All Interviews
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy
Posted on Aug 31, 2005
by Anders
Hypocrisy, one of the stalwarts on the Swedish death metal scene. The band has been through some ups and downs during their carreer and has even been put on hold for a while, but was luckily soon resurrected again. Since then the band has become stronger and stronger for each release. After last year's album "The Arrival" longtime drummer Lars Szöke left the band and was replaced by Horgh, as you might know from Immortal. He joined bandleader, guitarist and vocalist Peter Tägtgren, bassist Mikael Hedlund and guitarist Andreas Holme and that quartet has delivered the best Hypocrisy album in a long time, if not the best album. It is named "Virus" and in connection with the release of it, I recieved a phonecall from Tägtgren.
How do you keep your artistic pace up, in the level as you do, considering how much you music you write and release?
I don't know, hehe. I really enjoy doing what I am doing and that takes it a long way, and people want it, that is a big factor of motivation as well. There are some feelings of adventure connected to it as well, I am exploring new fields all the time and I am getting better and better at what I am doing. My goal is to write the best songs, I might reach that some day. The ultimate goal must be to make the best album ever!
How do you find inspiration for your music?
My urge to want to be better, life in general and my stubbornness, haha.
How much of the music on "Virus" have you written?
I have written almost all of the material on the new album, and the 3 others have contributed with ideas. We have been feeding of each other this time, and that has been very inspiring. It has been very inspiring to have Horgh in the band as well, he gives me a lot of ideas and with him behind the drums, I don't have to limit myself, he can do it all.
How do you work when you write music, do you have to be in a certain mood or..?
I normally sit down with my guitar and go crazy and jam. I usually have some ideas in my head and then need to figure out, how to get them out on the guitar. I don't really have to be in a certain mood to write music, it's often different from time to time.
How much influence does the rest of the band has on the final outcome of a Hypocrisy track?
Last year in May we took a week to jam, until September last year we had around 10 such weeks, and by then we had finalized the material. We then went in the studio in November to record the album. I had the basic tracks ready, but the rest of the band came with many ideas during the jams, so they have had quite some influence on the final outcome.
"Virus" is pretty varied and offer both straight ahead brutal death metal and large bombastic moments, why did it turn out like that?
I have had some different influences and ideas compared to older Hypocrisy albums I guess. And after Horgh became a part of the band, I could vary the music more and make more complex songs and pace shifts. He could play exactly what I wanted, he could do double bass drumming, blastbeats and so on, that did I could use a lot of old ideas I've had in a while and so forth.
When you started out to write the material for "Virus", what did you then want to accomplish with it?
I wanted to make the best Hypocrisy album ever, the fastest and most complex album in our history. When I listen to "The Arrival" today, I find it too midpaced.
Have you accomplished that?
Yeah, I think we cut it. We accomplished the album we had in mind when we started, so I am satisfied.
What do you expect from the album?
I am not expecting anything anymore; I take it as it comes. I expected a lot in the past and was always sure that we had made the best album ever, but got disappointed each and every time.
What does one of your albums have to accomplish before you find it successful?
If people enjoy it, it is successful, all of us are enjoying it and we are proud of it. It is music from our hearts; it's the music we want to hear.
Ok, back to "Virus", is there a concept behind the album, when looking at the song titles one could think so?
There isn't a real concept behind the album. The lyrics deal with universal things. One could be that humanity is the virus on earth. But you can make whatever you want out of it. Hypocrisy could be the virus as well.
Which themes have you touched in the lyrics?
Mass murder psychosis, heroin addiction and so forth, a lot of those things that we are surrounded by, but never really hear about. There are a lot more blood in my lyrics nowadays, than before. I felt it was fresh for me to write about such things at this point.
What were your inspirations when you wrote the lyrics?
Life in general is very inspiring. I just have to turn on the television and look at the news, to see that Armageddon is going on right now, right in front of us!!!
How do you keep yourself going, I mean this year you have released a new album with Pain and one with Hypocrisy, you done the new Destruction album and you're going to co-produce the new Celtic Frost album as well, where do you find the energy?
I don't know, it is fun! Besides the ones you mentioned I also did the re-recording of Dimmu Borgir's "Stormblåst", that was much fun as well. I get carried away when I work, it's my life, sometimes it's a 24/7 job, but I believe that you'll achieve something with hard work.
Do you look forward to work with Celtic Frost?
Hell yes, that's gonna be a lot of fun. I am going to work on getting the sound, I would like to hear from them, from a fans point of view. But let's see how much freedom I will get and what they want.
What do you expect from that experience?
I expect to learn some new things, I always do. I'm a big fan of Celtic Frost, I am dying to get to hear the new album, the album I have been waiting 16 years for.
Have you ever considered to begin producing more albums and bands again?
No, not really. I really need to be as selective as I am now, I do what I do. I do not produce albums for money anymore, I really need to be on fire, to do something!
How do you look upon the future of Hypocrisy, can we expect more albums from you?
Ohh yeah, you can. I am looking very bright on the future of Hypocrisy. There will for sure be more albums and hopefully we'll soon go on tour again, whether it will be as headliner or as a support band, only the time will tell. And I want to achieve the best album ever!!!
Thanks a lot for the interview, it's been great talking to you, do you have anything to add?
I hope that you all will enjoy our new album and I'll see you all on tour soon!
I don't know, hehe. I really enjoy doing what I am doing and that takes it a long way, and people want it, that is a big factor of motivation as well. There are some feelings of adventure connected to it as well, I am exploring new fields all the time and I am getting better and better at what I am doing. My goal is to write the best songs, I might reach that some day. The ultimate goal must be to make the best album ever!
How do you find inspiration for your music?
My urge to want to be better, life in general and my stubbornness, haha.
How much of the music on "Virus" have you written?
I have written almost all of the material on the new album, and the 3 others have contributed with ideas. We have been feeding of each other this time, and that has been very inspiring. It has been very inspiring to have Horgh in the band as well, he gives me a lot of ideas and with him behind the drums, I don't have to limit myself, he can do it all.
How do you work when you write music, do you have to be in a certain mood or..?
I normally sit down with my guitar and go crazy and jam. I usually have some ideas in my head and then need to figure out, how to get them out on the guitar. I don't really have to be in a certain mood to write music, it's often different from time to time.
How much influence does the rest of the band has on the final outcome of a Hypocrisy track?
Last year in May we took a week to jam, until September last year we had around 10 such weeks, and by then we had finalized the material. We then went in the studio in November to record the album. I had the basic tracks ready, but the rest of the band came with many ideas during the jams, so they have had quite some influence on the final outcome.
"Virus" is pretty varied and offer both straight ahead brutal death metal and large bombastic moments, why did it turn out like that?
I have had some different influences and ideas compared to older Hypocrisy albums I guess. And after Horgh became a part of the band, I could vary the music more and make more complex songs and pace shifts. He could play exactly what I wanted, he could do double bass drumming, blastbeats and so on, that did I could use a lot of old ideas I've had in a while and so forth.
When you started out to write the material for "Virus", what did you then want to accomplish with it?
I wanted to make the best Hypocrisy album ever, the fastest and most complex album in our history. When I listen to "The Arrival" today, I find it too midpaced.
Have you accomplished that?
Yeah, I think we cut it. We accomplished the album we had in mind when we started, so I am satisfied.
What do you expect from the album?
I am not expecting anything anymore; I take it as it comes. I expected a lot in the past and was always sure that we had made the best album ever, but got disappointed each and every time.
What does one of your albums have to accomplish before you find it successful?
If people enjoy it, it is successful, all of us are enjoying it and we are proud of it. It is music from our hearts; it's the music we want to hear.
Ok, back to "Virus", is there a concept behind the album, when looking at the song titles one could think so?
There isn't a real concept behind the album. The lyrics deal with universal things. One could be that humanity is the virus on earth. But you can make whatever you want out of it. Hypocrisy could be the virus as well.
Which themes have you touched in the lyrics?
Mass murder psychosis, heroin addiction and so forth, a lot of those things that we are surrounded by, but never really hear about. There are a lot more blood in my lyrics nowadays, than before. I felt it was fresh for me to write about such things at this point.
What were your inspirations when you wrote the lyrics?
Life in general is very inspiring. I just have to turn on the television and look at the news, to see that Armageddon is going on right now, right in front of us!!!
How do you keep yourself going, I mean this year you have released a new album with Pain and one with Hypocrisy, you done the new Destruction album and you're going to co-produce the new Celtic Frost album as well, where do you find the energy?
I don't know, it is fun! Besides the ones you mentioned I also did the re-recording of Dimmu Borgir's "Stormblåst", that was much fun as well. I get carried away when I work, it's my life, sometimes it's a 24/7 job, but I believe that you'll achieve something with hard work.
Do you look forward to work with Celtic Frost?
Hell yes, that's gonna be a lot of fun. I am going to work on getting the sound, I would like to hear from them, from a fans point of view. But let's see how much freedom I will get and what they want.
What do you expect from that experience?
I expect to learn some new things, I always do. I'm a big fan of Celtic Frost, I am dying to get to hear the new album, the album I have been waiting 16 years for.
Have you ever considered to begin producing more albums and bands again?
No, not really. I really need to be as selective as I am now, I do what I do. I do not produce albums for money anymore, I really need to be on fire, to do something!
How do you look upon the future of Hypocrisy, can we expect more albums from you?
Ohh yeah, you can. I am looking very bright on the future of Hypocrisy. There will for sure be more albums and hopefully we'll soon go on tour again, whether it will be as headliner or as a support band, only the time will tell. And I want to achieve the best album ever!!!
Thanks a lot for the interview, it's been great talking to you, do you have anything to add?
I hope that you all will enjoy our new album and I'll see you all on tour soon!
Hypocrisy website
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