DIRTY HARRY

Writer: Joseph Maranta

Lead Image: Jack Gamble | @Jack_Gamble_Shoots

It had been on their mind the entire show, but the sporadic and not necessarily accidental, bumping of shoulders during the set had brought the opportunity cost of romance to the fore. 

It shouldn’t be a game of chess, but everything from the subtle positioning against a column, the drink held in a non-dominant hand and the pre-planned comments in between songs has been laboured over and weighed up to an extent which would make Kasparov blush. 

Interlocking hands should be innocuous in such a setting, but the incessant paranoia of rejection weighs heavy, refusing to leave despite the copious consumption of Mexican lagers and vodka lime sodas so far tonight. 

The internal deliberation is nearing a boiling point. 

Remaining coy yields nothing but cowardice and an intact ego, but taking action risks what feels like everything, but it may open a door to an untold future. 

Perhaps the answer can be found at the end of this schooner.

This is Dirty Harry.

Composed of Jett Ventrice (Drums), Ellis Yunker (Bass Guitar), Ben Gerrard (Lead Guitar) & Catherine Ellerton (Rhythm Guitar + Vocals), Dirty Harry are an alternative-rock quartet who exercise a cathartic mesh of narrative, vulnerability and above all else — passion. 

Here is our chat with them.

JOE: Thanks for coming to my favourite bench for a chat! So tell me a bit about how Dirty Harry came to be.

CAT: We all met at uni! Ben was actually the first person I met from uni, which is crazy, then Ellis pretty much straight after. We didn’t know Jett well until we asked him to play with us, but it definitely all clicked straight away — he’s the best.

We started working on our demos around September / October of last year, but it was on and off back then. We don’t have many songs left from those original demos.

ELLIS: We only started fully practicing as a band in February this year.

JOE: Did you have a sound / genre in mind when you first embarked on the band? 

CAT: I think we wanted to be The Belair Lip Bombs. 

ELLIS & BEN: Haha yeah. 

ELLIS: There are a few songs where you can definitely hear their influence, but it’s changed since we’ve started playing. 

CAT: I think there’s an inadvertent influence from MJ Lenderman as well. 

ELLIS: The Lip Bombs’ music is just so catchy. 

CAT: It’s super poppy but without being on the nose, and they maintain really meaningful songwriting.

JOE: Your debut single Japan sounds quite different to anything on The Belair Lip Bombs discography, so how did that song come to pass, and why did you choose it as your debut release?

CAT: It’s the song we all like the best so far, it’s also so different from all our other stuff I think.

As far as the song itself, it’s about a finsta, which I thought was obvious in the lyrics but a lot of people are surprised by that! When I sing,

Keeping up with your trip to Japan

I was just checking in, just in, 

And if I use a different name 

Doesn’t mean I’m ashamed

It’s about me making a Finsta to stalk someone. The way I see it, the verses are really just me mocking myself for being a cliche amongst a cliche situation, which is why I make so much fun of it now. Don’t make a finsta.

JOE: How have you been approaching each band member’s role in songwriting?

CAT: We’ve written in many different ways together. I’ll never tell these guys what to play; they’ll write their part and I’ll write my part and then often it becomes a jam.

BEN: We’ve become more collaborative as of late. There have been songs we’ve written entirely together as a band which has been really good. But I think every song is different, so at times Cat will take the lead or sometimes Ellis will bring something in. I don’t think we have a set way of working on things.

JOE: The reception for your debut release, Japan, has been incredible. Do you feel any pressure to immediately release more music to try capitalise on the newfound momentum?

CAT: Yeah definitely! It was a spontaneous decision to record Japan, which is crazy. 

ELLIS: The reception for it has been crazy, we only recorded it in two days over a weekend and we just wanted to get it out. But it’s done really well which is quite surprising.

JOE: Would you say your release schedule will be tailored for a future project? Or are you still in a singles-only mindset? 

CAT: We definitely have enough music to push towards a project at the moment. 

ELLIS: We’re in a weird position where we have too many songs, so we’re struggling to cut songs for a future project. But that’s an issue to deal with in the future. 

JOE: Having gone to a few of your shows now, I can’t help but notice how warm and friendly the atmosphere is whenever you’re playing. Have each of you felt that feeling of support and encouragement since you’ve begun playing live?

BEN: Definitely, it’s been constant support since we’ve begun. I’ve had people in the scene coming up to me personally to say nice words and congratulate the band on what we’ve done so far. It’s been so nice. 

CAT: It’s not always like that obviously, but I’m glad that we started a bit later in life. We know the places in this scene where we can feel comfortable. It’s so cool that we can feel settled in one spot and we can feel the warmth and a sense of community where we are.

JOE: If surf-rock defined the late 2010s and post-punk has defined the start of the 2020s, what do you think will be the next defining genre within the Australian scene?

CAT: Emo pop.

ELLIS: I reckon Alt-country. 

BEN: Yeah I was going to say that - especially with the MJ Lenderman explosion and the success of the latest Wednesday album. I think that will do really well in the future. For a while we were considering becoming an alt-country band. Maybe because we all like MJ Lenderman. It obviously hasn’t manifested in our current sound, but we definitely draw from that genre quite a lot. 

JOE: How much of an onus do you place on the lyricism / narratives within your music?

CAT: Lyrics are what I care the most about within my writing. I had a tiny chat with Harry from Winona about this, he was talking about how easy it is to tell if someone believes what they’re saying within their music and I could not agree more. It’s a huge turn off for me when someone doesn’t believe what they’re saying or they’re just filling space for the sake of it. That’s something that I’m very careful about. I want to feel really intense when I’m saying something - if I’m not passionate about it then why am I putting it out? It’d make no sense. 

BEN: I feel like Harry from Winona is so good at that, whenever I watch him perform I’m in a trance. 

CAT: He’s literally screaming at you with his eyes wide open.

JOE: Who would be your dream Aussie act to play alongside?

ELLIS: It’d have to be The Belair Lip Bombs.

CAT: Or Armlock! I’m obsessed with them.

JOE: Just finally, what do you all want out of Dirty Harry?

CAT: Worldwide domination.

But no, I think I’ve already gotten what I want from this. Best friends and the best times. All I want from the band is to keep it going for as long as possible.

DIRTY HARRY LINKS ->> SPOTIFY | INSTAGRAM