“The blues encoded the spirit of rock n’ roll. If you say something, better mean what you say and live what you say, or its not worth saying.”

Dirty Weather Blues Revue:

Rollin’ The Blues with Old-school Feeling 

With their debut EP, Crash On The Levee (2026), Dirty Weather Blues Revue deconstructs four classics and rebuilds them in their own way, keeping the core tenets of the songs like a custom cocktail with a moonshine kick. It is not a resurrection or reinvention, but a well-thought-out experimentation that delivers results that are familiar and original in the same breath. Guitarist and singer Marek Domanowski notes that while the written form of the blues seems easy to play, getting the feeling right is a challenge that makes putting the music on the workbench and experimenting truly fun. Co-founding guitarist and harmonica player Johnny Vistic adds that the available repertoire is endless, allowing them to constantly find new ways to play the blues. This sonic expansion moves in multiple directions with command and drive throughout the record. The title track effectively replaces the traditional Dylanisms with an anabolic infusion of 1962 London taking on 1956 Chicago.

(Photo: Dirty Weather Blues Revue)

It is followed by a full-throated, power-chord-laden take on "Keep A Knockin'" that holds more kinship to Joe Strummer and Mick Jones re-writing Bobby Fuller than the piano stomp of Little Richard's original, all while living firmly in the blues full-time. Additionally, "Baby Please Don't Go" consciously nods to Them's spin on the Big Joe Williams classic with a 21st-century update, while a swampy, grimy rendition of "One Bourbon" takes its place right alongside John Lee Hooker’s original and George Thorogood’s hit. Treading the murky water between genres can be a dicey proposition, but Crash On The Levee shows the band deftly navigating these choppy seas, proving Vistic's point that the music is a true revue of the blues—dirty, and pure rock 'n' roll.

Interview by Michael Limnios                  Special Thanks: Larry Kay (Night Train PR)

How has the music influenced your views of the world?

JOHNNY: Music and most specifically the people who make it, shapes a lot of my aesthetic ideas. E.g. I mostly dress in black like Johnny Cash, or I dress brash and great like John Lee Hooker. I drive American like Tom Waits and Dylan. 1977 Pontiac V8. You can't listen to blues in a damn Skoda. I listen to my music on vinyl, and cds. Because I hate using apps. And I prefer the physical connection. I admire songs which don't preach, but show and sigh like Warren zevon. I like hard edges and raw beauty like Lightning Hopkins and Howling Wolf. I dream of fooling the devil at the crossroads like Robert Johnson and Charlie Daniels. I live on the Lost Highway with Big Bill Broonzy. I channel and fear the Lord of Revelation with Son House and Leadbelly. I drink Bourbon, Scotch and Beer with George Thorogood, John Belushi and Hunter S Thompson. Go fishing with RL Burnside. Rock n Roll with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.  

MAREK: It helps me to worry about stuff less. Junior Kimbrough had 36 children when he passed, he didn’t give a damn. I have to disagree with Johnny about the Skoda thing. I remember working in an aluminium factory in my early 20s, I used to drive to work in a battered, leaking, old Corsa. The stereo worked though, and I spent countless hours listening to Albert King in that car. You can listen to blues in whatever you want. But buy and do the real stuff when you can. If looking after a nice valve amp is too much for you and you’d rather gig with a modeller, just know that John Lee Hooker is watching you from heaven, belt and buckle in hand.

How do you describe your sound, music philosophy and songbook? How did the blues shape rock and roll?

MAREK: It’s just blues and rock n’ roll the way we feel it. Old school gear. No shortcuts. No digital cheating. We record live in the room, everyone playing together. If the band is not ready to record that way, then I’m not interested in hearing it. These days anyone can use AI and all of that crap to produce perceived ‘perfection’. It bores me to tears. Our music has a raw aesthetic to it, however what you hear is the truth. If people like it, great. If not they can go listen to something else – there’s a lot of other stuff out there. The blues encoded the spirit of rock n’ roll. If you say something, better mean what you say and live what you say, or its not worth saying.

JOHNNY: Music: Dylan, Cash,  Waits, Hooker, Lightning Hopkins, Howling Wolf, LedBelly, Robert Johnson,  Charlie Daniels, Warren Zevon, Rolling Stones, nina Simone, RlBurneside, Andre Williams, Radio Birdman, Stooges, Black Keys, Black Crows. Son House. 

Philosophy: Hunter S Thompson, Bukowski, Dylan. Sowell, Hayek, Rothbard, Friedman, Mises, Smith. 

Blues? Shaped everything. Nothing in Rock N Roll without it. Johnson to Jerry Lee to Black Crows, Black Keys, Jack White, and obviously contemporary hip hop/r&b. 

“I think a lot of music nowadays gets recorded too soon. A lot of classic blues / folks songs would have been in circulation for a long long time before being recorded and only the ones that stood the test of time would get recorded at all.” (Photo: Dirty Weather Blues Revue)

Why is it important to preserve and spread the blues?

MAREK: It’s like inheriting some beautifully made antiques from your family or something. You want to try preserve them and it’s your job to figure out how to enjoy them in a modern life. I think it’s important to remember that the inception and birth of this music has its roots in some horrible injustice and crimes against humanity. Yet despite that, we still got this beautiful music from it. It took all this suffering to embed the depth it carries. So yeah, if there’s such a thing as sin, it would certainly be a sin to let that die, in my book.

JOHNNY: Because it is not only the root of all modern pop music, it is the future. It teaches us that simplicity is hard. Authenticity is hard. Life is hard. Music is hard. Feeling is hard. Time is hard. Justice is hard. Truth is hard. Sacrifice is hard. The blues is hard. 

Are there any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us?

MAREK: There’s so many. Our gigs tend to have a crescendo arc, which usually culminates in some crazy stuff happening during the second half of the set. There was one time Johnny told the audience, half-joking, to stand on tables, chairs or anything that could be stood on. They listened, and we had the whole dive bar dancing on top of tables, boxes, the bar itself, you get the picture. It was awesome. I recently went piggyback on a friend’s back while playing guitar during the last tune, AC/DC style. Stuff like that.

JOHNNY: Played some great shows, favourites include Glastonbury Festival, 100 Club, London. various tours of UK/Europe. Once spontaneously played keys in a hip hop band in Sydney at Nye, with the drummer from Earth Wind and Fire. 

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of music?

MAREK: I think a lot of music nowadays gets recorded too soon. A lot of classic blues / folks songs would have been in circulation for a long long time before being recorded and only the ones that stood the test of time would get recorded at all. Then those versions would circulate for years before being re-corded by somebody else. In this day and age it’s almost too easy to record and release stuff, so there’s a lot of noise out there. That would be my fear – if this gets out of hand, filtering through all the music that gets released may become extremely difficult and time consuming. As far as hopes, I feel like people have already figured out that AI music is a boring dead end. So I hope that train of thought is followed and the culture of celebrating individuals making unique, imperfect art prevails. Also, I hope bands will return. Enough of solo artists – bring back bands!!!

JOHNNY: Almost everything. Wish I could have lived in the 60s perhaps most. That vital moment when everything was reborn and remade and also preserved. Keep music live! Keep venues open! Keep the door price cheap! 

“Because it is not only the root of all modern pop music, it is the future. It teaches us that simplicity is hard. Authenticity is hard. Life is hard. Music is hard. Feeling is hard. Time is hard. Justice is hard. Truth is hard. Sacrifice is hard. The blues is hard.” (Photo: Dirty Weather Blues Revue)

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

MAREK: Well, the sounds of words over chords is a very powerful thing. For me, music has a wonderful way of reminding that logic and reason don’t solve everything. It can soften me when I’m too hard. Sometimes it’s just nice to enjoy a drink in the sun. Or drive across the country to buy a piece of vintage music gear so you can gig with it and save it from being neglected and forgotten. Sure, it would make more sense to put that money in some clever savings account but life is short, isn’t it. As far as socio-cultural implications, who knows. You’d have to speak to every person who listens to music to really understand it all. I’d rather just speak to my friends about it and spend the rest of the time listening to music myself. I’m not sure about this whole idea of trying to engineer music to affect people’s lives, I don’t know if anything authentic can come out of that. In my mind the job of the artist is to find that unique thing that only they can access, do their best to flesh it out, present it as their gift to the world. Then do what they have to do to let the right audience find it. Forcing square pegs into round holes ain’t the way. But when the artist does that job properly and the right person hears it, it’s over. There’s nothing like it.

JOHNNY: Music is for life, love and everything. With Chuck Berry to the Stars!

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

MAREK: Don’t go out with girls you meet at gigs. Vintage gear is usually better than new gear. The so called ‘best players’ are not always the best people to have in your band. American cigarettes are better than European. New friends can be as good, or better than old friends.

JOHNNY: Play better, work harder, music is harder than you think! 

What are you doing to keep your music relevant today, to develop it and present it to the new generation?

MAREK: We play places where young people go. Our venue choices are predominantly dictated by where we can get the best audience and get some back and forth going. Takes two to tango – this music needs to be shared with the right crowd. We watch how people react to tunes and make adjustments to the set based on that. Every song is road-tested in dive bars. If people vibe with it and dance, it stays in the live set, and we record it. If they don’t, it must go, even if we like it. The reverse is also true - if we don’t like a song, we won’t play it no matter how much people enjoy it. If you do that for long enough, eventually you end up with a set that you love playing, that audiences love watching and dancing to, and that’s what we now have. We could be doing corporate, well-paid function gigs on a quiet stage with amp modelers, but that’s not fun is it.

JOHNNY: Play live! Keep it raw! Live hard! Be authentic! Have a Good Time! Make people Dance! 

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(Photo: Dirty Weather Blues Revue)