Scottish four-piece Dictator are excited to share their eclectic, immersive style of indie-electro as they prepare to release brand new single, Anthem For A Doomed Youth, out on now!
Having recently played their first sold out show at Glasgow’s Garage G2 supporting Mark Sharp and the Bicycle Theives, the West Lothian band are aiming to maintain their momentum, ending 2019 on a high.
Single Anthem For A Doomed Youth is their latest cut. Taking inspiration from classic artists such as Primal Scream and The Charlatans to modern acts like Gorillaz and The Courteeners, Dictator have written and sonic manifesto aimed at the disaffected youth of today’s world. Blending elements of electronica with, psychedelic guitar solos and groove-filled beats, Dictator have created an instant indie dance floor filler.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Dictator about the latest tunes, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
What a first question, to be fair we grew up in the world of Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and The Courteeners which we’ve a lot of time for and were who you wanted to be growing up, I guess when you start off as a band you gravitate to playing what you like to hear, our issue was that we loved those indie bangers but at the same time were falling in love with some of the other genres. Being massive fans of hip hop, electronica and indie doesn’t always translate into what you’re doing if all you have is a guitar and a drum kit. We just couldn’t really afford the digital element… fast forward a little while and after working hard to save and get the stuff we needed to start pushing our boundaries a little we were able to start really getting a feel for the genre/style we were.
What led you into this journey with music? And further, what drives you to push it out to the public?
In short, we got bored. We love playing good old fashioned Rock and roll don’t get us wrong but there’s a reason it’s called old fashioned. If we look back to the 50’s era of Buddy Holly and the like, those guys were literally riding the wave of a new musical discovery in the electric guitar, they started pushing out the boundaries of what it could do and how it could sound, how it could be used across Rock and roll, pop etc and I guess for us the revolution of the modern day is digital, be it pedals for your instruments or the big one –Synths. Synths are by no means new but the pace at how they’re evolving is, we’d be crazy if we didn’t try and leverage a bit of that into our music. Once you start experimenting with sounds and what you can do, you start re-defining what it is you’re actually creating, when you have full songs leveraging new sounds and new ways of creating music it gets you hooked. For us, we started off genuinely having fun, that moved into starting to create songs that we were proud of and once you start on that road you start wondering how everyone else will react to what you’ve created, I guess that’s the main driver of why we’re looking to push it out to you!
Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?
In terms of artists, Gorillaz had a huge part to play on what we’re doing now, the way Damon Albarn managed to take a virtual concept and turn it into what it is now is what we’re all about. Inspiration for writing songs comes and goes like the wind, you just have to make sure when you do get that little bit of inspiration you ride that wave, if you’re like me it’s a nightmare as I’ve the attention span of a toddler but at least we’ve managed to get a couple tracks together! This new track we’re releasing “Anthem For A Doomed Youth” is quite political in it’s motives but it was never an intention to sit down and write a political song, it’s born out of what frustrates you, the entire world of politics evolves as you grow but the more you learn about it the more frustrated you become, you start to see the flaws in so called integrity and the cracks in those elected to be the voices of the people, I guess that’s a huge topic to try and condense into a 3 minute song but it evokes a strong feeling for us, once you get that you can start to create. On musical taste, it’s something that’s constantly changed, I think it always should if I’m honest. I used to be into the ride or die culture and stick to what I thought was my scene but there is so much out there right now that you’re missing more than you’re gaining if you’re not open to something a little different.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
We set out purely to make that sweet sweet dollar. Nah look we just want to be as successful as we can possibly be without taking ourselves too seriously (he says after describing a politically charged song), we’re out here putting our all into this and at the end of the day our aims are to get to a point that we look back and recognise we gave it our best possible shot in this moment no matter what happens. Obviously every artist wants to make money from music so that we can continue to produce it but we’re proud of what we’ve been able to create so far and we hope people get a sense of that through the tunes.
What was the last song you listened to?
Nightmares – Easy Life, booked tickets to see these boys in Edinburgh 2020 and I’m absolutely buzzing for it.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Tough one, Vinyl looks pretty damn sweet on the wall when you’re not playing it, also the music quality is the best you can get. CDs just bring back memories of buying an album for the car and playing it so much you knew every word to every song, still think it used to help you uncover gems hidden on albums that weren’t the flagship song and never really got released. MP3s are up there for the sheer fact people used to have MP3 players as well as mobiles, I still think it made you appreciate the music a little more with the effort you had to put in to downloading it (legally of course) and getting it on the MP3 player. All that said, Vinyl is the hands down winner.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
This has me fighting the rest of the band, I’m ride or die Spotify all day but I’m getting ganged up on with the rest of the band preferring Apple Music, I guess it just depends on the phone you have and what you’re used to. Spotify has a pretty cool tool for artists like us which you’ve got to give props to, Apple Music is getting there though so I guess the final say on this having thought about the fact our track is on all of them… we love them all in equal measure haha Nah just kidding, I’m writing the answers, so Spotify.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what is the biggest challenge you face when trying to connect with or find new fans?
In all honesty I think we’re pretty lucky these days, we’re big advocates of Instagram with it’s stories and how easy it is to connect with fans. Imagine back in the day being able to slide into Elvis’ DM’s, would loved to have seen what the Oasis insta stories would have been like in the 90’s. Everyone can connect with us and we can connect with them, I suppose the biggest challenge is making sure that the content you’re providing is up to scratch and that you don’t go overboard with some of the socials, taking comments to heart etc
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?
Well as above we’re big fans of Instagram (DictatorBand) but we’ve a facebook and twitter profile too, we keep them all up to date but I think Instagram is the one you can have most fun with given you pretty much get a AAA into what we’re actually getting up to behind the scenes on this stuff. Also gives you a direct channel to send your dislike if you hate the content!
In terms of discovering our new music we’re on all of the major music streaming sites so give us a like and a follow so you can get kept up to date with any of the latest news and tracks coming your way.
Anything else you’d like to add before signing off?
Yes, we would like to shamelessly plug our next single “Anthem For A Doomed Youth” which is available on all major music streaming sites, give it a listen and see what you think. If you love it, come along to our shows. If you hate it come along to our shows anyway and give us a heckle, we’ll probably buy you a drink.
