Missouri is known for many things, from its culture, to its food, and historical landmarks. It’s “the gateway to the west,” once serving as a major transportation and commercial hub in early America. Musically, Missouri is known as the birthplace of ragtime, Kansas City jazz (and Kansas city style BBQ), and of course the St. Louis blues. Absolutely none of this has any relevance to this next bands sound and style whatsoever. I mean, if you really wanna stretch it, in-between the walls of feedback, incoherent yelling, and trempicking indistinguishable notes, they do briefly utilize a saxophone and trumpet for parts of “The Shape of Punk To Cum.” So there’s that...

Play fast or fucking die. It’s really that simple. Or is it? It is.  The Disgenerates pack three very fast songs and eight minutes of disarray into one of the strangest directions of anti-music powerviolence I’ve ever heard. 

At first listen I didn’t know if I loved it or hated it. It’s fast as fuck, haywire as all hell and had a recorder squealin’ off some hight notes? Okay, so you’ll also notice saxophone and trumpet parts just wailing off as if they were being physically tortured, kinda sounded like a cat being dragged behind a speeding car at one point, and despite that being a horrible image (and sound), it was somehow my selling point. They cite a wide array of musical influences ranging from Discharge to Pat The Bunny, Orchid and The Red Scare, so I had to see how they shape their very own version of punk.

WHAT’S THE WRITING PROCESS LIKE WHEN CREATING “MUSIC” LIKE THIS?

“For the most part, Jacob would come in with a riff and a general idea and the rest of the band would continually improvise around that many times until locking in on arrangements that they liked, sometimes shifting the song structure in the process.”

The process of practicing was broadly summarized as “hazy” by the band, likely due to their excessive weed consumption.

“Harry (saxophone player) notably brought up that at the time they were experiencing severe rapid onset migraines that would affect them when they overblew into their saxophone, which occurs a lot in these recordings. I don’t know if that’s particularly important to the writing process but I thought it was an interesting fact.”

This music was, in fact, written and recorded with pain, neat.

BOTH SIDES OF THIS RELEASE ARE THE SAME SONGS, BUT THE B SIDE ARE LIVE RECORDINGS, HOW WERE THESE SONGS RECORDED?

“The first half of the record was recorded by Jasen (recorder, trumpet and vocals) and Tim (bassist) in the basement of the duplex where Jasen was living at the time, a house venue known as Fraglroc (which would later implode and collapse in on itself due to a series of burst pipes). Most of the songs were done in 1-2 takes, and all of what is heard was tracked at the same time.”

They also mentioned that a friend of theirs who was tripping on acid was present at recording, though they were just observing the process.

“The live set was also recorded at Fraglroc during a house show. Due to having to record it on two different interfaces and thus DAWS running simultaneously, the whole thing had to be sped up slightly in order to compensate for sampling rate differences, which seems fixable but I think we didn’t care to fix it for whatever reason.”

The project was then mixed and mastered by friend of the band and Atlanta Zone Records “executive board” member Jack Levin on his computer. The album lacks a core concept but is broadly based around themes of anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, absurdity, feelings of social isolation, and the need for revolutionary struggle. The majority of band members are politically active leftists.

“PUNK IS NATURALLY ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT AND ANTI-CAPITALIST, SO WE HOPE MORE LISTENERS AND BANDS IN LOCAL SCENES WILL REFLECT ON THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH OTHER, THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION, WHETHER AMERICAN OR PROXY-AMERICAN AUTHORITY, LOCAL ORGANIZING GROUPS SUCH AS FOOD PANTRIES, COMMUNITY GARDENS, MUTUAL AID GROUPS AND UNIONS ETC.

WE HOPE THIS REFLECTION WILL LEAD TO ACTION ON SOME LEVEL OF THE INDIVUDALS CAPACITY”

- JACOB @DISGENERATES

The band most coherently expresses criticism of the “Right to Work Laws” which serve to prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions, helping to cripple the US Labor movement, and of Texas governor Greg Abbott (Jacob is originally from Texas).

SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE BAND IN 2025?

“Hoping to put out a tape release if the funds can be acquired, and hoping to quit nicotine for real this time”.

Amen my dude, fuck nicotine.

ANY CLOSING WORDS OR THOUGHTS FOR US?

“Our power to withhold our labor is the only power we have. Organize in your community, join and support unions.”

Support Disengenerates and their shape of more punk to cum in 2025 by following them on social media on Instagram @disgenerates and if you’re into no wave or anti-music, powerviolence, or anything fast as fuck and peculiar, THIS is your band. I’ve heard A LOT of music this year but I’m still not sure what to make of this sonic car crash, and I say that in the nicest way possible.