Hostage has stepped in with the neck-snapping All Lies via the notorious Therapy coven. Time to don the blindfold, get in the van and go to an undisclosed location to find out more. Hope we get out alive!
Hi Hostage I’ve enjoyed your work for a long time: where are you physically based?
In the past I lived in Amsterdam and New York for a number of years. At the moment I’m in Tel Aviv.
I have various words that come to mind when I think of your music, words like: cyanide, wire, bricks, dirt, powerlines, static… so what are some words that you would use to evoke your vibe?
Deep, sexy, dark, haunting.
Can you tell us when All Lies started to formulate?
I’ve been working on the album for the past year and half with a little hiatus while my studio was making its way to Israel after my relocation from NYC.
I have a mental image of you in the studio: what’s your setup like?
I have a home studio set-up in my living room and a bunch of angry neighbours.
Was the album intended to be a body of work – organic – or was it a cold, calculated array of tunes?
It started off with a bunch of tracks that I worked on simultaneously and they all had a similar vibe.
Slowly I grew their number to a full blown album. Starting off with an idea for a whole album from the beginning seems so daunting, so I’d say it’s a bit of both.
Tell us about a tune off All Lies… perhaps ‘Gods of War’?
I wish I had a more romantic answer, but I always start my tracks the same – with a bass and drums. The vibe and the musical part are a direct result of my mood during the process.
As you’d guess, I wasn’t in the best of moods while making ‘Gods Of War’. There was a war here during the last summer and it put me in a really dark mood about the human cost of it all, especially the dire situation on the other side.
Most of the album was produced with air-raid sirens in the background.
For contrast – I was lucky to be on the side that got to produce tracks with a bit sirens in the background, but the other side had children getting bombed without any warning. So I’m definitely not trying to come off as a victim.
What non D&B/beats do you check? What music inspires?
I mostly listen to metal. Corrupted, Sleep, Om, Bongripper and my all-time favorite, Unsane.
And on a lighter note, do you cook? Any good food places near you?
I do cook a lot actually. Nothing too fancy. Simple vegan nutritious food. I survive mostly on hummus! There’s tons of good Arabic hummus places around here.
Hidden appears here: how did this come about?
All the credit goes to Robyn Chaos, who runs Therapy Sessions and Anger Management. Hidden’s a nice guy and an awesome producer and she made it happen.
Tell us about the artwork.
Nothing too deep about it. I sketched the bearded skull – which I thought was funny – and my girlfriend cleaned it up and turned it into a graphic.
And films, TV, what do you like?
I mostly watch shit American comedies with preference for action comedies from the 80s and 90s.
Definitely not a cinema aficionado!
What touring plans are afoot: what dates will be see from you?
Well, I left the US to be closer to Europe to be able to do more dates.
Since moving I’ve played many Therapy Events such as Vienna, Portugal, Kiev, the UK and a few other one-offs between, but I will be touring this album for the rest of the year across and plan to hit more new spots from the Summer.