Interview with Jonny [Warriors of the Dystotheque]

Warriors of the Dystotheque are a four piece electronic band that have been together since 2015, the problem is that they all live in different places and have never been in the same room together. Their next album Antropause was produced by Howie B (who has worked with Massive Attack, Bjork and more) and was created by band members Sean (Coventry), Jonny (Derry) and Mike & Nick (New York).

Anthropause is the band’s tenth release, following outings on BBC Radio 6 (Nemone, Shaun Keaveny), BBC Radio Ulster and RTE 2FM. It’s a multi-genre journey through stoner-sleaze, indie-electronic and Balearic oddities, much like the sounds explored in the late Andrew Weatherall’s sets.

We’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Jonny from the Warriors of the Dystotheque gang and this is the result.

Hi there ! Where can we find you right now? How did you start your day?

Hi Im in Derry in Ireland and today started well with a nice freshly brewed coffee then went downhill after an hour at physio followed by the dentist, had better days for sure. 

When did the idea of starting a project start to take shape? Has it always been something you wanted to do?

I have been involved in the music industry professionally since 98 either as a promoter booking the best DJs or as a DJ touring the world alongside some of the largest acts on the planet.

But this WotD project came to fruition in 2016 after a few years out of the industry and we’re now about to release our second album and the early signs are its going to be well received as national radio and press in Ireland and the UK have been all over the 3 singles we’ve released so far.  

How would you define the sound of your latest work? What is the concept behind?

Its underpinned by a lo-fi, jazzy breakbeat vibe with lots of live strings, bass clarinet licks and more, summing it up I guess its electronica with dark splashes alongside euphoric cinematic moments. 

A mixed bag as we all bring different things to the sound and its road we like to travel within the band.

A lot of the topics on this album are dealing with the realisation of life after having been diagnosed with PTSD and having managed to be clean from a major drug addiction for the past 10 years, 

Facing the demons head on and getting them out there has been very therapeutic (JM) 

What artists are you interested in these days?

I have my go to artists New Order, Depeche Mode, Portishead, Massive Attack, Cinematic Orchestra & labels such as Mo Wax, Ninja Tune & Factory Records then we have DJ’s  like Andrew Weatherall & Laurent Garnier.

Todays Artists Yokoo, Lee Burridge, Maribou State, 

Michael Kirwanuka, Go Go Penguin, Bonobo.

How do you manage to combine such disparate genres? How do you manage to give them unity and harmony? What do they have in common for you?

Collectively as a band we all bring different things to the studio and it keeps it fresh , but I (Jonny Mac) usually drive the projects and my musical pallet can be anywhere in broken beats, Jazz, Funk, House, Techno even harder industrial and metal bands have a place in my weeks listening.

Then in life in general its full of ups and downs , darkness and light so I thing its important to reflect truly on what’s happening around you and again its therapeutic. 

How would you define your sound?

We grew from a love of lo-fi music and electronic DJ culture and take in elements of broken beat, jazz, downtempo, house, techno, electronica, noise, psyche, 60’s garage and pretty much anything that sounds and feels right in the studio opposing the usual beige music we hear so much of.

Can you tell us something about your current or future projects?

So right now we are just putting the final interviews and press and radio into action for this second album Anthropause this is released all across the usual digital outlets on May 27th 2022 and will also be up on our Bandcamp to download, 

From this album we’ve had three singles released and as mentioned above all have been getting plays and interest from major national radio and press.

Id also like to say that this came to fruition after I (JM) won and the Chris Ledger award which is managed by University of Atypical on behalf of Unlimited and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

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