“Those who preach peace do not have peace”
HLZ‘s new ep is here. The enigmatically-titled Corals ep about which we spoke, and went into varied territory including postrock, Manhunter and Bukowski. We’ll get to those. First things first though…
Hello Emilio how’s things with you, what are you doing right now?
Things are good thanks! Right now I’m going for a classic combo, coffee and cigarette, followed by a studio session.
What’s something you saw recently that made you think… like a film, a billboard, a news piece?
Definitely the news piece about Boris Johnson and his comments towards Obama. Do we really need the “Trump style” over here as well? It’s really worrying see more and more politicians using the racism card to get both consensus and division.
You and the Peer Pressure crew go back: for people new to it, what does the label rep… what’s it do that is different in a scene swamped with digital?
I remember when Alex aka Facing Jinx asked me to work on an ep, it was just a great conversation between two guys who live for music. And is just great to see how he’s enjoying working on the artwork and visuals for the label. And I was impressed with Philth’s strong belief in the label and his will of releasing some of his best music on Peer Pressure.
That makes a big difference instead of the classic ‘Hey can I have some tunes for my label?’
I’m really liking the quality control over the label, the idea of working on something special for the artist, the development of a strong visual concept and their attention to details. Nowadays is quite easy to open a digital label, the hardest part is to run it properly.
The effort, the passion and the incredible quality of music put Peer Pressure on the right path of becoming something special.
‘Corals’ is an ace title, makes me think of these words: fragile, danger, blood/as corals are sharp, recluse, depths and of course beauty, so where did it come from?
Sometimes you are lucky enough to visualize the title while you are writing your music, and that’s what happened with ‘Corals’.
Key words picked by you are totally nailed, while listening to ‘Corals’ I had this sense of big space, deep but not threatening and full of colours. Corals came up to my mind, next thought was “Corals EP”; it just sounded so good and since early stage we always knew that ‘Corals’ was going to be the A side.
Take us into the tune in terms of what inspired? I love the synth lines in this.
I had this nice strummed synth line sitting there for ages. Originally I kept it to do some trip hop, of course I ended up making a D&B track!
Definitely was a time when I was listening to old Massive Attack albums, especially Mezzanine, sometimes you need to listen to your favourite albums from the past.
Who in music’s inspirational to you?
D&B-wise too many, but I can easily say that what formed my sound is Metalheadz and the old techstep sound… Virus, old RH.
Non D&B acts is a long list too, but two relatively new artists I’m really enjoying at the moment are Kendrick Lamar and Kwabs. Both these artists are phenomenal, incredible music.
Take us into ‘No Peace’ and what started the tune, in terms of: inspired the tune.
The tune has started off the vocal sample “Those who preach peace do not have peace”, later I discovered that it’s from a Charles Bukowski poem. Now, I’m not that much of a reader but I love Bukowski; he was one of these people blessed with truth.
Such a deep line taken from that poem could not have a contour of happy sounds and EDM synths line, don’t you agree?
It was the last tune I wrote for the ep, I wanted to give something as good as ‘Corals’ and ‘Eyes of Silver’, both Phil and Alex instantly loved it.
Where do you test the music out, what sort of nights, and what nights are planned?
I’ve got upcoming gigs in UK, Italy and Estonia. First in the line is a Peer Pressure night on 7th of May at Ramsgate Music Hall.
Me, Philth, Facing Jinx and Colette Warren, going to be fun!
Obviously I’m gonna test lot of new music at these gigs.
Take us into the wonderful ‘Eyes of Silver’, what does the title mean?
The title is literally shaped around the words of the vocal sample gently provided by Facing Jinx. Is a sample from the movie Manhunter.
I wanted a title to connect both the vocal sample and the dark mood of the track. “Eyes of silver” came to my mind: it just gives you that sense of coldness and darkness which fit perfectly with the track.
What tune is in your head any genre?
More than a song an entire album. Caspian Dust and Disquiet, it’s a post rock band from US, and this album is unbelievable.
Any shouts?
To Alex and Phil of course and to the magician behind Peer Pressure masters, Robert Maciocchi.
Of course big shouts to all the people supporting my music.