and a constant strobe light over us, I almost puke.

Lutz: The best for me was the Stoner Explosion 3 when we alternated with excellent bands from all of the country and the crowd was really on (there’s footage as well in YouTube!). The worst was one gig in which they cut the sound coming out from the monitors and didn’t help us with the instruments’ changing because the sound technicians and the staff of the bar considered it was getting late and they wanted to go home early. I was really, really pissed off!

Q:  I was checking out your Myspace page and didn't notice any tour dates.  Any dates lined up in the near future?  You guys only playing locally or any plans to cross the border and head over to the US?  

Edson: we'd love to play outside Mexico, the problem is that the promoters offer the gigs, but do not want to pay the transportation. ¿do you know a guy who want bet on us? (Laughs)

Lutz: We’ve received some offers to play somewhere else, but if they do not want to invest in the costs of the transportation at least they cannot be considered serious proposals.

Q:  Let's get political for a second.  Here in the US, every time I turn on the TV I hear about Arizona's new immigration law and the impact it will have on Mexico.  Is this being played up in Mexico as much as it is here?  Do you guys have any thoughts on the matter?  Open forum guys.    

Angel: Yes it's been on tv and the news for a while. I think any immigration law must not be based on racial discrimination but in humanitarian and political reasons. It isn't an easy subject because it involves economic and financial issues, but the true problem here is that race and hatred are on the way...

Edson: first of all, no human being can be considered illegal. The problem begins in our country and its historical conditions of poverty, corrupt and inefficient governments who generate lack of choices, that's for sure, but, the SB 1070 is a retrograde law that symbolizes an active fascism from the state. Is very dangerous because it hurts not only the Mexican immigrants but all the minorities.

Lutz: It’s double moral for as many reasons as you want. First: Arizona (as well as many other states) used to be Mexico, some Arizonians forget that fact, I guess. Second, Mexicans wouldn’t cross the border if their work –the one some Americans don’t want to do at least at the prices and conditions Mexicans are obliged to accept due to the poverty reigning in Mexico- wouldn’t be required up there. Third: Corrupt governments in Mexico whose members look only for the interest of their own have been supported and imposed by the American system for decades now. So a share of the responsibility of what’s going on down here is also American. Not all, but definitely a share. We’re all in this together, even more in global times. The ship has to float with all on board in good and even conditions or it will sink.

Q:  Alright.  Back to the important shit.  Music.  If you could tour with any one band right now, who would it be?  

Angel:  A dream come true would be COC. I saw them once in New York as the opening act for Motörhead's 30th anniversary, they were fkn great.... I would also like to tour with Wino.

Edson:  Corrosion, no doubt about it and, if I can dream, with Kiss or ACDC.

Lutz: Limiting to the stoner scene, no doubt about it: COC. My second great choice would be Spiritual Beggars. In a broader range, I’d tour with Iron Maiden. Yeah, we have not much to do with their music, but I admire Bruce Dickinson a lot, a great role model, the man!

Q:  What's the best part of being in a band:  chicks, drugs or the music? 

Angel:  Music. The rest is dessert.

Lutz: There’s no way to separate them when we’re talking about rock, is there?

Edson:  Amen.

Q:  In high school, I was enamored with the debauchery of rock 'n' roll.  I would play Pantera's "3 Vulgar Videos from Hell".  Give our readers a tale from the road -- preferably one that will make their mothers cringe.


Edson: Can't tell, my girl will kill me (laughs)…No, actually we're a very boring guys.

Lutz: Let’em talk ‘bout themselves! Man, we’ve been in this for many, many years in a country in which, due to it’s narrow rock scene, rock & rollers are thirsty, even thirstier back in the 80’s 90’s. So I remember playing inside the country with my former bands and people treated us really like rockstars! (laughs!) Once a guy even wanted to interchange jeans with me! And the groupies, oh yeah, the groupies…! A little bit as in the song from Rainbow: your mind is dirty but your hands are clean!

Q:  I'm a gear head, and I know a lot of the readers on Doommantia are as well.  What type of equipment are you rolling out each night?  Guitars, amps, drums… the whole schabang.  Tell us.  

Edson:  I’m a hardcore fan of fender Stratocaster guitar, I have a couple American standards with Dimarzio humbucker in single-coil and Fender Lace Sensor pickups, I love the Marshall JCM-900 as well. For the noise I prefer the MXR Dime Distortion, the Line-6 space chorus and a Cry Baby wah.

Angel:  I play an Ernie Ball Stingray, 4 strings through a sansamp bass driver and try to get ampeg amplification, sometimes the classic SVT 2 pro with the 8x10 cabinet. I occasionally play  Fender fretless or fretted jazz basses.

Q:  2010 has been a great year for the stoner scene.  Solace came out of their long hiatus and laid down what's gotta be one of the best records of the year in "A.D.".  What are you guys listening to these days?  Give us a top 5 list for 2010 so far.  

Edson: Right now I’m into the classics such as Grand Funk and Judas Priest but also waiting for the Spiritual Beggars new album. I love both Brant Bjork and Fu Manchu new records. Grand Magus "Hammer of the north" is really heavy.

Lutz: Are we already in 2010? Man! Now seriously I can’t wait for the Beggars new album, I’m listening to Slayer’s World Painted Blood. Do we have to limit to stoner on the list?

Q:  And finally, what advice taken from your own personal struggles and successes do you guys have for bands looking to break into the scene?   

Edson: There is no advice because I’m for sure that the people who are reading this have the same infection in the blood: rock and roll! And that's all you need.

Angel: Never give up!

Lutz: Yeah, never give up and if you get to the top -which is a dream by all of us- or not have real fun in the process of trying. That’s what rock & roll is about.


Alright guys, thanks for talking with me.  Good luck with everything, and to the entire Doommantia community, pick up "Demon Lover" and support Dirty Woman.  

DW: Thanks a lot.

www.myspace.com/dirtywomandf
Interview By A.J Djalali