Once in a while, something comes along and interrupts the status quo. Something out of the ordinary – head-spinning, different, and completely alien. And challenges you to rethink what you thought you knew.
In the business world, it’s called “disruptive”.
In The Wknd Sessions, it’s called Janitor – a band that takes a deeper look into what it means to make “music”.
If you take their music at surface value – which some of us tend to, or are conditioned to do – then it might just be construed as “noise”. But scratch a bit deeper, and what you find are measured and deliberate attempts at constructing meaning from dissonance.
In our conversation with Janitor, a recurring theme is that desire not to be pigeonholed by genre. The band admits to finding themselves associated with “noise”, “loud”, “punk” or whatever the label-du-jour seems to be. But what they’re trying to do is to challenge the listener to think (listen) outside the box, and to try and be appreciative of other forms of music – which is especially apparent on their debut EP, Bilik Janitor.
Being on the outside fringes, and constantly pushing the envelope of what is “acceptable”, Janitor is conscious of what they’re trying to do. As they readily admit, it’s not their intention to educate listeners on the intricacies of noise or punk music. It’s a little subtler – the band tries to get the audience to listen, and to interpret the music on their own without having a load of cliches forced down their throats.
Check out our exclusive interview to see what they mean:
