The rock you love doesn’t have to be featured on a popular web series to make the rounds. Addictive, beautiful rock comes from the most unexpected places. Dime Store Hustlers bring to you the dustiest, crunchiest tone with the music having purpose. To bring the roof down. Ground & Pound is their latest EP, and it does exactly that. Packed with the choicest guitar riffs, this is a playlist retrofitted for mayhem.
The album starts with Spirit of 76, with the crunch of the guitar tone enough to make you shift gears. If you’re holding the gear shaft, you’re nothing without them kicking in the clutch plate. Call it desert rock or just plain classic rock revival, you’re right either ways. These are the road tracks that make the trip worthwhile.
What is something important in Ground and Pound that is a newer approach from Louder?
I think the key thing is the personnel changes. As a result, I guess you could say things have turned much more inwards, in a way – really having to focus on what we want DSH to be and how to make that happen. After the release of Louder, two of our original members amicably left the band for personal reasons,
So the two remaining members, Mike and me (Andrew), had to determine how to keep the band going and what it would be. Erik joined on drums and we regrouped as a power trio that’s essentially a studio project. It’s been an interesting ride but I think we’ve landed in a very good spot long-term.
With the line up change not being the only difference, you hear a much better chemistry in the tracks. Last Daylight is the college sweetheart sound that Bryan Adams got famous for. Don’t blame me if I hear some of The Boss in it as well. A melodic number with some simple yet elegant transitions make this another swinger from these medieval heart rockers.
In the indie rock scene, do you see a steady rise in audiences or is it still crowds from a particular age group?
For our music, it’s been a slow, steady rise. Given we don’t tour, our focus is on listeners on streaming platforms instead of live shows. So far, the sweet spot seems to be people around age 40 and up. We do get some interest from people in their 20’s and 30’s, but many of them are more interested in Hip-hop, R&B, and pop music influenced by those two genres. In the end, though, we all have careers outside of music, so our focus is on making exactly the kind of music we want to, then putting it out there to hopefully be discovered by people who’ll appreciate and enjoy it.
Dime Store Hustlers make their tracks as varied and lively as possible. Pale Lady (Ride On) has that AC DC Black Ice sound, and that Ritchie Blackmore style riff that keeps you on your toes. This is a great number, smooth and clean-yet has the groove to make it filthy enough. The synth overlap steals the show, making this one hell of a song to enjoy with a couple of beers.
Of all your album releases yet, what is one constant that is the signature of Dime Store Hustlers?
Fun and good times via rocking out all the way. We feel if we’re having a great time making our music, that’ll translate into the songs themselves and, hopefully, cause listeners to have a great time, too. Even if it’s a slower song with sad lyrics, we want you to identify with it, sing along to the chorus, pump your fist to the guitar solos, and maybe feel a little better by the end. If we’ve done that for anyone listening to our songs, our mission is accomplished.
With a blues based rock track next, Cocaine & Lighter take the sorrow to another dimension. The track sees the chemistry of the group at its best, treating us all to a different flow. Each rhythm is adjusted to well enough before the verse drops in. Rust Belt Anthem shows off this bands control of the rhythm and unpopular progressions. The vocals come in bringing a serious change in temperature. The mix sounds great for this studio project, and an obvious upgrade from their album, Louder.
Any artists sudden change in theme/sound that has given you an idea to do something similar? Any artist who you idolise?
I can’t say there’s a specific artist who’s given us the idea to make a sudden change in our sound, though we deeply respect artists who’ve successfully done that such as David Bowie. In terms of artists we idolize, that’s a tough one due to the number of candidates that cross quite a few musical genres.
If we’re sticking with the Rock genre, off the top of my head I’d say classic Rock legends such as Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, but also lesser-known acts such as Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. There are just too many to list here!
What are your plans for touring and getting this album on the road? What is planned for Dime Store Hustlers?
As I mentioned earlier, DSH is really a studio project at this point, so we likely won’t be doing any touring to support our album. Our focus will be on marketing Ground & Pound to get as many people listening to it on-line as possible. We’d love to keep growing our fan base of listeners, so if you like what you hear please tell a friend and share the link to our music!
Beyond marketing the album, we’ll probably take a bit of a break to focus on other projects for each of us, musical and otherwise. That said, we’re definitely planning on making a new album as soon as our schedules permit, so stay tuned!
Listen to their genre shifting bluesy goodness transferred here:
Check out our playlists here!
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
