Released Date: June 24, 2016
Dorothy is a band on a mission to wake up a sleeping giant. Despite questionable as hell cell service from AT&T, the heart and soul of Dorothy Martin – the band’s front woman – transmits loud and clear, bursting with kinetic energy. Dorothy Martin is a woman on a mission: To build a musical bridge, strut across that bridge in thigh high stockings and wrench a visceral reaction from everyone within earshot of her sultry rock angel voice and have the time of her life while doing so. By her side are DJ Black (guitar), Gregg Cash (bass), and Zac Morris (drums) wreaking a beautifully sinister and gloriously thunderous havoc: it’s a perfect four piece-match. A match that has resulted in signing to Roc Nation, touring with Miguel, Halestorm, and Lita Ford and a debut full-length album, ROCKISDEAD, that sets the stage for a live show that pulls very few punches.
Dorothy expresses and explains; she vocally glows, gushes and praises. Her appreciation for being alive, for making music and for those who surround her is tangible and not even AT&T can dampen it. This is Dorothy Martin in her words.
Have No Fear, Rock Is Here
“Obviously rock is not dead, and never will be. Music goes in waves, it goes in cycles. We have the 70s, we have the 90s, and hopefully now we can do something that’s a little exciting, you know, and bring that live, raw energy back to music that’s been kind of… I would say hibernating, for a bit. It’s been hibernating.
The most rewarding part of my life is the live show, right? We go in the studio, we write the songs, we do rehearsal, but the live show is what makes everything worth it, because the look on people’s faces and the fact that they’re so pumped and singing the songs. Whether or not we sound like the record, who gives a fuck? It’s just so fun.”
Is That An Echo? No, It’s Just The Entire Room Singing Along
“That’s great. I don’t even realize it sometimes. We went from playing shows at the Satellite and the Bootleg, where we had our close friends and family, to selling out the Echo and people knowing the lyrics. It’s what keeps us going.
Now I want to deliver something even more cutting-edge, even more rock-and-roll, even more raw and real; anything I can do to make people feel something. That’s the goal, to make people feel something.”
Live Is Where The Music Lives
“I’ve been obsessed with the show Vinyl. I totally understand where the lead character’s head is at. I’m not a raging drug addict, but man, do I get where his head is at. I get it. I understand his yearning for real music and for real passion. There’s only been a handful of shows I’ve been to where that really…that artist-to-consumer, or fan, or listener relationship really happened, and it was real. One of them was a Jack White show and…Jack Garratt. Jack Garratt made me cry.”
Sidebar: We feel you, Dorothy. Phase by Jack Garratt, folks. Go there.
Girl Power
Dorothy Martin
“Going on tour with Lzzy Hale [Halestorm] is a dream. She’s super inspirational. Not only is she like an older sister/mentor to me as a person, as a human being, but she’s like shredding guitar on a nightly basis.
I asked her, ‘What’s your secret? What do you do?’ She’s like, ‘Fake it til you make it.’
This bitch goes up in heels – pardon my vernacular, but like, what the fuck? She goes up and like, kills it every night, brings her wine. She’ll hang out with me. She knows when it’s party time; she knows when it’s business time. She’s a big, big part of my life. She’s a big influence, and I’m very, very grateful for our tour.
I’m like, ‘Hey, Lzzy, am I fucking up? What am I doing?’
She sits there and she walks me through it. She’ll tell me, ‘You need to fake it ‘til you make it,’ or ‘You need to sleep,’ or ‘You need to knock that shit off.’ She’ll tell me to my face what I need to do to be better, and I really love her for it. I look up to her very much as a human being. I feel very grateful to have her in my life.”
Always Carry Cash
“Let me interject right there and say that Gregg [Cash] also music directs the band and is extremely talented when it comes to hearing things and directing the live show. Gregg has been a very integral part of making sure our live show flows the way it flows.
His energy’s so positive, and he’s been around. He’s played with pop stars, he’s played with punk rock bands. He’s from Philly, right? The dude is a musician through and through, and that’s what I love about him. He fucking loves me, but he sticks around because he loves it, because I’m an asshole. Like he needs to be around me, right? I’m a crazy bitch.
You have to be tough-skinned to be in this band, and it’s great, because it’s like having that brother that really is your ride-or-die, and he’s there for you. That’s a real thing. We truly love music, and he is musically, extremely intelligent. He’s extremely intelligent, period, but musically he’s very intelligent. I need that in my life, because it allows me to be the artist that I am. Without Gregg and people like Gregg, there’s no band.”
Welcome to Roc Nation
“My manager, George Robertson, basically shot a video on a Canon 5D, and then he showed Jay Brown [Roc Nation CEO] the video. He’s like, ‘Dude, she’s real, for real. Let’s sign her.’
I was a little concerned, because it’s scary when you sign a deal or whatnot but the point of this is to make music, and if it gets heard, great. If gets put on a platform, awesome. That’s the whole point of it.
The way that Jay made me feel so comfortable, and it was like, ‘You do you. There’s no one like you.’ That made me feel good. I should have an ego, the way they Jay talked to me. I really should have an ego, but I don’t. He brings me back down to earth. He’s like, ‘You should do you, and be real.’ All of it is so honest, and that’s what makes it good.
Now we’ve gotten more involved as a band than we’ve ever been. I feel like a lot of time with the music industry, a lot of it is programmed, is forethought, and it’s just planned. I want this to be the realest thing it could possibly be. The record’s great; the live show has to be epic, as far as I’m concerned. You could hear the record, and you come to the live show and go, ‘I’m a fan.’ That’s the most important aspect to me, and I really rely heavily on the guys for that on our label. They’re like, ‘Do you. Whatever you need, you got it.’ You know what I mean?”
Take Me Down To Paradise City Where The Grass Is Green And…You Find Your Voice
Dorothy
“A lot of the voice came from a lot of pain. As is true for a lot of singers, you have to go through life. You have to go through a lot of loss and a lot of life…for it to be real. For it to feel real. That’s why I relate to like, an Axl Rose, legendary rock dude. We’re actually covering “Paradise City” as we speak, and it’s daunting. It’s a lot of pressure, because that’s a legendary, epic, iconic rock band, right?
I relate to him so much as a singer, because I hear the struggles he’s been through. I share the part of him that’s so human. You can’t recreate that in the studio. Anyone can sing like Axl if they have a lot of training. That’s not the point. The point is for it to feel good. We’re not going to turn it in until it feels good.
I’m sitting here reading these lyrics, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, he gets it. He’s been through some shit.’ You can’t be a great singer until you’ve been through some shit. You can pretend to be one, but you’re really not going to connect with people until you’ve actually either lived in the street or hustled your way to the top. Whatever your story is, it’s going to have to be kind of a dirty one for it to be good, you know?”
Remember That Night Randy Jackson Came To Your Show? Yeah, That Was Cool
“That was at the Satellite in east LA. I remember that night! I have a photo with him. I was like, ‘You’re motherfucking Randy Jackson, and you’re at our show!’
He says, ‘You’re dope. You’re dope, dawg.’ I go, ‘You’re Randy Jackson, so I must be dope. I don’t know where to go from here.’ Miguel came out, Ruby Rose came out; it was fucking awesome.”
Tattoo, You
“The backs of my legs were something I got when my dad passed away, and I got a lion and a griffin because I felt that they would protect me and it was artistic and they were beautiful. The guy who did it had this dive-y little…you could liken it to a dive bar in Encinitas. He had this little dive-y tattoo shop, but he was so good at what he did. He understood me, and he sat there and he listened. I was like, ‘Yeah, this isn’t even about getting a tattoo, it’s about you listening to me.’
I love tattoos. I get lots of drunk tattoos on the road. If you’re 16 and you’re thinking about getting a tattoo, just make sure it means something really, really important to you, because you’re going to look back four years later, and you’re gonna be like, ‘What the fuck was I thinking?'”
Road Life, Tour Life…Friends and Family Life
“I have a story for you about this. All right, let’s do this. Basically, we’re so anal that literally every hotel room we have, we will do gym day, we’ll eat well, and then because we’re human beings, we get over it and we get frustrated, and by the end of tour it’s nachos and everyone’s tired! Everyone’s tired; it’s time to each nachos and quesadillas, and whatever. Party, dance, whatever.
We had a dance party at the end of tour that was the funnest drunk night I ever had. That’s not normally part of my routine, but really just experiencing… Letting go and being with your friends. You forget what it’s like to be human, you forget what it’s like to have friends when you’re an adult and you’re trying to pay the bills and keep up with taxes and all the serious shit, right?
That was such an important lesson for me to learn as a person. I was like, ‘This is really fun.’ It should be fun, and I see how happy everybody is, and that was the most important part of tour.”
Dear Abby? No, Dear Dorothy And She Has A Message For You
“It’s supposed to be fun, and I created this project with some really amazing people, super talented people that I will never forget and always be family with. Enjoy the rock and roll. It’s not meant to be anything serious. Rock is not dead, clearly; it’s sarcastic. Don’t take it so seriously.
I always wanted to be a singer as a kid, and my biggest piece of advice is just don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t do something that’s really chewing your soul on the inside. It’s not a good way to live your life. You’re only here for so much time; you might as well make the most of it.
That’s the only advice I could give anyone, because I don’t know shit.”