Magic Dirt Reissue ‘Young And Full Of The Devil’ For Its 25th Anniversary
On the 25th anniversary, Magic Dirt announce the reissue of their acclaimed second album Young And Full Of The Devil, out Friday 7th April via Emergency Music / Remote Control Records.
Leaving behind the brooding, introspective mood of Friends In Danger, Magic Dirt discharge fiercely with the iconic Young And Full Of The Devil, an album of raw power, beauty and assured chaos. Released in April 1998 and drenched in trademark Magic Dirt guitar sounds, and the ever present maelstrom of guttural, desperate vocals, Young And Full Of The Devil is also a return to their earlier more melodic roots. Lyrically it explores personal demons, rebellion, and surviving dysfunctional families. Written over a few months in a flurry of creativity in their rundown 90’s share house in Melbourne, the band were focussed on building a new momentum.
Recorded and mixed at Birdland Studios over twelve days in the spring of 1997, their longtime co-producer Lindsay Gravina (Signs Of Satanic Youth and Life Was Better) was back at the helm. As Dean Turner states, “… We went in there and just had a good time you know. Just worked like 15, 17 hours a day. Just smoked lots of pot, lots of hash, took some acid, just hung out there the whole time. And everyone was just friends… and just getting out of it but working really hard. Like there’d be three people running around the balcony with half their clothes off while someone was in the other room doing a guitar overdub.” (From ‘Dirty Summer’ by Martin Jones, Inpress Magazine – Nov 5th, 1997).
Adalita’s lyric writing and vocal delivery had also evolved, reaching new heights, Lindsay Gravina enthuses, “…This is the album where there could no longer be any question that Adalita had surpassed every female icon in Australian Rock history, and most of the male ones too… When she sings, it’s always the truth, it’s raw, sometimes it’s scary, sometimes sublime. And where else you gonna hear lyrics like that?”
The success of Young And Full Of The Devil was due in large part to the addition of new guitarist, Raul Sanchez i Jorge. In mid 1997 Magic Dirt parted ways with Dave Thomas due to creative differences and promptly recruited Raul. Hailing from hardcore Melbourne outfit, Muffcake, Raul was a breath of fresh air, the new glue and inspiration that drove the band forward. The story goes that Adalita met Raul at a party. “He was hanging out the window with his pants around his ankles,” regales Dean. “Adalita wrote 666 on his bottom as she was walking out.” (From ‘The Number of the Beats’ by Cassie Smith – Rave Magazine April 8th, 1998).
Adalita remembered Raul when the band were searching for a new guitarist a few weeks later so they gave him a call, he came around, learnt all the songs and moved into Dean and Adalita’s share house. Music critic, Martin Jones noted Raul’s guitar work “…is tight when required and reckless and exciting when it counted… they have finally found The One”. (Inpress Oct 22, 1997) Reinvigorated by the addition of Sanchez and the new writing spree which culminated in Young And Full Of The Devil, the band were suddenly in demand again scoring such things as a UK/European tour supporting The Heads and main support for Silverchair on their national Freak Show tour of Australia in late 1997.
The final hidden track on Young And Full Of The Devil really captures the band’s desire to purge the past and clear the path for their future. Lindsay Gravina recalls the times, “…we plugged in every single guitar pedal we had between us into an amp that we set fire to, with me kicking in the speakers with my pointy boots… Hands down the most fun I’ve ever had in a studio. Pure mayhem.”
Young And Full Of The Devil is an Aussie cult classic, and as producer Lindsay Gravina says, “…This record stands apart because in the purest sense, it’s essentially an Art record… this album captured the whole zeitgeist of those times, a fucking apocalyptic catharsis, for us personally, but also for the times in general – a last Hurrah for a scene that had signalled it’s peak, and who better to call it?”
Pre-order Magic Dirt – Young And Full Of The Devil: https://magicdirt.lnk.to/YAFOTD
Magic Dirt – Young And Full Of The Devil
- Babycakes
- She-Riff
- Rabbit With Fangs
- Shrinko
- What Have I Done?
- These Drugs Are Really Starting To Fuck Me Over
- Short Black
- X-Ray
- Ascot Red
- Babycakes You Always Freeze Me Up
