Everyone Is Dirty

1. What Bay Area city do you call home?
We all live in Oakland except Tyler’s from Novato. Chris was a prep school slacker at Lick WIlmerding. Sivan dropped out of Head Royce, and Tyler went to Novato High School. We suck!
2. How long have you been a band for and where did you all basically meet?
We’ve been a band for just over a year (and what a fucking sweet year!). Sivan and Chris, both Bay Area natives, started writing songs in Brooklyn a few years ago after being introduced by a mutual friend. Sivan’s dreamy psychedelic style and Chris’ rock sensibilities immediately exploded into days of songwriting and recording. Then Chris had to move back to SF but they continued their collaboration by sending digital song files back and forth from coast to coast. When school was over for Sivan in NY she moved back to Cali to make Everyone Is Dirty happen for real. That’s when they met Tony Sales, dream drummer, an Oaklander via Wisconsin, son/nephew of the iconic Sales Brothers (Iggy Pop, Tin Machine), and a monster player in the vein of Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, and Elvin Jones. After a living room jam, they all had instant musical chemistry as well as a mutual love for Karaoke, raw oysters, and gambling with dice.Tyler English was the last to join as bassist. We asked him to join when we saw his fierce musicianship on display rocking with False Priest at Bottom of The Hill. The timing was perfect because False Priest was about to take a hiatus. We had to sneak Tyler into the first few gigs as he was a few months shy of his 21st birthday.
3. Upcoming shows?
3/7 Next Week! Slims with The Greening and Sweet Chariot
3/15 – Art Boutiki in San Jose
4/5 – Bottom of the Hill with Happy Fangs and Rich Girls
5/1 – The Makeout Room with A Million Billion Dying Suns
5/? BFD
4. Your favorite local venues to play?
Rickshaw Stop, Bottom of The Hill, Amnesia
Oakland: The Stork Club, The Night Light
5. 5 places we may find you hanging out in your hometown?
If you want to find us we are probably either practicing at our studio in Temescal, recording in our living room, singing cheesy Billy Joel tunes at Nick’s Karaoke, hiking in Tilden Park, playing Erotic Photo Hunt at The Avenue, or eating a burger and a chocolate shake at The Smokehouse.
6. What was the most f*cked up thing that ever happened to you at a gig?
Tony: A friend gave birth…to the messiah of rock and roll.
Sivan: Dumb shit happens all the time cuz I’m a clutz! Once the mic somehow came unplugged from the cable at Brick & Mortar while I was singing. My violin has come unplugged before while I’m jumping around. I smashed the mic into my teeth. Watch out, I’m a dumbass!
7. 7 items we may find on your hospitality rider?
Sushi & sake, heated moist toilettes, dice & dollar bills, throat-coat tea with ginger, really good coffee, fluffy white robes, in and out burger & Jaegermeister.
8. If you could put together your dream music festival what 8 bands would you book to play with you? (alive or deceased, active or inactive)

James Brown, Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Sonic Youth, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Velvet Underground & Nico, Bjork and Peaches - LIVE 105

Oakland’s Everyone Is Dirty is one of several reasons to stay stationed at BFD’s local stage this Sunday. With a debut album scheduled for release September 2nd on Tricycle Records and a southwest tour in July, their gritting Frank Black / Pixies inspired set has a searingly melodic twist. Sivan Gur-Arieh is the front-woman who sings and wails on an electric violin while Christopher Daddio plays electric guitar and also engineered the upcoming album. Tony Sales plays a seriously walloping drum set, and Tyler English pulls it all together on bass. We sat down with the band in their Oakland studio for a candid pre-BFD, pre-album, pre-tour chat.

The Bay Bridged: Could you sum up the new album’s sound?

Sivan: It’s like a bedroom tape on crack. What’s that one drug that you take that you can lift up cars?

Chris: Bath salts? PCP?

Sivan: It’s like a bedroom tape on bath salts.

Chris: You’ve seen us live, I don’t want to sound too cocky, but I think we have a live onslaught. We make a lot of noise.

TBB: Yeah, when I saw you live, and this is one of my favorite bands, but I thought of the Pixies.

Chris: Yeah, and we love the Pixies. Some of those Pixies records they’re raw and immediate and the drums are big.

Sivan: We actually started playing music together because of that first Frank Black record. We listened to that record in my car the first day that we met. I knew it by heart, and he did too. And then just this last year, we were in Decibelle Recording Studio. The guy who produced that album walked into the studio while we were recording, and we met him. We were fucking floored. His name is Eric Drew Feldman and he lives in San Francisco. Not only that, but he played bass in Captain Beefheart. We just became friends, he saw us that night we played Bottom of the Hill and he liked it. We were really excited about it.

Chris: This was how Sivan and I even bonded in the first place. He’s worked with the Pixies and Frank Black and even PJ Harvey.

TBB: Have you approached him about working on even just one song?

Sivan: Oh my god, if we had money, but we’re poor as fuck. We’ve actually talked to him about producing an album, but we need a budget. And right now we don’t have one so we record everything at home with a few meager microphones and I think we’re really comfortable with that.

Chris: The limitations are good for us.

Sivan: We’ve been together as a band for almost a year and a half and we’ve been working on this album pretty much the whole time, but in a slow way because we’ve recorded mostly at home. Chris is an engineer and that allowed us to take our time. Part of our process is that we work in a very relaxed way. In some ways that can be great and in others it can be dangerous because you have the luxury of living with a song for as long as you want.

TBB: How did you meet up with Julie (Julie Schuchard of Tricycle Records)?

Sivan: We played with Happy Fangs and Rich Girls and she was at the show because of Rich Girls. She was really sweet and really excited. We really are happy to be working with a label that’s from our town. I’m proud of the Bay Area and I’m excited about a music scene here.

TBB: Are there Oakland bands that you’re friends with, or would like to be on bills with?

Sivan: I’ve had a crush on Brazil since the first time I saw them play when we were on a bill with them. Ash Reiter‘s from Oakland. She’s lovely. Sugarcandy Mountain. Bells Atlas. Featherbright – but they’re San Francisco. Primus. Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Chris: Green Day. (laughs). There are a couple of bands that we’ve shared bills with. Sivan’s wearing the Light Thieves shirt. We really love Light Thieves.

TBB: Can you explain how the band was formed?

Chris: Sivan and I, we started writing music together maybe about 4 years ago in Brooklyn. We had this ritual where I would come over, Sivan would make me eggs and we would write a song in her kitchen and then by the end of the day we would end up recording. She had a little Mbox set up, and we’d do these fun acoustic jams. Then I moved back to San Francisco for life shit and we were trying to do this long distance collaboration. It worked out fine, but we wanted to keep the vibe going. Sivan grew up in Oakland, and had been away from home since she was 17. She came back and we started getting really serious about writing music. Right around the time when we were on the verge of more of an acoustic duo with strings, I got hit with cancer, so I had to go through chemotherapy and radiation. That put a big stop on everything that we were doing. Through that process we were still doing some music together, but it was very intimate, just her and I, an acoustic guitar and violin. When we got to the other side of that experience, I woke up and realized “oh shit, I’m going to live.”

Needless to say, coming out of that experience Sivan was like “fuck this shit”. We’re Everyone Is Dirty. We had another band, another name, but we both love rock n’ roll music, and that’s what we wanted to do. She stayed by my side through that whole thing which was amazing for me. We realized we’re not going to do a goddamn thing that we don’t want to do ever again. Period. Everyone in this world has a little secret or a little thought or a little something, or gets a disease in their body or something that makes them dirty so it just became a thing – Everyone Is Dirty. She actually had a poem / song called “Everyone Is Dirty” and we just decided in that moment. We’re going to be a rock and roll band. I wanted to turn up my guitar and play fucking loud.

We went through a bunch of drummers who were good, but they weren’t the drummer. And then we met Tony. Tony, first and foremost, he’s one of the top 3 drummers in California.

His dad and Uncle are the Sales brothers who played on Iggy Pop‘s Lust For Life, David Bowie’s Tin Machine so he comes from rock pedigree, but he’s also his own drummer. He’s a monster.

TBB: The genes don’t hurt.

Sivan: No, the genes don’t hurt. But we were just watching a video of Tin Machine that was 10 days before the last show they ever played, and we were watching his Uncle play drums and they’re both amazing, but I like the way Tony plays.

TBB: Have you (Sivan) been in other bands other than Everyone Is Dirty?
Sivan: No I haven’t. I’ve been playing violin since I was a kid and my dad taught me how to play the violin. I was playing classical violin and when I became a teenager I didn’t really like to play it all of the time because it’s a lot of work and a lot of practice and it’s a lot of scales. I actually really love scales now, but at the time I hated it. I had a stand and I would play scales and get fed up and throw it on the ground.

Chris: The missing piece was Tyler. He’s a guitarist actually, first and foremost. His bass playing is way more melodic.

Tyler: It’s super melodic, hard-hitting. I’ve learned a lot from playing with these guys too, because I wasn’t a bass player before and I didn’t necessarily play loud rock music before. I played guitar before and slide guitar in a folksy band. And a little mandolin.

Chris: Tyler hates mandolin. We don’t talk about those days.

Tyler: And a little lap steel too. I’m only 21 so I consider myself super lucky to be able to play with these guys.

Chris: We’re lucky to have you. There’s a thing where you meet a lover or your soul mate, and then you’re in a band and you have to meet your lover / soul mate like three times. So it’s kindof fucking hard. I feel very lucky to have found very different and complementary soul-matey people and I think that comes out. Sivan and I write this music, we bring it into the band, and the band shapes it. It will change and certain things will come about, and it’s been a magical ride. A friend of mine recently said, whether we stay local or get a bigger stage we’re pretty lucky to have the people that we have and to be able to do what we’re doing. BFD is awesome and God bless playing in front of hopefully thousands of people for our local stage, but I would still be doing this if we had that opportunity or not.

Everyone Is Dirty Tour Dates:
07/01 – Mountain View, CA – Live 105′s BFD @ Shore Amphitheater
07/02 – Los Angeles, CA – Los Globos
07/04 – Phoenix, AZ – The Lost Leaf
07/06 – Lubbock, TX – Bar Pm
07/08 – Fayetteville, AR – JR’s Lightbulb Club
07/10 – Denton TX – Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios
07/13 – Amarillo, TX – The 806
07/15 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress - The Bay Bridged

Oakland's Everyone Is Dirty is a dreamy pop band that can smoothly cut to heavy, noisy guitars and back to the sweet vocals of Sivan Gur-Arieh. Musically there's a lot of influence from bands like the Pixies, but with Gur-Arieh as the front woman, the band has created a whole new animal.

Everyone Is Dirty is working on a full-length album scheduled for release in April through Breakup Records. The single "Dirtbag Side-Effect" will be released Friday on the same label.

Lineup: Sivan Gur-Arieh, vocals, violin; Christopher Daddio, guitar, vocals; Tony Sales, drums; Tyler English, bass.

Was there a band you heard when you were young that inspired you to become a musician?
SG: My folks come from Turkey and Israel, and I think they were afraid their precious only child would be corrupted by scary American rock 'n' roll. The one that hit me was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. It was so overstimulating for my 5-year-old brain. All that crazy energy filled me with this totally hyperactive, euphoric high.

How did you come up with your band name, and what does it mean to you?
SG: "Everyone is dirty" is a lyric from one of our songs that we don't ever play. I think of it as a kernel of dirt that's inside of every one of us. It's a twisted little place, a secret you keep, an urge, an addiction, a regret or your bacteria. No one is above the dirt and no one can escape it.

What's the most important aspect to putting on a live show?
SG: Our chemistry is like a tornado that sucks you in. I like doing something that scares me to do in front of people and takes me out of my comfort zone. That doesn't mean take off my clothes or something, it just means show a side of myself that makes me feel genuinely exposed. In some ways that's way scarier than getting naked. - SF Chronicle

Combining the grit of 90’s era Sonic Youth with the pop sensibilities of Jenny Lewis and Rilo Kiley, the Oakland’s Everyone is Dirty have established themselves as one of the East Bay’s most exciting emerging acts. Lead singer Sivan Gur-Arieh’s darkly seductive vocals and electric violin are the highlight of the group’s transfixing live performances.
-Ethan Varian - The Deli Magazine

LEFT OF THE DIAL Setting aside the darkly ear-wormy melodies, haunting vocals, and refreshingly crisp grunge-pop that goes into Everyone Is Dirty's sound, it's singer Sivan Gur-Arieh's violin — slicing sweetly above the chaos of a final chorus, adding a heightened sense of gothic romance to a bridge — that sets the Oakland art-rock quartet apart from the current fuzzy, grungey masses.

Good thing Gur-Arieh's come to peace with the fact that she plays it.

"I've had a love-hate relationship with my violin since I was a kid," says the singer, an Oakland native whose father taught her play when she was in elementary school. "I mean, growing up, you don't always want to be staying home standing in front of a music stand, playing scales for two hours at a time. I've definitely put my violin under the bed and not played it...but it always came back out.

"I'm at a point where I realize it's a tool, and it's a tool I know how to use, and you don't always get to choose that," she says, earnestly, like someone speaking about a handicap. "Now, I'm just at, I play the violin. Whether it's a nerdy instrument or not, I do it and it's a part of me."

It's also a big part of the band's charisma, an invitingness coming through music that technically should feel cold — sure, Gur-Arieh's distinctive whisper-wail would be at home providing the soundtrack to an artsy vampire flick, but you also trust her, and the weirdness, in the same way you trust the Pixies' or Sonic Youth's weirdness; it doesn't seem to be an affectation.

Then there's a very '90s sensibility about pop's borders, reminiscent of SF's own Imperial Teen, maybe Sleater-Kinney, and I want to say a more jagged Veruca Salt but maybe I'm just ridiculously excited that they're reuniting so I'm hearing them everywhere? Regardless: Add in psyched-out guitar riffs from Christopher Daddio, a super warm, strong rhythm section courtesy of Tony Sales on drums and Tyler English on bass, and you start to understand why the four-piece, at just a year and a few months old, has earned serious devotees around the Bay Area as well as highly coveted free studio time at Different Fur via Converse's Rubber Tracks pop-up — all before releasing a full-length record…(click on the link to read more) - The San Francisco Bay Guardian

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/oaklands-everyone-is-dirty-releasing-snarling-new-single-banana-split-listen/ - Brooklyn Vegan

https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://goo.gl/rzIY5D&source=gmail&ust=1479270373576000&usg=AFQjCNF6jwyKZf7fmSYBiHMs_KTw6deUGw - Impose Magazine

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/oakland-cas-everyone-is-dirty-touring-playing-2-nyc-shows-1-w-caged-animals/ - Brooklyn Vegan

If you're going cover another artist, you better make it your own. If you don't, what's the point? Everyone Is Dirty is a four-piece out of Oakland, CA and they've certainly put their stamp on the mighty "Andy Warhol." They've turned the song into a full-tilt rocker that I'll be adding to my workout mix! - Paste Magazine