The story of DISCO NAP: When Brisbane indie-rock supremos Iron On called it a day in 2008, guitarist and co-vocalist Ross Hope figured he might chuck the music dream altogether. “I didn’t really know if I wanted to keep writing music or if that was over for me,” he says. “When [the band] ended it was like the passing of something, like something had died and it was time to move on.”
While his former bandmates busied themselves with other projects – most notably co-vocalist Kate Cooper with An Horse – Ross took some time out, sinking his teeth into American Beauty writer Alan Ball’s HBO drama Six Feet Under. “It’s my favourite TV show ever,” Ross says. “I can’t think of any other TV show or movie that just so brutally captures the human condition.”
The dark drama stirred his muse and Ross began writing music again, “for myself, for fun.” Having accumulated a clutch of acoustic demos, Ross approached Brisbane producer Darek Mudge – who he knew via Darek’s axe-slinging in Screamfeeder and Intercooler – to help flesh out the tunes. Soon after, the pair adopted the name Disco Nap. “We decided to gradually work away at each song and determine what they were going to be along the way,” Ross explains. “[I was] excited to literally be able to turn a song into anything. Sometimes we’d record my vocals, take out the acoustic guitar and build the song from nothing. That was what happened with Surgical Dress: it almost turned into this weird, beat-y hip-hop thing – which we’ve gotten rid of – but it ended up as something I didn’t really expect.”
Disco Nap’s debut Running Red Lights became something of a Brisbane all-star affair, with Sekiden and Regurgitator keyboardist Seja Vogel, John Steel Singers trumpeter Scott Bromiley, Ed Kuepper and Gin Club cellist Jane Elliott and Screamfeeder drummer Dean Shwereb all contributing. “It was probably a teenage fantasy to play with Dean from Screamfeeder,” Ross says. “I’ve always loved his pop drumming. When I was a teenager I thought (1996 album) Kitten Licks was incredible – I still think it’s incredible!”
As well as Ross’ main musical touchstones – Elvis Costello, Ben Gibbard, Laura Veirs, Robert Smith – he explains there are a lot of electronic influences feeding into Disco Nap. “I went back through my partner’s CD collection and dug out all this ‘90s electronica, some of which was terrible and some of which was pretty awesome,” Ross says. “I realised I’d missed a lot of this stuff because I was so single-minded previously about the music I liked. I knew how to make a record that had massive guitars so I wanted to hear other ways of doing songs.”
And now we have the pleasure of hearing these others ways too, when Disco Nap play at The Front in Lyneham on Friday September 3, supported by Voss. Doors open at 8pm. Tix on the door.
