Why La Dispute Didn't Dream Of Playing Emo-Punk

It's worth noting that there are many La Dispute fans out there who would love nothing more than to pick at the brains of the band members. To sit down and listen to their latest release, Wildlife, in its entirety is subjecting yourself to one of the most emotionally devastating musical experiences of your life. These guys get labelled “post-hardcore” quite often, but don't worry, this is not your regular modern blend of hardcore where you get the growling vocals followed by the dime-a-dozen breakdown and a hit of cheap, sugary-sweet vocals swooping in through the chorus – this group are raw, urgent and intense, and considering the rapidity of their rise to fame, it is certainly fair to argue that they are amongst the elite in their genre. Considering that title, Vander-Lugt chuckles, revealing that the group never had any grand allusions of making it big – it just happened.

“I just went to college as I expected myself to. I was there for two years and then the band started taking off,” he says. “I decided to put that on hold, but some of the guys, like Chad, he finished school, so there's different varying degrees of experience that we have, but you know, it was unexpected, I don't think it's anyone's dream job or anything but we definitely enjoy what we do. We're very thankful for what we've accomplished, that's for sure.”

As teenagers, it was as good a time as ever to be into that particular style of aggressive music. While the band still remain true to that sound, Vander-Lugt admits his music tastes have broadened and his longing to experiment with different sounds has grown.

“I think when we started, seven years ago now, that (post-hardcore) was the style of music we all clung to. I think now though, as we've gotten older, we still, well, I know I still really appreciate aggressive music, but I have a larger palette for what I enjoy and what I take influence from – I think we all do. Now it's just become a matter of challenging ourselves artistically and musically with what we appreciate now, and how we can take different impulses from different types of music and try to bring that into the band. I think that's kinda the fun of it now.

“The way we write music and piece the record together now is very different to the way we would've done it seven years ago. I would argue that a band, especially our band's goal, is to challenge ourselves. We don't want to be putting out similar-sounding records, so we will definitely be trying different sounds. I think we're always going to sound like us, though. There's a certain way we go about writing our songs that will give us our own unique style, I suppose. I think challenging yourself as a musician and artist is extremely important. When you approach writing songs and on a larger level putting together a record, I think it's imperative to push forward.”

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