Disconnect is a new US band who released no less than two albums and one EP last year. They operates within the Crossover genre and their albums is quite something.
I got in touch with Erich O'Dell for the story so far.
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Your
biography has already been included in PA so let's go straight to
your releases. Your debut album was Radio Hostile from 2010. Please
tell us more about this album.
'Radio
Hostile' was a vehicle we used to vent our collective frustration
with trying to 'make it' in the music business as independent artists
for so many years. We weren’t sure anyone other than
ourselves would ever hear any of the songs, which gave us quite a bit
of latitude for experimenting with different sounds and styles. We
both felt it was important for the story to have a happy ending of
sorts, as the ultimate point of the album is personal empowerment.
We found it quite ironic that more people responded positively to
'Radio Hostile' than any of our previous work that was
decidedly more mainstream.
Straight
after that, Obscuros was released. Please tell us more about this
album.
After
completing 'Radio Hostile', we felt we were on a bit of a
creative roll, so we decided to continue developing new material.
Although we had literally just finished recording the debut album, we
already knew we wanted to try out new ideas we hadn’t attempted on
that record. On 'Obscuros', the songs are more complex
and certainly longer. From a lyrical standpoint, the new
material is much darker and more personal. We feel it’s our
best work to date and are quite proud of it.
And
the EP Fragments was also released the same year. Please tell us more
about this EP.
Believe
it or not, 'Fragments' was actually released in between 'Radio
Hostile' and 'Obscuros'. 'Fragments' is an EP that
contains 8 songs which were originally recorded during the band’s
'Radio Hostile' sessions. These songs were cut from the
final version of 'Radio Hostile' late in the production
process. They were already mixed & mastered so it made the
decision to release those extra tracks within a separate EP logical.
The 'Fragments' material was cut from 'Radio Hostile'
primarily because we felt the story was stood just as strongly with
15 songs as it did with 23. 'Fragments' is sort of
“Disconnect-lite”. The songs are more mainstream and not
nearly as complex as our progressive work.
How
is the creative processes in your band from coming up with an idea to
it's being recorded and how do you record your albums ?
Our
creative process is kind of interesting. My studio is located
in Maryland, while Brian's studio is in New Jersey. So we're a
'virtual' band in some ways. A Disconnect song typically starts
with a simple demo (guitar, vocals) that is played along to a click
track. Once completed, that demo gets sent off to Brian via FTP
to work his magic in his studio. Brian then composes a basic
drum track for the song and sends me his updated drum track, also via
FTP. I’ll then import his drum track into my session, and
start building the song outward from there. Working this way
really allows you to hear the music as it’s layered and gives us
additional ideas on how to structure songs. On 'Obscuros',
we actually reversed the process for one song and it worked out
great. The song “Circadian Rhythms”, started out as just an
8-minute solo drum track that Brian recorded. From that, I
built up the chord structures and off we went. We keep adding
layers from our respective studios, exchanging files until we are
happy with the song. Brian also adds some programmed synth
tones here and there, which really helps give our songs more
texture. It’s interesting to note that during the recording
of 'Radio Hostile', I think Brian and I only spoke on the
phone once. All other communication was via IM or email.
How
is the distribution of your albums ?
Our
distribution right now is primarily electronic. As an
independent band, we’ve found production of actual CDs to be
cost-prohibitive at this point. Currently we have electronic
distribution through CDBaby.com. So that gets us on iTunes,
Amazon.com, Last.fm, emusic, Rhapsody, etc.
For those of us
unknown with your music; how would you describe you music and which
bands would you compare yourself with ?
We
like to think of our music as adventurous prog rock that always
focuses on the groove. We’re not one of those “hey, listen
to what we can do” bands who try to put on their best Dream Theater
impersonation with pointless pyrotechnics. We feel with
each recording we are evolving a bit more and never repeating
ourselves. We have a lot of different elements to our sound.
Bands that have influenced us include King Crimson, Porcupine Tree,
Rush, Peter Gabriel, and Pink Floyd.
The
issue of disconnection is the blood running through the band. We are
all connected up to something from we open our eyes to we close them
again. I personally feel you are on the right track, here I am
sitting on Facebook in one window, Twitter on another window, an
internal messaging system on a third window and some other
communication devices open too. In today's world; if a V.I.P/ member
of the US Congress get shot, most of us are so connected that we
almost get the news before the bullets hits the flesh. I wish I could
disconnect, but I can't. What is your take on this issue and what is
your answer to this problem of stress through connection ?
Personally, I hate mobile phones and pagers with a passion, but
that's me.
The
concept of disconnection is something we believe in strongly, but at
the same time Disconnect is a band that has fully embraced the latest
recording technologies which allow independent artists to produce
high-quality recordings in their home studios without spending
thousands of dollars in commercial studios. So we are a bit of
a contradiction to our own philosophy. While we cannot
completely escape the trappings of a connected world, there’s still
something to be said for stepping outside and taking a quiet walk.
What
is your plans for this year and beyond ?
Right
now our immediate focus is to promote 'Obscuros' as much as we
can. We’re extremely proud of the record and we want as many
people to hear it as possible. Simultaneously we’re also
continuing to promote 'Radio Hostile' as we’re still seeing
consistent interest in that album too. We’ve been looking at
the logistics of putting together a live act (as currently we are
just a studio duo). We’re already in the early planning
stages for our next album. All signs currently point to the
next album consisting of a single, album-length track.
Anything
else to add?
Only
our thanks to ProgArchives.com for the addition to their database as
a Crossover Prog artist, as well as the opportunity for this
interview. We appreciate it.
Thank you to Erich O'Dell for this interview
Their PA profile can be found here and homepage is here
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
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