Well, if you like modern metal then you should definitely check out Disconnected from France. Their debut album, White Colossus is a really technical, melodic, rich and powerful piece of art. It was a no-brain thing to introduce them to you – meet the singer, Ivan, and Adrian, the lead guitarist of Disconnected.

“Adrian is the creator of the band so I’ll let him answer that question” – replied Ivan, when we asked them about the beginnings. “I’ll just tell you how I got involved in Disconnected. By the end of 2016, I was releasing the 3rd album of my previous band ‘Heavy Duty’, and things were not going too good for that band, unfortunately… I got introduced to Adrian by François-Maxime Boutault, the mixer of ‘White colossus’, ‘cos I worked on a studio session for him. He told me: ‘hey man you know, there’s that young lad, Adrian Martinot, he’s a great guitarist and composer, he’s looking for a singer for his project, I’m sure you would match perfectly’. After that Adrian discovered my work and contacted me. He was very clever and passionate in the way he was presenting me his music. He sent me some tracks and I had a crush on it, plain and simple. So I decided to try and write some vocal melodies, he loved it and it was on!

There’s a great human and artistic chemistry between us. I felt pretty early that we could build a great piece of music together, and I think it is what we’ve achieved.”

“My reflection about the band started when I came back from my music school, almost 6 years ago from now” – Adrian took the word. “It was a long process to create our musical universe, our identity because our music has many different textures, but it all came naturally and I think that’s the best way to create. It also took me a long time to find the right people to work with. It is always very hard to find a line-up with the same ambitions as yours, the right musical skills to play your music. It is also a hard task to find the right people who are motivated enough to dedicate themselves for non-stop touring. I had many and many issues in this process, but patience and determination were my best friends. After a ton of hard work, the album is finally here, and I’m very proud of it!”

Well, the guys definitely not suffer from the lack of inspiration – Ivan (who is also a songwriter) told us, that practically everything can inspire him. “A particular behavior from peeps in the street, a sound, a smell, a feeling within me. Everything…

I am very instinctive in the way I write music. Most of the time, when Adrian send me a riff, it’s within the first minutes that I listen to it that I have the best ideas. Most of the time if I have to search for too long, I don’t keep it. It has to come from the heart, the guts, that’s the way I work!

For bands, I love so many different kinds of stuff, but a lot in the metal genre. At the moment I listen a lot to Tremonti. His last album ‘A dying machine’ is such badass! I also listen to the last Parkway Drive, last Gojira, and the debut album of Light the torch. I like melodies, and voices that can express a lot of emotion.”

“Music is my favorite way to express myself as a human being, it’s so much powerful than words to me” – Adrian added. “If I write something that’s only because I have something to say and even if it’s not apparent when you meet me, I do have a lot to express! My main influence is Mark Tremonti’s music, not necessarily in the music, but rather in his approach to music. The melody is the most important thing for him, and I love that idea. I’m really digging his last album ‘A Dying Machine’ – what a masterpiece!”

Well, the band’s debut album was out only a few months ago, so at the moment they’re focusing on to promote this album on tour. “I’ll be back on recording some new demos soon. I’m waiting the good moment to feel the emotions to be the most genuine I could with it” – Adrian commented when we asked him about the upcoming material. The band will start to tour in their own country from September – they will perform in Nice, Toulon Montpellier and Marseille.

“Adrian and I are the ones in charge of most of the things in the band” – shared us Ivan some behind the scenes things. “Adrian writes the music, the arrangements, I compose the vocal melodies and write the lyrics. And we both work to find gigs, seeking great contacts, promotion, relation with the press. It’s just the way it naturally goes in this band. Our buddies are great, and they help as much as they can. Whenever they got a good contact, for example, they pass it on to us and we deal with the rest. It’s better to be organized. If you want to be effective it can’t be a mess.”

“Yeah, it’s just the way it works with us” – agreed Adrian. “So I come up with all the instrumental demo versions of the tracks – with all the arrangements. The writing session of a song could come with a single guitar riff, a drum pattern or just a melody in my head. I start with the idea and I build all the structures around it. When the idea is good to me, I feel inspired and generally, I write the entire song in one breath. After this, I send all the material to Ivan and he can start working on the vocals.”

All of the members of Disconnected are experienced musicians – Adrian agreed that this fact is a precious one. “When you’re in the studio it makes you win a lot of time. So, the recording process goes really fast! For example, Ivan and Aurélien took 3 days each to record their parts. But the most beneficial part is that you can try a lot of things and see if it works or not.

Yeah, of course, we all are going in the same direction, but everyone has a different musical culture or different experiences in the music business, so I let each guy express himself with his personal approach as long as it goes with the tempo. (laughs) And with these so fucking talented guys, the result is always very good!”

The White Colossus has received positive feedbacks. We were curious: did they even expect that? “You are always hoping that people will like your music, but I was amazed by the number of those feedbacks” – Ivan responded. “And the fact that they come from basically all over the world was mind blowing… I am really proud of what we’ve achieved, and I do feel that this band has a great future ahead of! We work hard for that, but the reward is just huge! I clearly want to be ended by just living of Disconnected’s music, and I’ll do everything in my power to reach that goal!”

“And we will, bro!” – this was the point when Adrian got excited. “The feedbacks are so crazy, I feel so thankful when I see people understanding and digging our music. And I would like to thank them one more time for their amazing support during the past months!

I truly believe I was made to be a musician and a songwriter since I was 15. I remember all the shitty teachers I had at school: when they told me I made a mistake to go further in this way. Today I can prove them they were so damn wrong ! That’s the best feeling ever, to go on stage and play your music and nothing in the world would make me stop!”

François-Maxime Boutault (who have worked with Behemoth for example) was the sound engineer of White Colossus also. Adrian believes that Boutault is the best sound engineer who he has ever worked with. “He is involved in the band since many years, mostly the beginning. We talked a lot about the way to approach the mixing process, we visited many studios together, he was there when I thought the band will never take shape. We contacted many guys in France, Germany… I almost traveled to the UK to look for some vocalists, but 2 weeks before my trip he called me ‘hey man, I think I found a singer’! What a relief, man! It was Ivan, we got in touch and you guys, know the story now, I couldn’t find a better singer and human-being for the band!

Bootz was the first person, who received a demo when I thought it was good enough for a first listen. He always gives me his feelings about it, and he often comes with some precious ideas of arrangements. I really trust his judgment and it helps me to step back. He has become a good friend, and for me, he is the sixth member of the band!”