Dirty Sound Magnet

Swiss rockers run high on psychedelic journey with latest release

“I grew up listening to bands such as The Doors, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd, but when my mother asked me to listen to //Led Zeppelin IV//, that day changed my life. I listened to that record and thought it was music made by the Gods,” admits Dirty Sound Magnet vocalist/guitarist Stavros Dzodzos, when pressed about his introduction to psychedelic rock. “A day after I listened to that record, I picked up the guitar, started playing and I knew what I wanted to do. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but what I did know was that I felt such wonderful feelings when I discovered music I liked, strong feelings that I wanted other people to feel”.

Growing up in Switzerland, the band, which also consists of Marco Mottolini (bass) and Maxime Cosandey (drums), have been developing their weird yet wonderful eclectic mix of atmospheric pysch-rock together since they were teenagers and after locking themselves away for ten years, they’ve seemingly found a sweet spot that sits well in a most-loved rock era. “In Switzerland there is no one actually listening to this kind of music, there’s absolutely no scene here, it’s a small country, the people are rich and they don’t have a heart for music – we really understood and saw the value of music when we went and toured in Mexico where people were less materialistic and music really mattered. In Europe, I think rock music has been blended too much with pop music, and rock music as we see it has become dormant or dead. There’s still an interest for this style of rock, and there’s a few bands that are doing it like King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, but not many and that’s why we want to bring back what people have missed or have forgotten exists,” enthuses Dzodzos.

Their latest release, //Dreaming In Dystopia//, which the band wrote, recorded, mastered and mixed themselves, is the result of years of experimentation and jamming. “I don’t like processed music, I like it when music makes me dream, I like to listen to something and feel like I am in the middle of a forest or something. That’s what I love about music from the sixties and seventies, there’s no boundaries, I call it no-limit rock and that is what prog is, limitless, with prog you don’t limit yourself to verse, chorus, verse, chorus, you can go anywhere, and to any place.

“Much like they did back in that era, rather than production, we focus on the way we play together, we play simultaneously and we get the right take, then there is no editing needed. On //Flowers, Angles And Chaos// we edited the end of the track, we cut it out because it was just a jam but we kept it on the vinyl record, the solo just keeps going, so it’s a 7-minute long track, you even hear the drummer putting the sticks on the drum kit!

“There’s one artist I always listen to before recording and that’s Ennio Morricone, he composed a lot of Spaghetti Western movies. When you listen to it, it sounds like the dessert and gives the impression that the mixing console was covered in sand, there was wind. Anything that is done with heart, will make me feel. Another is Frank Zappa is just so smart and he is beyond feelings, he’s just so intellectual with his music so when I’m in a Zappa phase, I can’t listen to anything else, you’re sucked in and nothing else matters”.

Dirty Sound Magnet will tour //Dreaming In Dystopia// internationally this year in the USA, where they will play for the first time, Australia, and Mexico with further plans to record new material. “I want to go back to the studio very quickly but it’s difficult to find time because we are on tour so much,” says Dzodzos. “We’ve been touring since March 2022, but I just have so many songs that I want to record as soon as I can.”. EM

PROG FILE

LINE UP: Stavros Dzodzos (vocals/guitar), Marco Mottolini (bass), Maxime Cosandey (drums)

SOUNDS LIKE: An absolute space rock, atmospheric prog journey that tells a story.

CURRENT RELEASEL: //Dreaming In Dystopia// is out now via Wild Thing Records

WEBSITE: https://dirtysoundmagnet.com/

PQ: “When I’m in a Zappa phase, I can’t listen to anything else, you’re sucked in and nothing else matters”.

— Emmie Macnevin