Dirty Laundry

Disco Infected, the first single off the album, is a catchy guitar laden vocal track and is sure to reaffirm Dirty Laundry’s status as one of this country’s most loved electronic acts.

Dirty laundry is a dynamic dance band comprising of 2 DJ’s (Dean Cherny & JJ Styles), MC (Matthew Charles), male and female vocalist (Pete Hypes & Lee Lee), sax (Stevie Richards) and percussion (Cisco). Dean Cherny & JJ Styles are 2 of Melbourne’s most accomplished DJs, spanning over 30 years of experience between them. Dirty Laundry play an eclectic mix of funk infused house, hip-hop, jazz, soul and breaks. As well as playing a unique live show they integrated live video show, DVD visuals, mixed in to tie in with the performance

Dirty Laundry has spent the past four years ripping up dance floors across the country, cementing their reputation as one of Australia’s most dynamic and exciting live acts.

How did it feel to hear your song played all over the airwaves?

Lee Lee: Oh my god! That first night I was with my boyfriend, and we’d driven to a cliff to listen. I was so excited.
Jay Jay: you drove off the cliff?
Lee Lee: (laughing) no, no! I have been involved in some other stuff, but this time it was bigger and better, it is our baby.


Did you have any pre-conceived ideas about the music industry?

Jay Jay: I had plenty of ideas, this is a tough one, I wanted the experience.
Lee Lee: I have a lot of friends in the music industry, and I knew what to expect as I had learnt through watching.


Before you joined as Dirty Laundry did you know each other?

Jay Jay:No
Lee Lee: Myself and the other vocalist (Pete Hypes) had lived together and danced together and I knew Matty (Mathew Charles (MC)) I also knew Dean (Dean Cherny (Production/DJ/Jack of all trades)), a little bit, from the clubs, just working in Melbourne.


What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Jay Jay:I’m in to a bit of everything. Not one artist or one style. I like the 60’s and 70’s like back to then. I grew up in the 80’s.
Lee Lee: Me too! I loved the 80’s.
Jay Jay: Like what happened pop wise then. In the 90’s I moved out to the electronics, ‘Pump up the Jam’.
Lee Lee:I was doing the grunge stage then.
Jay Jay: I love anything Timberland puts his hand onto. The Neptunes are my thing, they haven’t really released anything.
Lee Lee: Yeah! They have a new album.


What’s next? Tour/Album/Single?

Lee Lee:A massive tour, we are in the middle of a massive tour, we haven’t stopped. It is an official tour for the single debut and album, which is out in September. And then we hope to yeah, continue touring.
Jay Jay:We are in the finishing stages of the album, working with Mr Timothy (Timothy Dudfield), who some of your readers may be familiar with. His been doing his own stuff for a long time.
Lee Lee: His won an Aria.
Jay Jay: He is more highly regarded as a dance producer.
Lee Lee:It is all extremely exciting, we are learning a lot from him.
Jay Jay:We are more so now just polishing.


Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Lee Lee:Actually a little bit of both. I like performing live as it releases all my energy. It is instant live.
Jay Jay:Performing live is an immediate satisfaction, it is great to see others getting into what you are doing. But I also love the creative side, all of the production and when I actually have an idea in my head of how it’s going. It’s a longer process and they both have a different satisfaction. I love both.
Lee Lee:Me too.< br>

What/who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Lee Lee:I’ve had it ever since I was little. I had an older sister, and in the 80’s I listened to what she listened too. Cindy Lauper, Madonna and The Divinyls I was watching and learning.
Jay Jay: I have many influences. Recently my parents showed me a tape of me acting like a DJ. I was seven years old. I had made a whole radio station. It has been in my system for a long time. I guess it chooses you.


What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Lee Lee:Getting our ‘Dirty Laundry’ done. (laughs) Probably just the challenges, although it’s all a challenge, but they are good challenges. It is just generating the passion and keeping it moving.
Jay Jay: Also keeping the space. You work on it, and get all excited and then it’s a real interesting thing when you’ve got to get other people’s opinions. You have to work out what is constructive criticism and what’s not. You have to maintain a belief in what you believe in and what you are doing. If something is great, and you know it, and a person who you respect doesn’t like it, you’ve got to kind of keep your chin up and believe in your music.


What’s a typical day like?

Jay Jay:Sleeping in all day.
Lee Lee:What? (laughs)
Jay Jay: On a Wednesday we meet at a café and have a discussion in the morning, then we normally break off and go to the gym and then head on to writing or recording in the studio. It really depends on what we are doing that week. If we are touring or whatever. If we are touring we are probably sitting on a plane or doing sound checks, all of that pre-gig warm up. In between gigs we are writing, sort of hanging out, and jamming that sort of stuff. It is really great thing that we have a degree of flexibility if others want to go to the beach or to the gym they can. We are accommodating.
Lee Lee:The beach! When? (laughs)
Jay Jay:I was there this morning!


What has been your favorite part of becoming a music artist?

Lee Lee:The Gigs! I’m loving it. And hanging out with the boys, my new family. Finally getting the single out.
Jay Jay:It’s a long road. I’m ready to show it off, go on the real journey. It is all a learning experience. We all came in with our eyes open, we knew. We decided to go Independent, and not rely on the industry. We are learning everything; we are releasing a single and an album. It is all a new experience.


What’s your favourite song on the new album?

Lee Lee:All of them! I love playing them all, over and over!


What are you looking forward to most about the release date?

Lee Lee:singing all the words!


Founding members JJ Styles and Dean Cherny lovingly nurtured the band through its infancy, recruiting legions of fans, and more than a few “dirty little groupies” by maintaining a grueling and relentless schedule of touring that has not let up since 2004.

Following a path more commonly pursued by rock and indie bands, Dirty Laundry have positioned themselves perfectly to unleash their unique and refreshing sound on a wider and largely unsuspecting audience.

Nothing can really prepare you for the Dirty Laundry experience - it’s non-stop hands in the air fist pumping action full of good times, tight rhymes and funky ass bass-lines. A hybrid collection of live instrumentation, live vocals and electronica. The idea for the band was inspired by the likes of Basement Jaxx, Faithless, Groove Armada and Massive Attack; artists that brought entertainment and musicianship back to dance music, something that had been missing since the days of disco.

Having recently undergone a facelift, Dirty Laundry currently consists of JJ Styles (Production/DJ/Keyboard), Dean Cherny (Production/DJ/Jack of all trades), Lee Lee (Female Vocals), Pete Hypes (Male Vocals), Mathew Charles (MC), Stevie Richards (Sax) and Cisco the Latin Lover (Percussion).

Dirty Laundry has developed a new audio visual show featuring original animation, created by award winning graphic designers Spin, that adds a further dimension to their already acclaimed live performance. The animation has been specifically designed to accompany the music and allow Dean and JJ to chop, slice, scratch and mix the video live and in perfect unison.

Now in the final stages of production, Dirty Laundry’s eagerly awaited first studio album is due for release late 2008. The boys have teamed up with some of Australia’s most talented producers, including Timothy Dudfield (aka Mr Timothy), Andy J (aka Sgt Slick) and Maarcos Kwong (1/3 of The Usual Suspects) to craft a mix of funk infused, disco spiked electro pop.