This chat was executed 3rd April, 2005 at the Wigwam club in Budapest, Hungary. HATESPHERE played there as support for mighty MORBID ANGEL's "Masters of Chaos Tour 2005". Henrik Jacobsen (guitar) was the one who answered my questions. So let's dive into the hellish spheres of hate!



Let's begin with an informational question. When your band has been founded and who is now in the line-up?
- OK. The band started out in 1994 under the name of CAUTERIZED. Then they record a demo and tune the name to NECROSIS and recorded 3 demos. Had some line-up changes. The only original member is actually Peter, the guitar player. And then in 2001 they recorded their debut album with another drummer and another guitar player. And in 2002 they record the 2nd album "Bloodred Hatred" with a new drummer again. Then I got into the band. So I've been in the band since late 2002. We touring a lot, getting out the new album. We recorded the mini called "Something Old, Something Black, Something bla-bla-bla...". Very long title. And got a new drummer again. Now we have Anders, who is a great drummer and now we have a steady line-up. So we recorded the "Ballet Of The Brute" and the new "The Killing" EP with that line-up. And that is the line-up we wanna keep. Everyone is dedicated to the band now!
Recently you released the EP. Please describe us a little bit in what way it differs from your previous materials (music-wise).
- Music-wise it isn't that different from the others, but the production is a little bit more clear. It has more clear guitar sound, clear drum sound, you can hear everything. I really think everything on that record is like played so tight. Not a lot of distortion on the guitars, but it really tight. That's what we wanted. The music a little faster again, because the "Ballet Of The Brute" was a little bit more slow and we tried to play more brutal music. Now it's a little bit more faster. "The Killing" EP is a little bit more faster. More solos, more aggressive. We tried to include a little bit more melody, because the earlier songs had more melody in them and was more aggressive. But then "Ballet Of The Brute" turned out to be very brutal and very groovy. So we tried to get a little back to the roots again. More melody, more aggression, more faster songs, more complex songwriting. That's what we try to do now. The new album will be fast and aggressive, more solos I think, more virtuoso stuff and still lot of brutal stuff.
As I've understood you have some songs written for the new album.
- Yeah, we have 4 songs written now. And we still have 6-7 to go. We have to write them. Tomorrow we have a day off in Vienna. We go to rehearsal room in Vienna and try to write some songs there.
So you write songs during the tour?
- Yeah, we try to!
It's an experience?
- Yeah, it's weird to write songs on the tour, because it's hard to record them. You can't get these small like devices to record songs, to record a riff song. But we can't really make a song. When we do soundcheck we only have half an hour soundcheck and that's just enough to the soundcheck. So we can't play around and try to make new stuff. We tried it a few times, but it's really hard to write songs on the road. So we mainly write songs at home, at rehearsal room.
Your music is very energetic and dynamic at the same time. In a word, I would say it is Thrashcore. What bands do you like to listen to and what bands have influenced you?
- Everyone in the band is listen to a lot of different kinds of music. Like I come from a Death Metal background. I love HATE ETERNAL, CYNIC, a lot of Death Metal. Peter, he is very melodic IN FLAMES, ARCH ENEMY, ANATHEMA, like moody stuff. Jacob, he is Hardcore. The singer is come from a Hardcore scene. So he loves TERROR, NAPALM all that crap. And Anders is just rock'n'roll. He listens to old DIO.
Name us your 5 favorite albums.
- "Focus" with CYNIC, "Luminiferious" with SCARVE, "Irradiate" with SCARVE, "...And Justice for All" with METALLICA and "Dead Heart in a Dead World" with NEVERMORE.
How would you describe your latest tour with KREATOR, DARK TRANQUILLITY and EKTOMORF? How went this tour? What are your comments on it?
- It was perfect. Really, really great. Great package, like 4 good bands and a lot of great people. So we played to big crowds every night. Sold pretty well the merchandise. So we really happy. The crew was so good and the bands were all really nice. We stuck together with DARK TRANQUILLITY. We had really good time, drinking too much alcohol all the time. It was perfect.
And how went the tour with EXODUS?
- That was really fun. The crew was not that professional, but the band was really cool. We hang out with the band and party with them. They are about 40 years old, everyone in EXODUS, but they are still partying all night, everyone. So it was perfect. Had a good time with them, became really good friends with them.
Are you doing some jobs behind the music or just concentrate on music and tours?
- I'm studying university actually nordic culture and language. Peter is studying to be a teacher. Jacob, he has his record studio, producing records. Mikael is doing nothing, he just playing music. And Anders, he doesn't do anything either, he's just playing music. I haven't been studying much for the last year, because we had so much to do with music. So I'm quitting studying now to play music. So we play music all the time actually. We have so many tours so we can't have a job.
What hobbies do you have behind the music?
- I don't play computers, I don't watch TV. I don't know. My girlfriend, I like to ride my bicycle, read a lot of books. Actually write now music is pretty much all I do and think about. I don't have any spare time, because it takes a lot of work to do this. Either we rehearsing, almost everyday and I play in another band too, have to rehearse with that and record albums.
What band?
- KOLDBORN, it's a Danish Death Metal band.
Never heard.
- No, it's not that bigger band. It's more like a fun project now, because all my time goes into HATESPHERE. But we still have KOLDBORN and we recording a new album now to release that. It's pretty much music all the time.
What way do you complete a song?
- We usually come to rehearsal room with riffs. Peter do most of the riffs, I do some riffs, check up the singer, he's doing some riffs too. And then we take it to the rehearsal room, play with it, everyone say something, it's very hybrid, like everyone has their opinion and say: "Try that and try that". Takes a long time for us to write a song, we really slow with it. But sometimes when one of us comes up with a song, most of time we come each with a little piece of the puzzle and we work it out.
It's like an evolution.
- Like a hybrid process.
What do you think about the actual tour with MORBID ANGEL?
- It's cool! Our guys love see MORBID ANGEL every night. On the KREATOR tour I didn't really like any of the bands. I like EKTOMORF, but the other bands didn't really caught into me.
Did you ever thought that David Vincent will come back?
- Yes. I've read a lot of stuff about him in the past, he had some weird opinions on racism and stuff, so we were a little anxious to go on tour with them, because we've heard a lot of people say they are weird. No one can be with them. But we have a great time with them. They are weird! They are really weird people! They're don't normal, they don't socialized. Tony Norman the new guitar player, he's very cool. He's going out to the crowd afterwards, having some beer and talk to him. But the other guys, they are old, about 40 years old and they don't have anything to talk to the crowd, because almost everyone is in the 20s. It's too different lives. I don't blame them it, I don't think it's because they're weird, it's just normal. I don't know if I'll be weird when I am 40, I don't wanna talk to some 20 years old metalhead who just wanna talk about your music. It's great to meet the fans. Talk to the guys, because most of the guys are great. They have been doing it for twenty years and they get a little tired.
Do you have any exciting stories from tours?
- On this tour, everytime MORBID ANGEL is doing soundcheck, that's a circus. They've doing the fuckin' soundcheck for 20 years and they don't know what to do everyday. What do you want to be in monitor? I don't know what I want. I think Pete is getting deaf or something. He's having a hard time with his monitors and he get really angry sometimes. It's funny, because he is a latin american, he doesn't speak english that well. We have probably some funny stories, but I don't remember anyway. This because everytime the funny stories happen we are so drunk so we don't remember.
OK, any future plans?
- A lot of future plans. Right now, we are finishing this tour and then we have a few jobs after the tour in Belgium and Germany. Then we go home and write material for the new record, then I am recording the new album with my other band KOLDBORN. And straight up that we have 2 weeks I think, then we go in studio with HATESPHERE and record that album, which is to be released on SPV/Steamhammer in September/October and then the circus starts all over again. Like touring, touring, touring, hopefully US and Japan. So it's like a cycle: recording album, touring. We don't have any tour plan right now, but we have some bands that we talking about tours.
Let's finish the interview with your last words to the Ukrainian HATESPHERE fans.
- Well, looking for to coming back to drink some Danish beer, ha-ha-ha. You have great beer here, I must admit that. Cool to play here. We loved the fans here, they are very devoted. That's very great to play in eastern countries, because there are so many devoted fans, like love the music. Up north, playing in Sweden, Germany, Denmark, for instance, there are a music police, everyone is standing down the bar. If we come down, like in Spain and Italy everyone goes nuts, we have a crowd here, that's perfect. We would like to play here.
OK, thanks a lot for the interview.
- Thank you!
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