The sound of ‘Heavy Machinery’ is coming and if you like a mix of technical thrash it’s a sound to embrace before it steamrollers over and flattens you. Although a band you may not have heard of the UK based multi-national group have their debut about to be unleashed on Candlelight and are made up from the remnants of bands such as Centurions Ghost, Stuka Squadron and Abgott. We had a chat with Federica, guitarist and inspiration behind Hybris about the rise of the machines.
AN: This is not a band who have sprang up overnight, in fact the ideas behind Hybris and the songs on debut album Heavy Machinery have been gestating within you for many years. What circumstances led up to the formation of the current line-up and why do you think it has taken so long to achieve your goals?
Fed: I’ve been through many different musicians over the years that were either not at all dedicated, or had no concept of what I was trying to achieve. When Liv [bass] came on board it seemed like she really wanted to make it happen, so I asked Achilles [guitar] to join as a natural consequence of the fact that he was involved in the project from day one helping me arrange those ideas. Finding a stable line up is always the biggest battle; most of the bands that really made it grew up together and shared the same vision. Having to build a unit from scratch is always a bitch and once you think you found the perfect formula, you can only hope that it works for the long run as people grow apart sometimes, or simply life events get the better of them. But right now it just feels amazingly good!
AN: I guess it took a lot of hard work finding the right people to put the band together. As far as the actual song-writing was concerned who was actively involved with music and lyrics?
Fed: Achilles and I have been working on the material together since the very start, however in the beginning it was only my riffs and just some arrangement ideas and the odd solo from him. Later on, as he became more involved and eventually joined the band, he started contributing more riffs of his own.
When James [vocals] joined, we were shocked to find that we needed to write some lyrics! So we took James, sat together and wrote away. Some songs James did completely on his own. It got better and easier to write as we worked together! For James, it means that everything he sings means something to him, as he was part of that writing process.
AN: Clichéd question I know but the name Hybris is certainly a catchy one and easy to remember but what made you choose it and what does it mean in context with the band and your music?
Fed: For a long time the demos existed without a particular band name, just some vague ideas of names that didn’t really stick. By the time we had completed our line-up, and were debating what we should finally call ourselves, Dimitris, our drummer, suggested Hubris. We then said, let’s spell it Hybris. Everybody liked it, and that was that. There is a little bit of an anti-religious/against nature connotation to it as it means arrogance against the gods, but it also means violations of the law, extreme pride and a lack of humility… I felt it applies to our music and the fact that we fearlessly push our limits while constantly challenging ourselves in terms of melodies and structures… however, the arrogance factor might not be an accurate reflection as on the contrary I have a tendency of underestimating myself…
AN: On first encountering your music the thrash elements are very much the centre of attention, with so many bands crawling out the woodwork and resurrecting the sounds of the mid to late 80’s were you concerned that you were going to be regarded as part of the whole ‘new wave of thrash metal’ scene?
Fed: Thrash metal was a sleeping dinosaur for many years, with nothing as good replacing it. It’s been the reason why I picked up my guitar at the age of 17, and all I can do I pretty much owe it to albums like Kill ‘Em All which I accurately sat down and learnt by myself, from beginning to end! When I saw this thrash wave coming back I thought, “Fuck it’s happening and I’m missing out because my album isn’t ready yet”! Although I’ve always known that Hybris was a very different animal from all of these bands, I definitely thought that this was going to help draw attention to it, as the vibe is certainly thrash but with a completely different edge to it, in other words I was always hoping I’d get noticed for being different (if that makes any sense)..
AN: Of course musically Hybris are far from one dimensional and you really notice the underlying technical components of the music which to me remind of bands like Atheist, Cynic, Coroner and Voivod. I am assuming that these sorts of bands provided some influence and whilst thrash can generally be very simplistic you wanted to make the music much more involved and forward thinking?
Fed: I can positively confirm that I am a huge fan of these bands! Whatever you listen to appears quite spontaneously in the music that you write, whether you like it or not. My influences go from Robert Fripp to Black Sabbath and everything in between! Even though my riffs were already quite “involved” from the beginning, Achilles is first and foremost a fan of progressive and technical metal, so his job in life is to complicate things even more. We like to bring it back to earth however, in order not to lose impact! I’m sure both Achilles and I would like to express ourselves in many different ways as we listen to plenty more stuff besides metal, but it would be ludicrous to squeeze all of it in a single band! It’s important to push your limits without losing the vision of what the band was born for in the first place, and we seem to have struck a good balance.
AN: Although again song-titles are very concise and snappy can you give us a bit of insight into any of the themes and ideas behind the songs themselves? Is there any general concept running through the album?
Fed: It’s a bit of a mix really, this is not a concept album. The short song titles were a bit of an accident too – it started out with the first few songs having one-word titles, and as we continued, we liked that and decided to stick with single or few words for the rest of them. Does that count as a concept?
As for themes, they range from surfing to anger at religions, from psychotic clowns to dangerous cults to dealing with daily frustrations…
AN: Yourself and James Begley were both active members in Centurions Ghost. Was he an obvious choice as vocalist for the band? Although he has a versatile voice, Hybris is a bit different from other bands he has been involved in.
Fed: When I joined Centurions Ghost and I was learning the tracks from their first record, I recall thinking “I like this guy, he would fit perfectly with my thrash project” However, I didn’t meet James until 2 years later and in any case I was too busy with CG to carry on with Hybris on a full time basis, so I never thought of getting in touch with him. One day Rich Whittaker, our producer and of course bassist in CG recommended that we audition him and I said to myself “might this work out for once?”. The day we all had a jam, James was going for it, improvising randomly, while the rest of us were all looking at each other with huge smiles on our faces – he was exactly the voice we were looking for. We definitely wanted the versatility too, limitations are a terrible thing.
AN: You do give him a little indulgence on ‘Cult Of Doom’ listening to the start of the track now there’s a touch of Candlemass / Sabbath worship going on there?? The slower parts have a bit of Opeth in the melody too (just thinking aloud as it plays)
Fed: Achilles wrote that song pretty much on his own, and it all started from that acoustic intro. I very much doubt he was thinking of any of those bands, to be honest, knowing him… He definitely wanted vocals on that intro, and of course James was more than happy to oblige. The Messiah/Ozzy mix in his voice is just what came out when he interpreted the song, and that particular tone fit the lyrics perfectly!
If it does sound like Opeth, Candlemass & Sabbath, then that is a huge compliment!
AN: It’s incredibly difficult for a new band no matter how hard working they are to get themselves signed and having your debut album released on Candlelight is an achievement that many could only dream of. How did this come about and did you actively approach other labels too?
Fed: Actually, we must be very lucky, because just as we were starting to think about approaching labels, Candlelight approached us! We still don’t know why or how, but it’s a great privilege to be working with such a well-established label right from the start.
AN: You have been pretty active live too and the couple of times I have caught the band with Municipal Waste and opening the Candlefest it has been pretty obvious that you are very much a band who thrive on stage. Do you intend to perhaps try and get yourself involved on some bigger tours and who ideally would you love to share a stage with?
Fed: Personally for me, the whole point of writing music is to then play it to an audience. Of course the recorded product has a meaning of its own which is a different one but just as important! From a listener’s point of view, a recorded album and a live show are two different journeys, and there’s no way I could live with one and not the other. I love the stage and I love being on tour, and if I could live off of that I would be over the moon! We will be definitely trying to jump on relatively big tours and we’re looking into one as we speak. As for bands I’d like to share the stage with…well, most of them don’t exist anymore (lol)… But I would be thrilled if at some point I could open for Overkill, Coroner or Forbidden!
AN: Although most of the band members have been actively involved in other projects including some very recently I am assuming everyone is now freed up pretty much and Hybris is the main focus for everyone involved.
Fed: Yes, as it happens, things have turned out to be just so. For me personally Centurions Ghost has been a huge part of my life and I wouldn’t mind recreating some of those atmospheres in the future. It was a completely different approach to music, which I totally miss. However Hybris hits the spot perfectly at the moment and I can tell you that slow, laid back riffs are very far from how I’ve been feeling recently!
AN: Early days yet but as you have been putting these songs together for quite some time I was wondering if you had much in the way of other material stored away in your head for the future?
Fed: Well, as a matter of fact, we already have a few demos of fresh material, some of which simply didn’t make it on our current album, and some of which are completely new. The more you play, the more ideas happen and then you work on them together and improve them. We certainly don’t want to be caught out empty handed when it’s time to go back to the studio, so we’re slowly but surely working away trying to go one better with the next one!
https://www.facebook.com/HYBRISUK
Interviewed by Pete Woods
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