With singles from their debut album Reach Out, Disconnect getting lots of airtime, and their performance on the BBC Introducing stage at T in the Park in the U.K., Wrongnote has certainly been making many connections with listeners. Frontman Callum Smith and guitarist Sean Biggerstaff (Harry Potter) recently discussed the band, the music, and "conjunctivitis" in an exclusive interview with The Ticker.
Along with Smith and Biggerstaff, bassist Greig Duncan, and drummer Stewart Robison round out the band's lineup. Wrongnote formed in 2008.
"The driving force is basically me," said Biggerstaff, "I've pulled the strings all along, without the others' knowledge, and once I was finally happy with the set up, I condescended to actually join the band."
But Smith paints a different, albeit probably more accurate, picture. "Sean regularly disappeared and re-emerged in a more aggressive form, like conjunctivitis or kidney stones […]the driving force has been a collective idiocy: The idea that, somehow, music is how we can best define ourselves," he recalled.
The same humorous, yet self-effacing attitude can be found in their lyrics. Smith describes the band's sound as "Heavy drums, fidgety bass, jazz chords and post-melody vocals."
The album is certainly eclectic in terms of musical style, which reflects the fact that all band members have different musical influences. "I think the only thing all four members agree on is that Prince is really good," Biggerstaff said.
Reach Out, Disconnect is a fantastically well-rounded album in that it offers listeners a spectrum of songs completely independent from one another stylistically, while still producing a sound that is uniquely Wrongnote.
"Innocent Eyes" and "Coca-Co-Codamol" are alluring and hauntingly melodic tracks, while "Devil Give Misdirection" and "You've Got Some Optic Nerve" are grittier, fast-paced, and aggressive, and yet still maintain that warped melodious quality found in the aforementioned tracks.
The lyrics can be quite raw, "Painkiller/ separate my church from state/ lay my liver out to waste/ I need a taste," and sometimes cryptic.
According to Smith, the songs "are about various forms of deviance" and they involve a mixture of both real experiences and fiction.
"For example, ‘You've Got Some Optic Nerve' really is a love ballad aimed at a games console but ‘Snake. Snake? Snake!' is definitely not about Snakes," he said.
Given that the band members have such different tastes and musical preferences, makes recording and performing quite difficult.
"Our process, if you could even call it that, is volatile and often unpleasant," said Biggerstaff. Smith even admits that the band has deserted more songs than they have completed.
But for now, the system works.
"What keeps us going is the consistency with which the end product, seems to us, to justify the means," concluded Biggerstaff.
One thing they all seem to agree on is the identity of the band: it's about the sound, not the look. "We're set apart purely in the passive sense: We don't concern ourselves with anything other than making noises that we like." Biggerstaff said.
"Maybe it's nice that some people take pride in their appearance and turn up to all the gigs that like-minded people show up at. It's just not us and never will be," Smith added.
Indeed, the album is proof that they're not concerned about following any particular music trends or conventions, which is what makes the album so refreshing to listen to and enjoy. The songs don't fit into any one particular mold and are obviously the result of differing personalities, and yet Disconnect still manages to hit all the right chords.
As for the future, the band plans on playing more festivals and perhaps releasing a single.
"There are also whispers of a second album but that won't be until we're completely happy with our newest batch of songs," Smith said.
Reach Out, Disconnect is available for digital download on iTunes, Amazon mp3, and on the band's website, where listeners can hear about the latest news and announcements at http://wrongnote.co.uk
Source: The Ticker
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