BAND OF THE MONTH: Dispute

When you think of towns in the UK which produce some of the hardest hitting hardcore in the country, you’d automatically go to places like London, Brighton and the East Midlands.

So, you could be forgiven for overlooking Ipswich as producing a band who are full of chugging riffs and mosh parts where you know your face at risk of being reshaped.

Well let Just An Insight introduce you to Dispute, the double hard bastards from Suffolk who over the last couple of years have been making real in roads in the UK scene.

Like many projects, Dispute was almost a casualty of COVID as the idea for the band came together in late 2019 when vocalist Ray Mitchell and guitarist Charlie had set about plans to record some riffs and see if there was anything which would stick. But the band wouldn’t really get going until coming out the other side of lockdown.

However, now they are off the to the races. Having released a flurry of EP’s since their debut “On The Ropes” in 2020 and played shows around the country, Dispute have steadily made a name for themselves in the UK.

In their sound Dispute bring in traditional sounds like that of bands like Hatebreed and Madball, but give it a modern spin. When asked about their influences Mitchell said: “I can’t really say we’re too influenced by one band or sound in particular to be fair, it’s more of a general hardcore thing. We enjoy a whole load of bands across the HC spectrum and further afield.”

One thing is for sure, the music that Dispute does produce is hard as hell. So it is fitting that they have the self proclaimed tag of Double Hard Bastard Core. Just An Insight needed to get to the bottom of this and knew where this came from.

Laughing in response Mitchell added: “The whole double hardcore bastard core came about as joke to start with. Our old bass player Billy mentioned it once because we have an old song called DHB, and we thought it was hilarious and fitting.”

Last year was also a big year for quintet who signed to AAK Records who Mitchell described as “an absolute top tier label” and released their EP “NOTHIN’ LEFT 2 PROVE” to much acclaim for the UK hardcore scene.

And if there is one mission statement from the five-piece it is never to slow down when it comes to their music output. As well the EP they released two stand alone singles last year, and look to continue that mentality into 2025.

Michell continued: “Our goal in 2025 is to get about as much as possible and release new music.”

With a weekender with Low Life 528 set for the end of Feb/early march, and the band heading over to Germany for AAK Fest in April this year is already looking like a busy one. And yes there is the promise of more music to come as well.

SHOUT OUTS:

Here at Just an Insight we want to learn about as many bands in our scene as possible, both in the UK and internationally. So as part of each feature we are giving the bands an opportunity to shout out some other bands to check out. Here is Ray Mitchell’s recommendations:

“There’s honestly too many bands to shoutout here but I’ll try my best. Listen to Break Them, Wither, Devils Grip, The Neighbourhood Watch, Tempers Fray, Raw Conflict, Low Life, Hour of Reprisal, Lockdown 429, Cycle of Abuse, Human Deceit, No Second Chance, Bitewound, Ill Vision, Full Contact, Anti Stasi, The Tura, Only Way Out, Mindhold, Sicario. Sorry to whoever I missed.”