Twenty years may seem like a long time in a person’s life, yet it can fly by quickly, as those who have lived on this earth for more than a few decades can attest too. That’s how long it’s been since I last checked in with Sherwood Park‘s prodigal musical sons The Disturbers. Much time has passed since that first interview, but the Alberta band has kept the “nouveaux classic rock” fires burning loud and proud. Through various group iterations and personal and musical adversities, The Disturbers are still here rocking and rolling. Now with a couple new exceptional music tracks posted up on their website and YouTube page, the band is looking forward to seeing a brand new full-length album released.
“Darren and I have talked about putting together a full new album, and to our surprise now we have it nearly completed…so stay tuned for that,” said Bruce Cline, lead singer of the Disturbers.
“Darren” is Darren Beveridge, longtime guitarist and backing vocalist for The Disturbers. These days Bruce Cline and Darren Beveridge are technically the only official members of the band, currently keeping the legacy going after all these years.
“The vast majority of The Disturbers catalog, including our 2014 release Retirement Plan, in the past was written by Bruce and I, so we two in essence have recently kept the band alive in the shadows, tweaking and writing here and there when we could,” said Beveridge. “Historically, just the two of us have performed together as The Disturbers live on several occasions, including a small tour in Hawaii,” he explained.
If the new album is anything like the two new single releases the duo recently put out online, then fans and listeners alike will be in for a treat. The first cut “Settlers” is a deeply emotional and resonating track, that explores drug addiction, specifically how it affects relationships.
”The ‘Settlers’ song was inspired by a friend who had a tumultuous marriage to a woman who had an opiate addiction, and it ultimately took her,” said Cline.
“So in the end it was about ‘settling’ for a life, rather than living it,” Beveridge added.
The second track is a countryfied roots rocker titled “It’s Coming For Me.” It has a “Blaze of Glory” outlaw style vibe, yet more contemporary. With each subsequent replay, the track becomes weightier, and progressively more prominent.
“Coming For me’ ended up being a little more ‘country’ than I planned, but it worked out,” said Cline of the haunting country rocker. “An old fella at a veteran home said to me, ‘I don’t know when, but he’s coming for me,’ and I thought it was a good line and used a version of it for the song.”
As with Cline, Beveridge too is enjoying the new songs, but he realizes the music industry today is a lot different from when the group started. From the shift from physical albums to digital releases, to the complete change in distribution channels, music now is released and consumed very differently than what it was 20 years ago.
“I like our newest material quite a bit, but it’s not exactly the best time to be an original artist band in the world, for guys that aren’t each 25 years old and cranking out Tik Tok mini songs,” said Beveridge. “Maybe with this new stuff being released, we will find it makes it further out into the wild.”
So what’s in store for the band in the future? The duo is focusing mainly now on writing and recording, but a tour or some shows could be possible down the road.
“I will continue to write songs based on the law of averages method: write enough of them, and one will be a good one,” said Cline.
“I think we are going to keep putting new stuff out until we can’t,“ added Beveridge.
As for a tour…
“As far as touring or shows; we will see. I can’t fit into tight pants anymore,” Cline humorously joked. “I don’t have any hair and need reading glasses now.”
Trent McMartin
(Photo is The Disturbers playing a show in Nisku, Alberta, a few years ago. Courtesy of Darren Beveridge).
