Derry rock band Parker talk about their diss track towards 'Generic Indie Bands'

A quick introduction to Parker and it’s members. Leading the band in vocals and guitar is Dylan Bradley, bassist Eoghan Donegan and drummer Michael Brown.

Dylan and Michael were the founding members of the band. They held an open audition for a bassist, and in came Eoghan. Dylan and Michael have been best friends since they were 13 and Eoghan comfortably fitted into the band as they have all been friends since they were 15.

Speaking about the new direction in terms of how the band functions and their music, Dylan said: “We are trying to repaint ourselves as less of a DIY punk band, the new music we have recorded is more slick and higher budget. I suppose it is a direction change, the music is different as well. The songs are a lot less punky and more straight up rock.”

Parker’s social media presence has also changed, showing a more professional side of the band. “We are trying to make it a bit more slick and a bit more pro.”

Talking about their development Dylan said: “We've always taken it seriously, we’re just more intelligent towards how we market ourselves, more business savvy, trying to turn it more into a business.”

Parker’s new track ‘Generic Indie Bands’ is taking a shot at the current music industry, Dylan explained that he got the idea for the song through targeted ads on social media.

He said he was repeatedly getting ads for bands from England that he believed sounded very similar. “It's kind of a joke song, it's meant to be funny. A tongue and cheek diss track.”

Comedy and music isn’t a combination you often get. “It's more fun, it's more honest, it's how I feel, I like to slag. It made sense rather than writing another love song. It's a bit unusual, being silly with your lyrics rather than taking it really seriously.

“We are taking the band more seriously, but our lyrics and music we are having a bit more fun with.”

Often artists may draw from personal experiences when writing their music. Dylan however uses this as an opportunity to be ‘observational’.

He said: "There's definitely songs about things I've experienced. I think the majority of my lyrics are observational, more opinion-based rather than actual things that have happened to me; sometimes fictional. It feels safer, incase you write something that might annoy somebody.”

Dylan described how the song first started out on Iphone notes, a tool which has become part of the modern song writing process. “It's extremely important, you can write on the fly, I can be in the town and think of an idea and quietly sing it into the phone and come back to it later. It's so convenient and very important.”

Continuing on the theme of the advantages with modern technology Dylan said: “I also think when we are on tour it would be so mad to be a band on tour in the 80s and not have Google Maps, having to sit and look at a proper map and try to figure it out.”

On the topic of touring Parker has often played gigs outside of the North, including in England and Scotland. “I prefer being away playing gigs, rather than random gigs around Ireland. You are completely in the mind space of playing music, it's the only thing you are doing.”

The members of Parker all have experiences of being in a band before however they have a fresh approach these days. “Now it's about trying to work smart, back in the Lost Avenue (One of Dylan’s previous bands) we thought just playing gigs something would happen, which is just not reality anymore.”

When talking about band dynamics Dylan had an interesting perspective on it saying: “At the very least you need to be able to tolerate each other. I don't think you necessarily need to be friends. We're lucky. Me and Michael have been best friends since we were 13 playing in bands together since we were 15. Eoghan, I've known him since I was 15. As long as you can work together, you don't have to be best mates with the people you work with. You do need to be able to tolerate them.”

A big part of a working band is sharing the roles out fairly outside of the playing aspect. Dylan described how each of them bring an important part to themselves to the table: “Michael does all the driving and that's a lot of work, he's the one who can't drink beer after the gig. Eoghan would take care of a lot of our videos and editing, music videos directing. He's quite creative in that sense. I would do a lot of the songwriting and admin. Like booking shows and organising releases. Everyone has got their jobs to do.”

So what does the future hold for Parker?

"We've got a bunch of shows this summer, another single coming out in September, another single in November, doing a U.K tour with a band who they can't confirm yet,” said Dylan.

You can find Parker’s new single Generic Indie Bands on streaming services.

For more info on Parker click here: https://linktr.ee/bandcalledparker