The unique sound of Dissonants was released on November 24th as their debut single and music video titled ‘Exhale’ was made available online. We got the chance to talk to the Southampton based five-piece Rock/Post Hardcore band about how they started, what inspires them, their plans for the future and more. They are currently working on and organising the release of their debut EP, which we can expect to hear more about soon.
How did the band begin?
The band began February of 2017 when me, our guitarist Ben and bass player mike decided to call it a day with our last project. We drafted Aaron from Mike’s original band gone by tomorrow on guitar and went on a drummer hunt. We thought of Chris as he originally auditioned for Gone by tomorrow some time ago and found he was a perfect fit for us.
What is the concept behind the band? Is there a reason you make music?
This band was born out of frustration and disassociation with the south coast music scene, we have all been in bands before and had our fair share of bad hands so to speak. But we found we had a similar outlook and frame of mind, been through similar situations and more importantly a similar sense of humour, however dark. So, this time around it does feel like we’re friends first before were band mates. The way it should be. The concept behind our music, I feel personally is to deal with your frustrations and insecurities and pain healthily, we channel ours with music as it is such a beautifully unique thing and has individually defined us as human beings and as musicians, and to ultimately relate to people on a personal level. And to let them know that whatever they feel, they are not alone.
Where do you get your inspiration from musically and lyrically?
Lyrically, I find inspiration from a lot of different places. A lot of it is personal, I struggle with Myself a lot. I’m Prone to depressive tendencies and anxiety has become a huge part of my day to day life. I don’t like myself that much. Other times it’s a disdain for the way things are, people, places, relationships, lost trust etc. I don’t write happy music, I don’t think we could of we tried. But I see it as putting negative thoughts and negative reality into something positive, art. Which has no right or wrong/ good or bad etc. Musically I think we write in the same way, channelling a lot of life’s day to day miseries to the deeper cuts that take more time to heal. As I said before we all have gone through similar things musically and personally. In the past we have written songs and the emotional response I get from it and eventually write lyrics for seems to tie in with the original inspiration for the music, generally without discussing it first, it’s kind of amazing.
What is the upcoming EP about and how did you find the writing process?
The writing process was kind of drawn out over a period of months. it took about 7 to finalise on all the songs. For me I started writing after a particularly bad time suffering with sleep paralysis, which had never really affected me before that point and since has never been as severe. But it did inspire the lyrics to Vultures, the title track. We were so happy how that song eventually turned out it did inspire an energy to keep the momentum, however there was never any pressure when writing the songs, inspiration came when it came, as did the words. I think he only song we struggled to get right was a song called Chambers, as it sounds a lot more complex than it is, and I couldn’t quite understand it, eventually I gave up on trying and just responded to the emotion it gave me, and became a quasi-love song/tribute to someone I don’t think I’ll ever quite forget.
What plans do you have for the near future?
I think the next big thing for us to get out there and play shows! After all that’s the biggest part of why we do what we do. We’re working with a PR company this time around to put this EP out to hopefully boost our artist profile, we have a music video for our upcoming single exhale and few more things we can’t talk about just yet, then put the record out and wait to hear what people think!
How did you find and decide on your genre of music?
I think for us, a big part of why we do this is because we all have similar yet different tastes all at the same time. We definitely wanted to do something different. It seems these days it’s either a lot of pop punk bands or metal bands and everyone else doesn’t really seem to get counted. We want to be our own thing. With no aspiration to fit in to any category other than what each and every individual listener thinks it is. If we had to pinpoint direct influences on our sound it would have to be a lot of alternative rock bands and a lot of post hardcore, especially from the early 2000’s like finch, the refused, Silverstein, Deftones and some more modern artists like Young Guns and Circa Survive etc.
What is the meaning behind the band name Dissonants?
The name comes from the frame of mind we were all in at the time of starting this project. Frustrated and disillusioned with music and not sure where we were at or what we wanted to do, but we found solace in that together. And the cogs started turning. And with the shared vision of not really caring if we don’t fit in with everyone’s ideas of what is or what isn’t “cool” or something. It seemed like the perfect name.
What are your thoughts on the current state of the music industry?
The music industry has always been one of the hardest to break into and stay relevant in. Now it’s harder than ever. You have to do things that aren’t necessarily how you want to do them but it’s about seeing the bigger picture, hopefully without sacrificing too much of your vision. But these are the times we live in. And unfortunately, everything’s just little bit fucked. So, you have to make the best out of it.
Do you have any advice for other new artists?
Push yourself, be all that you can be and really find the balance between all of your goals, stay focused and be willing to sacrifice things to achieve. Visualise where you want to see yourself and try and make those things happen. The only thing stopping you is you.
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