Interview mit Karl Hartwig von Hope Drone

You primarily play post-black metal – a still quite popular genre that is played by many bands. In your opinion, what’s the best way to avoid being considered a mere copycat in this sea of rather similar sounding bands?
I don’t think of my own music in terms of genres but when we started this band the genre people are connecting us to was neither popular nor abundant here (in Australia). Much of the perceived internet hype around the genre I think is heavily overrepresented by music press. We don’t allow how others perceive our music to affect our songwriting, we have no desire to stand out from the sea we don’t consider ourselves as belonging to.

Your music sounds very depressing, sometimes even desperate. To what extent do you think one can still find catharsis in it or even draw strength from it?
Infinitely. Expressing oneself and hearing others do the same allows us to connect with others and share our burdens.

Your new album is called „Void Lustre“. What exactly is the title and thus the theme of the album about?
„Void Lustre“ traces the internal journey from an awakening into the existentialist worldview, to the depths of the inevitable truths such an awakening brings, through the struggles to define meaning for one’s self and find hope in the face of loss. The title was inspired by the artwork our friend Joscha (from the excellent band Abest) created after we sent him the album and lyrics to create the artwork. The words popped into my head staring at the cover while listening to the record and it just resonated with me. The void refers to the despair inherit of the human condition floating in a mostly lifeless space and the struggle against our inevitable death. Lustre is a word which evokes beauty and light, specifically the way in which light reflects off of a mineral which felt very primordial to me. I thought this represented that which drives us to exist regardless and allows for us to give life meaning regardless of our eventual fate; hope, awe, love and connections to others.

Many of your song titles are referencing water or the sea. Why is that so?
Nature and elements are universal metaphors and lend themselves to the music we play and the themes we address lyrically.

In my opinion, the vocals on your new album are mostly sounding the same throughout the record, they are rather hoarse screams, which are rather hard to understand. Why doesn’t your music need more vocal variety from your point of view?
Vocals are not the main focal point of our music compared to other types of music. As such they only make a small part of the whole picture, not to say we’re against adding variety to things but nor do I believe it is necessary.

How important are the lyrics to you in comparison to the music – could you perhaps even imagine creating an entirely instrumental album?
Lyrics are important. I don’t think we’d ever create an entirely instrumental album under the HOPE DRONE moniker, we have written songs without vocals before however.

Although there are calmer passages with clean guitars and atmospheric sounds on the album, you play mostly rough black metal. Why do you think the record demanded this particular, rather one-sided balance of loud and quiet?
It’s just the way the songs unfolded. When we start writing a record we often come in with certain ideas of how we’d like it to turn out but ultimately, the songs direct us where to go as they reveal themselves.

In your opinion, to what extent have you developed as a band in recent years since the release of your previous record?
I think we’ve grown a lot given the minimal amount of time we get to balance our music with the rest of our lives. Our development on this record has been more in the realm of subtlety and fine details, honing our ideas and approaches to songwriting and recording. Based on the response so far, some people have picked up on it and some haven’t.

Like on „Cloak Of Ash“ the songs on „Void Lustre“ are quite long. However, the total run time is shorter and no track exceeds the 20 minute mark. Would you therefore say that your new album is more straightforward?
I think the average song length is still longer than „Cloak Of Ash“, there are just fewer songs and we didn’t quite crack the 20 minute mark, though the closer is still around 17 minutes. I’d say the new record is perhaps slightly more accessible as we don’t hit you with a 20 minute song right at the beginning of the record which seemed to be a barrier to some people.

„Forged By The Tide“ with its seven minutes is even a rather compact track by your standards. Why did you find it unnecessary to further expand this song in particular?
We write a lot of long songs, but we never really make them long just for the sake of it. This song just didn’t need anything more to it. It also makes playing live a lot easier as it can be hard to put a set together when all your songs are around 10 minutes.

I have the impression that the production of your new LP is more full and balanced than on the previous record. Was that your intention and if so, for what reason?
I think our approach was really quite similar to the last record. It is still mostly recorded live with a focus on capturing our natural sound. We just had slightly more experience in doing it and also changed some of our equipment. I love recording this way and intend to continue honing our processes for future releases.

Looking back, are you still completely satisfied with „Cloak Of Ash“ or would you change anything if you had the chance?
I’m never satisfied with anything but I can also appreciate that a record is a moment in time. You can only look forward.

In your last interview with us you said that under the right conditions you would like to play concerts in Europe. In the meantime you have actually managed to do that. How did it finally come about?
We simply received an email from Amplifest in Portugal asking if we’d be interested in playing the year before. We couldn’t play the first time they brought it up but the next year when they announced their lineup we got back in contact with them partly just because I wanted to see Neurosis again and they always have great lineups. Prior to that we’d toured in Australia with Downfall Of Gaia and become fast friends with them so we booked a tour with them around Amplifest.

What experiences did you take in from this tour through Europe?
For most of us it was our first time in Europe so we were grateful to experience the culture and music scenes of the cities we played in and become closer with our friends in Downfall. As HOPE DRONE is a cathartic hobby for us rather than a career it was also by far the most consecutive shows we’ve ever played so we had the opportunity to become something of a well oiled machine playing every night.

Do you think you will be able to do another European tour in the near future?
We’d love to come back at some point if the right opportunity presented itself.

Let’s finish by going through our traditional Metal1.info brainstorming. What do you think about the following terms?
Downfall Of Gaia: Great friends.
Greta Thunberg: Young woman standing up for her values and the objectively sensible cause of taking care of our irreplaceable planet. Seems pretty reasonable.
Traditional black metal: The notion isn’t really relevant to me. I like bands and don’t particularly care whether or not people consider them traditional or not. The conversation about which bands are true or not has become very boring very quickly.
Vegemite: Fine
The Matrix sequel: Great for the stunt person industry.
Clean vocals: All kinds of vocals are valid.

At this point I would like to thank you again for this interview. Would you like to say a few final words to the readers?
Care for yourselves and others.

Publiziert am 20. September 2019 von Stephan Rajchl