Dirty Laundry
The Dirty Skirts are a fiendishly independent band that has built an impressive underground following since releasing their EP in 2005. The alt-indie-rock band is based in Cape Town and comprises Jess de Tolly on lead vocals and guitar, David Moffatt on guitar, Maurice Paliaga on bass and Mark de Menezes on drums.
To date the band has toured to the States to perform at SXSW, the United Kingdom and the United Emirates. In South Africa, the Dirty Skirts have shared festival stages with Oasis, Snow Patrol, Panic at the Disco, and Evanescence with three Coke Festival performances. And supported Billy Talent during their South African tour in 2010. They have also repeatedly been a featured act at legendary South African festivals such as Oppikoppi, Rocking the Daisies, Splashy Fen and the unique Kirstenbosch Gardens Summer Concerts. The road to these achievements is signposted with endless small club performances that have been packed to the gills.
Its been, and continues to be an impressive journey with many radio successes. The Dirty Skirts independently recorded and released their eponymous debut mini-album in 2005. Singles such as “Feeling the Pressure” and “Set Me Alight” scorched up the local and student charts. Their first full length debut album On A Stellar Bender followed in 2007, with the barnstorming single “Homewrecker” reaching 1 on a number of national radio charts. In late 2007 they began writing the follow up album Daddy Don’t Disco, which was released in June 2008 and enjoyed 4 radio play-listed singles. Daddy Don’t Disco was nominated in the Best Rock Album category at the South African Music Awards. “Strike the Match” is a late 2010 release, which is currently climbing the charts and gives insight to the impending 2011 album direction.
As with most bands, The Dirty Skirts are not fans of pigeon-holing their music (“we’re not pigeons”), but their sound has segued from rock electro to alt pop, and is steeped in an alternative rock tradition stretching back some forty odd years. Think Joy Division, Sonic Youth, David Bowie, John Lennon, Talking Heads, The Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, The Cure and many more.