Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Dumas.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Disco Behemoth was formed in Kalamazoo Michigan around 2019. The formation of the band was not instantaneous. Jake and I met each other by playing in a local ska band while I was starting music school for trombone performance and he was finishing school for his music degree. One day Jake showed up with a microphone attached to his trumpet mouthpiece, a guitar amp and pedals. I was blown away. Within a short period of time I myself got the same set up for my trombone. I started borrowing guitar pedals from friends. The sounds from the horn section quickly started to morph and warp. The longer Jake and I got to know each other the more we realized how similar our music tastes were. We eventually reached a musical breaking point with what we could do as a ska band horn section. It was at this point we realized we needed to start another band together.
The band was formed with this forward momentum that we did not know where to put. We were tired of assumptions and labels of what genre we liked or played because of being horn players.The sound we had for the band was always focused on being dark. We were and still are fans of extreme music genres and we did not see our instruments represented in those genres. We wanted to make heavy extreme music with trumpet and trombone. We viewed our FX pedals as extensions of our instruments. I myself as the trombonist took on a bass roll, Jake took on the roll of guitar. It started off completely improvisational. We would improvise entire sets, it was about catharsis and letting out our anger. I was personally inspired by modern brass bands like Moonhooch and The Comet is Coming, while Jake was largely inspired by Lightning Bolt and The Body. I viewed what we were doing as an extension of brass band music in a way. As for the name of the band there is no cool origin story. It came to Jake to put the two words together and I feel as though Disco Behemoth encapsulates our sound beautifully.
We played a couple of shows with a fill-in drummer but things didn’t really lock in for us as a band until Thomas Cale came into the picture. With Thomas we wrote our first song “Trompe L’Oeil” together. We recorded our demo with Thomas in a trailer in Jackson, Michigan. The title is French and translates to “deceive the eye”. It’s a term that we know mainly from the fashion world but I think people can find overarching meanings for it in their own lives. We still play that song at shows today. Honestly, we’re kind of sick of playing it but at the same time it’s the song that people recognize and latch onto, so we do it for the audience.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Obviously Covid was a hard time for any band. Covid stopped us before we could go on any tour. Ultimately I think it made us more hungry to play shows and tour as a band. On top of Covid I was in the throws of alcoholism. I decided I needed to move back home to the Greater Boston area to get sober. At first we had no idea if Disco Behemoth would continue, we hadn’t even released our second song yet. However overtime and through sobriety I realized among other things that Disco Behemoth is absolutely what I wanted to do. While at home I mixed that song and started making future plans for the band. After maintaining sobriety I moved back to Kalamazoo where Jake and I continued on with Disco Behemoth with a more focused approach.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What sets us apart is our unique instrumentation, there are very few heavy bands where horns are the primary instruments let alone effected horns.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can reach us via any of our social media accounts or email discobehemoth@gmail.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://discobehemoth.bandcamp.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/disco_behemoth/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discobehemoth/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5QQ2tk24mI87el0ca5O22J
