RUDELY INTERRUPTED – EMERGENCY

“we’re here to help change the landscape for artists with disability, we can’t hide ours, so we go in loud and proud.”

Australia’s globally renowned, effervescent perfect pop rock outfit Rudely Interrupted have overcome some well-documented challenges in their 16-year existence. However, the gestation of their prophetically titled 3rd album Emergency delivered a challenge they hadn’t seen coming.

In 2018, Rudely’s founding member and co-writer Rohan Brooks was struck down with a serious brain aneurysm that left him in hospital for a year and with severe memory loss as a result. Add to that the apart time and its fallout we all endured, and the continuing climate catastrophe we are all currently facing, that finds Brooks understating on the album’s title, “yeah we’re all in a little trouble I guess!”

Brooks along with co-writer Rory Burnside came together at a disability music program that the former was running in 2006, “I met Rory through his father whose a music producer and invited him to join the group I was putting together”. Joined by fellow core member Sam Beke and various musicians passing through the line-up, Rudely Interrupted have delivered 3 albums and 4 EP’s that have taken them to 10 different countries 14 times and all over Australia.

“We often say, we joined a rock band and our behaviour got better”, Brooks offers. “It’s our art that has taken us around the globe and so we work hard on our songs together. It’s our life blood to the world and to our community so the better the songs the better the opportunity. We don’t take it lightly; we craft our songs to the best of our ability and as a result we’ve found our audience and toured the world together”.

Beyond being just a songwriting vehicle for Burnside and Brooks, Rudely Interrupted has become somewhat of a trailblazer in the differently abled arts space, creating awareness and opening doors for other acts in their community to embrace their uniqueness. “We’re in it for the life experience so it’s less about the ego and more about the music for us,” Brooks clarifies.

“Of course we’d love major success”, he hastens to add, “but the obstacles artists with disability face are in many ways out of our control. So, we’re here to help change the landscape for artists with disability, we can’t hide our disability, so we go in loud and proud. We know many who have and do hide their challenges if they can. Some are coming out with their story, and we feel like we’re the one of the artists who’ve helped pave the way for that to happen.”

The creative process on the band’s newest album Emergency followed the method the key writers have developed over time, albeit with the added challenges of Brooks’ struggles with memory loss. “We’ve always found our stride when we write”, he explains. “it’s an interesting process sometimes, writing with Rory who has Aspergers and was born without eyes, also lives with perfect and absolute pitch, it can make for some interesting subjects and musical experiences together.”

The pair wrote the songs for Emergency with Brooks tracking guitars, some vocals and bass in his home studio. The drums and some extra vocals with Paul Maybury (Rocket Science, The Bowers) at ‘Secret Location’, Brooks acknowledging, “it was a hard time, I’d forget all the tracks or at least I’d forget where I’d put the files of the recording, a frustrating time. So basically, it was a 4-year process, but all good things take time they say!”

While the album’s title may suggest an album of darkness, that isn’t really part of Rudely Interrupted’s MO. Instead, we find an album chock full of the breezy and melodic pop rock that has previously won the band fans and acclaim, albeit with even more assured delivery. It’s as though the band continue to raise the bar for themselves, despite the challenges, in fact perhaps because of them. “There’s a wealth of experience behind us”, Brooks explains, “and some of these songs are pretty different for us, we wanted to branch out a little further with some of our sounds but still keep the essence of the band in there somewhere.”

Now the album is out there in the world, Brooks suggests there is still much for Rudely Interrupted to achieve, “we do eventually want to start a school of rock type thing and find and help others who want to have music in their life but don’t have the opportunities to engage. We know there’s some talented, interesting folk out there who would love to gain the experience and opportunity to play in a band. I think having a place for these folks to express and collaborate with others is important for a healthy society to reflect on itself”

On closing, Brooks assures Rudely Interrupted’s long-time followers, “we’re in for the life we get out of it, so as long as we still have something to write about, we’ll keep on keeping on”.