:: Spotlight :: Dirty Lucy interview

By: Con Koudsy

The girls from Dirty Lucy, Jodi Moore and Nicole Brophy, have travelled the world. They‘re frshly into a new national tour, and are about to release their second album, 'Music, People, Cities, Lights and Darkness’. I caught up with Nicole Brophy to chat about their new album, her vocal nodule operation, and some of her experiences on the road over the last six years.

First up, how did you come up with the name Dirty Lucy?

We always get asked that question! There is no “Lucy” as such; we just liked the idea of a cutesy name in the title. There’s no real reason we decided to call ourselves Dirty Lucy other than the fact that we just liked the sound of it.

This is your second album. How is this album different from the first?

We’ve been playing a whole lot of gigs with a drummer. This is definitely more of the kind of sound we were trying to achieve in the first album, and we just didn’t quite know how to go about doing that. I guess it was a lot more hands on for us; we had a lot more input. Our sound has just evolved having played live. Syd Green, who co-produced the album, is also our drummer, with whom we always chill, so it was great having him in the studio… creatively he’s always got great ideas and we work really well playing together.

How would you describe this album to someone who's never heard it before?

Kind of dark and roots rock, kind of southscappy. Jo plays electric six-string violin and runs it through guitar effects, and the sound she gets going off stage is very unique, and it can just soar. We’re also more country rootsy as well. I think our songs are a lot darker, but we’ve always used a mixture of different styles in our songs.

Which are your favourite tracks on this album and why?

Enough Is Enough, which Jodie wrote. I really love the lyrics in the song, whenever I sing that sound I just get into the words, and every time I sing it I just get in the moment. ‘Pin Up Hopes’, which was recorded in a Pizza shop, is one I like because there are knives and fork noises in the background and people eating meals. We recorded a lot of atmosphere for the album in the southern highlands, and we went to this pizza shop one night after recording and I thought it would just be a great room to record in. It had a great sound about it and a great vibe. So we came back the following night, and recorded it in one take. I think that’s kinda cool, it was really raw; we tried to capture the live sound. ‘Joy’s Fun’ came out really well when we recorded it and it’s always a favourite to play live.

was the most challenging part of putting this album together

No challenges really, we recorded the drums at Studio 301 in Sydney, and recorded most of the vocals at a studio in Wollongong…I think the recording itself went really well, it was a joy. It was intense when recording but we’re really happy with the way it’s turned out. Even after recording it and spending some time listening to it, we were still really happy with it, which is a good sign for us because you often record stuff and think somthing is missing.

Are there any connecting messages or themes that you express in your songs?

I think it has a bit of a dark feeling about it, most of the songs were written in Melbourne and, as a place, it’s just a bit darker and dismal on occasions with the weather and everything. Just the headspace we were in at the time, having to go to dodgy jobs and pay the rent. There’s no real message, it’s more just a take on the places we’ve been over the last few years. And there’s a bit of fun as well! Not every moment is dark, but there are happy times too.

How did you meet Jodie and the rest of the band?

We came across Syd when he was playing with the band Iota, we supported them at the Metro and we fell in love with his playing. We made contact with him and he wasn’t doing a whole lot of playing live at the time and we asked him to come on the road with us. I met Jodie through a music course when I was 18 or 19, so we’ve been playing music together since then.

You had surgery on your vocal nodules in 2004. How did it feel to go through that?

I’d been getting speech therapy over the last few years of touring, and even after the break we had they didn’t go away. You can still sing with them there but my voice is so much clearer now, I have my range back. It was so scary at the time, the morning I was about to have the operation I was in the hospital hoping it doesn’t go wrong. I had five days where I couldn’t speak at all, doctor’s orders, and I was walking around with a little whiteboard! It was a pretty crazy time.

My voice now has so much more endurance. I can do a whole bunch of gigs and it will still be really strong and clear whereas before the nodules I would do a few gigs in a row and couldn’t recover. We just didn’t really understand the concept of having a break between tours. The last year we spent on the road we didn’t actually live anywhere, we just toured constantly. It was great fun, but you need breaks.

Is it hard putting your music out there for people to either love or hate?

Ideally it would be nice if people get into your music but not everyone is going to like everything you put out there. I don’t really think about it too much. Hopefully it’s always nice to have people come up at gigs and say they really liked the song, positive appreciation is always nice!

Who are your own personal favorite artists?

I listened to a lot of country music growing up, particularly Bob Dylan. The main ones that inspire me as I've grown older are Lucinda Williams. She’s just so real lyrically. Also, Radiohead and their chord progressions, and PJ Harvey has such an edge to her. I love the texture of her voice and I could listen to her album over and over.

Dirty Lucy’s second album, Music, People, Cities, Lights and Darkness is now in stores.