Nick Hersch: guitar, vocals
Kerim 'Kez' Gunes: bass, vocals
Virgil Howe: drums, vocals
In short, good performance, average material.
The Dirty Feel consists of Nick Hersch (guitar, vocals), Kerim 'Kez' Gunes (bass, vocals) and Virgil Howe (drums, vocals). Virgil is Steve Howe's second son and you may have heard his work as the keyboardist in his dad's band, Remedy (which has brother Dylan on drums), or as The Verge, with his album of Yes remixes.
The Dirty Feel were the last on a triple bill in the back room of The Dublin Castle pub. Their sound is very much '70s rock, but hard and a bit funky rather than the prog of Yes. An obvious, and acknowledged, influence is Led Zeppelin. As a power trio, they were loud, pretty fast and not quite as dirty as they wanted to be! Hersch is the main vocalist, but Virgil sang lead on two songs and Gunes on one.
In Remedy, Dylan's work on drums stands out much more than Virgil on keys, but it turns out that Virgil is very impressive on the drums. He was fast, precise and powerful, and managed to sing well while drumming. He led on the band introductions and showed a much better audience rapport than dad Steve manages! Stripping topless after the first few songs, he had something of a Mick Jagger look as he powered his way through the material. Gunes on bass was technically proficient too, with some particularly tricky playing on the song on which he sang lead vocals. Hersch was alright on guitar, but perhaps not quite as good as the rhythm section.
While I was pretty wowed by the performance, the material was somewhat
disappointing. Generic, not particularly memorable. Virgil's first song
was the only one that stood out any. The band got a good reception from
a young audience of about 80, better than for the previous band (a rock
five-piece). Despite calls for more, they only got to play a set of not
much more than half an hour.
Henry Potts, 19 Jun 2004
Originally posted to alt.music.yes and Yesfans.com.
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