Dirty Lemons ready to hit the road

Indie rockers The Dirty Lemons are soon to hit the road, with a mini tour of the Highlands and Islands and an album on the way.
The guitar, bass and drums trio of Anthony Peart, Craig Watt and John William Halcrow have a nine-track record in the pipeline, recorded at Stevie Hook’s studio in Lerwick.
Cranking up the guitars and plugging in the microphones, Peart has been keen to cut the record for some years.
“Anthony has been wanting to do this for four years,” says Halcrow.
“I think Craig has just been partying,” he laughs.
Watt says Hook has had quite a lot of influence on how the record has been mixed, with a diverse range of influences on the album.
The group agree it’s a reflection of their musical tastes – Halcrow is a fan of “old school punk”, Watt “loves the 80s” and Peart is “definitely a 90s grunge” fan. “If you bring us all together that’s what happens,” says Watt.
“The Cult are a big influence”, he adds but there’s elements of Oasis and a bit of the Foo Fighters too thrown in for good measure.
Peart says the songwriting process generally starts off with a guitar riff, though “to be fair it never really turns into a song until we’re all together.”
“The drums change things as well,” says Watt. “It changes the initial idea into a whole different song entirely”.
“Anthony will mumble words that come into his head and about 90 per cent are usually kept,” smiles Halcrow.
Peart and Watt have been making music together for more than 20 years and as a trio they have been together for the last seven or eight.
Halcrow said it started with the premise of playing a rally once a year, and the rest is history.
For a three-piece, it’s a big, full-bodied sound, something that has often been commented on.
“I think it [the sound] surprises us and I think it surprises folk that listen to it,” says Peart.
“I always take it as a compliment.”

It’s the band’s third attempt at recording the album and Watt says the first few times were a learning curve.
The boys say the record captures the live element of the band, and previous attempts with multi-tracking lost the feel of the trio’s energetic performance on stage.
Next month they will be treading the boards at the Shetland Reel Music Festival in Unst on 14th August, followed by the Heavy Metal Buffet Rock Festival at the Lerwick Legion on 28th.
The Orkney Rock Festival follows on 4th September before the band embark on their mini tour, taking in Orkney, Inverness, Skye and Aberdeen.
The group are excited about hitting the road and Watt explains his old, hefty bass amp will be coming along too.
They’ll be taking his van on tour and Peart says Watt promised to leave the group when the amp packed up, but it’s still going.
So have the boys grown closer after years of rock and roll.
“I don’t like the pair of them,” jokes Peart.
“It’s just getting out of the house at night. I’m just waiting for Craig’s amp to break.”
Until then, audiences can continue to look forward to more from the Dirty Lemons.