Dirty Wasabi describe themselves as a “dirty, heavy, punky, drunky rock band from Geelong”, and a quick listen to their demo tracks online shows that’s a reasonable description.
But the Geelong musicians who comprise the five-piece never intended to form a rock band at all.
Two years ago guitarist Phil Gribbs hired a rehearsal room with the intention of putting together an alt-country band.
“At the eleventh hour the intended vocalist couldn’t do it, so I held the jam room just for the heck of it and we got together,” guitarist Phil Gribbs said.
“It was a bit of a musical blind date in many ways – there were hand shakes and people saying hi – and we just leant into our, probably truer, rock roots and had an instrumental jam.
“We looked at the end and said, that was fun, let’s do this again. So it was kind of accidental how we all came together.”
Gribbs, fellow guitarist Aaron Salta, bassist Chris McEwin and drummer Paul McManus continued to catch up, bringing together their wide variety of influences, with vocalist Scotty Wolf coming on board nearly a year later.
“There’s really no maestro to this, we just let it emerge as it emerges and everyone gets to put their own flavour into it,” Gribbs said.
“If you looked at any of our playlists, I don’t reckon we’re listening to the same stuff. We’re quite diverse and we lean into that a lot.”
Dirty Wasabi’s first single Home, recorded at Hot House Studios in St Kilda, comes out this Thursday.
The band celebrates the release at Barwon Club on Thursday, April 24, joined by fellow Geelong rockers Poppin’ Mommas, Sacramento Sweaters and Mulshluka.
Matt Hewson
