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Dirtbags release debut CD

The Park City-based rock band Dirtbags Don’t Die was established back in 2008.

The trio guitarist Dan Vesey, drummer Pat Rogers and bassist Matt Horyna have played gigs in the local bar scene from the Boom Bar to Cisero’s to Flanagan’s to Lindzee O’Michaels.

In the early days, the band, like most up-and-coming groups, relied on cover tunes, but later started peppering its set with original compositions.

Not a band to be satisfied with just playing its own songs, the guys in Dirtbags Don’t Die decided to record their first full-length self-titled debut CD, which is available now at Raunch Records in Salt Lake City or by emailing dirtbagsdontdie@hotmail.com .

The CD was recorded at Salt Lake Recording Services and co-produced by the band and Brad McCarley.

"We just started working our own songs into the system the past year and half, and this album came together in the past eight months after we started putting the songs together and finalizing them," Horyna said during teleconference interview with The Park Record. "Some of the songs we actually put together in the studio. As a band we wanted to do something that was our own to see if something would come out of it."

The 12 songs on the CD were the band’s tightest compositions when it went into the studio a few months ago.

"We worked 10 of them really well and worked with Brad who helped us find ways to finish off the songs," Horyna said. "This was the first time we went into the studio together."

The band recorded the disc in three, eight-hour sessions.

"For us, we scheduled according to how much money we had," Rogers said. "When we got into the studio, the songs were fairly structured and we had an idea of where we wanted them to go."

Although the CD was definitely a group effort, the songs were mostly written and arranged by Rogers.

"Our drummer is the driving force, not that me or Matt have any creativity, mind you, but Pat writes a lot of the rhythms and comes up with a lot of lyrics," Vesey said. "He may be sitting back there behind the drums, but when we play, I’m singing his words half the time."

Rogers said it’s challenging to write music for a three-piece band.

"Basically, we have to create a lot of sound because we’re all we have," he said. "When we first started out, one of the more noticeable things that we had to create was this huge, full-bodied sound."

In doing so, the band has leaned to play many different styles.

"You can hear a lot of (Jimi) Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan in my guitar, but then there is a lot of punk like the Misfits and metal like Metallica," Vesey said. "I’m also influenced by all the hippie stuff and found if it’s rock ‘n’ roll, then it’s good, but sometimes we get lost and don’t know what our mission is."

To solve that dilemma, the band decided early on to try to play music they want to play and not cater to other people’s expectations.

"That’s always been a struggle for us," Rogers said. "I mean, do we play what we want to play and get to feel that free-spirit of music, truly and wholly, or were we going to conform to the tourist-town whims, where people want to hear their Rolling Stones or the bluesy stuff."

"The truth is nobody knows what is going to happen next," Vesey said. "We’re unpredictable. Some songs fall into reggae and some are really fast and have a metal essence. Other songs try to nail the three-chord punk vibe with a lot of background singing. Sometimes we’ll do a seven minute- or 10-minute jam."

Although the CD has just been made available, Dirt Bags Don’t Die is already making plans for the next project.

"Right now, we have enough songs for another CD, but we’re thinking of doing an extended play with four or five songs, but who knows," Horyna said.

For more information about Dirt Bags Don’t Die, visit http://www.reverbnation.com/dirtbagsdontdie, http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dirtbags-Dont-Die/98959264146 , http://www.jambase.com/Artists/55330/Dirtbags-Don‘t-Die or email dirtbagsdontdie@hotmail.com .


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