A Review from Sammo and Jani who caught the band in Penzance 07/02/2004

For anyone who keeps a breast of the fanmail entries on this site after seeing Dirty DC the 1st time in Oct 2003 at The Town Mill, Mansfield, Notts,  Jani (my fiancée) & myself had mentioned about trying to get down Cornwall for the Penzance gig, WELL WE DID!!!!!!!!!!   I've been lucky enough to be in contact with Stic a few times after the Mansfield gig & arranged to meet up for a drink before the gig to say hello to the rest of the band. We found them in a local pub & had a great time chatting about past gigs & strangely about AC/DC? After only a short time we knew what a great bunch of guys they are. If you've not had chance to say hello, here's our opinion to what they're like (by the way, they don't bite!).  

Stic.......V cool, calm, collected (& V Deaf after the nite before's gig.)

Grant.....Chatterbox extreme, could talk for England (I should talk, so could I) but a right laugh.

Simon....Choirboy looks & manners to match off stage, on stage, well what a transformation!!!

Tony......Again V cool, quiet & friendly. Typical bassist, so laid back almost horizontal.

Paul.......Looks fearsome but a big softy underneath, (I'll probably get battered for saying that next time we meet)  

Onto the gig, Club 2K was a decent size & after the local band had 'finally' finished at midnight, on came the ones we'd all been waiting for. From the 1st song they had whipped the place into a frenzy of bouncing bodies & headbangers. The set was tight as a gnat's ball sac & every song spot on as if you were listening to a live cd (as usual). From start to finish, everyone, including us, were singing at the top of their voices (mine was lost along with any normal hearing after about halfway).  Grant/Brian, which is which? God knows coz he's a natural at Mr Johnson, was in fine form, laughing & joking with the crowd a having a great time (Grant, re the accent, absolutely nothing to worry about there mate, spot on!!!). Everything was there including the strip by Simon/Angus apart from him nearly going all the way thanks to the hand of one of the local girls grabbing on his boxers. Only his fast footwork saved the crowd from a full moonie! By two thirds into the gig we had a nice mosh pit going at the front, the locals were going mental & quite rightly too as Dirty DC were at their best for their most south westerly outing so far.   Sadly it had to come to end at some point, but after 2hrs of class, including a rapturous encore the boys closed the proceedings at 2:00AM!!! According to some of the locals we spoke to they had never seen anyone as good down their way & couldn't wait until they visited again. I spoke to the club owner who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. He was well chuffed & said he was glad he'd booked them, saying "they're welcome back anytime & I can't get over how many songs they did!!!"    They were kind enough to let us hang & chat awhile again with them after the gig showing that they're just the best with no pretentiousness, just chuffed that they had entertained, OH BOY, DID THEY!!!!!   Hope you & the rest of the band have all just about recovered from the weekend now. We were both like zombies in the morning after about 4hrs sleep so god knows what you lot were like after the drive back from Penzance!  

Yours, Sammo & Jani :o) 'Stalkered'

Thanks Sammo and Jani

30/01/2004

CARLISLE BURSTING AT THE SEAMS FOR DIRTY DC    

Drinkers at the Carlisle were seeing double last Saturday, but it wasn't because of the booze. Dirty DC, the AC/DC tribute group, packed out the seafront venue, with upstairs filling up so fast, many were turned away at the door.   Landlord Mike Ford said, ' I'm sorry to the people who couldn't get in, we had people coming from miles who were disappointed they couldn't see the group. For future events like this people will be able to buy tickets in advance.'

This little clipping was taken from The Hasting Observer

Review by Sammo (with a little help from Jani)  

Well it was time to venture forth to the land of Crewe to see what is probably the best AC/DC tribute band in the world. The journey went well apart from one cloudburst of biblical proportions en route (was divine intervention trying to stop us seeing that naughty Angus chappie with the devil horns posturing I thought?), & the fact that the whole of Stoke-on-Trent seems to be being dug up at the mo, we finally got to where the boys were playing, namely 'The Limelight Club'.   For anyone who's never been there, how should I describe it...........fantastic, seems to fit nicely! What a place, 7 bars, 2 venues on 3 floors........WOW, they're spoilt in Crewe!!! I only wish we had something like this our way (Mid Notts incidentally if any town planners are reading this). Eventually we got to meet up with the guys in the concert room, not looking too happy coz of certain technical problems. For some reason their 'sound effects' cd wouldn't play on the club's PA system. They are such consummate professionals, they were worried it would spoil the show if no tolling bell was to be heard for the start of 'Hells Bells'. They needn't have worried, read on............   Around came 9.30pm & with a the knowledgeable crowd eager with anticipation (I did say that they're spoilt with this place) on bounded DIRTYDC straight into 'Stiff Upper Lip' & immediately heads were nodding, though things changed very quickly by the 2nd song, 'Back in Black', when the place erupted to a mêlée of shaking heads, pointing devil hands & screaming voices, DIRTYDC were back at the Limelight Club & they weren't taking any prisoners. Their performance was quite simply, well words fail me but lets try some anyway, amazing, incredible, mind-blowing for starters, I could go on but it'd sound like I was gushing (Jani says "& you'd never do that would you Sammo?"). All the classics were there but a surprising inclusion of one that I must admit I'd forgotten about, 'Dog Eat Dog', which went down very well with the crowd (nice choice boys).   Stic/Tony & Paul(Gentle Ben) were as steadfast as always. They maybe in the background a lot of the time compared to the likes of Brian/Grant or Angus/Simon, but hey, where would the band be without them, nowhere.  Angus/Simon (or should I say 'Little Lord Fauntleroy'? Soz Simon you really shouldn't have told me that!!!! LOL!!!) looked resplendent in his new school uniform, flying around the stage like a whirling dervish all night on, though I can't actually remember having a school uniform made out of 'black velvet' myself, mmmmmmm.........nice! Onto Brian/Grant, what can I say about this guy? Oh I don't know.........perhaps just a great talented performer who like the rest of DIRTYDC, never gives anything less then 100% all of the time & a really decent bloke who we're glad to call a friend, as are all the boys I might add. He basically had the audience eating out the palm of his hand, laughing & joking with the crowd in a typical Brian Johnson style.   About half way though the set came the song the boys were worried about, 'Hells Bells'. Well we didn't miss the bell tolling & from what I saw noone in the crowd were the slightest bit bothered either. As soon as those 1st chords came flowing across the room there was as big a cheer as for any other song played that night & the crowd just carried on lapping their performance up (so don't worry about that boys). Sadly the night had to finish & at the end of the last song, traditionally 'For Those About To Rock', even though the sound was magnificently loud you could hear the crowd baying for more. The guys played for approx 2hrs & at the end of it all we could see around us were a bunch of smiling but very knackered people in that room, including us two! A guy behind us who was a regular at the club said that, & I quote, "he'd see a lot of bands including another well known AC/DC tribute band called AB/CD but these guys (DIRTYDC) were f***king great & AB/CD were a load of crap in comparison" (hey, not my words, I just write it as I hear it!).   At the start of this review I called DIRTYDC "probably the best AC/DC tribute band in the world", well after seeing them 3 times now, scratch that previous comment off the record. DIRTYDC are "The best AC/DC tribute band in the world" , so to anyone out there who's reading this & hasn't got off their arses yet to see this guys..................WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY SHOOK CREWE ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Thanks again guys for your hospitality & friendship. See you back at The Limelight again in July guys............................if not before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Sammo & Jani xxxxx (the kisses, they're from Jani )

Sammo, Jani - what can we say?

Thanks to both.

Pix from the night

And e-mail from Jay of The Broken Family Band

I'd just like to say 'thank you so much' for letting me do a tune with you
on Saturday at the Boat Race in the sound check.  I know soundchecks can be
a pain in the arse at the best of times; there's not many bands who would be
so kind as let some bloke get on stage with them.  It was awesome to be
playing one of my favourite tracks of all time (Hell Aint A bad Place to Be)
with a band who know it perfectly, through a Marshall, on an SG, with a
Gretsch playing along side, wicked drums and bass, everyone giving it their
all including your mad singer!  I haven't stopped smiling about it since.
I also wanted to say that you blew me away in the gig.  'must have been a 2
hour set, easily!  Superb.  Highlight of the night for me was Hell's Bells
and LTBR.  You lot put a lot of energy into it don't you! Bloody hell, I was
knackered just watching.   Great musicianship, awesome singing, great tone
on all the guitars, rhythm section locked down tight, superb.  Hope to see
you lot again real soon.  Jay.

You're welcome Jay

www.thebrokenfamilyband.com

Richie Wicks, Lead singer of Tygers Of Pan Tang and good mate, caught Dirty DC at The Cartoon on the 12th of March 2004

This is what he posted on the Tygers message board

tygersofpantang.co.uk
the official message board

Hello readers,

In life you can be sure of three things: 1, The body expires but the spirit never dies, 2, All bands' singers just can't resist writing articles for their web sites and 3, DIRTY DC are now officially the best tribute band in the world!!

As you can imagine, if you are uninitiated , DDC are an AC/DC 'clone' and if anyone reading this has seen the real Angus and co within the last 10 years or so they'll sleep better at night knowing that, at last, there's a version of the band that sounds like it did back then circa 1984ish (without the Donald Duck vocals, know what I mean?) on albums like Back In Black through Flick of the Switch. Imagine hearing For Those About To Rock for the first time all over again - that's what it's like!!

Dirty DC played with us last year at the Great White benefit gig in Bristol and were awesome then, although I had seen them a few times before with previous members and a perhaps unconvincing, although capable, Angus. Now they are a visual pearl with Simon's spitting image Angus antics both visually and audibly perfect - and what a guitarist! Grant's BJ vocals are both powerful and precise and, with the Geordie delivery and trademark cap on bonce, sets the guys apart. From a singers point of view, it would be easier to find a Bon soundalike, and they did have one of sorts once, but to get someone to do Brian Johnson like this is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Rhythmically, Stic, Tony and Paul are arguably the reason DDC SOUND like AC/DC! I know how hard it is to capture another band's sound from my Black Sabbath tribute days when I was in Angel Witch - muchos pressure! They do it, and make it look easy.

Dirty DC are now responsible for the TWO most drunken nights of my life and if you get the chance to catch them on one of their numerous UK dates you won't be disappointed and a cab home comes highly recommended. Check them out at www.dirtydc.com for details. Brilliant bunch of lads I'm pleased to call friends - thanks again for the 't' guys!!

I might make these little forums a regular thing if they come across ok and y'all enjoy them. Gets a bit lonely at the top (of West Sussex) with all my fellow streak of TYGERS living way up North like they do, so I might do this as a way to keep in touch with everyone, friends, fans and foe alike. Feedback is most welcome, so long as it's not coming out of MY monitors!

Finally a word of condolence for all involved in the Madrid bombings. This cowardly act will be forgotten long before the victims ever will be and I'm sure I speak for the whole band when I say this will only make us look forward even more to playing for our Spanish brothers and sisters of Metal in Spain. All concerned are in our thoughts and hearts during this tough time. See you in July.

That's all, hope you're all enjoying NOISES FROM THE CATHOUSE by now. Tour starts in Holland on April 2nd in Nijmegen to promote it and we expect a full hose cos Robb's buying!!

Ta Ta for now,

Richie (your singer)

Thanks mate

A review from Sammo and Jani

they saw Dirty DC at JB's on the 8th of May

For anyone who follows the exploits of the band DirtyDC from their site, may have seen previous reviews I've written, though some would describe them as inane ramblings. Having said that, having spoken to Grant & Simon after the last gig, they were asking me if I'll be writing another review. Well Grant/Simon, the rest of the band & anyone else who bothers to read these, sit back, relax..........& read on...................
  Way back to last Saturday 8th May we ventured down to the Black Country to a club called JB's in Dudley (pronounced Dud-Lay by the locals). After planning a route to skirt the centre of Birmingham coz it looked a bit scary, we set off down the A38 only to end up missing a turning & going........through the centre of Birmingham after all!!!!! A word of thanks to the city planners for very good signposts showing the route but at least I've now seen Spaghetti Junction, now that is scary. After only one more wrong turn, down to me being thick & not listening to Jani (my fiancée/co pilot) we arrived at the venue (phew!!!).
JB's a great club that consists of a couple of rooms with a bar in each. The main one contains the stage & the biggest bar, handy I thought. After saying hello to the band & being recruited by Simon (or should that be press ganged, not a problem though) to pass out some flyers we got to meet & greet some other friends of the band namely Andy (who is organising the 1st AC/DC tribute band convention later this year on the 6th/7th/8th August in Wrexham), for more details about this see below:  http://www.acdcconvention.co.uk/  & Lorne who plays the roll of Angus in another tribute band called 'Back in Black' http://www.backinblack.freeserve.co.uk/ , who both we have to say are really nice guys & real good laugh!   Onto the gig........The guys came on at about 11.30pm to rapturous applause as this crowd were a knowledgeable lot with it being a good rock club & some had been lucky enough to catch the guys when they played this venue earlier this year.  Straight away the crowd were into the greatest AC/DC tribute band but there seemed to be a bit of a problem, not with DirtyDC but with the mixing desk. The problem seemed to be that there was a lot of feedback coming from the left bank of amps & Simon/Angus could only just be heard being far to faint sounding, you could hear him but not as clearly as you should do normally. Anyone who has seen these guys before (it was our 4th time) would know that you could shut your eyes & be listening to the 'real' AC/DC live on stage (they're that good folks!) so this was a little disappointing but no way the fault of the band. Hey! Having said all that, its probably just me being picky as the crowd didn't seem concerned & were lapping up their performance, as usual DirtyDC deserved the adulation. Luckily after only 4 or 5 songs someone at the mixing desk must have woke up, suddenly the sound was 100% perfection & sounding fantastic!!!   My personal highlight from the night,  when DirtyDC did 'Kicked in the Teeth' from Powerage, wonderful, just wonderful!!! I filmed some of this song so hopefully it find it's way onto the site after Stic's approval. I was getting into it so much I nearly put my neck out (well I'm not so supple at 38yrs :o/ ). The band were firing on all cylinders & looking around all I could see was big smiles, wide excited eyes & shaking heads. The crowd were loving it, especially the 3 youths at the front doing synchronised head banging (a very impressive display). As I said before the boys were great but I have to give a special mention to Simon/Angus. His skill playing the guitar never ceases to amaze. I found myself at one point stood there with my mouth open in awe, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up & I had to blink an emotional tear away! Beautiful Simon, thank you!!!   Sadly the gig had to end but only after the greatest tribute band in the world had played for about 2hrs & done around 20 songs. Jani & I got speaking to a couple of local lads (I'm sorry guys if you're reading this lads but your names have slipped my feeble mind) of which JB's was their local. They'd only popped in for a drink not even knowing that DirtyDC were playing or even heard of them. They told us that they thought they'd poke their heads through to see what was going off & were sooooo impressed by what they saw & heard, stopped the rest of the night at the gig. Doing my PR bit I gave them both a flyer from which they started checking out where they could next see DirtyDC locally. They're now going to catch at least 3 more gigs as they were that impressed by the band (how many more times do I have to say it, 'this' group is 'that' good!!!). On taking the guys to pass on their congrats to the boys one of the local guys told them that he was well into his music & had seen about 200 gigs/concerts. He said he'd put DirtyDC in 2nd place, only behind the original Guns n Roses & that was only because they were the real band otherwise equal top, as he'd never seen anything as good as this for ages!   I'd just like to sign off (I'm sure your all relieved), by saying thanks so much for the ace night out yet again lads & for the friendship/hospitality you always show us both which is never taken for granted!!! We'll hopefully see you all again in at The Rigger, Newcastle-under-Lyme for some more ritual deafness or failing that definitely at The Limelight Club, Crewe.   Cheers, Sammo & Jani (All my own work. No help from Jani this time, gone to bed!)  

Sammo, what can we say?

Thanks mate

Here are some of the pics taken by Sammo

ROADTRIP V THE DC HAS LANDED

Hello one & all. As the title suggests this was the fifth time we'd (we being Jani, my fiancée, & myself Sammo, in case you didn't know) gone to see/support/help the boys who make up The Best AC/DC tribute band in the world (so you out there think that's over the top, then read on & YOU decide!).   This time the gig was in Newcastle-under-Lyme at a club called 'The Rigger'. I don't know if this is a tradition but every time we head over to Stoke way the heavens open & yes, as predicted they did again, only just being able to see through fast wipe! Whether this was the fault of God, Noah or just Michael Fish is unknown but afterwards was plain sailing & NO wrong turns!!! 'The Rigger' is a smallish club with a friendly bunch of staff. On walking through the doors we bump into Stic (rhythm guitar) who points us to the rest of the band who are in a good mood & raring to go. I thought the stage looked a bit small, esp for Simon/Angus's antics running around the stage but he & the rest of the band didn't seem too concerned. We had a present for Simon, a new pair of St George flag boxers just for Euro 2004. When we bought them the cross was only on the front so its thanks to Jani for stopping up late the nite before to paint the back so they looked the same. A cracking job was done & Simon was thrilled!!! So onto the gig..........   As the boys came on stage at around 9pm to the sound of a distant bell tolling, an appreciative cheer shot up from the mostly seated assembled crowd as Hells Bells started things off with a bang, or was that the right thing to say? Things were going along great & the band sounding sweet as ever until Simon/Angus's amp blew!!! Things were called to a halt whilst the rest of the band frantically scrambled around to fix it whilst Grant/Brian did a sterling job keeping the crowd entertained in his own inimitable style. Thankfully the problem was nothing more than a blown fuse & after only about 5-10mins they were back up & running & into the classic (aren't they all though) 'Shot Down In Flames'. Things were sounding & going great now but still no-one was up at the front on the small dance floor giving the feel that the boys were playing at a village fete, not a rock club.   After the 5th number, 'Thunderstruck', at last someone on their feet, they'd cracked. The greatness of DIRTYDC was starting to thaw them. Many thanks to the big wolfman who got the party started by rocking on down in front of the stage, bless him! Half way through the nite & a few more were up at the front & Simon/Angus was in the process of the traditional strip to 'Bad Boy Boogie'. What would be the reaction to the St George boxers (he normally wears Union flag ones), we were thinking? Well after much teasing he dropped 'em, the shorts not the boxers, & huge cheers leapt from the crowd along with some 'Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land' chants as he paraded them around the stage (we reckon they went down 'very' well Simon). I took some vid of this strip & some of the rest of the nite along with several pics, so hopefully if they're good enough Stic will put them on the band's website at a later date.       The nite was moving along nicely & the crowd was realising just what a treat they were experiencing having DIRTYDC in their fair town. Even the usually super-cool and laid-back bassist, Tony, was seen to be grinning like a Cheshire cat!! By 'Back In Black' the dance floor in front of the stage was full of writhing, headbanging bodies having a great time & after each song baying for more! (Can I Sit Next To You, Grant!!!!)   After nearly 2hrs & 16 classics the band went off stage only to be shouted back for the usual encore to which the boys obliged by playing 'Long Way To The Top' followed by the time honoured 'For Those About To Rock'. The crowd were now ecstatic & whereas at other gigs people realised that was that for the nite, these folks were not giving up a good thing lightly. The cheering wouldn't stop, so on came DIRTYDC again! This time we were all treated to another playing of 'Shot Down In Flames', after this the boys said "Thank you & good night" & left the stage to the roof being lifted by the cheers. Think that was it??? Wrong! They still wouldn't let them leave!!! We were stood at the side of the stage & one punter was pleading with Jani to get them on again. She went, she asked, & yep you guessed it, on they came again! This time they played 'Shoot To Thrill', one of my personal favs which got me headbanging with the rest of them (not done that for awhile & next morn realised there were new muscles I'd forgotten about in my neck! Thanks guys, LOL), I just couldn't help myself!!! Towards the end of this song Grant/Brian shouted me on stage to take some pics of the crowd, they were loving it, so hopefully this shows up in the pics if they're used on the site.           What a nite! The place was going wild & still the club wouldn't calm down. It was my turn this time to be approached & asked to beg them back on again. Going through to the boys they looked knackered (if you don't know they all hail from around London so its quite a trek to this area & they put sooooo much into their performances), so I humbly asked if they'd mind doing a FOURTH ENCORE! They said YES!!! I came out the dressing room, smiled/nodded & off went the place again, BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were all treated to a brilliant performance of 'High Voltage' & again the crowd lapped up every note. Sadly it had to end at some point & after FOUR ENCORES, yes that's right FOUR, the crowd finally started to disperse. Speaking to Stic at the end I found out that he had been feeling quite ill all nite (& has since been fighting a chest infection) so a personal word of thanks goes out from us two, & I would guess from everyone who was there if they'd known, for being such a trooper and going back on so many times! I spoke to a couple of guys, 'The Rigger' is their local. They have a lot of bands here, tribute & otherwise (they've even had Hawkwind here if found out after speaking to Buff, the owner) & the guy I spoke to said "I've never seen anything like it & this DIRTYDC gig was the best I've ever been to. They even look like the real AC/DC!!!!"  I told him that they're playing at 'The Limelight' in Crewe http://www.crewe-limelight.co.uk/ on the 9th July so him & his mates will be there for that one as will we!!!  We'd just like to end by saying to you all lads, thanks for yet another stunning nite, your ongoing friendship, generosity & for allowing us to roadie for you at the end, LOL!!! (You know we love it really!) Hope you're feeling better now Stic!!!  

Reviewed by SAMMO (edited by Jani!!!)

Thanks again Sammo and Jani