Discover Hippotraktor's journey from a trio to a vibrant quintet with vocalists, weaving intricate melodies and themes, culminating in their upcoming album 'Stasis' and exciting live performances.
1. Can
you tell us about the evolution of Hippotraktor from a three-piece instrumental
outfit to a five-piece band with vocalists?
I got bored
with backing tracks and started complaining about it to Stefan at a bar. The
rest is history. Stefan and Sander were happy to join as they were fans of the
band and felt they had something to contribute to make it even bigger.
2. How
has the addition of guitarist/vocalist Sander Rom and percussionist/vocalist
Stefan De Graef influenced the band's sound and creative process?
It hasn’t
influenced my creative process much if I’m honest. I still write pretty much
the same instrumental songs, and after I send them to Stefan who then writes
vocals to it. This collaboration is what lifts the songs to a new level as it
is Stefan’s duty to add to what’s already there and to make the songs even more
interesting. This is also how we approached the songwriting for ‘Meridian’
(2021) and it seems to be the way to go for us.
3. What
inspired the concept and narrative behind your upcoming album “Stasis"?
If I had to
sum up Stasis in one word it would be ‘Impunity’. I’ll add an analogy: as a
species, we don’t seem to have evolved much past the playground fase, e.g., if
you’re bigger, you’re better. Make of that what you will. As we get a little
older and are confronted with ‘the adult world,’ we see so much corruption,
inequality and inconsistency in treatment of human beings and are worried about
the direction in which we are evolving. We are burning with frustration from
being a part of a cold, lifeless mechanism that is supposed to serve us but is
really causing worldwide suffering and keeping us detached from each other. The
feeling that ‘the powers that be’ get away with everything and that the world
doesn’t seem to change (fast enough), is one of the things ‘Stasis’ refers to.
4. How does "Stasis" differ
from your debut album "Meridian" in terms of musical style and
thematic exploration?
With Stasis
I’ve put a lot more thought into the storytelling. Considerable effort has gone
into attention to detail, especially in how parts fit together, who plays what
and why. The result is a complex mixture of progressions all fitting together
to serve a greater whole. Conceptually, we wrote a new story around the same
protagonist from ‘Meridian,’ who is now confronted with other human beings for
the first time ever. This created the opportunity to incorporate more personal
emotions into the lyrics as they are more grounded in our own experience.
5. Could
you share some insights into the songwriting and composition process for
"Stasis"? How do you collaborate as a band to create such intricate
and dynamic music?
I write the
music, and Stefan writes the lyrics and vocal parts. That’s how it’s been so
far. That being said, we all bring something to the table in terms of tone and
interpretation of the parts. The album Stasis was by far the most difficult
piece of music I’ve ever written, and I’ve gotten stuck numerous times. Pretty
much every band member helped me out at some point, showing me a simple
solution to a problem I couldn’t figure out.
6. The
lead single from "Stasis," "Silver Tongue," has been
described as melodically rich with a blend of close harmonies and post-metal
elements. What was the inspiration behind this particular track?
With Silver
Tongue I wanted to create a sonic resemblance of decay. The opening of the song
has a near perfect, Instagram-filter quality to it, but things quickly take a
rather disconcerting turn.
This being said, I don’t think anything particular, aside from the album
concept, inspired the creation of this song, for me anyway.
7. How does the accompanying one-take performance video for "Silver Tongue" contribute to the overall storytelling and impact of the song?
The
one-take performance video of Silver Tongue was mostly a reference to our first
Meridian single Manifest The Mountain, which was also a one-take. We wanted to
take it one step further, and a lighting element to it instead of a cool
looking location. Fun fact: my girlfriend Eline was actually on a bicycle with
a light mounted on top of it riding circles around us the whole time to create
the fragmentation of light.
8. What
themes or messages do you hope listeners will take away from “Stasis"?
I hope some
of our listeners might wonder what would happen if we were to collectively
start believing in humanity, instead of deities.
9. How
do you balance the aggressive, heavy elements of your music with the more
atmospheric and melodic aspects?
A lot of trial and error. Too much of anything will start to feel like over saturation, especially in our sort of music where most things are either on or off. The element of surprise is extremely important to us and we want to catch people off guard with our music while stile writing cohesive songs.
10. Can
you discuss any challenges or memorable moments you encountered while recording
“Stasis"?
I tested
positive for Covid the evening before we were supposed to start recording drums
and bass in the studio, which had been booked for months. We went to the studio
anyway and luckily nobody got ill aside me. Everyone in the band was really
pushed to their limits to perform these tracks with the exact right intensity
and we’re proud of what everyone laid down.
11. How
do you see Hippotraktor's music evolving in the future? Are there any new
directions or experiments you're excited to explore?
I’m really
looking forward to implement everything I’ve learned whilst writing Stasis. The
challenge for the next album will be to keep it simple. A good riff is a good riff.
12. Finally,
what are your plans for promoting "Stasis" after its release, and do
you have any upcoming live performances or tours scheduled?
We’re
really looking forward to the Stasis release show at Ancienne Belgique in
Brussels on the 7th of June 2024. This will be a double bill release show with
our brothers from Cobra The Impaler. We’ll also be playing amazing festivals
like Alcatraz in Belgium and Motorcultor in France, among others. We’re also
planning some European tours at the end of the year and at the start of 2025.
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