Monday, February 19, 2024

Withdisdain

ORIGINS: Kingswood, NSW
GENRE: Metal, Alt-Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 1998-2010
 
MEMBERS:
  • Luke Sloane (Vocals, Guitar)
  • Ming Ng (Guitar)
  • Paul 'Cliffy' Thoms (Bass) [1998-2000]
  • Wayne Bennett (Drums) [1998-2002]
  • Pablo 'Pill' Moya (Bass) [2000-2010]
  • Cale O'Brien (Drums) [2002-2010]
  • Mark Paton (Keys, Samples) [2000-2002] 
  • Julia (Vocals) [1998]
RELEASES: 
  • First Demo (1998)
  • Two Romantic Nights (1998)
  • Function: Down (1999)

  • ETA:TBA (1999) - Download Here.
    • 1. Furthest Epitome
    • 2. Immersion
    • 3. Drab Shirt Queue
    • 4. [Seven][Squared] 

  • Perchance? (2000) - Download Here.
    • 1. Welcome
    • 2. I Finally Learnt
    • 3. Judy Garland's Proverb
    • 4. 1.7.Four.99
    • 5. Eye Contact
    • 6. Immersions
    • 7. Drab Shirt Queue
    • 8. [Seven][Squared]
    • 9. Fist of Withdisdain

 

  • Suffragette (2002) - Download Here.
    • 1. Suffragette (Radio Edit)
    • 2. Florida Palms
    • 3. Closure
    • 4. Vermillion
    • 5. Suffragette

  •  Have You Ever? (2003) - Download Here.
    • 1. Fade In
    • 2. Long Ride
    • 3. Barricades
    • 4. Blemish
    • 5. Understanding Two Storms
    • 6. Chapter 2
    • 7. Violent Scenes
    • 8. Associate A Crow
    • 9. Push

  • Portrait (2008) - Download Here.
    • 1. Finite
    • 2. Buried Beneath the Glacier
    • 3. Fish Tank Mass Grave
    • 4. Sometimes You Feel Like I'm Dead
    • 5. Honey Gonzalez
    • 6. Scenes from a Memory
    • 7. Solemn
    • 8. 8fd
    • 9. Faithfully Yours
    • 10. Stumbling Endlessly Through Muddy Fields
    • 11. Dust Off a Butterfly's Wings
SUMMARY: Withdisdain met each other while studying at Western Sydney University in Kingswood, forming a band driven by Luke Sloane's songwriting and influenced by musical artists like Smashing Pumpkins, Aphex Twin, Deftones, Korn, and Public Enemy. They initially had a different singer, Julia, but she went back to Germany and Sloane stepped up to the mic after this. The next major lineup changes came after Thoms left and Bennett moved up to Queensland. The band remained a stable 4-piece lineup during the '00s and ended with their last show at the Bat and Ball in 2010.
 
SHOWS: 

 
ORAL HISTORY:
WAYNE: It all started in my first 6 months at the Uni of Western Sydney. Luke Sloane and I were flat mates on campus on Uni and very quickly found common ground in our love of music. We started jamming together along with Paul Thoms and Julia as our vocalist. It was really just a bunch of students jamming out. Funny thing about it was that I was the only music student. Luke studied Nursing, Paul was an Industrial Mathematician, and I think Julia was a graphic designer... It was only about 3 or 4 months I think before Julia left, Luke started as frontman and Ming Ng came into the group.
Wayne Bennett (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
MING: We were all living on campus at UWS Nepean in Kingswood, and the first gigs were house parties around the units and at the Swamp Bar on campus"
Ming Ng (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

WAYNE: We came up with the name off a verse that someone had written on the wall of our house, it went something like 'We look upon ourselves with disdain," and there you go.
Wayne Bennett (Drums), Obzine Issue 12, July 2000

MING: I joined the band in June of '98 as a second guitarist so Luke could concentrate on rapping in the verses of some songs. For the first few years we were looking and playing in the wrong places, and our demos were shite. We had quite a few gigs at the Swamp Bar, and supported Insurge there. But it's such a fucked venue for bands like us. People go there to listen to funk and smoke pot.
Ming Ng (Guitar), Obzine Issue 12, July 2000
 
MING: The name 'Withdisdain' came from a verse which was scrawled on the wall of a uni room - an excerpt of which read, 'Look upon yourself with disdain.' We liked it because it runs away from naming a band as an entity using nouns... and labels us as a feeling instead.
Ming Ng (Guitar), Drum Media, 9 September, 2003

LUKE: My influences come from the Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, Wu Tang, the Mightyfew... I would be the biggest liar if I didn't say Jewel, she has influenced my lyrics so much just making me think complexly about the situations I want to write about and how to put them into an emotional song (nope that isn't a joke)."
Luke Sloane (Vocals, Guitar), Obzine Issue 12, July 2000


MING: We played a gig out at Windsor with Barkode one night, sold a few CDs there, so I think Adam Rawson and his mates were spreading some good words for us. The turning point though, was seeing all the posters up for Right Here Right Now, and that's what led me to Craig McVea and his column in the Penrith Star. I wanted to organise something similar so I gave him a CD, and a few months later we're playing at the Daily Planet.
Ming Ng (Guitar), Obzine Issue 12, July 2000

PABLO: Luke and Wayne started working where I worked, I got to talking about music with them and told them I played guitar and they asked if I wanted to try and play bass so I said sure, I will give it a go.
Pablo Moya (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

WAYNE: A favourite show would have to be my final show with the band. I left the group at the end of 2002 to pursue a new life on the Gold Coast. My final show with the guys was very special to me and very emotional. It's one that I will never forget.
Wayne Bennett (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

PABLO: I miss the rush and fear of playing in front of people and I miss rehearsing with the other guys and coming up with new material.
Pablo Moya (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

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