On Broken Wings are back and stronger than ever with their new album, Disintegrator out August 19th. With plans to keep releasing more new music on top of the new album, (no more ten years between albums, as guitarist Mike McMillen puts it) On Broken Wings have a bright vision for their future, and plenty of new material that fans will love. Pick up Disintegrator on the 19th, and read our interview with McMillen below!
Interview by Dom Vigil
You guys are just getting ready to drop your new album, Disintegrator on August 19th. What are you most excited for listeners to hear on this album?
I can’t wait for people to listen to this record all the way through. It flows together as one piece. I don’t want to knock our last album, It’s All A Long Goodbye, but we had a lot of trouble finishing that one. It seems disjointed and confused when you listen to it – at least that’s how I feel. Disintegrator is a complete work that can be taken as a whole or as individual songs. I think our fans are really going to like it, especially if they loved Some Of Us May Never See The World.
Disintegrator has sort of been a while in the making, so what goals did you have in mind when working on these songs? Was there anything in particular that you really wanted to experiment with or try?
We sort of let anything go this time. What’s interesting is there’s a lot of stuff on this record that we were really “iffy” on. So many bands have come and gone since we started, even since our last full length. We didn’t want people to think that we had let newer stuff influence us TOO much or that we were trying to sound like “x” band. In the end I think we stayed true to ourselves. It doesn’t necessarily sound like our first album, but it sounds like us doing our thing in the current musical climate.
How do you feel you’ve grown or evolved with the creation of this album?
We’re better at writing together now than we ever have been. Everyone has computers and iPads and we just send each other ideas all the time. When we get together there’s already stuff to work on.
So far, you’ve released “Kunomuia” and “Dragging Weight” from the album. Can you tell us a little bit about these two tracks?
“Kunomuia” was mostly an idea that Jonathan, our singer, had. He hums stuff into the Notes app on his phone and then shows it to us and we have to figure out what the fuck is going on, ha. “Dragging Weight” was a song I had demoed and showed everyone. It’s almost unchanged from the original version which is rare. That’s probably my favorite song on the record. It embodies everything I was talking about earlier – it’s got this OBW vibe for sure.
What would you like listeners to be able to take away from Disintegrator or your live performances?
I really hope people dig the new stuff. We’re hoping to follow it up with something else pretty quick – no more of this 10 year between albums BS. I don’t know if it’ll be a split or an EP or even just a string of singles like they used to do back in the day, but we’re planning on putting stuff out more frequently. I hope when kids come see us live they can let out their frustrations and have a good time. When everyone is flying across a room beating the shit out of each other, then we know we’ve done our job.
Having been together since 2001, you’ve sort of had the chance to witness and be a part of the metal and hardcore scene also growing and changing over the years. What has been the biggest change that you’ve witnessed over the years?
Everyone has smartened up about the business side of things, that’s for sure. You kind of have to, since music doesn’t sell much anymore. There are way more eyes on heavy music now too. Heavy bands are playing Warped Tour more often, and some hardcore and hardcore-influence music is seeping its way onto the radio and getting recognized by regular metalheads.
What would you like to be able to bring to the metal scene with this album?
Hopefully what we’ve always brought – heavy music with a groove that kids can go apeshit over at shows.
With Disintegrator dropping in August, do you have any plans to hit the road?
We’d like to. There are a few things in the works that I can’t talk about yet. Keep checking our Facebook page for the latest details.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank YOU! We look forward to playing these songs live so stay tuned to our Facebook for the latest updates.
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