Catastrophe & Disposable: thrashing out

This September 3rd at Slow Dragon Music we have the third and final Slaughterpit show before Hordes Of Belial – 7 & Hell. We decided to go for a double headliner, securing London’s brutal metal stompers Collapse - who had to pull out of an earlier Slaughterpit due to illness – and Glasgwegian grind-daddies the legendary Co-Exist.

However, sometimes things just become that bit more special at the hands of chance and happenstance. When we were approached about running a date as part of a thrash tour for Catastrophe (Dublin) and Disposable (Edinburgh), we thought it sounded like a great idea. It meant not only could we aid their spirited collaboration, but that the support for the show would be far more than the usual slot fillers (not that we don’t scour far and wide for the best!) We grabbed a few quick words with members of both outfits.

Ireland and N. Ireland have churned out some fantastic thrash bands over the last few years, Gama Bomb and Psykosis springing immediately to mind. Here we have yet another snapping at their heels in Catastrophe. Are we in for another wave of metal invaders?

Frontman Jamie Murphy says: Yeah I think thrash metal is really making a comeback in Ireland and up north. There are a lot of bands now bringing that nostalgic factor, and incorporating new styles and influences into thrash metal. We take influence from every band we have played with, especially up north. Their scene is really cool. We are huge Animator fans, also. They are definitely up there with Gama Bomb and Psykosis. It's great these bands are getting the recognition they deserve! Which in return has inspired us to really take it to the next level as a band.

A healthy home life, then. So what prompted them as a fairly new band, to make a break for the mainland at this time?

JM I think the luck of the Irish is on our side. We had the opportunity to come play Edinburgh last November, and since then we have been itching to come back and play more shows. The end of 2016 and the whole of 2017 will be an interesting year. We decided it was the right time to really just get working on our performances, and get stuff done in the studio, and to give something to fans coming to the shows. We really want to get ourselves out there.

As for joining up with touring partners Disposable, bassist and vocalist for the Edinburgh thrashers William Robertson points to luck and a positive attitude.

WR: We ended up on the tour with Catastrophe through mutual friends, basically. We kind of stumbled across each other while trying to put some shows together down south at the same time they were, and we both had a bunch of dates pull out along the way, so kind of just joined forces to make sure we could sort out a week’s worth of shows.

Their latest release ‘Life Misguided’ looks and sounds like it has had a major amount of work put into making it a top grade record. It’s hard to imagine it being received poorly by the metal world.

WR: The reception has been great! Everyone who’s heard it so far seems to be enjoying it. We tried harder this time to make it a much more professional product. We spent more money and time on every aspect, essentially. The writing, the recording, the mixing, the mastering, the art, the printing. Everything is better this time round, and if you listen back to back with our album you can hear the progression in quality immediately. We just didn’t want to be unhappy with anything this time round. It was expensive, and stressful to put together, but fuck it!

Sounds like a massive undertaking for an EP, but can we expect to see a second Disposable full-length any time soon?

WR: After the album we really didn’t intend on doing another album for quite some time. Then it got to the point where we were itching to write again, and needed something new to keep momentum going. We weren't overly sold on the idea of an album again because we didn't want to fuck around for ages. We just concentrated on 4 songs, focused on making them what we wanted them to be, and put it out as an EP. It's an excuse to play shows more than anything and not stagnate.

So, it seems as though Disposable at least are dead set on pursuing live goals for the foreseeable future. Catastrophe appear to be following a similar route.

JM: You can expect a lot of mayhem steamrolling through the UK (from Catastrophe), and, of course our EP, which will be out in a week or so. We have been treated so well by Gav, our main man behind the scenes for our recording, and he has done some great work on our EP. We will also be having launch nights for the EP in Dublin and Belfast, and hopefully a lot more shows around Ireland next year!

Catch Catastrophe & Disposable on tour on the following dates:

September

3rd – Beat Generator Live, Dundee

4th – The Duke, Neath

5th – The Shed, Leicester

7th – Bar 42, Worthing

8th – The Brewhouse, Warrington

9th – Bannermans, Edinburgh

10th - Ivory Blacks, Glasgow (w/out Disposable)