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Dirty Americans go on their own for new album

Grimy Detroit rock band, Dirty Americans, definitely have songs that will be played on the radio, and others that won't.

"There's a song structure that will get you on the radio," singer Matt Kozuch, originally of Midland, said. The band, Kozuch, Jeff Piper (guitars), Patrick Bezer (bass) and Jeremiah Pilbeam (drums), had many run-ins with their old record label, Roadrunner records. Kozuch expressed distaste for what the label wanted the band to do with their songs.

"Roadrunner has Nickelback, so that's always been the gold standard for rock radio," Kozuch said. He added that the sound on their previous records was never quite what The Dirty Americans wanted. "Every (album), there was always a little bending, but never enough to make a huge hit.

"Finally, our Roadrunner deal was over." After that, the band decided it was time to make a record on their own. The project took two years, and consisted of a number interesting experiences.

"We built two studios. One in Oxford, and the other on Muskegon River where I live," Kozuch said. He added that the guitarist from Kid Rock assisted them in purchasing recording equipment. Keyboardist Jimmie Bones (also in Kid Rock) helped with a few tracks, including some Memphis-style piano on a cover of Bob Seger's "Lucifer." Aside from that, the album, titled Black Feather, was recorded entirely by the band. Kozuch said that the sound came out just as they wanted.

"It's definitely rough, hell-raising, 70s sounding rock," he said. "Think Zeppelin or Sabbath riff rock." Black Feather features ten psychedelic and dark songs all written by the band collaboratively.

Kozuch said that his biggest Detroit rock influence is Alice Cooper because he listened to his uncle and father's collection of Cooper records when he was a kid -- Kozuch was star struck when the band got to open for the Detroit rocker.

The name of the album, Kozuch said, actual has a much more positive message than what might be perceived the first time around. In many ways, it symbolizes the ending of their previous record deal.

"A lot of the songs can come off as a fear of the end, but really it's the opposite," he said. "It's about living in the moment."

The Midland born-and-raised-singer expressed that the music reflected the feeling of the band in the way that they felt free when the record deal was up. This can also be seen in the time that it took them to make this album compared to coming out with an album in two months for Roadrunner.

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