Infected Brain

Present yourself to the readers

We are the Disingenuous, we are a bunch of misfits from West Wales. We are a bit interchangeable, So you have Graylings, Jacob G- that’s me, the main architect- song writer guitar and vocals, Rej G on bass, Em G on female vocals, El G is the man on the sticks then you have Henry G on the other Guitar/Vox, and then there’s the ‘Nothing’.

What’s the story for THE PARISH OF UNCERTAINTY ?

Well the Parish of Uncertainty is a collection of songs that are based on being mentally or physically lost in the world! With the confusion of life in a media driven/manipulated world that prizes image and status above all else. The idea that the social media and the number of likes is almost like a religious crusade to acquire validation of ones place in the world!

Yeah, but isn’t that what we are trying to do? Lol

The songs are a mix of some older ideas that have been around for a while, for example ‘Rhaid i ni godi’ (which is Welsh for We have to rise) was originated from a demo riff my dad had in 1995, some songs rearranged again from other older pieces of work – Jacob, had recorded a few songs on project a few years back and we recorded those again. However most of the tracks were written in since January 2020, well certainly the lyrics.

So there were a load of almost complete songs 5 or 6 (no lyrics) flying around in January, and then the pandemic hit, so suddenly there was a lot more time to play and finish and record new material, and so from around March time, new songs were written, lyrics and melodies put onto the tracks.

Everything was recorded at home, so not really a proper studio, with bits being sent from one house to the other – people recording different bits – then J putting it altogether!

Yes, so about May time, I think we had around 18 tracks recorded including a few covers…

available on soundcloud!..

Thanks for that! Then we sat and cut down the number of tracks to the best ones, or at least the ones that fitted best together… so we had 12 tracks.

I think at one point the album was going to be a concept album, based on being lost- it was based on the Amaze song that was probably the catalyst for what you have now!

Then there was the longest delay with the final track! As we are all Welsh speakers in the band, some of first language, it was something that we had never done before was to sing in our language…

Yeah singing Death Metal in the Welsh language is almost impossible!! Ha ha

So we recorded a few tracks, but only the 13 track made it, as it fitted the vibe of the album. Once that was done, we were ready to master and away we went!

Who composes ?...How does it work in the band ?

J is the riff man, he starts it off with a riff usually – what sounds good. Then the song is built from that. Its 9 times out of 10 it starts with the music first, then the lyrics come later.

Then people chip in, and then the song evolves.

Who writes the texts ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?

Lyrics don’t come easy, I think it’s fair to say. Or rather putting it into a song format.

Yeah, I think that’s right.

So the lyrics have come from little things or phrase that have been heard. For example, I maybe in work, someone will say something, and I’ll think that’s a great lyric! The song ‘Let it go’, is mostly stuff that came from a very stressful work environment I was in. Someone said it’s like a ‘Chasm of Chaos’! I loved that

It was going to be the album title at one point wasn’t it?

Yes, that’s right! But ironically, the same work conversation someone said, “Ahh! The Parish of uncertainty! This place is ridiculous” – So again I nabbed that!

Two of the song, “Dark Summer” and “Blackwater Calling” came from a project between J and a Bulgarian Song writer Shem Zee, called Rocks on the Road. Shem Zee wrote the lyrics, the Blackwater Calling had a few tweaks for this version.

and El sang a female vocal to Dark Summer which completely changed it!

Breathe Again and Amaze were written around 20 years ago, for a band that my dad was in. Though they arranged differently the original lyrics were written and performed by a guy called J Pitcher. We found some old recordings on a four-track recorder, so we did actually include his original vocal on both of the tracks
I think the most powerful lyrically, has to be Shells in Sand. This was effectively a poem written by a poet and academic that J heard and said that’s got the making of a great song.

Yes. It’s about a soldier on the beaches of Dunkirk, remembering back to his time as a young man in Wales as he lies there dying in the sand…

Yes, another easy listening track J!

Well, it perhaps doesn’t quite follow the main thread of the album, but I think it was something that we felt needed and certainly felt that it should be on the album.

I suppose the songs are talking about fear.. anger in some places and mainly manipulation of the soul.
It’s fair to say, there were a few tracks that were way more upbeat, that didn’t make the album, but they didn’t fit the feel the album had. So we kept the ones that bounced off each other the best.

Why the name THE DISINGENUOUS ?

Ahh! Well, simply put and as the word means, not being sincere. We don’t really want to be what you think we are. Because we are not.

Hence the anonymization of the faces and the members in the band. How many in the band? Is it a band? It just adds mystery. The project is a very different way of doing things.

What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?

Well, metal is a key influencer for the whole sound.
Someone who heard an early version said, it’s like I can hear Metallica, Ghost and a bit of Green Day!

That pretty much hit the nail on the head.
Metallica are a huge influence! The attitude, but more the sound of the guitars! We would never be on the level of Papa Het on both the musicality and lyrically, but we tried.
Ghost, without a doubt had a massive influence on the style and image in the end of the band.
Tobius, and the way he writes all of the bits and then they record, is very much the situation in the Disingenuous. I mean the Nothing is very much in the Cardinal Copia school of mystery!

Rej, is very much an Oasis fan, so we occasionally have a laugh about that!

Green Day, Foo Fighter, Wildhearts, Neurotic Outsiders, there is a punk rock influence – which I think you can hear in Shame on You… There are more songs that again didn’t make it on the album as they were more in that style.

H, is very much a thrasher – loves Slayer, Anthrax, Pantera, Slipknot..

Being from Wales, we have the tradition of having to sing constantly in school and in the football and rugby – But bands like the Manics and Stereophonics are obviously heroes to us. Love Bullet for my Valentine, Skindred and Hondo MacLane… as well!

We have Budgie and Badfinger as our godfathers of Welsh Rock.. and of course Lemmy, who was born in Llandudno!

In the Welsh language music scene there are few bands that are pretty good, Mattoidz and Ashokan are two that spring to mind!

I mean it’s all about the 80s 90s metal scene really, Ozzy, Maiden, Crue, Def Leppard, NIN with a few bits of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam thrown in. Loud and aggressive !

In studio, what was the atmosphere for your new album ?...etc.…

As most of it was recorded in our homes it was a bit unusual. But once you started hearing the ideas, I think we were getting excited each time another contribution was added. The excitement of hearing the latest version of a track was the best thing.

Yea, I remember when What to do What to Say first landed, it was like, that’s a rockin’ riff. As it got bigger and louder the more motivated I think we got.
Some songs happened really quickly, but I think Amaze and Burn, were the most challenging, not in terms of playing them, but trying to get it them work. I think there three versions of Burn, bit Amaze must have been 10 versions, all different.. but it was never quite right. I think we gave that a bit of a 2 month break… then suddenly it just worked.

I think it was fair to say that we did a track at a time.

The atmosphere was one of I think of reacting to the pandemic, it was nice to get the frustrations out through music. Especially with all of the crazy things everyone was facing in the world. It was also a sound of frustration for all who found themselves challenged in the last six months.

How does it work for the design of the album ? and why this title ?

Initially the album was going to be a graffiti and punk style cover. We love an artist called ZeeZee Pop and we were going to go in that direction. Then we just tried a stain glassed/church window and it was so metal and gothic – we thought yes – that’s it. So then the title, as I said I had heard in a work environment- and it just popped back in there.

The title is kind of spiritual, but if you look carefully at the windows in the back ground they are x-rays of humans and not biblical. The emphasis is the artificial nature of spirituality in terms of placing the importance on what we are fed by media and social media. The importance of self and how important we think we are – but then the confusion caused by the mixed messages and images we are subjected to. So hence the uncertainty that is caused by it!

How was the shooting of the clip WHAT TO DO,WHAT TO SAY ? and why this choice ?

Because of not being able to get out, we recorded the parts apart and then threw the bits together and went from there. We wanted to show a little bit if what we are about. We want a bit of mystery and some interesting ideas presented, which I think it does. We put it together ourselves.
This was the song that really started the project off and so it is only fitting that it had the first videos.

With Management and booking, how do you work ? And with whom ?

As we are a collection of musicians, we manage our selves. So if anyone wants to book us they can contact us directly via Bandcamp and we take from there!

What are your projects (for the band) ?

I think we would like to put out an all Welsh language EP, and maybe a few EPs. I’m not really sure!
We want to complete a video for each of the tracks, that’s for sure. Of course we have a short run vinyl pressing of What to do What to Say/Breathe Again, that’s coming out in the next few weeks.

We have ideas to add lots of covers to the soundcloud profile! A kind of influences collection!

What do you expect from the future ?

We have no expectations in reality. We are just pleased if anyone listens to what we put out there. I think there are a number of things we would like to do, mainly more recordings. However, I think the potential of the image that has been formed by the band has so much potential, and I think that that is likely to be pushed in different directions –which is really exciting I think.

Website to remember

I suppose we would have to direct people to
https://thedisingenuous.wordpress.com/

but we would also direct anyone to our Spotify and bandcamp pages.

What would you like to say to the readers ?

We are so thankful for anyone who will give us a listen. We are on twitter and Instagram, if you want to send us a message we would love that.

The message for everyone is to believe in yourself and to make up your own mind about what you see in the world.

Thanks, J, that’s pretty deep. I would like to say Diolch, which is thank you in Welsh!