The largest up and coming independent
artist supporting entity is WORLD ARTS.
Disciples of Babylon are the complete
package. Songs, style and brand conscious.
material, we realized that we needed to
start putting a band together around it
and Ramon suggested Gui, our bassist.
He came on board and it fit like a glove.
He was an easy-going person to work with
and very talented.
Especially in a scene
where there are just a
ton of musicians, how
rare is it that you find the
exact people in a sea of a
thousand
musicians?
Some are right and some
are not right for it. How did
that happen?
ERIC: : It’s a complete shot in the dark. It’s
completely luck. I think that it’s a very rare
thing to find one person to agree with. But
to find two, three other people that you can
formulate this idea with and everyone is on
the same page is incredibly rare, especially
in this day and age.
With all the white noise out there, how is it ever possible to create a space that
you can build a brand from? A new band out of Hollywood has their eye on the
prize with a complete understanding that with INCREDIBLE MUSIC, you also
have to tell a story and sell a brand. Interview by Michael Presti
Disciples of Babylon is:
Eric Knight (Vocals)
Ramon Blanco (Guitar)
Gui Bodi (Bass)
Chris Toeller (Drums)
Give everybody a little back-
ground on the band. Give me
the first vibe when all of this
first came together.
ERIC: Basically, it’s an idea that I had for a
long time of wanting to put this ultimate band
together. It was only when I saw a video of
our guitarist, who is not with us on this, that
he posted on his Facebook. It was of Altar
Bridge’s song, “Blackbird” and he did the
guitar solo. I was already a huge Altar Bridge
fan, but when I saw him do this, I was just
completely blown away and floored. He had
the look. He had the feel for his playing and I
was just like, “Wow! This is the guy that I want
to start this whole project with.” I immediately
reached out to him and said, “Hey man! I have
this idea that I am putting together and I would
love to talk to you.” We got to meet up at a
Starbucks in Hollywood and I basically told
him I wanted to put together the biggest rock
band on the face of the planet. We exchanged
our influences and all the different bands that
we like. It sounded like we had a lot of com-
mon ground. We started getting together to
write and it was just magical. We were writing
songs, and things were coming together. That’s
how things started going. Once we had some
Music is always first
and foremost but DOB
really
understands
branding. How impor-
tant is that to you guys
and talk to the creation
of the style behind it.
GUI: I think definitely. We write songs in
a very organic way. Whatever comes natu-
rally, that’s the way we go for. But we defi-
nitely have a consciousness of stuff that is
happening around the world, whether it’s
politics, economics, socially. As you men-
tioned, the cover of the album, at least it
tickles your brain a little bit. It makes you
wonder what we are talking about in the
songs; then you have titles like “Freedom”
and “Without You”. We are very conscious
of the present. As far as the marketing part
of your question, we are very conscious
of the whole brand and the way the band
looks. A lot of people in bands hate to
think of themselves as a brand, but when
you think about it, you are a brand. It’s like
toilet paper, soda, and you have to think of yourself in that
context. We’re competing with other brands like Metallica,
Foo Fighters, and on and on. When you are competing
with such a high level of bands at that level, everybody
has to have the same focus. Having someone like your-
self bringing that to our at-
tention, we know we are on
the right track and people
are noticing what we are do-
ing. It was a bold statement.
If you read about it, the lyrics
were heavily based on “True
Detective” and Matthew Mc-
Connaughey’s character in
that show and his point of
view on things. I just took
that point of view because I
was really interested in what
he is, and I think that was
one of his best performances
ever. I think it just was some-
thing where it felt correct to be, as much of a positive person as I want, I’m
a bit of a pessimist and a realist about things. The human race is pretty
shitty to the world so it just felt like it was a true statement to get behind.
The larger format allows the artwork to make a greater impact.
What is your strategy on releasing music?
ERIC: I think it’s a little bit of everything. It’s important to have a product.
Having an album is a thing. It has value. But it costs a lot of money and it
takes so much time to write and record a record. I think people’s attention
spans are shorter now.
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