Peter_HateSphere

Gloon from the Full Metal Mayhem hunted down Peter Lyse Hansen guitarist for Denmark metallers HateSphere. Peter offers us his views on labels, playing with Mayhem and Aussie metal.

Congratulations on finally getting your album released, it must have been nerve racking to finally get a deal and record your debut to only have your label (Jacob Hansen's) go bust?
[Peter] Yeah! It was very frustrating indeed! We knew we had recorded one hell of an album, and suddenly we had no record company to release it!! Luclily Italian company Scarlet Records got all crazy, when the recieved the album, and they took the bite! The album was then released in April 2001 and got incredible reviews all over the world!

Secondly, why the name change from Necrosis to HateSphere? and what is the story behind the new name?
[Peter] When we signed the original contract with Serious Entertainment (Jacob Hansens label) one of the demands from him was that we changed our name! We could only agree with him, because we allready knew about a band called Necrosis (from USA) and beside from that also hated our name just as much, as he did! We wanted to find a new name that described our music on a more brutal and frightening way and finally came up with HateSphere! A sphere, ball of hate... a very unpleasant place to be!

While on the name, cool logo. Anyone in the band design it?
[Peter] The HS-logo with the flames and stuff is designed by our webmaster,
and the HateSphere logo is designed by us, Jacob Hansen and a computer!!!

It seems like the band has gone through a long journey to finally get
their material released. Why did the band turn down earlier offers
from labels? was it a case of shitty offers or did the band feel that
they weren't ready yet?
[Peter] It was a bit of both! We didn�t get that good offers, and we
also didn�t have the same experience and songwriting skills, as we have
now... So it was the best for us that we waited �till we were ready!

Necrosis seems to have suffered from a large turn over in members, ending with no original members left by the release of HateSphere's debut. Are the lineup changes a thing of the past? how hard is it to maintain a stable lineup?
[Peter] It is sometimes hard when some members get older and want to concentrate on something else than music! But I think that we have found a stable lineup now but you never know! The last member to join us is our drummer Morten Toft Hansen who joined the band in late 2000! Another thing I have to say is that one original member actually played on our debutalbum... our drummer at the time, Jesper Moesgaard.

HateSphere have played with bands such as Testament, Mayhem and Anathema. Were any of these bands childhood idols of yours? Are there any stories you would like to share about meeting the guys? (especially those freaks from Mayhem).
[Peter] The first concert we played after the recording was with Testament in Aarhus, Denmark! Testament has been one of our favourite bands forever so it was very cool! The next concert was in Manchester, UK, with Anathema and Mayhem! Anathema is one of my "godlike" bands so it was a great experience, and they were really friendly backstage (drunk!). None of us were really into Mayhem but we were all curious to see them perform and to see how they really were as individuals! The live performance was rather crappy but had all the elements we had expected... that means buther knives, cut-off pig heads and barbed wire around the microphones!!! I think it was funny to see them on stage (old school-style!), and back stage some of them were actually pretty nice guys (so it seemed). On top of that we have also played with Paradise Lost after the release of the album... also a great experience! The most funny thing about playing with these big bands is to see how they can stand and check you out during the soundcheck... I mean, your old idols checking you(!) out!!!! Cool

What can you tell us Aussies about the Denmark scene? and what do you know (if anything) about the Australian Metal scene?
[Peter] We have a couple of great bands in Denmark but we have never been a country with hundreds of great bands! Bands like us, Raunchy, Illdisposed, Saturnus, Withering Surface, Invocator and Barcode must be the ones to count on in the future ! Apart from that not many bands is popping up! We have a lot of underground bands spread out in all the small rehearsing rooms but they never come further than that!! Their problem is that they lack some individuality to part them from all the other bands around the world! They are too busy copying others than making their own music... a bit of a shame actually!!! And then they of course have got to go out and perform live, to show that they mean business! I know very little about the Australian metal scene! You have given us one of the best rock�n�roll bands ever... AC/DC yeah!!!!! But apart from that the only band I know is Bestial Warlust and they suck big time!