Distractor "Six Foot Moon" | Volcom Cyber Singles Club

Burger Records x Volcom present Cyber Singles Club, features music from the newest breed of Burger Records stars in the making, recorded exclusively at Volcom Studio, and will be released for free download & streaming every Monday for 20 weeks beginning April 17th.

WEEK 14: DISTRACTOR – “SIX FOOT MOON”

Somewhere around mid-to-late 2014, in vocalist and trumpeter Glen’s garage, keyboardist Will Sipos came up with a catchy melody on one of his tiny toy synths leftover from the 80s. Glen began singing along and unexpectedly, this turned into the first Distractor song. Glen came up with the band name and that’s how the band begun. The idea was to play fun and simple music to distract from the harsh realities of life. Colin Mckibbin was usually there in the garage with them and joined Distractor on the ukulele. Soon after, Ronnie Dunmore on guitar and Sean Campos on bass joined the band. “We played our first legitimate show at La Cave in Costa Mesa to a sold-out crowd,” remembers Ronnie. “Glen would play miniature blaring trumpet solos in between verses, while we played along reading our handwritten sheet music. It was a lot of fun.”

Distractor’s first album Devotion was released in March 2015 and currently preparing the release of the Six Foot Moon EP, which was recorded at Volcom Studio. “We have the second album mixed and ready to be mastered, so just waiting on plans for the release on that,” says Ronnie. “We’re very excited!”

Distractor were quickly dealing with a tragedy that almost ended the band. “Right when we found clear direction and reasoning for what we wanted to be as a band, we lost our captain,” explains Ronnie. Glen passed away in October 2015 after only a year of guiding the ship. “Glen’s approach to music was not normal. He didn’t really want to start a band in the first place, so the ideas and emotions he brought to the table were very funny and inspiring.” Ronnie describes the loss as “a period of time when we felt lost.. we had to somehow fill his shoes without actually putting them on.” Guitarist and vocalist Levi Prairie joined the band to help with vocals and added new flavor to the music. This new lineup initially performed under a different name. “We needed to keep playing music together and we knew it wasn’t in the form of Distractor,” he explains. “We let Distractor rest in the garage for a year and brought a new name, Blue Flowers, out to shows. At the time, we thought we may never play as Distractor again until one day we decided to test this new musical bond we developed with Levi by starting from scratch and writing all new material. We were even able to include some of Glen’s lyrics and unfinished songs. Now that we were all contributing, it started to feel like Distractor again and we feel that Glen would be proud to see us playing these new songs. So here we are.”

Since falling into the Burger Records fold, Distractor has embraced the label ethos and made the most of the relationship. “It’s been great working with Burger. We are honored that they have taken us under their wing,” says Will. “They set us up with some shows at SXSW which was fun. We like being able to share our music with all the Burger fans and also playing alongside some whacky and talented bands. Burger has become something bigger than just a record label and we’re all lucky to have this type of thing to enjoy and contribute to in our lives.”

“Distractor is one of our favorite bands,” says Burger Records’ Sean Bohrman. “It’s like Devo and Talking Heads in outer space. When we first met Distractor we booked them for one of our local shows, but found out that the lead singer, Glen Christiansen, had passed away unexpectedly at the age of 25. Distractor carries on in memory of Glen and continues to blow minds and spread the love of the Spaceman. The story of Distractor is one too long to tell in this brief blurb, so please watch this short doc on one of our favorite bands!”