I had not met anyone in Free Dirt before linking up with them this week at Vitense Golfland. But we\u2019re friends now, I think?<\/p>\n
The Madison-based rock trio \u2014 who play Mickey\u2019s Tavern on June 22<\/a> \u2014 has a way of making you feel as if you\u2019re a part of their world, no matter how tangentially connected. And I didn\u2019t merely meet Free Dirt. I met their friends and partners, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just moved our group chat into a public place,\u201d says singer and guitarist Robby \u201cKing Dirt\u201d Schiller.<\/p>\n It\u2019s obvious that the band has been friends for some time. Schiller and baritone guitarist Joe Copeland \u2014 aka \u201cPal \u2018Yung Earth\u2019 Jones\u201d \u2014 played together in Little Legend<\/a>, another Madison band with an irreverent streak. Drummer Chris \u201cDurt Russell\u201d Sasman is a longtime friend and, get this, a former drum tech for N.E.R.D<\/a>. Watching them whack golf balls and shoot the shit at Vitense, there\u2019s an obvious familiarity. The entire reason they came together in the first place was that Schiller was sick of playing solo and recruited his buddies to back him.<\/p>\n \u201cRob would write a lot of songs, and this is a way to play them with more options,\u201d Copeland says, adding that \u201cit\u2019s a lot easier to decide things\u201d as a trio.<\/p>\n So far, Free Dirt has released two songs: the tongue-in-cheek \u201cI Miss Smoking<\/a>\u201d and \u201cWeather in a Storm<\/a>,\u201d a spiraling, swampy rocker that seems indicative of a band masking musical ambition with goofiness. And that seems to be the M.O. on their debut full-length.<\/p>\n Schiller says Free Dirt has finished tracking Pink Floyd on Ice<\/em>, a 14-track album that expanded from a six-song EP. Its title was an inside joke for keeping things simple: \u201cRemember, guys, we\u2019re not making Pink Floyd on ice.\u201d<\/p>\n Until, Schiller says, that\u2019s exactly what they ended up doing. \u201cWe just kept adding shit until it actually became Pink Floyd on Ice<\/em>.\u201d<\/span>\n\u201cRemember, guys, we\u2019re not making Pink Floyd on ice.\u201d<\/h3>\n