Interview - HATESPHERE - We wanna keep developing, both fanwise and musicwise. ~ DEADLY STORM zine

Interview with thrash metal band from Denmark - HATESPHERE.

Answered Peter "Pepe" Lyse Hansen, thank you!

Translated by Duzl, thank you!

Questions prepared Jakub Asphyx.

Recenze/review - HATESPHERE - Reduced to Flesh (2018):

http://deadly-storm.blogspot.com/2018/11/recenzereview-hatesphere-reduced-to.html

Ave HATESPHERE! How are you? Greetings to Denmark, and I am also sending great thanks for your last album "Reduced to Flesh". I admit that I have not heard so much energy in one place for a long time. The album is really great! Which kind of feedback do you received? What about fans, reviews? And how are you satisfied with it?

Thanks! Well, reviews have been really good, and the fans really seem to dig it… as we do ourselves. The feedback on live shows, songs and videos have all been super cool. We really think we have made this album no. 10 something really special as well. We have succeeded in creating a quite dark atmosphere on it as a whole, and as far as the songwriting goes we’ve felt really good. The atmosphere in the rehearsal room and in the studio has been super relaxed and productive, so all in all we are really satisfied with the way things turned out.

How do HATESPHERE compose a new material and how did the "Reduced to Flesh" was created? Are you a classical band that meets in the studio or you solve everything over the internet? I still live in the old days when the musicians in the studio were really drunk and then they go for it? Or is it different today?

As we live quite far apart, we always prepare ourselves before every rehearsal. We dont travel 300 km just to see, if anything good comes out, we always meet up, when we know that we’ve got something to work on. I write practically all the music but we always arrange stuff together. This means that I record stuff at home, send it to the others, so they can hear what’s in store for them, they give me some feedback, and we then meet in the rehearsal room to work on and finish the songs together. When at the rehearsal room it also happens that we end up jamming as well and create something that I didn’t prepare at home, so both things are possible. This time around I wrote most of the stuff in my basement, and then arranged it with the boys, when we met up.

You have some really nice videos to your album. Who directed them and what they are talking about? Specifically, those for the songs "Ruled by Domination" and "Corpse of Mankind" are really great.

We had an italian guy called Federico Mondelli doing the Ruled by Domination video. The video and the lyrics are quite simple a story of the struggle against oppression. The simple yet very expressionist animated video fits the atmosphere of the song very, very well, if you ask me… and you do ;-)

The sound on "Reduced to Flesh" record is really good. Where did you record and who is behind mastering and production?

We recorded it at the Antfarm Studio here in Aarhus, Denmark, with Tue Madsen producing it. He has produced the last 6-7 HateSphere albums plus he was even the guy doing our 1997 second demo tape, so he has been part of the sound of the band for a very long time. It’s always super relaxing yet very productive to record with Tue. We understand each other super well. He knows what we want and vice versa - and we still like to experiment though we know each other that good. This means that it never gets boring for us and it gives the albums a fresh touch/sound.

I always take new albums as a whole. I read lyrics, browse the booklet. I am pleased to see that there is a huge amount of work and experience behind everything. I'd just have one complaint to the cover. I've been looking at the coffin on a yellow background for a long time, but it makes me nervous. Cover I remember, but I still feel like something does not fit. Why did you choose this "simple" motif?

Like you, we like everything to fit together as a whole. We like the simplistic style of the hand-painted cover. It’s raw yet beautiful, it’s powerful as hell. It doesn’t need any bullshit to make an impact. Most covers are filled with tons of different stuff, tons of details, as if somebody’s afraid that people wont understand what it’s all about. This cover is simple, because we are confident that people can see what the band and the album is about. It’s got a very powerful expression in my opinion, and therefore displays the music and the lyrics of the new album very good.

An integral part of the new album are also the lyrics. Yours are about hatred, violence, human stupidity. Who is their author and how they originated? Do you inspire by TV news, current events? Where do you take inspiration?

Our singer, Esse, does all the lyrics. He likes to write about the surrounding world, about real life experiences. So, whenever there is something that pisses him off, he writes about it. Mostly these days he gets pissed off about politics and abuse of power!

It looks like you're happy to play a lot. Personally, I think this is the best way how to get your music to the fans. What about the extreme metal in Denmark? Same like the Czech Republic, you are a small country, and for example, people mostly listen to something different. Similar metal is total underground. How is it in Denmark?

Metal isn’t big in Denmark but it isn’t total underground either. We have a lot of bands and a lot of talent out there, we just need more bands to break through - not only in Denmark but also to take the next step out in the rest of the world. The best way to do that is to play live - and I guess that’s one of the reasons why we have always played tons of shows… that plus the fact that we love to kick ass on stage ;-)

I check all your discography before this interview and just today I realized that HATESPHERE did not have a weak record in their entire career. How is it possible? When I think that so many musicians have changed, it is strange. You still keep your way, you have your expression, the sound. So, if I understand it, there is no one left from the original line up?

Actually I am the only original member left in the band but when you think about the fact that we recorded our first album all the way back in 2000 it’s not that strange. So, the fact that I am the main song writer and also the only original member explains quite well why we have kept our sound and expression over the years, though developing it obviously. We really like what we do, and we don’t wanna record anything that we dont feel lives up to the HateSphere standard. We wanna keep developing, we wanna keep showing people that we are better than ever. So with this in mind it’s not hard to set ourselves up to try to do better and better. All in all we just wanna do great music, and that is motivation enough.

Each band should have a goal, a aims which they want to achieve. What are aims for HATESPHERE? You do a lot of concerts, many tour with big bands, you releasing albums. Do you still have some dreams?

Sure thing. There are still places we haven’t played yet. There are still bands that we haven’t toured with… and there are still lots of people that we haven’t played for yet as well. We wanna keep developing, both fanwise and musicwise. If we don’t feel that we have anything to aim for, I don’t think we would be doing this :-)

What are the closest plan for HATESPHERE in the coming months? Will we see you again in Czech Republic? I hope it will be soon and we will make a party together!

Our plan is to do a European tour in the fall of 2019 - so keep your ears and eyes open for that. Then we have some early summer shows as well that we’ll be doing. Then we’ll be releasing some songs in the remaining part of 2019 as well. These are some b-sides, some cover stuff and something surprising as well.

Thank you very much for the interview, I wish you good CD sales, a lot of devoted fans and good luck with whatever you do in your personal life.

Thanks for your time, support and patience as well. See you on the road!

Cheers!

Pepe/HateSphere

Recenze/review - HATESPHERE - Reduced to Flesh (2018):

http://deadly-storm.blogspot.com/2018/11/recenzereview-hatesphere-reduced-to.html