Hiya Disruptive Influence, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
Interestingly enough it never even crossed our minds, the original members way before we were called Disruptive enjoyed listening to music and we really wanted to go to shows didn’t really matter who was playing but couldn’t because we were underage and had no money but we noticed kids our age were playing shows as opening bands and got to stick around after playing so we thought we would give it a shot and failed miserably but the determination to get better stuck around. Also the guitar hero helped.
Introduce us to you all and your musical history.
Disruptive influence as named now started as a college band with Ollie and the bassist at the time taking it outside of college and seeking new members, our first gig was a pub in Thornbury where the PA system failed so Ollie was just shouting over the guitars and drums. We then moved on to playing monthly at a venue called ‘The croft’ where we learned how to play with each other and could try out new songs and start networking with other musicians, from there we got a little name for ourselves and started playing for a local punk promotions which took us under their wing and really did alot for us, they put us on with some of our heroes Uk subs, The Buzzcocks, Sham 69.
Penetration and many others they were also responsible for us playing the O2 academy in bristol twice. From there we just never gained traction as our songs were getting stale, we had members leave and we decided to take a break. This did wonders however cas we came back and wrote the ‘Underage Drinking’ EP with new members and reminded us that we should look back and keep moving forward. We loved doing it, despite not playing the same big shows every month we still kept going and still enjoyed playing music and that’s why we finished the ‘Brink of war” album and have picked up the pace on our self promotion and booking live shows.
What’s the live music scene like in (Bristol) right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
Bristol has always been a paradise for live music, everyday you can find something on, no matter what your into, bristol is rarely ever dead and its been this way since i was a teenager, there is a committed scene and familiar faces always packing out grassroots venues, The most memorable place for us is the Thunderbolt on Bath road a 150 cap venue that always feels like home, its small but when its packed it rocks as hard as any other venue and it supports small artists like us. Hot flab are starting to make waves in the local scene, Split Dogs just down the road in weston super-mare, Mutilated state if into your more hardcore stuff, honestly too many to mention and we wouldn’t want to leave anyone out.
I’ve seen a lot of people struggling for support recently online. What’s your view on the industry?
I want to say kill the internet and get back to the old days of going to shows and discovering new bands, however, that’s not the world we live in anymore, we have to learn to adapt and the new challenge is competing with hundreds of thousands of musicians online for people’s attention and in this age where you can listen to anything you want music feels more disposable and peoples attention has become a lot shorter. However, We do have a unique advantage these days because we don’t need big labels and music executives to put music out and reach people worldwide. They still make all the money but there’s more power in the artist than ever before and big labels only want you when you don’t need them anymore!
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
Despite being a band for 13 years we still feel like we are at the start of our journey, we never look back and always try to improve. We might not make it to the main stage at a major UK festival but as long as we are having fun and there are things to shout about we will keep going. I think in 10 years whether we are playing sold out arenas or half empty bars we will get a mosh going.
Tell us two truths and a lie about you.
A dog named Earl helped us produce our new album.
We once brought more beer than the headliners so they made the promoter go out and get more beer.
We once stole a big headliner’s rider and they cancelled the show, no one knew it was us.
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture? Discuss….
This is the hardest question to answer. It’s in our minds, we know our intentions and we know our views and anything else is irrelevant to us we obviously don’t want racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or anything like that in our scene, everyone needs to feel safe and included. Sometimes people can hear a lyric and interpret it in a way it was never meant to be. There’s not a lot we can do about that but again we know what our intentions and our views are and people should understand that through our music.
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If not, why not?
Conspiracy theories are wild sometimes. 20 years ago it was a conspiracy theory that UFOs were real and now they are having open discussions in congress in the USA about it and they disclose classified UFO files regularly. So in a way yes? But also no theres alot of mental gymnastics to do to believe some of them and I’m not great at the gym.
What was your best experience on stage?
Every moment i’m on stage playing music with my friends is the best experience, but if we had to choose Exeter cavern when we played a Punk night called wreckage was crazy, everyone knew our lyrics, people were crowd surfing, from the front of the stage to the back of the bar people were going insane and not just for us but every band that played that night. Grew our confidence and made us feel like home in a different city.
What was your worst experience on stage?
We got asked to play an encore so we had a cover ready, a well known cover and we collectively forgot how to play it and abandoned the song. And that’s all I have to say about that.
Tell us something about you / each member that you think people would be surprised about.
Ollie (singer) I worked as a live sound engineer in Bristol for 12 years and did sound for some bands that have ended up becoming really big in recent years, i won’t name drop tho.
Jed (drums) When I was a toddler, my parents took me to an art exhibition where they had a piece by a very famous painter. My childlike meat brain urged me to touch it with my bare hands because the colours were pretty. I have never felt primal satisfaction like this again.
Higgy (guitar) I can kick any punk band’s ass at FIFA!
Sam (guitar) Is an exceptional skateboarder watching him skate im surprised he wasn’t an unlockable character on a tony hawk game
Robin (Bass) I was an extra in the popular television series ‘Skins’, also my great uncle was in Showaddywaddy (according to my dad)
What are the next steps you plan to take as a band to reach the next level?
We are hoping to play bigger shows and get our name out a bit more, before we just played for the local scene and that’s all well and good but it doesn’t spread anarchy wide enough, this interview is more promotion than we have ever attempted so our next step is to take ourselves more seriously even if we are a bit goofy.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
Jed: basically it’s us but where we are now; new recordings of old songs, but also sprinkling in new material and stuff we haven’t recorded before. Ollie is the last of the original lineup and is responsible for writing most of the older songs, and we’ve (Thom, Robin and myself) have put a new stamp on them with our parts and writing contributions with those, as well as newer songs such as *Sick of our Shit*. It has shaped the beast differently from the earlier demos and recordings into something new, but just as crude.
Brink of War is revitalised and more realised, but we keep that scrappy spirit alive I like to think. We keep the hooks going since we like to pull people into singing and dancing along rather than just watching, and that in my opinion translates well to the tape. In terms of messaging, we couldn’t be putting this out at a better time with recent political downturns all over the world. We aimed to transfer the discontent into a fun time rather than just make a dour record. However, we need to keep the spirits alive while we try to keep on living as things get worse and direct the anger at the right people, something that we hope to do. We are launching the album on the 14th of december will be available on most streaming services and the Launch show will be at ‘The Thunderbolt’ in Bristol on the same day and it’s free entry for everyone.
What was the recording process like?
Quick! This was the first time we paid for recording usually we would do it ourselves that’s how the EP was recorded, we had 3 days to record 9 songs and we had made it work because we couldn’t afford anything else but with help from Phil Davies from Room 4 studios and his dog Earl. We recorded it basically live so we still get the raw sounds and the mantra of the week was ‘embrace the Jank’!
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
This album is a line under the last 10 years because that is how long we have been writing it, it was really hard as we had members leave due to life changes and people grew up and started families and the biggest learning curve really was how to work with new people coming into the band and adding their own changes to the songs and not getting stuck in old ways.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
No, as we said before we never look back and we will now be looking to the next project, if we think about it too much we can pick anything apart and end up ruining the raw sound we have created. But if we HAD to change anything we would probably have recorded it 5 years earlier and be recording the next album already.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
If ever you find yourself uncontrollably angry at the state of the world where you just feel like the powers that be have beaten you into submission through capitalism and policy and life feels hopeless and overbearing, just remember, we have an album for that! December 14th.
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