Deep Under Dirt                                                                                                                                           dud
Deep Under Dirt was formed in April 2001 by guitarists Brian Harshaw and Brian Theodore, who met through an online musician exchange program. The original name of the project was "Dark Skies," but at the time it was discovered that Ozzy Osbourne had written a song with the same title and a video game was being developed around it. The name became “Deep Under Dirt,” and the lineup changed continuously over the next three years, with friends and band mates coming and going as they often have to. With this latest lineup change (and a big one, at that), they’ve changed the band name to ‘Fist Engine.’ Here at DM, we decided we wanted to get in a few words with guitarist Brian Harshaw to see who’s who and what’s what. Here’s what they had to say:

DM: How did you come up with the new name? And for that matter, how did you come up with your original one?

BH: The new name was one of the old ones that was left over when we were originally naming the band. We liked it because it was powerful and different. It is also a bit old school and we have a lot of old school influences. Deep Under Dirt means deep under the influence of the Alice in Chains record Dirt. We were all into it at the time.

DM: Why the lineup change?

BH: When our vocalist Stephen Phillips left the band we decided it was time to change a few things. The name went fist. Some of the old songs getting tossed came next. Our bass player Paul Bolton was singing now and we needed to right stuff that fit with his style more. Then when we heard that our original guitarist Brian Theodore wanted to come back, we decided to make the move. It was a tough one because our second guitarist Paul Rickard had been with us for about a year. We made the move and it was nothing against Paul or his playing -- he rips on guitar, it was more like letting a friend go and bringing a brother back. After that move, Stephen Phillips decided to come back. He also plays guitar and wanted to do more of that so we now have one of the most incredible lineups out there -- two lead vocalists, three guitar players, and of course bass and drums.

DM: Why did Brian Theodore leave the band to begin with?

BH: Brian is a graduate student at UTD and decided to focus the past year on finishing up his undergrad degree and starting on his masters. After a year away, he started to miss being in the band. As one of the founders of the band, when he decided to come back, we felt it was the right thing to do.

DM: What other lineup changes will take place besides > him? Well, Stephen is back on both guitars and vocals and I don't see any more changes happening at all. This is a really good band with incredible and versatile musicians. I can't wait for people to his this live, it is absolutley brutal but melodic and deep at the same time.

DM: Why aren’t you playing more metal clubs?

BH: We have played every club in town except Trees and The Wreck Room in Ft. Worth. We prefer to play fewer gigs these days, after years of playing shows, we want the ones we do to be more special. I would say that we are regulars at most of the local metal clubs except maybe Galaxy Club which we hit one or twice a year. We want to get back to Grafitti's as well, its been a long time since we played there and I love that place. Part of the problem we have in playing live is that we aren't as heavy as a lot of the young band out there -- we do have lead guitar work, a vocalist who can sing, and our music is very diverse. We aren't influenced by death/ black metal or hardcore like a lot of the young bands. This does limit to who we can play with because at the same time we are much heavier than the bands who play in most of the Deep Ellum venues.

DM: What is this ‘new sound’ going to be like, and how will it be different from the original?

BH: Well its going to be heavier with three guitars and much deeper vocally. We are working on a song now for instance that is longer than anythign we have ever written, has more dynamics, and more timing changes. Its not named yet and we call it the "Tool song" if that gives you an idea of the sound. When we first started, we had a lot of fast stuff and at one time were moving towards being almost a speed metal band. We have now evolved to having lots of clean and atmospheric guitar parts and we have a very low tuning.

DM: What plans does the band have for the future?

BH: Studio and writing are the orders for the time being. We need to get this down to tape and then we plan on playing live through the end of the year. I hope to have a CD release party in the early fall. We will be working to get out new name out there more over the next few months as well.

DM: Anything else you would like to say?

BH: Well, its been a long  and fun three years since we started this thing. We've had lots of ups and downs and at this point it looks like we are on a huge upswing. I;d like to invite all your readers out to the Curtain Club on July 8th to check out the first live show with the new line-up, you will not be disappointed! Thanks for having us.