Human Desolation Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

Well, the whole musical aspect of the album was finished last spring, and since then we've been working hard on getting all the other concepts in place. These are things like artwork, website/various channel updates, promotion, and pretty much going through our options on how we want to proceed in getting the album out there. All this while frantically rehearsing and developing our new elements. That said, we have started to gather a lot of new material for the future already and also formulating and harmonizing our music together with our live show

We did put together a pretty cool (physical) promo package that we sent out to countless labels across the globe, but the competition is fierce these days and it becomes terrifyingly evident that descent musical talent and song writing skills are often much less important than “having a way in”, so to speak. We won´t ever accept a bad deal limiting our freedom in the music making so we decided to try and release it on our own. I won't bore you with the details at this time, anyhow we instead decided to sign a distribution agreement with Nordavind Records and Plastic Head Distribution, as well as a solid PR campaign with Against PR.

2.You have a new album coming out in August and also released an EP in March, how would you describe the musical sound of the newer material and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Well, to start off we recorded a total of fifteen songs from which twelve made it onto the final album. It's not that the other three were unsatisfactory, but we just felt that they didn't quite fit on the same record. The original plan was to release them as B-sides, but instead we came to the conclusion to put them together with re-recordings of two older songs and released the whole thing as an EP titled “Realm of Silence”. This really made it possible to bridge the gap between Project Wasteland and the upcoming album “Mind Grind Paradigm” – which, if you're observant, is noticeable in the cover artwork.

Musically though, the new stuff is a a lot more mature; it's more varied and daring but at the same time more gathered and better put together, as a whole. We've always stayed true to our core idea that we should be free to do whatever we want to do, rather than trying to sound a certain way. This is something I feel we pretty much nailed this time. There are a million bands out there, but only a handful of them have their own kind of character. While certainly being somewhat biased, I think that with this album we may have stepped into the realm of the latter. The lyrical concepts blends well into the atmosphere of the music and builds up the feeling as the listener gets more acquainted to the depth of our music. Hopefully?

One problem with today’s digital way of music exploration is the fact that a track actually needs to be listened together with the whole album to fully understand the music and get the attention it deserves. One could claim that whilst music is easier to find, unfortunately this also leads to making the listening more casual for many…

3.There was no new material being released for 5 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time frame?

Well, there's a lot more to an entirely self-funded, self-made, self-released record than meets the eye. That part we learned the hard way. We started writing some of the material shortly after 'Project Wasteland', but in that first year or so we did spend as much time as possible promoting, playing gigs as well as the occasional festival, etc. After that we've pretty much lived and breathed 'Mind Grind Paradigm' through its different stages, for almost four years.

Don't get me wrong, it's mostly been a fun and extremely rewarding experience, from which we've learned countless things we wouldn't have a clue about if we'd have gone with one of the record deals we were offered after the release of the above mentioned EP.

So all that hard work, plus we all have our daytime jobs, and some of us have families to tend to... it takes time, you know. We've also ran blindfolded into quite a few hard surfaced (time consuming) obstacles along the way, which was bound to happen sooner or later, but more on that another time.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

The lyrics are formulated and evolve around extreme behavior patterns and events set in different timeframes in a pre-described post-apocalyptic realm. The lyrics can be interpreted differently depending on the persons reading and exploring the music. Our goal is that the listener will “see” the music through their own aspects of their life experiences as visualize the “what if´s” beyond the borders of accepted individual thoughts patterns.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Human Desolation'?

Well, frankly the band name was not easily conceived, thinking back on the process still makes us laugh. Actually “Human Desolation” was more like ripped out through a caesarean. Even though you can agree on the concept and topic of a band’s music a single name can evidently be very difficult for everyone to accept. We went through a number of alternatives until we landed on Human Desolation. I guess it in the end resonated well with all of us, even though its meaning probably is quite individual - which is a good thing. For me personally it's about Mother Nature deserving a kind of peace that can only come from a world where humanity has been desolated, which is also reflected in my own interpretation of the lyrics. Hence our somewhat post-apocalyptic theme.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Our goal is to always enjoy our gigs more after another; this is unfortunately not bulletproof! Whilst the audience is having a large impact on the whole performance but the energy and mindset of the band is outmost the largest contributing factor. One proof for this being true is one gig at Metaltown Festival where we played first the second day of the festival. Most people had not arrived to the festival yet possibly suffering from the withdrawals from the day before, BUT we were extremely dedicated to this gig and. Anyhow we really managed to get the crowd with us and received massive feedback even from HuDes virgins long after that show!

Our Performance is described as intense and weaving in the depth of our music together with slower acoustical parts as well as from pre-recorded background noise. When playing on larger stages the stage we want it to be prepared with special lighting and special artifacts and signs, this is not always possible though. We have a determined stage look formulating over our fictional characters and binding ourselves to the spectators. We want to portrait our alter egos and natural extremes on stage

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We have a couple of tour offers, nothing is decided yet though since these plans has to work with our personal elements of planning. We have a couple of gigs planned in Sweden, more updates on that TBA on our social media channels!

8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

As mentioned earlier, we did get quite a few offers after the release of “Project Wasteland” back in 2010, all of which we turned down as we decided to do everything our own way without anyone interfering in our process.

But sure, the same goes for now as back then, if someone would hand us a good deal we'd certainly consider it! However, our main goal is not to get signed – it's to get our music out there, and hopefully make some of the money back that we spent making it (which was a lot, haha). Mainly so we can afford to do a bit of touring, and when time is due, make another record.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic death metal?

I'd say very positive, it's actually flattering as hell! We're just a bunch of peculiar dudes doing what we love and believe in, and the fact that other people seem to love it too is downright overwhelming. Our fan base may still be relatively small, but as with everything else I'd take quality over quantity every time. Although, the album is not released yet so we're all really excited to see what people have to say once it's out.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We believe that we still maturing and developing our mindset around our endless noisemaking, which also goes for our musical skills and the meaning of music. We can see that we are turning more progressive over the last years and deep, we are not on purpose going in a more commercial or more “easy to” listen style of music. The music we create is a much created for ourselves as for our audience, we believe that if music is real for the artist it will also become more attractive for the crowds which also eventually broadens the masses for the HuDes experience.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

You know, I actually think that this – if anything – is what makes us stand out a bit. We all have different sub-genres that we tent to lean towards, and it all blends in somehow, in a way that feels right. Not that this would be particularly unique in any way, but it does take some guts to just throw something really out-of-place into a song and make it work. Like the rather strange riff in the second half of “I Am Evil” for example, I have no idea what we were thinking there but it turned out pretty cool.

To try to further answer your question though; obviously we all listen to death metal, but personally I gladly listen to anything and everything as long as it's musical, and preferably also a bit challenging. I enjoy listening to everything from Fair to Midland to Dissection to Coheed and Cambria to The Faceless to Clutch to... well, you get the idea.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

We are very diverse on personal levels in this bands, we can be described as an almost dysfunctional family that loves the differences we have between us. In some aspects this enriches us but sure it can also be annoying at times when no one wants to compromise. This also leads to that the members have quite diverse interests such as biking, climbing, drinking, videogames, SM, mind exploration and running to name a few and without telling which interest belongs to whom.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Since the reader of this interview manages to follow us this far I am quite sure they will check out our new album. We believe and certainly hope that our hard work over this very long process will be genuinely appreciated and remembered, for sure not by great masses, but from those who appreciate our own style of music making!

It is interesting also that social media seems to bind the artists and audiences really close nowadays. We indeed look forward to more interesting discussions and feedback in the near future!