After a lightning national tour, The Disappointed launch their new EP, Weird Peace, at The Rosemount Hotel this Friday, May 30, with a truly impressive lineup of local talent in support: Red Jezebel, Tired Lion Shimmergloom and Dux & Downtown, plus South Australian outfit Dexter Jones. While they plied their trade in the east, we traded war stories with guitarist Mark Neal.
How’s the tour going?
It’s going really well. We finished up our regional WA run last week, and we are currently on the east coast playing Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Played in Melbourne last night, got to share the stage with some really great bands, bands who we’ve made friends with over the years.
Tell us about Weird Peace.
Weird Peace is a bit of a monster. We recorded with Dave Parkin again, this time around was a totally different experience. We changed a lot since the last EP, Stranger. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, just part of our natural evolution as a band and songwriters. this EP feels a lot more aggressive to me. Some of the lyrical content is really honest, and we wrote a lot of rock songs.
You guys seem particularly savvy when it comes to marketing. How vital a skill is that for a band these days?
I think it’s really important. I push the band to try and think outside of the box when it comes to marketing, Its important to keep whatever fanbase we have interested in checking out our tunes and coming to shows. We spent a lot of money and time making this EP, I want people to know it’s out there
What’s the standout track on the EP?
I Disagree With Myself. We’ve had a lot of arguments and fist fights choosing which songs to send to radio and which songs to make music videos to. I always loved I Disagree With Myself. Usually if a song doesn’t come together in the first couple of rehearsals we scrap it. I Disagree With Myself took a long time to perfect, but there was always someone fighting to keep it alive, and in the end its catchy pop goodness was undeniable, it almost demanded to be a single.
What’s on for the rest of the year?
We’ve got a pretty exciting international opportunity coming up at the end of this tour. then we start writing for the next release. We have another east coast tour booked in July, and we are going to do a split single with Dexter Jones at the end of the year. We’re trying to keep productive. I’ve spent too many years fucking around. We wanna keep touring and pushing this band as much as we can before we all get too old, and bust a hip or something! That and I think we get bored easily. There’s only so many times you can watch Event Horizon and jerk off! Not at the same time.
