@alpaca.presents
by Brandon van der Berg @vdb.brandon
Just before Disaster Clinic’s first Headlining performance we went upstairs for an interview, found out the room was reserved, headed back downstairs and found a nice table to have a conversation over 2 bands sound checking at the same time.
So we’ve established that I’m terrible at my job. That’s good.
I assumed all this moving around and distraction would have freaked them out a bit, but they were really great sports about the whole thing. Confident, friendly and lovely to talk with.
Read our conversation below.
For Fans Of Evanescence, Paramore and Avenged Sevenfold.
Find them on Instagram
This is your first headlining set as a band, How are you feeling?
(Sarah) Wooo!
(Charlie) Good!
(Handina) Good! Excited.
You seem nervous about tonight.
(Handina) I feel like we are all a little bit nervous. (talking to Charlie) Well, wasn’t it you who said the moment you got here you just felt calm?
(Charlie) Calm, yes I said that. We all just love each other so much.
Crofters does have a kind of existential dread that matches the energy a bit
(Sarah) The smell is pretty depressing.
(Josh) It was a bit of a challenge fitting everyone on stage.
(Charlie) That’s what I’m worried about mainly.
(Josh) Especially with keys and that.
Yeah, you’ve come down from Birmingham haven’t you?
(Toby) I’ve come from Birmingham yeah!
(Handina) They’ve got the same smile, same laugh.
(Toby) Yeah, Josh is my brother!
(Knowing Josh I was surprised to hear he had a brother, I’m a terrible friend) Actual Brother?
(Josh) Yeah someone said that outside as well I was like “Where’s Toby gone” and they’re like “Is he your actual brother” and I was like… Yeah haha.
(Toby) It’s cool though I usually do like jazz stuff but when I come down here it’s opening my eyes to like a different world.
Bristol is absolutely a different world.
(Toby) Yeah, but it’s an art in itself. You get surrounded by snobby jazz people sometimes and you come here and it’s just the passion, you see the passion.
So as a young band, you guys haven’t released yet and there are a few big gaps in between performances, how do you think the goals have changed as a band throughout your first year?
(Charlie) We’ve definitely become a lot more aware of our sound.
(Josh) Chemistry man.
(Charlie) I think it’s motivated us to focus on our sound.
(Handina) The band members have changed around a few times. That automatically put a bit of a stunt in our growth if you know what I mean. Obviously, I joined and then you (Josh) joined after me. We play very differently to how our predecessors played.
(Sarah) We’re very serious now. We’re a serious band!
Despite the quantity of shows, you have played some amazing shows. Do you feel that the disparity between the quality of shows over quantity affects your confidence as a band?
(Charlie) I for one am much happier having a few good shows than loads of sh*t ones.
(Sarah) It’s quite hard to pull a crowd these days as well.
(Handina) I think that’s what we’ve had to be honest. We’ve actually turned down a few gigs because we just knew we were not gonna be ready for it.
(Charlie) But now we are!
(Toby) I think there’s a lot of value in that though. You learn a lot from playing a sh*t gig. But when you can do what you guys are doing, like practising with you guys, it’s like the rehearsal is the performance. I’ve never been in a rehearsal where you spit water over the Singer.
(Charlie) SSSHHHHHH!!!
(Handina) We do that on the reg.
(Sarah) We’re very close as a band.
(This was SHHH’d as it was a part of their performance that was supposed to be a surprise)
Nice! So what would you say is your biggest strength and weakness as a young act? (Handina) I think the strength is that we work really well together. (Charlie) We work very well together and I think we’ve got a very interesting sound because most of us are from different musical backgrounds but we all collectively like heavier music. (Sarah) I know our weakness… (Charlie) What’s our weakness, Sarah. (Sarah) Everyone Is just a squirrel with ADHD in this band. We just can’t- It’s so hard to focus- We focus really well. We just cannot. I’m just going in circles and screaming, it just doesn’t work. (Handina) And we go off on tangents. (Charlie) Was that pointed? (Handina staring down Charlie face to face about 10cm away) Yes, we go off on tangents………… Well, I think that working on your friendship as a band is way more important than anything else. After you tour and release and all of that jazz, is there anything not entirely productive you’ll look back on and feel totally happy that you spent time doing rather than being all serious about the whole shebang? (Sarah) Everything. (Charlie) Yeah, the way we are in rehearsals. NOW we have rehearsal plans to make sure we actually get sh*t done haha! But- (Handina) And we started doing that like a week ago. *Group laughs* (Charlie) But I don’t regret not having those rehearsal plans because I think doing whatever the f*ck you want is how you come up with stuff that’s really good. (Sarah) It’s taken the pressure off big time. (Handina) I feel like we weren’t actually that close when we started the band. So I feel like especially our first few rehearsals we actually spent a lot of time actually getting to know each other better. From your age as a band to the audiences you’ve been able to reach in the live scene, the pressure to release is definitely there. Is there a band favourite? (Charlie) Ooo. Which one should we say? (Josh) I kind of rate the new one if I’m honest. (Handina) I was thinking that. (Sarah) We need to get ‘Somniferum’ out. (Handina) Yeah! (Charlie) That is a band favourite. It’s definitely up there. (Handina) Every time we write a new song we change our minds. (Charlie) Which is good because it means we’re getting better. Slay. So as an originally all female-presenting band, how did you guys feel about adding Josh here? (Holding his shoulder lovingly) (Charlie) We love him. (Sarah) I love Josh, but obviously, where there is a lack of female guitarists there is even less female drummers. (Charlie) Female drummers are really hard to come by. (Sarah) We just click great with Josh. (Charlie) Josh is our little pet. (Josh) *Laughter* (Toby loving it) HAHAHA! Nothing like seeing your brother get domesticated (Charlie) If we ever get merch we might get a shirt with a slogan on it that says ‘All men except Josh’ (Handina) We actually do say that a lot. We’ll be b*tching and we’ll just say “Not you Josh”. Handina and Josh you guys joined after the band had already formed, did you feel any sense of hierarchy when you joined the band? (Josh) Nah man, everyone was really welcoming. It was really easy to sort of fit in and get on and sort of vibe with everyone. Really welcoming people. (Handina) I was really really excited. When you first started looking for a new bassist. We spoke about it outside of OMG when we were really drunk. (Sarah) I was like ‘Dina, please please please.’ (Handina) and I was like ‘YESSSS!!!!’ and as soon as I joined everyone was super welcoming and I love you all. Sarah and Ellie, bands like this can often be overshadowed by the frontperson at times, as the guitarists and only other original members of the band how involved are you artistically and aesthetically in the band? (Ellie) Sarah makes the sound of a lot of the songs. (Sarah) Yeah. (Ellie) It was mainly Charlie that wrote a lot of the songs but Sarah kind of revamped them. (Sarah) Yeah. Me and Ellie have done the new one but she’s basically done the whole thing. (Ellie) WE’VE done them. (Sarah) WE’VE, I feel like me and Charlie feel the same things so we don’t have to talk about it. I like how she looks, I want to look like her. I work with Ellie all the time so we’re on the same page. (Handina) I feel like you guys are the backbone, because you write so much together and do so much for the sound. (Toby) I think coming in from an outside perspective, everyone’s got their identity equally as valuable. Every piece of the puzzle is just as important as the others. I can really feel that here. (Handina) I feel like we’re very much together. You guys all go to the same university, has the progression of your educational years at all affected your commitment to the band? (Charlie) I feel like being in uni has made me want to do the band more because the uni is so sh*t. (Handina) YES. YES. (Charlie) I have to do something with my musical career. Do you guys have anything you want to promote? (Sarah) @disasterclinic on Instagram! (Charlie) @disasterclinic on Tik Tok! (Josh) and @tobymarriotmusic! For Fans Of Evanescence, Paramore and Avenged Sevenfold. Find them on Instagram
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