Dischordia is going on tour towards the end of June, with the first 8 shows with The Summoned. I recently interviewed the guys to get a look at their creative process and colorful personalities. Their EP “Binge/Purge” is out June 15th.
The Reaping Tour Featuring Dischordia and The Summoned (6/14-6/21) 6/14 – Oklahoma City, OK 6/15 – St. Louis, MO 6/16 – Chicago, IL 6/17 – Richmond, IN 6/18 – Akron, OH 6/19 – Pittsburgh, PA 6/20 – Bristol, CT 6/21 – Allston, MA 6/22 – Baltimore, MD 6/23 – Richmond, VA 6/24 – Charlotte, NC 6/25 – Nashville, TN 6/27 – Madison, WI 6/28 – Minneapolis, MN 6/29 – Waterloo, IA 6/30 – Kansas City, MO
TMR: How did the idea of Binge/Purge come to fruition?
We are always writing new material, but the idea for an EP with two long, contrasting songs called Binge/Purge actually came before any music was written for it. It came about shortly after recording Thanatopsis, and since we really hit a nice stride in the writing process for that album we wanted to expand on the some of the moods we captured in a couple of those songs. Turner shared the intro to Binge in early 2017 and we spent the rest of the spring and summer tossing around riffs and ideas in between tours. It was one of our better writing sessions as things came together pretty naturally. Lyrically, Keeno had tossed around the idea of Dante’s Divine Comedy for a while waiting for the right music. He and Turner wrote the lyrics fairly quickly once the music was complete. It was a perfect fit.
TMR: What’s everyone’s biggest pet peeve at shows whether it’s etiquette, performance, venue quirks, soundman annoyances or anything of the such?
Professionalism over douchebaggery. As a death metal band, we obviously don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we do strive to present professional etiquette wherever we are, whether a big venue or dive bar. Be cool to everyone, don’t play over your set time, stick around for the other bands, tip your bartender, etc. We once played a show where a band played way, way over their set time and constantly asked the crowd if they wanted to hear one more. Then they took an obscenely long time getting their gear off stage, all of that resulting in another band not getting to play because the venue had a set noise cutoff time.
TMR: How was the band name decided?
We are giant fans of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The word “Discordia” is very important in that universe. Josh tossed out the idea of a play on “Discord” buy adding an “H” for a musical element. We also remembered Dischordia was a name of a villian on The Power Rangers. Basically, Dark Tower + Power Rangers + Death Metal = Dischordia.
TMR: What’s the first thing you guys think of the moment you’re done packing your gear and done with your set?
Keeno: “I hope that didn’t suck.”
Turner: “I need a cough drop and a beer, stat.”
Josh: “I hope Keeno didn’t suck.”
Photo Credit: Sarah Beth Cowan
TMR: What’s your drink of choice?
We’re all craft beer snobs, but also enjoy a nice bourbon, soda, OJ, purple stuff, or Sunny D. We make it a point to stop at really good breweries and bars on tour, some of our favorites have been Tree House, Toppling Goliath, The Bruery, Bottle Logic, TRVE, Hammerheart (we love you, Hammerheart!), and the best bar of all time, Heorot Pub. We basically book beer tours and play music in between each stop.
TMR: What attracted everyone to dissonance? I personally love it and the experimentation going on in the progressive death metal scene right now!
It’s really been exploding the past few years, and we feel like it’s a great avenue to avoid doing the same old thing. Of course, cliches can come about in any style and you do need to be careful to not just stitch together some Gorguts throwaway riffs, but intentionally pursuing a dissonant, abrasive sound gets to the heart of what aggressive music like death metal should be for us. Sometimes you want your music to be a good straightforward punch, but creatively winding through weird, clashing chords and lines can bring out a really visceral experience.
TMR: How did the writing and production differ in any way with Binge/Purge compared to your past releases? Did you try anything different this time around?
This was the most collaboration we’ve done as a band. Our normal process is one of us brings 50%-60% of a song and the others help edit and finish. For B/P, we sat down and actually wrote in the same room at times and would share ideas and drafts almost nightly. We demoed more and worked on pre-production a lot as well. You really get a fresh set of ears when you are able to hear the progress from midi to demo to final product.
TMR: What’s the typical dischordia writing session? Does the bulk of your material come from spontaneity at practice? Or is it planned with a certain structure in mind and someone brings in a completed song? We’re all different as artists.
A typical writing session is sitting down around a couple laptops, talking through what a section needs to sound like, then working out some riff ideas. After a framework is in place or an idea is started, we’ll all expand on stuff individually and bring back a lot to work with next time. We never really jam or write in “band mode” where we’re all on our usual instruments, we typically all work out ideas on guitar first. Occasionally we’ll lead off with a drum or bass idea. We luckily and unfortunately have a huge back catalog of both conceptual ideas and random sections/riffs of things to use.
TMR: What does everyone do for fun outside of dischordia?
Turner plays a lot of soccer. Keeno has no fun, since all his spare time is taken up writing his dissertation. Josh helps run a teaching studio and is working on another solo project music video. But mainly we’re just a bunch of domesticated dads who drink a lot of beer and whiskey. Somewhat responsibly, even.
TMR: What’s everyone’s favorite up and coming band right now nobody might not know of yet?
Gourmand from Kansas City is fantastic, and they’re long time buddies of ours. Kenaima is an utterly insane band from Denver that sounds like a tornado on a leash that’s about to break, and the times we’ve played with them have been terrifyingly beautiful. Sunless is another favorite of ours, and they just got off tour with Gigan so they’re finally starting to get the recognition they deserve. Among The Missing are some fellow OKC dudes that are always a good time.
Photo Credit: Sarah Beth Cowan
TMR: Bigger shows or small intimate shows?
We’ve had a blast playing in front of a few hundred people or 10 people in a dive bar in Yuma, AZ. It really depends on the crowd honestly, 10 people going nuts right in front of your face can beat 200 people staring lifelessly at you, and vice versa.
TMR: What are your favorite albums of 2018 so far?
Man, it’s been a good year already and we’ve barely kept up. Slugdge, Portal, Of Feather and Bone, and Rivers of Nihil have put out some excellent death metal, and the new Tomb Mold is going to be devastating when it releases in June. Wayfarer’s album just came out but it’s already blown us away, and Uada was reliable catchy and awesome. The Body’s newest is fantastic, Lingua Ignota’s contribution on it was absolutely perfect and then her own album is just devastating. We’re also looking forward to Imperial Triumphant later on, and we’re waiting with all the patience we possess for a new Baring Teeth album.
TMR: What band would you love to play with one day?
Jimi Hendrix or Meshuggah. We forget. We’ve actually been fortunate enough to play with some of our favorite bands, but Meshuggah would be a big one. We’re going to miss playing on a Primitive Man, Krallice, Wayfarer, and Forn show in our hometown due to our own tour, but that’s pretty much a dream show too.
TMR: What musicians would you guys like to collaborate with in the future whether with its dischordia or a different project?
All of our big hopes are completely unrealistic: Mike Patton, Devin Townsend, Martin Gore, Tom Waits, etc. It’s honestly not something we’ve given too much thought to, but it would be a lot of fun to work with a noise artist, or maybe someone leaning toward power electronics to push us outside our comfort zone.
TMR: Link anything you do outside of dischordia here whether it’s music related or not.
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