MY INSPIRATION: Ten Eighty Trees – Distractics

Tyneside alt. rock trio Ten Eighty Trees present yet more heady, colossal riffs in their new track, Distractics. Having enjoyed sold-out shows across the region, and with nods of acclaim from the likes of BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson, the band continue to produce exciting and urgent music which seeks to challenge the status quo. Here, they talk about the new single, which takes influence from the likes of Weezer, Basement and Dinosaur Pile-Up.

“Distractics is a portmanteau of distractions and tactics, with the title coming from how our attention is constantly being shifted from the reality of the world we live in. It’s like you can be scrolling through social media and be exposed to images of heinous war crimes taking place in real time followed swiftly by pictures of cute puppies immediately after. What’s more is that so many of us just seem desensitised to this experience now. It all just feels incredibly dystopian. This control over what we’re being exposed to and how certain stories are being portrayed in the media was a big part of the motivation to first put pen to paper for this song. Despite this heavy point of discussion, I did still want to offer some kind of defiance to all this with lyrics like “Now I’m ready to begin” and “I long it be over” being recurring themes throughout. I feel this offsets some of the more damning lines like “you’re so self-righteous, you practice distractics”; highlighting the god complexes of those people that benefit from controlling the media and public perceptions of others.

“The music of Distractics also carries a lot more of this aforementioned longing for change and hope. It’s obviously still a huge sounding Ten Eighty rock song, but this time round we dabbled with a bit more of a relaxed tempo, drawing quite hard on post-grunge and alternative rock influences like Basement and Superheaven. I feel these touchstones can be heard quite audibly scattered throughout the song, from the unresolved optimism of the suspended guitar chords used in the chorus through to the woozy lilt of the main arpeggiated riff, it all made for an incredibly euphoric experience when we were pulling the song together. It’s certainly our most 90s influenced track to date. However, I think with Distractics we’re offering a bit of a leaner, remastered take on all the grunge and alt. rock music from that era whilst retaining what made it so intoxicating in the first place. 

“There has been a bit of a gap between the last music we released and this, so we were quite conscious of the fact we needed to come back with a bang. Of all the songs we’re currently sitting on (and trust me, there are a lot!), Distractics felt like the biggest statement of where the band is currently at; still packing the same energetic rock punch but now moving with a bit more groove and swagger.”

Ten Eighty Trees play Zerox, Newcastle on Saturday 12^th October.