DJ's Spotlight: An interview with the Disciples of Babylon

Hey there everyone DJ Dizzy here & I've had the pleasure of interviewing  a band called the Disciples of Babylon who took time to answer a few questions though thet were busy

How'd you get started in music?

Chris Toeller (drums): Both of my parents are musicians, so I grew up surrounded by music making it inevitable that I would also get bitten by the music ‘bug’ at some point, so to speak. My Mom plays the oboe, and my Dad is also a drummer. Both have been playing professionally most of their lives.

Ramon Blanco (guitar): At 8 years old, I studied classical guitar and quit after 6 months, I wanted to play soccer and l came back to guitar when I was 13 years old I just wanted to play rock and roll on my father's nylon stringed guitar.

Gui Bodi (bass): I tried piano when I was really young, like 6 or 7 years long, but I couldn't keep up with the practice routine, all I wanted to do was play soccer. Later on, when I was 15 years old, I started listening to AC/DC, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, and that  was it for me, I knew then that that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. A little while after that I picked up the bass, and the rest is history!

Eric Knight (vocals): I started doing talent shows and plays when I was very young and just got hooked from there. My parents played a lot of music around the house. I was exposed to various musical genres. My father was a rhythm guitar player for several bands growing up and my mom has a fantastic voice only she’s deftly shy. So I pretty much grew up consumed by music.

Who are your inspirations?

Chris Toeller (drums): There are too many people for me to name that have in some way inspired me musically, but some of the bands that I grew up listening to include Taking Back Sunday, Underoath, Thrice, The Starting Line, and The Used. I would say that the drummers for all of those groups have played a role in my development as a drummer.

Ramon Blanco (guitar): My bandmates they inspire me every day.

Gui Bodi (bass): I draw inspiration from many different people, places and things, particularly what has an impact on me, directly or not, good or bad. Most recently, gun violence is something that's been on my mind a lot, I fear for the safety of kids at school and feel the need to talk about it, especially now that I have a nephew and soon he will be going to school. I see music, in this particular case, as a very powerful vehicle of information and education.

Regarding people, Paul McCartney (The Beatles) is my forever inspiration, but I've been hooked up on Joe Dart (Bassist for Vulfpeck), Myles Kennedy (Vocalist/Guitarist for Alter Bridge), Mike Inez (Bassist for Alice In Chains) and Mike Kerr (Bassist/Singer for Royal Blood).

Eric Knight (vocals): I think I’m influenced by everything around me and music is a huge part of that. Musically speaking there are just too many to mention.

How would you say music has impacted your life?  

Chris Toeller (drums): I think that music is one of the few things that can almost instantaneously give me a sense of purpose or even give life meaning when I’m feeling like it doesn’t have any. It has a very profound healing effect. It has kept me going through my entire life and has allowed me to persevere through times when I’ve felt like giving up.

Ramon Blanco (guitar): Music is my life, without music I would be very sad.

Gui Bodi (bass): Well, it impacted me so much that it became my life! I gave up on previous careers to dedicate myself to music exclusively, and I'm happy to report no regrets so far!

Eric Knight (vocals): Music is my religion, music is life! That pretty much sums up music for me in a nutshell.

What advice can you offer any up & coming bands or performers?

Chris Toeller (drums): Just keep working on doing what you do better. Don’t try to conform to someone else’s idea of what you should be doing because it won’t have the same level of integrity. Eventually, people will come to recognize the honesty in what it is you’re doing and appreciate it.

Gui Bodi (bass): Don’t play/work for free!!! (Unless you choose to do so)
Sometimes we musicians find ourselves in a relationship with bands and artists that won’t benefit our careers nor take us anywhere (but it will give you a lot of exposure! Yeah, right...), and for some reason we allow other people to dictate what we should be doing regarding the direction we want to go, either because you’re friends with everybody in the band or because you simply like the music you play a lot. I’m not saying those things are bad, like I said before, if you choose to play with your friends and just have a good time it’s great, but do it because you chose to do so. If at any point that’s not enough for you, have the strength to move on and pursue your dreams and goals, and believe me, those usually include getting paid for your art and your hard work like every other profession.

Eric Knight (vocals): It’s a job like any other job. You have to go out everyday and grind it out and hustle! It will not be handed to you, you must work incredibly hard to get noticed and even then there aren’t any guarantees. Just get out there and do it!

Any new stuff lined up?

Chris Toeller (drums): Right now, we have two new music videos in the works for a couple of the tracks off of our latest record, “The Rise and Fall of Babylon.” Aside from that, we’ve already begun write some new material for future releases.

Gui Bodi (bass): We have a few tour dates lined up and a couple of music videos in the making, stay tuned on our social media and/or our website, you can find our most recent news about shows and projects there!

Eric Knight (vocals): Lots of surprises, stay tuned!

Disciples of Babylon is a hard rock band that I highly recommend so I just want to wish them nothing but good luck & thank them for the interview. So until then be radically righteous!