“Boys Should Eat You Out When You Have Your Period” (An Interview with Brook Storti of Sandy Dish)
Do or die? No, they’ll tell you. Dish or die.
The Melburnian five-piece band Sandy Dish, beloved by both fans of garage rock and half-naked Australians, channels its audience through a powerful stream of Victoria Bitter, hedonism, and the kind of carnal lyrics that are almost guaranteed to make your nan blush, if she isn’t tempted to whap off her top in an act of empowered female solidarity. Led by vocalist and pissing-in-public connoisseur, Brook Storti, the group consists of four fellow members, including Andy O’Connor, Lachlan Meager, Tiffany Fowler and Willis Hugisloot, who all contribute to the indescribable task of writing pro-woman bangers like their 2021 track, “COMMIT TO THE CLIT.” The band’s latest musical endeavour, an EP titled “ALBUM” was released in July of 2021.
Editor Caitlin Andrews had the delightful opportunity to chat to Brook Storti about getting shadowbanned on social media, who in the band met selling acid, and why writing tracks about female issues doesn’t always have a political intention.
Caitlin Andrews: Hey there Brook, so cool to meet you! What’s new in life?
Brook Storti: “Thanks, you too. Not much!”
CA: Tell me a little bit about the journey in forming Sandy Dish. Were you friends with your bandmates ahead of forming the group, or did you meet through the music? What motivated you to pick the name “Sandy Dish”? How did you get into writing music specifically?
BS: “Okay, a bit of Dish history! I saw the band RACKETT play one night—they are an all-girl band, and I thought, “Shit that looks like fun, I could do that.” So I called my friend Andy (guitarist), and I called my ex-lover, and the three of us started the band! The members changed within the first few months (I’m sure you can guess why) but as the band sits currently: Lachy, Tiffany, Willis and Andy were all my pals; some were friends, some not. But it’s safe to say we are all best friends now :)
I wanted the name to be like a sexy ‘70s girl name. I was obsessed with The Runaways at the time and the drummer's name is Sandra (Sandy). An old term for a hot girl, which I have now discovered nobody younger than 50 knows about, is “dish,” like, “She was a dish.” And that is how the name came to be.”
CA: Which tracks would you recommend for a new listener who wants to get a feel of the band’s energy? Do you have a favourite track overall, and are there any that are especially fun to play onstage?
BS: “People love the track “New Age Girl”. It’s very energetic and spells out the main themes of the band pretty clearly. My personal favorite track is “Social Media Slut”- it makes me feel cute, sexy and flirty when we play it live.”
CA: As a quintessentially Australian band, are there any cultural or social ef ects from living in Melbourne that you think implement themselves into your music or public appearance? Where would you like to live if not in Aus? (I suppose you are already “Big in Eastern Europe”!)
BS: “Melbourne is a hub of live music. It’s easy to be a muso here with all the venues and talented people on the scene. An outcome of this is that I sleep with a lot of dole bludging, poor musicians. That definitely has an effect on my lyrics. Melbourne is a very fashion forward city. This pushes and inspires me and the other band members to think outside the box a little more when it comes to outfits. Melbourne is also a pretty ‘woke’ city, which is kind of something we try to push the boundaries of in our music and antics. Lastly, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else other than Melbourne ‘coz I’d miss all my friends too much. But I would love to live in Eastern Europe if I could take them with me!”
CA: What was the process like in creating your most recent 2021 EP, “ALBUM”? Was there a consistent theme or intention behind the track list?
BS: “The Dish just kinda does and thinks later. We don’t like, sit down and say “Okay, we are going to release an EP, now we must write songs.” We write songs when a funny idea comes along or a joke is taken too far, or I just have a great idea for a song and the band and I hash an idea out. With our EP, ‘ALBUM’ we realized that we had enough songs, we had enough money, and then we went and did it. Everything happens pretty organically in the dish, and we try not to get too hung up on taking everything too seriously, which has served us pretty well so far. If I had to pick a theme though, it would be proper naughty girls.”
CA: According to your Instagram account, “ALBUM” was actually internally reviewed by Spotify for being too “dirty,” which pretty much sounds like a punk badge of honour. What do you think propels Sandy Dish to create music that pushes boundaries? Are there any political intentions behind your use of female nudity, sexual language, and discussion of bodily functions, or is it just more fun that way?
BS: “Bro, we have had posts shadowbanned off EVERYTHING! YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, so annoying!!! The EP was held up at Spotify we think because of the song title ‘Commit to the Clit’, but they never really give you a reason. Luckily, it did get through! Although, you’re pretty hard pressed to find it on Insta or YouTube, where the music video has defs been shadowbanned - we always found that weird seeing as there is no profanity in the song unlike all our other songs, just the word ‘clit’ which shouldn’t be considered profane.
Our video for ‘Nobody Can Love You Harder Than You’ was shadowbanned too, because we didn’t realise that a rogue tit made it into one shot. TBH, we don’t try to push boundaries. The band always encourages me to be myself, I think I’m quite an open person, and I think all our personalities shine through in our music and the content we make. As I said before, we just kinda do and think later. So I’m usually topless on stage because I’m usually topless at home, parties, and the beach.
I write songs about how boys should eat you out when you have your period, because I’m usually bitchin’ to my friends that this guy wouldn’t eat me out because I had my period. I think the political part came later, when we got so much feedback about how ‘crazy’ and ‘out there’ the songs were. It made me kinda go “Huh?” because all our themes are just things I talk about with my friends. So it’s kind of weird that more people aren’t writing songs like that. But then it makes sense because we’ve had stuff shadowbanned, and they haven’t. I suppose in a way what we do is inherently political, but that’s totally not our intention - we’re just trying to make each other laugh and have fun as a band, and I’m just trying to write songs about shit I care about or experience, and sometimes serious ideas are reflected through that too.”
CA: Either personally or in relation to the formation of Sandy Dish, who would you consider your main musical influences? Are there any smaller artists that you think deserve more recognition?
BS: “Well RACKETT for sure, because we wouldn’t be a thing if I didn’t get last minute tickets to their show and have that wave of inspo! I messaged the band for the rest of this question because all our influences are so different, and are important in creating the sound. So, in no apparent order: RGV, The Runaways, Jack Harlow, Sonic Youth, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Cable Ties, Magic Dirt, Blink 182, Bikini Kill, Private Function, Erol Garner, Gonzo, Ray Charles, L7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kylie Monoge, and ACDC.”
CA: Given your unfiltered nature and punk sensibilities, are there any fun stories, secrets, or facts you can reveal about yourself or your fellow bandmates? What’s something you’d like people to know about the band?
BS: “Some cute secrets and wild facts about the dish members are:
- Willis runs a popular meme page and is a famous techno DJ.
- Lachy and I originally met as a set up date.
- Tiffany used to fuck Andy with a strap-on.
- Willis and Andy met when Andy bought acid off Willis.
- Andy and Tiffany met because they were neighbors with a hole in the fence, and she is still saved in his phone as ‘the girl from the fence hole’
- Lachy is dangerously obsessed with the Beatles.”
CA: What does the rest of your 2022 look like? Do you have any big upcoming plans or releases for fans to look forward to?
BS: Yo, we’re going to record another EP soon in this analog studio in Castlemaine. So hopefully it will be true old school punk (even though I think we’re garage rock lol). We’re super pumped about the songs and video ideas we have on this one, and I think people will really like it. But outside of that, hopefully some festivals, we might make a doco, we’re going to keep doing episodes of our new podcast Once a Month, we might do a dish flavored energy drink, who knows? We’ve been referring to 2022 as the year of the dish, so hopefully that pans out.”
CA: Where can Periphery’s readers find you?
BS: “‘@sandydish’ on Instagram if you wanna laugh, and ‘Sandy Dish’ on any music streaming services if you wanna cry, we’ve got our debut album ‘GOD MIGHT BE GAY’, and the new EP ‘ALBUM’. We have TikTok, YouTube, and all the rest. But you have to check our accounts frequently because the videos get taken down REAL quick. We did just have one video restored on TikTok on appeal, so that’s cool. And you can listen to the Once a Month podcast anywhere you listen to those.”
Periphery Magazine thanks Sandy Dish for their contribution, and wishes them luck with future releases! You can find them on social media and streaming platforms here:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/56CJNGsRT9pO48GtRlxla2?si=5nMX7zkoTmOZO2ZwwesD6A
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandydish/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtGR4fJxxPJfS393haWMT7g
If you are interested in being featured in Periphery Magazine’s interview series surrounding interesting people in creative roles, please contact Caitlin Andrews at: cait.peripherymagazine@gmail.com.