Disastroid: Interview with Enver Koneya
Incoming! The earth is being hit with crushing force! With a band name of Disastroid and a recent album release titled Missles, one begins to think about the sky, space and otherworldly existence. What you get from this San Francisco based rock outfit is definitely out of this world. With tracks hinting at sounds akin to Queens of the Stone Age, Fugasi and The Melvins, Disastroid serves up their fresh and personalized take on stoner rock and sludge. Missles was entirely DIY produced and the eight tracks on the album are a prime showcase of the heavy riffs, conceptual tone and melodic vocals which make Disastroid stand out in its class. By the Barricade checked in with lead vocalist and guitarist, Enver Koneya to learn more about this Bay Area sensation. The full interview follows:
Inteview with Enver Koneya – Vocals & Guitar
Other Members of Disastroid:
- Travis Williams – Bass
- Braden McGaw – Drums
By the Barricade: Can you describe Disastroid in five words or less?
Enver Koneya: My first response was: Oh Crap! Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Drums, Noise
By the Barricade: Disastroid came together in 2007. Can you step us through how you got to that point as a musician? What was your inspiration to begin playing?
Enver Koneya: This is coming from the founder of the band but I don’t want to take away from the fact that what we are doing right now is a collaboration of the band to create our sound. For me personally music has always been a part of my life. When you’re in it it’sall-consuming, It’s like some nagging thing in your life that has to be tended to or you become miserable. I took saxaphone when I was little and then self-taught myself guitar. My brother introduced me to a lot of music. I remember listening to The Clash, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Dead Kennedys and Big Boys, when I was in like 6th and 7th grade. I never really got into Jam Bands or Pop Music unless it was the result of trying to hang out with a girl in high school or something like that. I think for me it’s kind of gone full circle as far as styles and I’m back to rock. I think rock music/punk/ metal or whatever genres encompass those styles has always struck a chord (*laughing) with me. I like the passion and dissidence of those styles. Plus playing a loud amp is awesome! I ended up in San Francisco and put together a band and it eventually became Disastroid. The music has changed but its roots have always been in rock music.
By the Barricade: I read that Disastroid got connected through shared interests such as Kyuss, fuzz pedals and Godzilla movies. How did that transpire into a forming a band?
Enver Koneya: I think we were pretty lucky in finding each-other and ultimately the shared interests of music, movies, and noise was somewhat pure luck. The band was a typical meeting of musicians through ads but somehow I was lucky enough to meet some people I would hang out with if we weren’t playing music. I don’t know what the catch phrase was in the ad that worked but it was maybe something like, ‘Music ads suck so bad, this is hopeless. Oh well, looking for…..’ As far as Fuzz pedals I think Travis (Williams, bass player) would agree that ultimately we enjoy things that make noises they weren’t intended to. Every recording session has a decent amount of us drinking beers and linking a bunch of weird pedals together to create an awful feedback loop that for some reason we love. Ultimately most of this doesn’t make the album since we do enjoy having fans.
By the Barricade: How did your band name Disastroid come about?
Enver Koneya: I think it just sounded cool. I was putting together sheets of names and ideas and that one stuck. Probably 90% of the other ideas were too vulgar or offensive to share and were more for the amusement of the band than actual names. Deathship Lollipop was the pre-Disastroid name and consisted of a different line-up as well. I think Disastroid works since it is just a made up name so it can be interpreted however and it doesn’t put us in a particular genre or something.
By the Barricade: From what I have seen on social media, you seem to have a very lighthearted and fun approach to your music yet some of your lyrical themes are pretty heavy. How do you refine that balance?
Enver Koneya: I think the lightheartedness just comes naturally. It’s really hard for us to not be authentic to ourselves. We despise doing band photos unless they are funny since band photos without the band playing seem contrived or weird. What does it mean when someone is in front of a worn down building with a sad face? Was it a crappy photo shoot? Are they upset about their surroundings? Did their music gear get stolen? It’s probably important for marketing and all that but it’s really hard for us to get on board with all that seriousness. We are going to play the music we like and aren’t going to dress up or act like something we aren’t, plus that takes extra work. We express some heavy ideas but like to joke around and I think that is the only way to really deal with the world we are in. I think you can be serious and lighthearted at the same time. We are serious about playing our music ultimately and we have fun doing it so that’s kind of what you get. I think a lot of the lyrics are based on the experience of people. If you listen close to the lyrics of Machete you will hear “I’m gonna cook you some homemade spaghetti.” That song probably encompasses this whole question.
By the Ba
rricade: You have put out a couple of full lengths prior to Missles. What was your recording process like on this release and how did it compare to your previous recordings?
Enver Koneya: We used a different studio and engineer than the previous full lengths but the process was similar to our other sessions. I think the biggest thing we took away from this session was just keeping it simple in the future. We used a bunch of different amps and guitars for tones and different bass sounds. You spend a lot of time trying to reconstruct it at the end of the session. We just recorded some new songs recently and literally plugged in and played. Get the tone up front, use your gear, good mic placement, and record, that is our new mission.
By the Barricade: Missiles takes the listener on a journey from heavy intentional riffs and vocals to more mellow rock and back again. You have included tracks well over 6 minutes and ‘Machete’ comes in at less than a minute. What do you hope the listener experiences as they travel through this album?
Enver Koneya: I think as far as the arrangement of the album we kind of hoped to make it play like a set list. Ideally you can get the listener interested by shorter songs and then introduce longer songs when they are more willing to listen or give them time. I think we kind of do the same with tempos. We enjoy that as listeners to have tempo changes and dynamics going on when we hear or see music so we try to recreate that. ‘Machete’ makes me laugh just talking about it. We pretty much laugh every-time we play that song. It’s perfe
ct, it’s under a minute.
By the Barricade: That song makes me laugh too. It has an incredible pace and crazy lyrics. You are currently rocking your hometown of San Francisco and some other West Coast cities. Do you have tour plans (or tour hopes and dreams) in the near future so more people can connect with you at live shows?
Enver Koneya: Currently we are working on some new material and playing locally. We will probably do some West Coast tours this spring and summer. We definitely want to cover some more ground. We are kind of hoping to get in a position where we can get some help booking or get on board with another band that is touring. I’m currently enjoying just playing music and not doing too much booking but will be back at it soon. We have been kicking around the idea of going to Europe too which would be amazing.
By the Barricade: Is there anything else you would like to say to the readers of By the Barricade?
Enver Koneya: Keep checking out By the Barricade and really appreciate you taking the time to check out Disastroid!
Stay up to date with Disastroid on their website, follow Disastroid on Facebook , listen to Disastroid, buy Missles.
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