Hot Press meets Dirty Epics

“It’s been a long time coming,” bassist Richie Power says of One Way Mirror. “We probably started the second album three or four times and then disregarded it for various reasons.”

Those being?
“There were a lot of different situations that derailed us along the way,” he admits. “We were probably lacking the right level of inspiration.”
The stars finally aligned when frontwoman Sarah Jane “SJ” Wai bumped into producer Declan Gaffney, a man with U2, Van Morrison and Interpol on the CV, at Glastonbury. The group had figured that if they kept writing, the batch of songs that would comprise their second recorded outing would eventually come together. Along with Matt Paul, Gaffney signalled a sea change in attitude and application.
“We met up with Declan in Dublin and he said, ‘How about we go into the studio and see what happens? I know you’ve got songs so if it doesn’t work out we can go back to those. Let’s just see what happens.’”
They never went back. Flung into action over several short periods of creativity in London, things came together quite quickly in the end.
“It was 100% different from the first album,” explains SJ. “We were writing and recording at the same time, so it felt very fresh. Very challenging, but in an exciting way. The little blocks were good definitely from my point of view. When you’re writing the lyrics, you’re scribbling away furiously for like a week, y’know? There were pages everywhere and at the end of the week,
my brain would be leaking out the side of my head.”
For Richie, the producer’s holistic approach had a transformative effect.
“I used to hate the studio,” he confesses. “I saw it as a necessary evil. The stress and pressure was huge. A lot of the change comes down to the kind of environment that the producers created.”
Drummer Gary Nethaway also notes their own progression – years of playing had honed their skills.
“There’s a different level of maturity between album number one and now. It comes from shows. When the time came for One Way Mirror, we were a lot more prepared for it.”
That “in-between” time wasn’t one of frustration. Refreshingly, Dirty Epics don’t care much for withering on about how tough a musician’s lot is.
As Darren McCoy, a more recent addition on guitar, puts it: “It’s always fun. If you get to a point where a gig is ‘just another night’, give it up.”
SJ has seen that attitude on the circuit.
“You play on the same bill as some people and they’ll have a proper moan. ‘Eugh, this is awful!’– meanwhile they’re headlining and people are there to enjoy it. It’s a little ungrateful.”
Dirty Epics are clearly on a carpe diem love buzz. If you’ve ever caught one of their dynamic, in-the-moment live shows, you won’t be surprised.
Richie sets out a manifesto of sorts: “In this day and age, we look at everything as a cool thing to do. So, if you’ve a good gig coming up, enjoy it and stop worrying about what you’ll be doing in three years. Being in a band is so much fun. Anyone who isn’t in one would want to be in one.”
In many ways, they’ve never really fit a scene. Bursting with positive energy – though the newie likes to get a little sinister – and a pop-inflected post-punk sound (Iggy Pop, Burt Bacharach and David Bowie are all influences), they stand alone.
“I think sometimes that we’re not very fashionable,” nods SJ. “Folk rock has been so big in the past while. We’ve always been about energy and fun. Not taking ourselves too seriously, which I think is seen as a bad thing sometimes.”
“We’re probably not a straight-up pop band,” says Richie. “We’re definitely not an indie, shoegaze, synth-y band. So we don’t have lots of friends!”