The Dirty Nil Delivers A New Era With A Fresh Album

Luke Bentham is lying in the back of a sprinter van somewhere on the road to St. Louis. AC/DC’s ‘Powerage’ in his ears and a show on the horizon. “Life is good,” he grins, and for The Dirty Nil, it is. But it wasn’t always.

‘The Lash’, the Hamilton, Ontario trio’s fifth album, arrives not as a refinement of their sound, but a rupture. It’s a controlled demolition of expectations, industry pressure, and overcooked perfectionism. Written and recorded in barely over two weeks, it finds the band “burning it all down to start again.” The Dirty Nil is returning to their roots not for nostalgia’s sake, but survival.

“We wanted to make a more Spartan recording at a simpler studio and make it quickly,” Luke explains. “I was really proud of the songs that I brought in, and our arrangements were effortless. We were in a really good spot and we wanted to capture it.”

There’s no additional faff here, just three old friends making a racket in a room, like they’ve always done. “As a matter of course, we do the hard yards in the jam space, a concrete bunker of a room with a blown-out PA system where we practise,” Luke says. “If we can make a song sound good there, it will cook when we set the mics up.”

Instead of polishing every take to oblivion, The Dirty Nil committed to instinct. “We wanted to make it quickly and not agonise over revisions,” he adds.

The Dirty Nil Reveals Making The Album for Pure Satisfaction

Helping bring that vision to life was longtime friend and first-time album collaborator Vince Soliveri. “It was a pure joy to finally make a record with our friend Vince,” Luke says. “He has helped us make a lot of demos over the years, and it was time to do a full LP together.”

One moment in particular sums up the sessions: “I walked into the booth and there was a strange old mic setup for me to sing into. I asked Vince why he chose that one, and he told me: ‘It looks cool. That spirit animated these sessions, and we made it purely for our own satisfaction.”

There were no rules, no right way to do anything. The Dirty Nil spent more time chasing feedback tones than curating perfect takes. They brought in violinist Sara Danae and a cello she’d never touched before. “Despite having never played one before, she nailed it.” And then there’s Leo. “We got my dog Leo to howl on ‘Gallop of the Hounds’. That was an incredible day.”

“The Lash” and Having More Primal Sound

While ‘The Lash’ may sound primal, it’s rooted in something deeper: a need to reclaim joy after years of industry conditioning.

“We’ve made a few records by this point; this is our fifth studio LP,” Luke reflects. “As our career has advanced, so have the pressures to make something ‘with legs’ or whatever. It’s pushed us further but also hit a tipping point where some of the joy of rock’n’roll has yielded to the pressures of the industry.”

There’s plenty of rage in ‘The Lash’, notably on the early single ‘Rock N’ Roll. Band’, written in a fit of frustration. “I can’t remember why there was a bee in my bonnet that day, but I shut my laptop and fired up my Marshall, and it was done in 20 minutes,” Luke says. “I felt satisfied with my snotty tune and was stoked to show Kyle. When I played it for him, I watched the smile slowly creep across his face, and that was the first song of the batch.”