Rising To The Masses: DISPOSABLE

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Before the first riffs echo through the fields of Catton Park, we are diving head first into the pulse-pounding world of the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock 2024. So grab your backstage pass, tune your senses, and join us as we explore the stories, inspirations, and the relentless drive of the bands who are rising to the masses! Introducing DISPOSABLE…

How would you describe your band to someone who’s never heard you?

We have always been rooted in thrash metal, or at least, playing fast. There is such a wide spectrum of taste within the band members that a fair range of metal subgenres have crept in throughout the years. So long as its loud and lively, we’re happy, but it’s always going to be thrash centric.

Tell us about your band’s origin story. How did you all come together?

We are truly a high school band. Three quarters of the band have been around for almost 15 years now, and it all started when we were young bucks in school. We stumbled together by being the only people we collectively knew who could be in a band.

What song would you recommend for someone’s first listen of your band?

Describe your songwriting process. How do you create your music?

Our frontman and bassist billy has always been the lead songwriter, but in recent years it has become more of a collective effort. In times gone by, we usually write songs individually, demo them, then pitch them to the other members. It’s always been a pretty anti social process for us for some reason. Our upcoming record strays from that process a touch though and was the most collective writing session so far, but even that wasn’t exactly what we’d call “Teamwork”!

How do you handle creative disagreements within the band?

We usually argue and bicker about it until we remember we’re actually all best friends and nothing matters anyway. We’re all protective over what we write and usually there is a lot of sacrifice that has to happen to get everyone on board. It’s a price we pay from writing individually most of the time. But once the bickering stage is over things become satisfyingly cohesive. You just have to get it out there!

What are your musical influences?

The big guns of thrash, naturally, and then a lot of hardcore, crossover and progressive metal. Things seem to be going in a more crossover thrash direction recently, so at this exact moment in time I’d say bands like suicidal tendencies, power trip, strapping young lad, king parrot and punk bands like the chisel and beastie boys and bad brains. Over the course of our time as a band, you’re realistically looking more at bands like Slayer, Sepultura, Metallica, Nailbomb and a bunch of metalcore, progessive-y stuff.

What’s the story behind your band name?

It comes mainly from being a cool word and wanting a one word band name, but I guess its trying to tap into that feeling of being used and then thrown away, in the context of life. Our lyrical themes have never been the most positive stuff, and the fallibility and temporary nature of life and the cutthroat way society works is something we always go back to. But to be entirely honest, it just came from being a cool word.

What’s your guilty pleasure music outside of metal?

We don’t feel guilty about listening to anything. There’s probably a lot more listening of non metal stuff than you’d think. I think we kind of all hate each other’s music tastes apart from a handful of bands we agree on! Billy loves Sting more than pretty much anyone of any genre right now, Liam and Oliver might not even say metal is their favourite genre at all. Jack is our man truly holding up the metal torch and burning that oil for us all.

Tell us about your most memorable live performance or tour experience.

We recently celebrated 15 years as a band and played a headline show in Edinburgh at a venue we had never had the chance to play before. We got the suits on and made a big deal of it. It was just a fun, happy time that went down so well and made us feel good about ourselves and reminded us what it’s really all about. There’s so much crazy shit involved in making a band work and function in any kind of productive way, especially when you’re all busy and working loads and dealing with life, that you really remember and appreciate the shows that go perfectly. That hour on stage is everything!

What’s the most challenging aspect of being a metal band in today’s music industry?

Making any money ever seems to be the hardest part. That goes for the band and the individuals! We’re just 4 guys who have to work all the time to afford to live and do some cool stuff as well. Finding time to get all of us in the same room together when we’re all working multiple jobs and shit is nuts. Then you give all your music away for nothing, then get parred asking for £150 guarantee anywhere other than our hometown. So yeah, affording to do enough to actually get out there.

Any advice for other aspiring metal musicians?

Enjoy your lives! We always go back to the question of “Are we enjoying this?” whenever we’re working on anything. Its amazing sometimes how the answer is “No” for a fair amount of it. Attempting to be in a functioning band can honestly suck sometimes, especially if your heart is in it and you’re protective of your creations and stuff. Definitely be patient, remind yourself you’re in it to enjoy it and work hard. Try to flex your creative muscles without too much worry. Respect your instrument and remember you’re just a percentage of a band – not the whole thing!

What’s next after Bloodstock for the band?

We have a new album coming out on november 29th called “It’s blood that trickles down” and it’s a furious, short, aggro crossover album that I don’t think many people are expecting from us, given the last 2 releases have been fairly “Sophisticated” (by our standards!) releases. We’re chucking that out and then intend to have as much fun with it as we can online and at shows. Our guitarist is leaving soon to be in a rock band so we’re going to be a power trio as well, which adds to the aggro vibes. Bring it on then!

How do you choose album artwork or visuals for your releases?

Someone usually naturally has a passionate idea about how a release should “Look”. Some of us care a lot more about that side than others. Album art wise we usually pluck one of our talented art friends out for the job or make it ourselves. In recent years we’ve gone pretty much entirely diy with artwork and visuals.

What’s the most unexpected inspiration for one of your songs?

There’s a lot of songs about very specific aspects of James Bond films that no one other than Billy would ever know about, because he’s the biggest Bond fan on earth. There’s a song on the new album as well that was inspired by a wee jingle we started singing while watching 2 bears fight in the game tekken.

What’s the best gig you’ve attended as a fan and why?

WE WON TICKETS TO METALLICA IN HOUSE OF VANS IN LONDON WHICH WAS MAYBE 800 CAPACITY. BEING OF OUR GENERATION, SEEING METALLICA PLAY TO SUCH A SMALL CROWD WAS AN INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY.

Have you faced any challenges as an unsigned band? How do you overcome them?

It feels like pretty much everything is a challenge. There’s probably lots that we don’t actually overcome at all. Honestly. If it wasn’t for the pure love of doing it and playing the live shows and sharing a good night with people then I think everything else would feel like a horrific slog. Our current worst things are finding the time to do the things we want to do then finding the money to do them. We overcome them by being both tired and skint!

How do you stay motivated during creative slumps?

Creative slumps are something we very rarely have. There’s always someone writing away, coming up with new ideas and stuff. We work very individually in that regard so the creative slumps may come to different members at different times, but as a band we’re fairly good at ticking away. We motivate each other that way I guess. Sometimes we steer clear of whoever isn’t in the right headspace and when that person is ready they’ll jump back in. It’s a respect thing I suppose. There’s bigger stuff in life than writing some songs and someones often struggling with that!

DISPOSABLE are set to play The Hopical Storm New Blood Stage On Friday 9th August 2024.