Wreckless Abandon | Art by Klaus Voormann

Artist Name: The Dirty Knobs (Mike Campbell)

Release Name - Fuck that Guy [Single] ahead of Wreckless Abandon [Album]

Release Date - 20th November 2020

Genre - Rock

Label - BMG

‘Wreckless Abandon’, the highly anticipated debut album from celebrated guitarist and songwriter Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac) and his band The Dirty Knobs, is now set for release on 20th November 2020 via BMG. The band have just debuted their new track, ‘Fuck That Guy’. LISTEN TO ‘FUCK THAT GUY HERE’

Campbell says ”Fuck That Guy’ is a simple song that could really be about anyone you know. The video is a bizarre and darkly humorous take on 2020. It’s been a hard year. It helps to just laugh. We shot the video in September, just last month. Sometimes life ends up imitating art in almost unimaginable ways”.

Video director Gilbert Trejo adds, “For the “Fuck That Guy” video, we leaned into some of the motifs from my favourite silent films, creating the ‘me against the world’ character that guys like Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin perfected, but we stripped away what made those characters so endearing and empathetic. There’s no need to empathize with the physical embodiment of COVID—seriously, fuck that guy. The Hazmat crew was our sort of 2020 version of the Keystone Cops, always on the hunt, trying to clear the world of this asshole who’s walking around thinking ‘he’s god’s gift to man.’”

The new video also features actor and comedian Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm) as well as actor Danny Trejo and was directed by Gilbert Trejo (X, Pixies, DIIV).

Earlier this year, the band released the album’s lead single and title track, which received critical praise from The New York Times who noted, “The music is a classic-rock portmanteau, invoking eastward-looking Beatles, the Who, the Byrds and the Rolling Stones just for starters.” The Dirty Knobs created Wreckless Abandon without agenda, expectations or deadlines, and without worrying about outcome or hits. They’ve pushed boundaries of taste, imagination, and genres, to create a 13-track album of brutally confident rock and roll.

In additional to Campbell, The Dirty Knobs are Jason Sinay on guitar and vocals (Neil Diamond, Ivan Neville), Lance Morrison on bass (Don Henley), and Matt Laug on drums (Slash, Alanis Morissette).
Produced by Campbell and George Drakoulias (The Black Crowes, The Jayhawks), with all songs written by Campbell; the album features further contributions from Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and guitarist Chris Stapleton as well as fellow Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers founding-member, Benmont Tench. Additionally, Klaus Voormann, who is best known for doing the art for The Beatles’ Revolver, created the album artwork.

The Dirty Knobs came together nearly 12 years ago, after Campbell met guitarist Jason Sinay at a session and liked the way their guitars sounded together. What began as a less structured project for Campbell in between The Heartbreakers’ touring became something else altogether when they added the rhythm section of bassist Lance Morrison and drummer Matt Laug. What followed was several years of intimate, almost incognito, performances in the band’s home-base of Los Angeles and surrounding Southern California cities. After all those years playing together, it became clear The Dirty Knobs should take what they were doing to the next level. After Campbell’s long-time compatriot, friend and band-mate, Tom Petty, passed away in 2017, he knew the only way to heal some of the pain was to throw himself wholeheartedly back into his music.

“Losing Tom was earth-shattering for me. It was a total shock,” Campbell continues. “It had felt like we would be playing together forever. For a while it was hard to imagine playing in my own band again, let alone one where I’m the frontman. Tom was always my beacon. But everything I’ve been doing since Tom passed, including this album with The Dirty Knobs, is in the spirit of honoring what we did together.”

WRECKLESS ABONDON AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER HERE

WRECKLESS ABANDON TRACK LISTING
1. Wreckless Abandon
2. Pistol Packin’ Mama
3. Sugar
4. Southern Boy
5. I Still Love You
6. Irish Girl
7. Fuck That Guy
8. Don’t Knock The Boogie
9. Don’t Wait
10. Anna Lee
11. Aw Honey
12. Loaded Gun
13. Don’t Knock the Boogie (Coda)