Often synonymous with Tumblr fame and super-fans, La Dispute have never been a band to dwell in the shadows. Now approaching their 15th year as a band, the Michigan-based post-hardcore outfit are gearing up for their first return to Australia in four years as part of the inaugural Good Things Festival. We sat down with the band’s drummer, Brad Vander Lugt to chat about new music, Good Things and everything in between
We immediately got to talking about the re-release of the band’s first album, Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair with Brad justifying the reasons behind it’s re-release. “Yeah, we talked about it last year actually, but it was a combination of things that led us to the re-release. Ten years is a big occasion and we felt that that record never got the mix that we wanted it to.”
Continuing, he explained that “It was just a good opportunity to give back to the album, fix things up and revamp it all.”
Crediting Dave Schiffman for his effort in mixing, Will Yip for re-amping the guitars and Emily Lazar for mastering it, he added “As far as anniversary records go you kinda have to make it something special, so to revamp and remix it, it makes an enormous difference.”
“We could’ve just said yeah, ten-year anniversary, and added an extra track or something but, you know, to breathe new life into it, I think that’s a good reason to rally behind it and do a cool re-release. So yeah, that’s what we did!”
In voicing his excitement for its release, he finished “When you consider our position upon its original release, we weren’t able to do it the way we wanted to, now we can. It’s turned out great and we’re really proud of it.”
Progressing from the re-release of old music to the release of new songs, the question arose about when we could expect something new from the band. Confirming that a new release would be reaching our ears in early 2019 he said, “You can hold us to a release early next year. It’s nearly finished right now so yeah, that’s exciting.”
“We worked very hard on this record. It’s probably the longest we’ve ever worked on a record before. We’re very excited for everyone to hear it finally.”
After asking whether we could have a taste of new songs at Good Things later this year his reply was short and cryptic, “You know honestly at this point I can’t say. This stuff is going to start rolling out sooner rather than later though.”
Narrative is tightly woven throughout the bands’ lyrics — something they’re known and loved for. From the dramatic events of “King Park” to the devastation of “Hudsonville MI 1956”, I questioned whether these songs were based on real life experiences or imagination.
“A lot of that stuff Jordan our vocalist does face in real life. It kinda depends on the record, but most of the songs do come from real stories. Some of the things that happen, like people’s experiences in the stories are fictional, but the events are often times true, especially on “Wildlife.”
Brad continued, “Most of those songs are true stories that Jordan either heard from a distance, or he witnessed it or someone told him and it’s real. It could be someone who told the story to Jordan, and in that situation the character in the story is actually Jordan.”
While previously remaining tight-lipped on information regarding new music, he was unable to refrain from any tease, mentioning “On the new record, it’s a very cinematic record I would say, so many of those storytelling elements are still there. Those types of themes are in there too, just approached in a different way.”
Expanding on that, he commented on his inability to justify the choice to write through narrative as opposed to internal topics, saying “Jordan would be better off explaining that, we’re cousins and we’re very close and I’ve witnessed a lot of these stories too but honestly, I’m not entirely sure why he chooses to write in that way.”
Moving on to something he could answer very clearly, Brad went on to explain the band’s writing process. After questioning whether writing was more individual or collaborative he replied, “No, it’s very collaborative. There’s definitely been records where people have brought stuff to rehearsal and we’ll chip away at it and make it what it needs to be.”
Explaining the writing process on the band’s new material specifically, he continued “This record especially has been very collaborative. We pretty much sat in a room after we had scrapped a whole bunch of songs and started fresh. We built them from the ground up together. To a certain extent that’s what we had always done but this was the most that we’ve ever used that approach from start to finish.”
Pausing from talking about La Dispute for a moment, I asked about his work outside the band. As a composer and a sound designer, he expressed “for me it’s really important” regarding endeavours outside the band, while of his fellow band members he said “I think when we spend more time apart now, you have to have those other endeavours to stay invested in to maintain a creative output outside the band”.
Citing the influence of all the members side projects on the band’s music he explained that “For the new record, I’ve used a lot of my influence production wise on these tracks for a more cinematic approach”, solidifying the idea that all those projects can come back and influence the band’s output as well.
As the conversation progressed, we began to talk about the band’s fans. Anyone scrolling Tumblr in years gone by would’ve found imagery associated with La Dispute almost inescapable, from the flower the band now use as their logo to the extraordinarily heavy lyrics in their songs. Brad concurred, “that following has really helped us, and we’re super thankful to have a lot of fans that are super-fans. That’s incredible, we really don’t deserve that.”
However he warned against being too concerned with the following, saying “To be honest, we try to put that out of our minds a little bit and not let those sort of things negate too much of the decision making that we do in the band.”
Expressing that his concern was not in a non-appreciative way, Brad continued, “I block that kind of thing out. I just make it about the music and the art and things like that. I think it is dangerous, so we like to stay focussed on the output and being a super inclusive band and setting up stuff that we’re proud of.”
As Brad laughed at whether he’d managed to make any sense at all, I asked whether that following had the potential to develop a fear of disappointing fans that they might believe they owe something to. Almost reassuring his previous comments, he mentioned that whilst it is very humbling, “it is so important to stay humble and not think about those things too much or too often.”
While he maintained that the art that the band creates is their own, with no outside influence on what they create, he almost made note of how happy he was to get the opportunity to engage with fans. “When you’re at a show you can really connect with fans there, more than you’re ever able to in any other setting. To be able to do that and have that moment is incredible. To share that energy is a great feeling.” He laughed again, unsure whether he was babbling or making any sense at all.
As the conversation came to a close we moved to the band’s imminent return to Australian shores, with Brad expressing obvious excitement explaining “this is probably the longest break that we’ve had from touring Australia since our first visit. We used to come almost every year, so yeah, we’re very stoked to be coming back.”
Speaking about what fans could expect out of their set at Good Things he described that “what we’ve been trying to do for these run of shows, because we just had a tour in Europe about a month ago, we’re just doing a very diverse set. It’s pretty evenly spread out across the three records with a few special surprises thrown in there as well.”
Hoping that fans would get a real kick out of what they were going to be doing he added, “The biggest thing that we’re doing is playing some songs that we haven’t in many years, so that’s going to be very cool.”
Our conversation concluded with Brad telling me which Good Things bands he’s most keen to play alongside at Good Things. “The lineup is awesome, there’s going to be a heap of cool stuff to see. Personally, I love The Smith Street Band, they are incredible!” Confirming them as his number one pick to see, he continued, “Babymetal looks really cool, that’ll be fun. The Offspring playing ‘Smash’ in full is pretty legendary too, I can’t wait!”
You can catch La Dispute at Good Things festival this December
Friday, December 7th
Melbourne Showgrounds, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday, December 8th
Parramatta Park, Sydney, NSW
Sunday, December 9th
Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets on sale from 9am, Thursday, August 30th, through Oztix
