Divine Sinners will be launching their fourth album, Losers Rule, at Coach & Horses this weekend. Consisting of 18 songs across 70 minutes, which, in their trademark cheeky manner, the band claims to have timed with a stop-watch, the album is the result of a summer of hard work and an autumn of even harder post-production.
The Gozo-based Divine Sinners has been around for 12 years, although initially the focus was more on the song-writing aspect than on live performances.
The band started gigging four years ago and has today grown to four members: Frank Buhagiar (vocals/lead guitar), Charles J. Attard (vocals/guitar), Marvic Vella (bass) and Anthony Livori (drums). The band describes its style of music as folk punk, although they admit to being somewhat unsure whether such a thing exists.
“We like folk and we like punk, and it’s the DIY element of those genres that has always appealed to us. We also like blues, pop and classic rock. However, we never really thought about what our songs sound like, we just do what we do. Some of our songs are loud and rocky, others are quiet and intimate. At the end of the day, music is music,” Attard said.
The name Losers Rule was chosen for the album after the phrase first made an appearance at the end of their video for Tears of Yesterday, which is available on YouTube.
“We felt it was a cool title for an album. Winning might be fun, but winners are generally boring. For obvious reasons, winners are celebrated all the time, while losers are usually put aside and forgotten. It has been said that losing builds character, but it’s never mentioned that it destroys self-confidence. Some of the most interesting and talented people were losers. The world would be lost without losers. Maybe at the end of the day, everyone is a loser.”
The band collaborated with artist Steve Bonello for the album artwork, saying that they were immediately drawn to his satirical cartoons.
“Every one of his illustrations is full of life, and every character that he draws comes out of a special kind of world that is instantly recognisable as Steve Bonello’s world. We are more than happy to have one of his characters gracing the cover of our album. We wanted a sort of pop art feel to the cover and we knew Steve could give this to us in his own unique way.”
The band also collaborated with Stolen Creep’s Marie Borg Alden for the album – Borg Alden sings a duet with Buhagiar on an acoustic number called Growing Up (Is Such a Drag).
“Her vocals on that song are one of the highlights of the album and we can’t wait to hear new releases from her band,” Attard continued.
The band has a number of other gigs lined up in Gozo for the summer. A schedule is available on https://www.facebook.com/pages/Divine-Sinners .
Losers Rule will be launched with a live performance on Friday at 9pm at Coach & Horses, Birkirkara.
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