Single Review: Play Dirty – Seems Like You Can’t With Me

So this one is going to be a little different because it’s in remembrance of a great man who fathered two wonderful daughters. Sadly, on the 11th August 2021 Derek Laird, or Curly to his friends, passed away after a battle with cancer. He had a lifelong passion for drumming and so today as a tribute to him I’ll be reviewing a single released by a band he was part of as a young man.

Play Dirty were a four piece, Ayrshire based rock group made up of Stevie Wallace who was the lead singer, Paul McLuskey the lead guitarist, Kenny Andrews on Bass and rounding off the group Derek Laird on Drums. The group started in the mid 80s and remained together until the early 90s when they went their separate ways. They produced a few different tracks while they were performing, including ‘Here’s my Ballad’ and ‘Visions They Are Mine’. They once backed Grand Slam, the Irish rock band formed by Phil Lynott (of Thin Lizzy fame). Today, I will be reviewing a single they released called ‘Seems Like You Can’t With Me’ which received radio airtime when it was initially released. 

‘Seems Like You Can’t With Me’ opens with a tight string intro that builds in intensity through the track, before the vocalist kicks in, he has a powerful voice that can hit a note hard while still sounding good. The percussion kicks in not long after supporting the nice, driving beat of the track expertly. This is such a polished song, I don’t know exactly how early in the band’s development this was but I’ve heard a lot of songs by a lot of bands and this one just has that almost indescribable quality that good music has. I love listening to the strings and drums sort of dance together, the awesome percussive fils blending and building alongside the guitar and bass. Speaking of guitars there is an amazing guitar section around the 3 minute mark that carries the track strong forward. I cannot point to one stand out part of this song, it’s solid and I’m not just saying that. It has a full throttle energy and technical proficiency that most bands never achieve. 

You can check out the track for yourself by clicking here, and I urge you to listen and keep a piece of Curly alive. Keep on drumming!