Long Island five-piece Detachment are one week away from unleashing the new record Lack on the world. To help celebrate the upcoming banger, TGEFM and the band got together for another in our line of Roll of the Dice interviews.
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! Congrats on the upcoming release of “Lack” What should our readers know about the members of Detachment, your history and your sound?
No worries at all, and thank you so much! We want people to know that we are a very stubborn band that refuses to quit and throw in the towel. We all have lives, jobs and hobbies outside of this band that can sometimes take priority and put the band on hold from time to time. Nevertheless, not once has it ever occurred to any of us to pull the plug on the band. We take our craft very seriously. Having all grown up together since our teenage years, the older you get, the more you realize how different you all are from each other. Which, in turn, can lead to some long periods away from each other to focus on other things. But the passion for music and undeniable chemistry of writing together just does not leave you, and that’s why we’re still together. Rob (vocals) Robero (guitar) and I have known each other since high school where we used to play Bring Me the Horizon and A Day to Remember covers in my basement. When we were introduced to Westfall Recording studios in Farmingdale, NY, I considered that the official place where Detachment was conceived. Their producers and engineers have helped craft our sound into what it is today and still continue to push us and coach us to be the best band we can possibly be. It was here that we realized the most natural sound that we are able to produce is our own unique take on melodic hardcore and taking the sound of bands like Every Time I Die and Norma Jean and adding our own niche to it.
What album or band or significant singles made you go “Yeah, this i what I want to do” Not just an influence but who or what was the catalyst?
All of us come from very different musical backgrounds. I have strictly been a metalhead since I was only 8 years old. My very first band was Drowning Pool. Rob comes from a more Emo/Post Hardcore background with bands like My Chemical Romance, The Used, and Taking Back Sunday. I don’t think for all of us collectively, there was one band or single that made us want to do this, given what we are today is the result of years of practice and many different ups and downs. However, for me personally, one album in particular that has definitely blown my socks off and influenced me to push the band in somewhat of this direction is Vein.fm‘s 2022 LP This World Is Going to Ruin You. It’s the epitome of everything I love about modern heavy music wrapped up into one. We’re not quite as heavy as they are but when we do want to get super heavy, which we do at times, I’ve used this album as a template.
Long Island has had a strong reputation within the hardcore scene. How has the “LIHC” tag affected the band? Is there a pressure to maintain the high bar previously set and/or a credibility that comes along with the locale? Why do you think so many great artists come from that area?
There are a lot of pros and cons to being a part of the LIHC scene. The pros are the beautiful sense of community and comradery that come with playing alongside some truly exceptionally talented and motivated bands. There’s no feeling of competition against each other because we’re always rooting for each other and giving everyone a shout-out when they score a victory! Another pro is the amazing venues we have to play. Amityville Music Hall is one of the coolest venues that some major artists have played, and we have the privilege of it being the center point of the LIHC scene. However, some cons include the fact that yes, because there are so many bands on Long Island, sometimes it can be difficult to stand out and make a name for yourself. In contrast, sometimes when we do stand out, the payoff isn’t what we hoped it would be. For example, we’ll be on a bill with other bands that are a little heavier than us and not as melodic. I’m not in any way shape or form knocking that sound or style, but when we’re playing shows like that, the crowd is expecting us to sound one way and they’re not sure what to do when we come on, whereas for the other 4 bands playing, the crowd is going absolutely insane. On the one hand, we enjoy standing out a little bit but it can be discouraging being the band that the crowd had the least amount of physical movement for. So sometimes it can be difficult to find the right show to play with the right audience for your specific sound. But when we do find the right shows, and we see the crowd losing their minds to our music, it’s a feeling like no other! As to why Long Island has such a thriving scene? I don’t have an exact answer as I’m only one person, but I think it may have something to do with how small and upscale Long Island is which can lead to some frustration amongst the counterculture of the younger generation.
Having released your debut EP in 2020 and facing all the obstacles associated with that, what are you looking forward to in this release cycle? How have things differed thus far?
We are looking forward to being able to hit the road and play shows in support of this album, which we obviously could not do for our 2020 EP, Gaslight. However, the lack of shows did not stop us from gaining momentum back because we released our most streamed song to date in October of 2020, “Work Horse.” Being able to play shows is the biggest step up from our last release while also simultaneously working on some other stuff that we’re cooking up.
One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should?
We definitely want to give a shout-out to Moon Tooth, Johnny Booth and Loss Becomes, the three biggest bands to come out of our studio, Westfall. We also would love to give a shout-out to bands like Perimeter, Stonehenge, Patterns of Decay, Farsight, Pathwechoose and I Ignite!
After Lack releases, what’s next for Detachment?
Ben: I’m delighted that you asked because as it turns out, we are diving head-first into LP #2 for 2024! Admittedly, we have had this album recorded for a little longer than we anticipated due to life and the human condition affecting each and every one of us. But in that time, we have written some of the greatest material we’ve ever created as a band! We plan on recording these new songs sometime in early 2024, all while simultaneously promoting Lack, and with all the momentum gained from that, we’re going to strike while the iron is hot in every sense of that term and bludgeon people with another release! We’d like it to be another full length but it may turn into another EP, we’re not sure yet. Either way, there WILL be new music from us in 2024, and we can not wait for it to see the light of day! In the meantime, we hope everybody enjoys Lack!
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
It can be difficult to compete for people’s attention with the level of stimuli that’s literally everywhere. So we can not begin to describe the level of gratitude we have for anyone who takes a chance on us in any way shape or form!
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
