A slightly abridged version of this preview appeared in The List magazine.
D.I.V.O.R.C.E, find out what it means to me! What it means to me is bleeding ears and free-sax fuck-rock squall. But what does it mean to you, oh harbingers of Glasgow carnage, aka Divorce?
‘We really love making a big dumb racket – none of us have any social, political or psychological baggage we want to offload on the listener,’ proclaims drum-slayer Andy Brown (also of Remember Remember) before citing the dissolute rabble’s charms. ‘Jennie [Fulk] is the shouter, VSO is the bassist and Vickie [McDonald] is the guitarist. We all bring our own weird peculiarities and influences, but when it comes to writing songs we don’t attempt to write a “punk” song or a “metal” song or what-have-you – we don’t have the patience or talent to slavishly adhere our music to a specific sound. We’re happier completely pleasing ourselves, as a bunch of skint punk-jammers.’
‘Me and VSO have been friends for a long time,’ says Brown viz Divorce’s miscreant courtship. ‘We decided to start a band, something loud and obnoxious, with an experimental attitude. We met the others at parties – we were the geeks in the kitchen talking about obscure Throbbing Gristle recordings, rather than cutting rug in the main room.’
Following depraved emissions via Optimo and Winning Sperm Party, Divorce’s ace eponymous debut album is released on London DIY imprint Night School (Julia Holter, Sun Araw). ‘There’s a couple of harsh noise tracks, and free-jazz saxophone [from Remember Remember’s James Swinburne] on another,’ raves McDonald of the long-player. ‘I’m mega-proud of how intense it turned out.’
Their forthcoming live depravity, meanwhile, will likely expound why Lydia Lunch once called them Cuntzilla’s ungodly offspring. ‘Expect riffs and plenty of fucking loud feedback,’ forewarns McDonald.
‘And maybe some blood-letting,’ adds Brown. Let’s hear three organ-slaughtering cheers for the (un)holy (un)matrimony of Divorce.
Sat 8 Sept, Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow; Divorce’s debut album is out on September 17.
(Divorce photo by Stella Wan)
Nicola Meighan 