Today we’d like to introduce you to Avery Bradshaw
Hi Avery, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was not always a musician. Initially, I was a visual artist, and since I have my Bachelor’s in Art Education, on paper I still am a visual artist first. I’ve always liked to draw and my parents fostered that. I was always drawing superheroes from my Dad’s comic book collection, and my late Mom introduced me to various crafts and later signed me up for a private Art class. As I got older, I became more interested in music. My Dad introduced me to hard rock and heavy metal, my Mom introduced me to various pop musicians/bands such as Phil Collins, The Eagles, and Earth, Wind, & Fire. From there I began exploring all different kinds of music, particularly more extreme, alternative, and/or experimental music. This made me want to pursue playing music as well. My parents bought me my first bass guitar for my 14th birthday, and I haven’t looked back since. I started learning all different kinds of songs and jamming with school friends. As a teenager, I started playing in bands, which taught me a lot about music and in general being a better human being. I did realize though while I like playing in bands, I also had my own voice that I felt I needed to express without outside influence. It was hard narrowing down what I wanted to do my own until I learned about ambient and dungeon synth music. When it clicked with me, I realized this type of music would be a great way to express myself. This resulted in Disquieting, which is my main musical endeavor outside of my bands: Giger (Sludge/Death Metal) and Trendkill (Thrash/Death Metal), for both of which I play bass guitar and sing. When I’m not creating Music, I am creating Art. My primary mediums are ink illustration and oil painting, though I do have experience with several other mediums as well. Outside of Music and Art, I like to spend time at home with my wife Samantha and our 4 cats, along with cook, watch movies/TV, read, and spend time with my family and friends. I thank God every day for all I have been able to do thus far and pray I’m able to continue everything as long as possible.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest obstacle not just for Disquieting, but for all of my pursuits (my visual art and my bands Giger & Trendkill) is finding the time and energy for them. By day, I am an elementary school Visual Arts teacher. As anyone who has worked in education can probably attest, several days are more challenging than others putting it mildly. After one of those challenging days, its hard to make myself want to do anything beyond just collapse on the couch. Most of the time I push through because making Art and Music bring my joy and gives me a sense of purpose.
Because of all the different things I have in my life, it can be hard to balance everything. It can make me anxious sometimes trying to figure out how much time I have left to do what after work on the weekdays, and plan for band practices/shows or doing things with my wife/family/friends without anything conflicting (there’s been many times where I’ve had multiple commitments in one day).
The other big obstacle is anxiety and depression. I think I’ve always had them, but didn’t truly manifest until my Mom passed away unexpectedly in 2021. There’s not a day that goes by I don’t think about her, and sometimes it can be really difficult to pull myself out of a depressive episode. Thankfully support from my wife, family, friends, therapy, and making Art & Music make it easier to deal with.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a musician, I am a multi-instrumentalist. Along with playing bass since 14, I picked up guitar at 17, and drums & keys at 19. I do consider myself a bass player first since I’ve played it the longest and is typically what I pick up first when I sit down to play and/or write music. Because I’m a bassist first, I feel the majority of music I write and play has a very deep and rhythmic quality to it. Beyond that, I believe what makes Disquieting stand out specifically is combining live instrumentation with ambient synths. I think this allows me to explore more avenues for both melody and atmosphere. It also makes it easier for me to draw on various influences outside of dungeon synth and ambient music. In particular, I attempt to create dungeon synth with elements of progressive rock, post-rock, and doom metal.
With Disquieting, I think I am most proud of my two recent albums, “Empty Throne Amongst The Stars,” and “Noctambulant.” Both albums provided me with more opportunities than I thought possible with such a niche music genre. They both also helped me to be more confident in myself and my musical abilities. “Empty Throne” helped me to cope and work through my Mom’s passing and bigger existential ideas. With “Noctambulant,” I feel like I honed in my sound specifically to Disquieting having a concrete identity.
Musically outside of Disquieting, I am thankful to be proud of several other releases. With my sludge/death metal band Giger, I’m proud of our debut album “Submit To Reality,” and our latest single “Bronson.” “Submit” was the first full-length album I’ve ever been a part of and my first time being in a professional recording studio. That in itself I feel is a major accomplishment. While our sound has evolved since then, I think “Submit” is a good first album and still go back to listen to it occasionally. “Bronson” I am proud of because it shows how our sound has begun to evolve, especially with a line-up change in the band. While I do think there’s room for improvement and was stressful at times, I feel accomplished in having done all of the recording myself. I’m also proud of my band Trendkill’s debut single “Black Swamp.” Along with recording it myself, I’m proud of it because it shows another one of my many musical sides. I’m also grateful to be playing with my band mates in Trendkill again, who were in Giger on “Submit To Reality.” I believe both bands stand out for two reasons: First, both bands don’t just do “one” thing musically because we actively combine and experiment with elements of different musical genres. Second, all of us in both bands continually push ourselves to be better musicians and better songwriters. We try to avoid some things considered norms or cliches of metal music as a whole. Specifically in Giger, I feel we have created “subtle complexity” in our music, i.e., what we are playing may seem easy at first, but on closer examination we are using very intricate melodies and rhythms. I’m also proud of what I have put out so far with my side projects Ephemerus and Decrepit Keep, as they have been my avenues for more traditional ambient music.
I also am thankful to be proud of a lot of my visual art. I’ve gotten the chance to put my work in several exhibitions, create several commission pieces, and have my artwork on several releases by different bands/musicians. A few specific works I’m especially proud of: My drawing “Call of The Cosmic Bell” is part of my local library’s permanent collection. I was commissioned to draw the cover for dungeon synth artist Cursebitten’s debut album “Seize It With Thine Own Hands.” I was commissioned by ambient artist Angel to paint the cover for their latest album, “Lifecolours.”
What were you like growing up?
I was always very quiet and introverted growing up (and still am). I don’t always like to be the center of attention, and feel I am a better listener than speaker. Thankfully, for the most part, I was still able to make friends growing up, though it was difficult sometimes to keep friends because my family moved a lot due to my Dad being a state park ranger/manager and being re-assigned to different parks. I think moving a lot, combined with often not living close to other people because we lived on the parks, is part of what made me then and still makes me so quiet, because I didn’t really have the opportunity to talk with a lot of kids/people when I wasn’t at school. This didn’t bother me much though, as I enjoyed (and still enjoy when I can) having the time to myself to come to my own conclusions about the world and figure out what I liked and didn’t like with very minimal outside influence. I learned about myself very early on I didn’t care much for sports, which is not the norm for most growing up in the South. I’ve almost always had a very vivid imagination, so I was drawn to comic books and video games as a kid. Then as I got older, I became more interested in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movies and books, along with learning more about various kinds of music and art. I’m thankful for the time I had on the parks for its time to learn about myself, though I’m happy to be living in a bigger city as an adult.
Pricing:
- Disquieting digital download: Name Your Price
- Disquieting CD’s: $5 before shipping
- Giger & Trendkill merch: $5 – $25 before shipping
- Art prints: $5 – $20 before shipping
- Original art/comissions: Contact for price
Contact Info:
- Website: https://avery-bradshaw.squarespace.com/
- Instagram: @disquieting_music
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/100066735576516/
- Other: https://disquieting.bandcamp.com/
Image Credits
1. Photo by Samantha Bradshaw
2-3. Photos by Julian Castro
3-8. Original artwork by Avery Bradshaw
9. Photo by Charley Windham (@dubography_photography on Instagram)
10. Photo by Joshua Cook (@fatal_fantasy7 on Instagram)
