Hyades
Hyades from Italy has a
history of 9 years behind them but it wasn't until this year that they
had the chance to release their debut album under the very eloquent and
thought provoking title "Abuse Your Illusions". Lorenzo “Txt” Testa answered
our questions in a sincere and clever way that I'm sure will make your
brains start ticking and criticizing what we are "served" to watch and
believe by the world wide mass media...
1.HELLO! MY CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GREAT
ALBUM “ABUSE YOUR ILLUSIONS”. FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IN WHAT
YEAR YOU BELIEVE WE ARE ? ? I AM SAYING THAT BECAUSE WHEN I SAW YOUR BOOKLET
I BELIEVED THAT YOUR ALBUM WAS A RE-RELEASE OF A LATE 80S BAY AREA THRASH
METAL…
Hehehe thanks a lot for your congratulations,
I’m really glad you like it!
2.SINCE YOU ARE A NEW BAND, I HAVE TO ASK THIS
QUESTION. PLEASE GIVE US SOME INFO ABOUT THE BAND AND TELL US WHICH YOU
CONSIDER AS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS SO FAR…
Well, Hyades formed back in 1996; we started
playing heavy/speed metal, and I can say it was fucking hard at that time
to follow the metronome! Hahaha! During these nine years there has been
a couple of line-up changes, four demos released, good & bad
moments and a lot of live shows. Surely we’ve enjoyed these years in bullshit
playing the music we like. What else? Oh yes, we’re from Italy and probably
this is the main reason we’ve released in 2005 our debut album, in spite
of nine years of career. All over the world the Italy is well-known just
for pizza, mafia and mandolins, surely not for the thrash metal scene!
3. YOU ENTITLED YOUR FIRST ALBUM “ABUSE YOUR ILLUSIONS”.
WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT TO SUGGEST WITH THAT TITLE? HOW DO THE MODERN
PEOPLE ABUSE THEIR ILLUSIONS?
The title of the album is taken from the book
“Abuse Your Illusions” by Russ Kick. Both the book and our album have as
main topic the role of mass-media, their lies, their partial information…
or maybe it’s better to talk about “disinformation”. The embedded journalists
are just the latest invention of governments to keep the information under
control. The people have to be more critical and questioning… Lose your
illusions, and abuse theirs!
4. I BELIEVE THAT 2 BANDS THAT YOU ADMIRE A LOT
ARE EXODUS AND SACRED REICH. DO YOU AGREE? WHICH OTHER BANDS, IN YOUR OPINION,
HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR STYLE?
Of course, I am a huge fan of Exodus or Sacred
Reich. But I think there’re also influences from speed or US power metal
bands such as Metal Church or Helstar, above all in the song “Picture of
a World”. That song is a tribute to Danish thrash metal act Artillery and
the first riff is a quote from their song “Khomaniac”. We have a totally
80’s metal background so usually we play on stage cover songs from Judas
Priest or Accept, but also from cult acts such as Metal Church or Savage
Grace. I think all these bands are present in our sound, even if the main
inspiration is US Bay Area thrash, yes…
5. LET ME BE THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE AND ASK YOU
WHAT YOU HAVE TO REPLY TO THE PEOPLE THAT MIGHT SAY THAT YOUR SOUND IS
NOTHING MORE THAN A COPY OF THE KNOWN BAY AREA THRASH METAL BANDS.
Well, maybe they’re right. We play what we
like; we don’t wanna create a new style or play “alternative” music. We
don’t wait for the first pages of the mags, we hope just to be a good band
for the old-school metal maniac disappointed by the actual metal scene.
I don’t think to be “just a copy”; our sound is a pure 100% thrash metal,
but we have our own style. Ok, you have to be a thrash maniac to find the
differences; my grandma probably will never find differences between us
and… I don’t know, Metallica, except for the bank account hehehe!
6. LET’S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE LYRICS AND
FIRST OF ALL ABOUT THE SONG “HYADES”. SO CAN WE SAY THAT IT IS AN AUTOBIOGRAPHIC
SONG? I THINK THAT THERE IS A SENSE OF HUMOR BEHIND THE LYRICS OF THIS
SPECIFIC SONG. AM I RIGHT?
Yeah! Hehehe it is an autobiographic song
telling Hyades’ history in a comic/sarcastic way. During nine years there
have been good and bad moments, people coming and people leaving, line-up
changes, guest and provisory musicians. Hyades has always been a big family,
more than a simply band and this is fucking cool. I started when I was
14 years old and this band has grown-up with me and my life till nowadays.
That’s a funny song (I hope!) and maybe only the musicians that played
with us will understand all the quotes, all the phrases. But every reader
and listener can realize the laughable attitude of this fuckin’ unsuccessful
band!
7. GENERALLY NOW, YOUR LYRICS TALK ABOUT THE MODERN
REALITY AND ESPECIALLY ABOUT THE WAR OF U.S.A. AGAINST IRAQ. AREN’T YOU
AFRAID THAT THIS KIND OF LYRICS MIGHT MAKE YOU LOSE FANS FROM THE UNITED
STATES?
I’m not afraid. I want to spit my truth in
the face of any listener. I don’t care if they will judge me a scumbag
idiot, I’m honest and I say what I think. I don’t hate USA people: we are
now planning a US tour for next year, and I’m a huge fan of Oakland Raiders;
my favorite bands are from USA, my favorite sports are from USA. But I
can’t accept what US government has done, the lies the politicians told
us, the slaughters due to wars they wanted. And I think that USA
civil people will agree with me; I don’t think someone will be so stupid
to dislike us just for this reason…
8. WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE WITH YOUR
MUSIC AND LYRICS? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE METAL FANS READ THE LYRICS OR
DO THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THE MUSIC?
The metalheads give more importance to the
music. Most of the lyrics from each band talk about bullshit: dragons,
warriors and suck-cocking princesses… But if music is good, they buy and
listen to them. With Hyades I have the chance to say something and I don’t
waste my time singing about an asshole dwarf or these crap; I try to make
someone think about the big problems involving us all. If you have a message,
get it out there in an entertaining way so that the idea can take off and
grow. But for God’s sake, do something!
9. ON YOUR DEBUT ALBUM YOU’VE CHOSEN TO COVER
“FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT” OF BEASTIE BOYS. WHAT LED YOU TO THE DECISION TO
COVER THIS SPECIFIC SONG? DO YOU PLAN IN THE FUTURE TO COVER OTHER SONGS
AS WELL?
First off we recorded “Fight…” because it’s
a shit-kicking amazing song. Then, recording a rap song we want to demonstrate
that we don’t care about bigotry and blinkers; in nowadays metal scene
there are a lot of closed mind metalheads who spent their time with proclaims
against other musical styles. This is ridiculous; they are ridiculous.
Beastie Boys are a rap band and kick their fucking ass! Yeah, I think we’ll
record other cover songs, but still I don’t know…
10. MANY METAL BANDS DON’T LIKE TO TALK ABOUT
POLITICS LIKE YOU DO, BECAUSE THEY ARE AFRAID THAT THEY MIGHT LOSE FANS.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT LATELY HEAVY METAL MUSIC
HAS LOST THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT THAT HAD IN THE PAST?
Yes, the Metal music started with a revolutionary
attitude: violent lyrics, aggressive music and shocking iconography.
In the middle of Eighties thrash metal radically changed the metal world
with social lyrics and nihilist/anarchist features. Nowadays the heavy
metal is a conventional music and just a few bands have guts enough to
say something being politically incorrect. I don’t care about losing fans:
better a few but good and with a brain, not a peanut inside the head.
11. WILL YOU SHOOT ANY VIDEO CLIPS FOR YOUR NEW
ALBUM? IF YES, WHICH SONG WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO VISUALIZE AND WHY?
Yeah of course, that’s surely the best way
to express our funny vein. But there will be two different kinds
of videos, one more “serious” for “September, 11” and “No Man’s Land” (the
first one with historical clips from Chilean coup in 1973, the second one
with records I made in Sarajevo) and one totally ironical and hilarious.
I think the song will be “Hyades” or maybe the title-track… still we have
to decide!
12. THAT’S IT FOR NOW! CLOSE THE INTERVIEW
AS YOU WANT AND OF COURSE LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE THAT WILL READ
THIS INTERVIEW…
Another message? Aren’t they enough? Hahaha!
Well, first off take your television and throw it away. Really, there are
a lot of good things you miss, standing on your settee watching passively
the TV screen. What else? Keep on supporting your metal scene; Greek metal
scene isn’t so different from Italian scene, so I know how difficult is
for a band to reach a record deal and find clubs to play live. I hope you’ll
listen to “Abuse Your Illusions”; it’s an honest album made by metalheads
for metalheads! THRASH NOW, WORK LATER!
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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