peed Control was up first, sounding

like a love-child of Blink 182 and the
Barenaked Ladies, raised on pure rock
and roll. Their set included stage banter,
nicknames, a song about a grocery store,
and a lunge competition. It was obvious
from the first note that these guys were
a wonderful mix of fun, seriousness, and
sass. The band consists of Graeme Peters
on guitar and vocals, Jody Peters on bass
and vocals, and Ian March on drums. The

guys were just as crazy offstage as they are

onstage, even after 22 hours of driving to
get to us.

From eating bacon for 100 days ina

row to bodybuilding competitions and
superheroes, there was a little bit of
everything discussed backstage with
Speed Control. When asked about their
writing style, the consensus was that it
ultimately came to pressure. Much like
term papers, for Speed Control writing
songs is all about pressure and deadlines.
Bassist Jody explained a perfect example:

“Graeme co-wrote a rock opera
and they had 24 hours to write it,
except Graeme forgot so he had
three hours to write the music.”

“T wrote [the music for] 24 songs in
three hours,” Graeme added, “we
had a couple of days to practice and
learn the songs, then performed it
the next week. The show sold out.”

While a university campus is not their
typical venue, UNBC is not the strangest

place where Speed Control has performed.

They have played at a biker bar located
next to the world record holder of
hubcaps attached to a building (this one
may have ended in a full bar brawl).

This does not mean the boys do not have
a serious side. one of their passions as a
group is their work with children. “We
are very much about music education,”

Jody said, “we are all music educators

and do history of rock and roll in schools
because their music budgets have been
cut and that’s one way we can get music

fter Speed Control got students
rocking out, DIRTY RADiO got them

of electro-RNB. DiRTY RADiO was
to.

Backstage, the
members of

were

up and dancing with their unique mix

loud, exciting, and fun to listen

DiRTY RADiO

back in kids’ lives. We teach rock and roll
camps for kids in the summer so kids can
physically have instruments in their
hands and make lots of noise.” Their
original school tour of British
Columbia will be on hold
due to the teacher’s

strike, and postponed
until February of
next year.

completely zen. Over the Edge got to speak
to Farshad “Shaddy” Edalat (vocals and
percussion), Anthony Dolhai (piano and
synthesizers) and Zack Forbes (drums,
keyboards, and production) about their
music, label, and future plans. They
still had a wonderful sense of humor.
To answer the question “how dirty is
the radio?” Zack smiled, “Mr. Clean
died while trying,” he said with a laugh
before getting down to business.

They spoke about the importance of
consistency in their music, writing,
and recording process, as well as

the luck of having their own studio
and label to support them.

“We share a record studio that we
built together,” Zack said, “It’s really
inspiring to work out of there. We have
our own label called Trickery, and it

is licensed and distributed through

604 and Universal... It allows us to
create music and still own the music,
something most musicians don’t get.”

They spoke about how writer’s block

UNBC Life 7

Speed Control

—Maryna Dakhno | OTE

is never a problem for them because
they can work off of each other, their
strengths, and their weaknesses. They all
come from very different backgrounds,
contributing to their unique sound.
Shaddy’s background is in jazz and RnB,
Zack has a background in punk and metal,
and Anthony is classically trained. All of
these backgrounds have a cross-section
in electronic beats, which makes DiRTY
RADiO’s music both diverse and cohesive.

“We are really lucky as a team since we
can compensate for each other’s lack
of whatever,” Zack told Over the Edge,
“Everyone is really good at something;
we are like a team of superheroes.”

DiRTY RADiO recently launched a
Soundcloud campaign where they have
something special for their fans. Visiting
www.soundcloud.com/dirtyradiomusic
for a new song released every two weeks
until Christmas and the release of their
new record. The Soundcloud campaign
started on September 3, so there are
already new songs to check out.