Disco Inferno
'In Sharky Water'
A Retrospective:
*Scroll down to the bottom of this page for exclusives with Ian Crause.*
(Introcduction by Richard Vincent Adams - From the hugely DI influenced band Hood.)
"In 1993 I was lost and confused. Living in semi squalour and working in
an accounts office. No girlfriend, few friends, long journeys on
pointless buses to nowhere. Most days working with people that I hated.
(Disco Inferno - Promo Photo)
My friend and bandmate Matthew Allison gave me a
compilation tape. On one side was Felt, on the other Disco Inferno.
I remembered Disco inferno from a promo that was sent through to a fanzine
I used to work on.
Surely any band with a name like that was no good? It
was quickly dismissed in favour of the flowing autumnal hymns of Felt.
But of course these were very long bus journeys and so I had to fill in
the time somehow. The tape was flipped and almost instantly I fell in
love. This was early Disco inferno - they sounded like Joy Division - I
loved what I heard & quickly rushed out to buy their most recent offering.
The 'Summer's Last Sound' single was a turning point in Disco
Inferno's career. Suddenly they sounded nothing like Joy Division and....nothing
like anybody else for that matter. The music was highly rhythmic but awkward with
melodies created out of guitars and drums fed into samplers and played
back. The lyrics were a disgusted rant against the state of England
(words that are somehow even more apt now than they were then).
(Disco Inferno stepping out in 1993)
There was then a slew of fabulous 12"s that tragically have never been compiled
into an album. 'A Rock To Cling To' with its paranoid drowning
lyrics and imagery, 'The Last Dance' possibly DI's poppiest moment
to date - a song New Order would have killed for.
DI then produced their most notorious record, the ironically named 'DI Go Pop'.
Here, the guitars were taken out altogether - melodies were held together by
throbbing bass whilst space was filled with almost anything that came to
hand - pianos falling down stairs, running water, crashing waves and
electronic pulses. It threw me completely when I heard it - I couldn't
find the melodies, it was messy and disjointed but slowly and surely I
grew to love it for those very reasons. It was the sound of a band
pushing themselves into some kind of place where no band had gone before (or since) it was painful at times to listen to and was the kind of
record only pissed off 20 somethings could have made.
Almost as if realising that the music couldn't go any further, DI's next release was
the beautiful and melodic 'Second Language' EP - a four song treat of
flowing, chiming songs that was uncategorically Disco Inferno's highest
watermark so far. Then the band who never enjoyed the best of luck had all
their equipment stolen .
Di's third and final album, 'Technicolour' was delayed by almost a year.
When it appeared, it was well worth the wait. The pure pop of 'Sleight of
Hand', the way- ahead- of- its-time New Order meets Photek splicing of
'When the Story Breaks' and the ridiculous
Iggy Pop sampling 'it's a Kids World', which was the sound of a band
on the edge of utter mayhem. All these songs were leagues above any other
music being released in that era. Yet something was missing and I wasn't
surprised when they called it a day a few months later.
(Disco Inferno - Taking a moment to reflect...)
Despite rumours of new bands, the odd solo project and cameos, nothing has really
happened since. It was all too intense, too visceral and yes too good or any acceptance whatsoever.
The rumour goes that Rough Trade continued to pour money into Disco
Inferno and to release their records because they were convinced they
were the Can of the 1990's. I still believe this to be the case.
(Richard Vincent Adams - Of Hood and The Declining Winter)
It's going to take another decade or so but this music will be re-discovered.
Some hot shot producer will cite them as an influence and Domino Records
will re-release their back catalogue. I doubt I'll be asked to do sleeve
notes but I will be sitting at home with a smug grin on my face knowing
that Disco Inferno were right all along..."
Richard Vincent Adams (2008)
*See Below for exclusives...*