Gainesville, Florida has a long lineage of great punk rock bands. Bands that play raw, honest rock music with a lot of attitude and heart; and Dirty Money is the newest band to pick up the torch and run with it. After hearing their EP and their new split with New Jersey’s GDP, these guys have solidified a place in my favorite band’s list. Recently, I got a chance to quiz Ryan and Colin about the recent tour and talk about upcoming material and The Fest.

Diatribe: Right now, you guys are in the midst of a tour with GDP; how's that working out?

Ryan: Well, actually we are about to pack up and head out to our very
last show which is our homecoming show here in Gainesville. We didn't
really do a kickoff show for various reasons. Otherwise the tour has
been great overall. The shows and people were awesome as always!

Colin: Like all tours, we had some amazing shows and some not so great
shows but overall we had a great time and I feel like the tour was a
success. We met up with a lot of old friends and made a bunch of new ones
and that’s always the best part about hitting the road for me.

Diatribe: Have there been any particularly standout shows so far? Any crazy instances worth mentioning?

Ryan: New Jersey is always a personal favorite for me. I love going
there; we have a lot of friends there and have become really good
buddies with Static Radio NJ, they rule. As far as CRAZY shows, I'll
just say this, in Lansing we played with this band the Cartridge Family
and during their set I ended up in a Spiderman costume hanging from a
rafter upside down hitting one of the drummers cymbals with a maraca,
I don't know what came over me (laughs). Good times!

Colin: New Mexico was an awesome show because we got to play for all of
our friends and family and show all of them how far we have come since
we moved to Florida. Lansing was also awesome for me too. I didn’t end up
hanging from a rafter but I did end up breaking into the Lansing Zoo at
four in the morning with Craig from the Cartridge Family (laughs). I also
really enjoyed Pittsburgh, Boston, Richmond and of course New Jersey.

Ryan: Oh! I forgot! When we were in Fort Collins, CO we went to the New
Belgium Brewery and took the tour. It was cool but after the tour I got
to talking with one of the guys, Mike Miller I believe, and he ended up
coming out to the show. Before he left he tossed me his business card
and took off and then I looked at the other side and it said "Please
give Ryan a free case of beer at the brewery, pick up only". I was
unbelievably stoked because that is my favorite brewery in the country;
highly recommended. We went the next day and went in and Mike not only
hooked us up with one case, but two! So naturally, the next day on our
TWENTY hour drive, GDP and I decided we weren't going to drive and
celebrated all the way through the Midwest.

Diatribe: I actually just got the Dirty Money/GDP 7" and have been rocking it
constantly, both sides are amazing. How did you guys get hooked up with
GDP and how did the idea of doing a split record come about?

Colin: Ryan set up a show for a band that GDP was playing drums in a few
years ago in New Mexico. We ended up partying and hanging out that night
and they kept in touch. GDP came down to Florida to do some shows and we
just became good friends. The idea for the split came up last time we
were on tour in New Jersey at first as a half joke but then ended up
being something we both really wanted to do.

Ryan: (laughing) Yeah like Colin said…set up the show, then after we got
piss drunk together and him and I exchanged phone numbers and kept in
touch for three years until he came down to Florida as GDP. Kind of wild to think about now but he has literally become one of my best friends and his
music is amazing. I honestly can say he's probably my favorite hip hop
artist, his lyrics really appeal to me. The split idea also came up as a
joke while we were both shithoused, but for some reason it just
clicked and we were like "Hey, that would actually be really fucking
cool!". Touring wasn't even a seed of an idea then,that came later. We
were actually supposed to tour with The Riot Before but that fell
through for various reasons, so we took GDP on vacation from state to
state instead.

Diatribe: Last month I reviewed your EP, Far From Home, and it made me wonder
why Gainesville has ten times the great bands Columbus does, despite the
fact that we're about ten times larger. What do you think it is about
Gainesville that produces such great music and does it have anything to do with a lack of a winter season?

Ryan: I think when you around such good music in such a small area it
just really inspires you to play more and get better and let’s face it,
Gainesville has some great bands and we consider ourselves lucky to be
around such awesome influences. That's a big reason why we moved here
years ago, we needed to be around the best to help push ourselves.

Colin: Gainesville has a lot of very talented bands and we are very happy
to be friends with a lot of them. One thing you do have to realize though
is that many of the bands here share members. Some people here play in three
to five bands which is hard for me to imagine, but they pull it off.

Diatribe: I also mentioned in that review, that in order to balance the scales a little, Dirty Money should have to relocate to the Ohio
capital…what's it going to take to make that happen? Copious amounts
of money and booze or maybe some new winter coats?

Colin: We are pretty happy where we are at but hope to stay on the road
enough to call everywhere our home. I would say Ohio has a lot of awesome
bands coming out though. Reverse The Curse and The Sidekicks are two of
our favorites from Cleveland which seems to have quite a cool scene
going on.

Ryan: Nooooo! Then we will have to actually drive to The Fest, and
that's where the beers at! When we played in Cleveland we played with
Reverse The Curse and they were amazing! All three of them were
graduating high school the next day and were in this basement blasting
some of the sickest jams I've heard in a while; Ed can belt it out for
sure. I think they just put up some new mp3s from their new EP they are
doing soon. Definitely go check them out.
Diatribe: Speaking of The Fest, do you know if you guys will be playing this
year? Or will you just be attending?

Ryan: Chris, I sure do hope so. Anyone who knows me knows that I LIVE
for The Fest! There's nothing I look forward to more every year. We
definitely will be attending…we live in Gainesville; what kind of people
do you think we are Chris (laughs)? Anyway I had a great time last year
playing it, and hosting the Paint It Black/Shook Ones apartment show,
which was actually supposed to have many other bands play too, including
American Steel; before the cops came that is. We haven't really spoken
to Tony about it, he usually doesn't like talking about it because think
how many bands he knows and they just ask him personally, I'm sure it
gets annoying. Hopefully we'll be hearing the magic words soon though,
cross your fingers!

Diatribe: Any plans for a full length in the near future?

Ryan: We just got off tour and have a handful of songs we've been
playing but we are going to do a split with another semi-new band from
Gainesville called Anchor Arms who we are going to do a small tour
around Fest time with but we are definitely working on the full length,
we just want to have more than enough songs so we can pick the ones we
like best you know? I'm hoping by the end of '08 it'll be ready to send
to be pressed!

Colin: We are very excited about the split with Anchor Arms. I feel like
we are constantly writing better songs and am very stoked about
hopefully releasing a full length sometime next winter and after that
more touring!
Diatribe: I think this is a pretty redundant interview question...but here I go. What are some of your influences with Dirty Money; situational or
musical?

Ryan: Yeah, I think it’s pretty obvious. I mean we, like anyone, love to
have a good time. That's the main influence. Heavy drinking and depression as well I guess. As far as music, living in Gainesville, we hear and see some of the greatest music almost every night. So many bands come through here and so many bands are from here. We're lucky to call Gainesville our home.
Diatribe: Here's a question I ask almost everybody I interview. How would you
describe your music to someone who's never heard it?

Ryan: (laughing) Oh man, I hate when people ask me this! It really jumps
around, we have some upbeat, party, drink, and high five songs...then
some that are more like in your face, straight up punk rock. Whenever
people ask I just say punk rock and rock and roll in a Gainesville fashion
and it usually works well enough.
Diatribe: Alright, this may be a hard one. Can I get your top five albums of all time? Just to be fair, I'll list mine: Black Flag Damaged, Hot Water Music Forever and Counting, Pegboy Strong Reaction, Husker Du Flip Your Wig
and Seaweed Weak.

Ryan: This is a tough one, I mean there's great albums out there but
even more great albums coming out, you know? If I were to not spend an
hour thinking about it and just go off the top of my head right now it'd
go like this:

1. Kid Dynamite Shorter, Faster, Louder. The reasons are obvious I'd hope

2. The Lawrence Arms Oh, Calcutta! I really think that it’s their best album ever personally and I'm siked that bands can still make such a good record after four full lengths already!

3. Against Me! Eternal Cowboy. I know so many people would disagree but I'm not a hater to new music. This album came out at a point in my life when it fit so perfectly. Reinventing… is great, but Eternal Cowboy was different, more aggressive, and ruled.

4. Hot Water Music-It’s all too good. Great minds think alike

5. None More Black/Dillinger Four - ALL OF IT! I’m a Sucker for Jason Shevchuk’s music and Dillinger Four fucking rips, I couldn't deal with just five, ha!
Diatribe: I think we’ve got it! Thanks for doing this for us! Any last words?

Ryan: Hey man, thank YOU! We appreciate it. Next time we're in Ohio
come out and partake in some frosty bronsons aka cold barley malts, but
of course there will be plenty of those at The Fest, we better see you
there!