White Room is about to be shown in Canada on BPM:TV! Olly, Big Kyle and Adam Boy had a little chat with them this week, here is the interview!:
Where are you from?
We are the spawn of Ziggy Stardust's strongest swimmers and an intoxicated egg of the 'shaved head era' Britney Spears. In London. Some time in the future. (Adam Boy)
Do you write your own songs?
Yes. Thus far we have always written and produced all of our own material...I think it's a very important part of being an artist and expressing yourself. As a front man and lyricist i feel like it's my job to convey a story to the audience and to take them out of their world. To do this effectively and for it to be believable, you need to put a piece of yourself out there. I would feel weird if someone else wrote all my lyrics. I'm not at all opposed to co-writing with people in the near future. Sometimes it's good to bounce ideas off of somebody else. I'd love to cowrite with Anthony and the Johnson's. (Adam Boy)
What’s your ethnic background and what do you like about your culture?
I am from a Greek Cypriot background, but was born and raised in London. I love Greek Food! I like how passionate and warm the Mediterranean people can be but there is also a darker side, a side filled with religious dogma and narrow mindedness. (Adam Boy)
Are you Married? What are your thoughts on Marriage?
I think Marriage is an outdated concept - but it works for some people....I don't think that Love is made official just because you sign a piece of paper. Personally I've yet to experience true love and i'm not sure if ill ever get marriedI - If i do Music will always be my Mistress. I have yet to find someone that can handle coming second to The Dirty Disco. The Dirty Disco is my Wife for now. (Adam Boy)
What inspires you to write songs? Do you write the melody first? How do you write a song.
A lot of the time I'll randomly have an idea for a title and then the hook will usually come from that in my head. Personal issues, Religion, and prejudice always trigger a need to vent. Sometimes a word from a book that i am reading can trigger a whole song. Most of the time I'll have the chorus written vocally and then we'll produce the track around that. (Adam Boy)
How do you describe your music to people?
I find it hard to pigeon-hole "The Dirty Disco". We all come from such different musical backgrounds that its hard to focus on clear influences. I think the best way is to look at the record and the live show being two separate things. On record we are very clean, electronic pop. On stage were more far more "Rock 'n' Roll" whilst keeping the dance sounds and pop hooks. (Big Kyle)
What has been the worst nightmare for the group? How did you get through it all?
I think like any band we have our ups and downs. I don't think i could say we've had a "nightmare" as such. We've split up on alcohol fueled nights countless times but by morning all was good. I think the strain we feel most is attempting to keep ourselves motivated. We have no label/ money and put in a huge amount of hours in every day to try and push our vision far and wide. We get through and keep motivated because we are all really close friends, family really. (Big Kyle)
What was the very first album you owned?
When i was about seven, my mum took me to a record fair... She gave me £3.00 and told me i could buy any album i wanted.I left with Michael Jackson's "Bad" album of cassette. As my musical tastes morphed with age, it was one of the few tapes i never stuck paper in and recorded over! Still love it to this day! (Big Kyle)
Do you have a pet?
I do indeed. I have a Bengal kitten called "M" with my girlfriend. He is trouble! I live with Adam Boy and he has a cat called 'Her Royal Highness' Muffy... They are both ridiculously spoiled! (Big Kyle)
What was your most embarrassing moment on stage?
Hmmm... Had a few! I Frequently find my fly (zipper) to be open at the end of show. Ha ha! The absolute worst i can think of was when we were headlining a Student festival a couple of year back. We played our set as planned and walked of stage to the most rabid applause we've ever received. Amidst the cheers were shouts for "...one more tune" As we were all on a high we thought f**k it; lets do it. As a band that use 3 laptops on stage we soon realized that it wasn't a great idea! we intended to play our cover of the "Jefferson Airplane" tracks "White Rabbit" but in my haste i cued up the click track for our own track "White Room". Our drummer clicked... 1..2..3..4.. and we all came in playing the wrong track.. We had to stop and then start again. it killed the vibe and made us all a little embarrassed! (Big Kyle)
How did you come up with your band name?
We were originally called "The Retrosexuals" and when planning to release our first vinyl, received a strongly worded email from a band with the same name from my native Scotland .
The two tracks on the release were called "Retrosexual" and "Dirty Disco". After weeks of arguing we stumbled on the idea of flipping over the vinyl and using "The Dirty Disco".. We didn't all hate it so it stuck! (Big Kyle)
What was the best live concert you’ve ever been to?
I have see many great concerts over the years. Radiohead was one of my favorites, Plastikman too. Though id have to say that the best show Ive seen was actually "Fever Ray" which i saw just last week. "Fever Ray" is the solo project from Karin Dreijer Andresson from Swedish act "The Knife". The Light show, atmosphere, sound and amazing band meant my jaw was on the floor for the majority of the show.
What are your rehearsals generally like?
Our rehearsals are generally pretty fucking loud! We tend to mess around quite a lot and jam random shit but once we get focused we just nail the songs, going through the set a few times and pick out any tracks that need extra work and attention. We don't always get much time to spend together as a band so this is one of those rare times we get to hang out and have some fun! (Olly D)
Who are your musical influences?
My person musical influences probably differ very much from the other band members or as a collective. As a band i think we are very influenced by David Bowie and Marilyn Manson, for different aspects of what we are. Personally, i am more of a metal/rock man, with bands like Deftones and Dillinger Escape Plan being 2 great inspirations to me. I'd also have to throw Muse in there, one of the greatest bands of our time, perhaps any time. Amazing songwriters and a wicked sound. But at the same time, i like a lot of funk and disco stuff, particularly as a bassist; you just cant beat a funky bass line!
Have you ever had any strange or stalker type fans that you are aware of?
I think we may have had a few 'special' fans, as any band should, but we have been lucky so far in not having any super weird, stalker vibe fans! We did almost get kidnapped once though; we played a show in Shoreditch at the Rhythm Factory and a group of Polish fans came to see us, great crowd and very supportive. but after the show we got talking to them just before we had to run for the last train and one of them was very insistent we went back to hers and partied with her. So insistent it got to the point where i think she was holding my arm and refusing to let me go. We literally had to run away from them! (Olly D)
Where are you from?
We are the spawn of Ziggy Stardust's strongest swimmers and an intoxicated egg of the 'shaved head era' Britney Spears. In London. Some time in the future. (Adam Boy)
Do you write your own songs?
Yes. Thus far we have always written and produced all of our own material...I think it's a very important part of being an artist and expressing yourself. As a front man and lyricist i feel like it's my job to convey a story to the audience and to take them out of their world. To do this effectively and for it to be believable, you need to put a piece of yourself out there. I would feel weird if someone else wrote all my lyrics. I'm not at all opposed to co-writing with people in the near future. Sometimes it's good to bounce ideas off of somebody else. I'd love to cowrite with Anthony and the Johnson's. (Adam Boy)
What’s your ethnic background and what do you like about your culture?
I am from a Greek Cypriot background, but was born and raised in London. I love Greek Food! I like how passionate and warm the Mediterranean people can be but there is also a darker side, a side filled with religious dogma and narrow mindedness. (Adam Boy)
Are you Married? What are your thoughts on Marriage?
I think Marriage is an outdated concept - but it works for some people....I don't think that Love is made official just because you sign a piece of paper. Personally I've yet to experience true love and i'm not sure if ill ever get marriedI - If i do Music will always be my Mistress. I have yet to find someone that can handle coming second to The Dirty Disco. The Dirty Disco is my Wife for now. (Adam Boy)
What inspires you to write songs? Do you write the melody first? How do you write a song.
A lot of the time I'll randomly have an idea for a title and then the hook will usually come from that in my head. Personal issues, Religion, and prejudice always trigger a need to vent. Sometimes a word from a book that i am reading can trigger a whole song. Most of the time I'll have the chorus written vocally and then we'll produce the track around that. (Adam Boy)
How do you describe your music to people?
I find it hard to pigeon-hole "The Dirty Disco". We all come from such different musical backgrounds that its hard to focus on clear influences. I think the best way is to look at the record and the live show being two separate things. On record we are very clean, electronic pop. On stage were more far more "Rock 'n' Roll" whilst keeping the dance sounds and pop hooks. (Big Kyle)
What has been the worst nightmare for the group? How did you get through it all?
I think like any band we have our ups and downs. I don't think i could say we've had a "nightmare" as such. We've split up on alcohol fueled nights countless times but by morning all was good. I think the strain we feel most is attempting to keep ourselves motivated. We have no label/ money and put in a huge amount of hours in every day to try and push our vision far and wide. We get through and keep motivated because we are all really close friends, family really. (Big Kyle)
What was the very first album you owned?
When i was about seven, my mum took me to a record fair... She gave me £3.00 and told me i could buy any album i wanted.I left with Michael Jackson's "Bad" album of cassette. As my musical tastes morphed with age, it was one of the few tapes i never stuck paper in and recorded over! Still love it to this day! (Big Kyle)
Do you have a pet?
I do indeed. I have a Bengal kitten called "M" with my girlfriend. He is trouble! I live with Adam Boy and he has a cat called 'Her Royal Highness' Muffy... They are both ridiculously spoiled! (Big Kyle)
What was your most embarrassing moment on stage?
Hmmm... Had a few! I Frequently find my fly (zipper) to be open at the end of show. Ha ha! The absolute worst i can think of was when we were headlining a Student festival a couple of year back. We played our set as planned and walked of stage to the most rabid applause we've ever received. Amidst the cheers were shouts for "...one more tune" As we were all on a high we thought f**k it; lets do it. As a band that use 3 laptops on stage we soon realized that it wasn't a great idea! we intended to play our cover of the "Jefferson Airplane" tracks "White Rabbit" but in my haste i cued up the click track for our own track "White Room". Our drummer clicked... 1..2..3..4.. and we all came in playing the wrong track.. We had to stop and then start again. it killed the vibe and made us all a little embarrassed! (Big Kyle)
How did you come up with your band name?
We were originally called "The Retrosexuals" and when planning to release our first vinyl, received a strongly worded email from a band with the same name from my native Scotland .
The two tracks on the release were called "Retrosexual" and "Dirty Disco". After weeks of arguing we stumbled on the idea of flipping over the vinyl and using "The Dirty Disco".. We didn't all hate it so it stuck! (Big Kyle)
What was the best live concert you’ve ever been to?
I have see many great concerts over the years. Radiohead was one of my favorites, Plastikman too. Though id have to say that the best show Ive seen was actually "Fever Ray" which i saw just last week. "Fever Ray" is the solo project from Karin Dreijer Andresson from Swedish act "The Knife". The Light show, atmosphere, sound and amazing band meant my jaw was on the floor for the majority of the show.
What are your rehearsals generally like?
Our rehearsals are generally pretty fucking loud! We tend to mess around quite a lot and jam random shit but once we get focused we just nail the songs, going through the set a few times and pick out any tracks that need extra work and attention. We don't always get much time to spend together as a band so this is one of those rare times we get to hang out and have some fun! (Olly D)
Who are your musical influences?
My person musical influences probably differ very much from the other band members or as a collective. As a band i think we are very influenced by David Bowie and Marilyn Manson, for different aspects of what we are. Personally, i am more of a metal/rock man, with bands like Deftones and Dillinger Escape Plan being 2 great inspirations to me. I'd also have to throw Muse in there, one of the greatest bands of our time, perhaps any time. Amazing songwriters and a wicked sound. But at the same time, i like a lot of funk and disco stuff, particularly as a bassist; you just cant beat a funky bass line!
Have you ever had any strange or stalker type fans that you are aware of?
I think we may have had a few 'special' fans, as any band should, but we have been lucky so far in not having any super weird, stalker vibe fans! We did almost get kidnapped once though; we played a show in Shoreditch at the Rhythm Factory and a group of Polish fans came to see us, great crowd and very supportive. but after the show we got talking to them just before we had to run for the last train and one of them was very insistent we went back to hers and partied with her. So insistent it got to the point where i think she was holding my arm and refusing to let me go. We literally had to run away from them! (Olly D)
