– Hello, thanks for your time. First off, could you please introduce HACKNEYED? As the band was formed not too long ago.

Hackneyed are four guys and a girl who addicted their lives to Death Metal. The band consists of singer Phil, Devin and Juan playing the guitar (Juan has Spanish ancestors, did you know ? (), Tini playing the bass and myself, Tim, on the drums.

Phil and I met on a trip to Sweden in 2006 and decided to start playing Death Metal together. After some lineup changes Devin (my brother), Juan and Tini joined the band.

– Your upcoming «Carnival Cadavre» will come out next August. What are your expectations?

Well, of course we hope that a lot of people will love “Carnival Cadavre” as much as we do! We can’t wait to play our new songs on stage. Presenting the album on tour would also be great and perhaps we manage to play more shows abroad again, for example in Spain. ( We haven’t
played there yet and all of us would really like to have some shows there some day!

 

– And what could you say are we going to fin new on it?

Our new album “Carnival Cadavre” is heavier than the two albums before. We added another fine portion of groove and brutality for you and showed once again what Hackneyed is made of! Although it’s definitely a Death Metal album we tried to make it as diverse as possible. You will
find brutal blast beats and shredding guitars as well as groove parts and a lot of melodic, sometimes almost “spheric” parts. But listen for yourself!

 

– For your debut album you signed with Nuclear Blast. How did this happen and what did it mean to you?

At the beginning of 2008 we opened at Winter Freeze Festival in our hometown Abtsgmünd. We caught Achim Ostertag’s attention (Summer Breeze Festival, Silverdust Records), who arranged a professional recording session for our debut „Death Prevails“. Our finished album was then sent to Nuclear Blast and they signed us right away. It was really unbelievable for us (and still is) what happened in such a short time. Of course it was great for us as a band to be supported by such a huge label and we learned a lot during our time there. But at a label at this size, it’s obvious that you are only one band out of many bands there.

 

– But «Carnival Cadavre» will be released through Lifeforce Records. Why prompted your move? And how’s going this relationship so far? As this label seems to fit better with your style…

A lot of bands sign with another label after some time, so did we. ( But we’re still in contact with the guys from Nuclear Blast and we really had a good time there. So there’s no bad blood or something. But we always kept our ears open in different directions. So when we had the opportunity to sign with Lifeforce Records we didn’t hesitate to do so. We always had an eye on those guys as they really have a very nice roster with a lot of interesting bands. We are very proud to be part of such a great family now! And the guys from Lifeforce we already got to know are really cool and the cooperation works like a charm. Lifeforce gives 120% of support and backup for us! We’re sure this is the right way to go.

 

– The album was, once more, produced by Corni Bartels, recorded at Weltraum Studios and the cover artwork done by Killustrations, so I guess this «team» works fine with you. What do them provide your albums?

Yeah, that’s right, we once more built on our well-known album team! As we already know Corni from the production of “Burn after Reaping”, working with him again was just perfect. When entering the studio for recording “Carnival Cadavre” we already knew exactly what to do, what details are important, etc. Let’s say we already spoke the same “language”. And Corni once again did an awesome job, producing exactly the kind of sound we wanted to have!

And as the circus ideas circled around for quite some time we yet had a lot of ideas for our artwork for “Carnival Cadavre”. So we sat together with Björn, discussing different ideas and possibilities. And as you can see, he once again did a really great job!

 

– In fact, the cover artwork is quite funny. What does it represent?

The truth or the story behind the “Carnival Cadavre” is only revealed after a second glance at the artwork with bright fairground and circus atmosphere with Ferris wheel and circus tents. But then you see a lot of blood and limbs and guts and this doesn’t really fit into this picture. But
it’s a good example for Hackneyed’s very own black humour which you can as well find in the lyrics.

 

– You have always been a quite brutal band but with an important groove and melody (in the guitar work overall). Is important  for the band this balance between brutality and melody?
For sure! It would be boring for us to always do the same. I think we found a good balance between brutality, groove and melody on “Carnival Cadavre”. The new record sounds more like we want Hackneyed to sound than on “Death Prevails” or “Burn after Reaping”. We experimented a lot to find this kind of sound and for the first time we are really pleased with the result!

 


– Anyway, what could you say are the main elements that built HACKNEYED?

The perfect balance between brutality, groove and melody in our songs, practicing a lot, a cool show on stage and of course having a lot of fun! (

 

– This is your first album with bassplayer Tini Wuttke. How did she join the band and what has she brought new to HACKNEYED?

Tini is an old friend of us and helped us out when our former bass player Alex couldn’t play. And when Alex quit the band, she was of course first choice for us. I think she brought some fresh air into the band. And of course she’s the reason for our good manners in the tour bus. (

 

– You started being really young do you think, due to this, both your compositions as your general sound would pass through a more notorious evolution?

I’m sorry, I didn’t get that question. What do you mean by notorious evolution?

 

– And how do you see has your evolution been since «Death Prevails»? As I think with each album you sound more mature, and «Carnival Cadavre» makes no exception.

Thanks! On “Death Prevails” and “Burn after Reaping” we were still searching how Hackneyed should sound and also experimented a lot. I think on the new record we just carried on going our way of improving our sound and style, evolution in the true sense of the word. Of course we got older and more mature since our first album, too. But it’s also the great number of experiences we collected playing tours, playing shows and during recording sessions.

 

– As there’s a lot to come for you yet, do you see yourself in the next 15-20 years still with HACKNEYED?

If we have the possibility I’m sure that Hackneyed will proceed with what started about three years ago. This is exactly what we always wanted do. Writing songs, playing shows, going on tour, visit foreign countrys, meet a lot of people. We’re having a great time being on stage and being on
the road. That’s why we’re doing it.

 

– And finally, what are your near-future plans? What are your aims to get with this record?

Next big thing for us will be the release of our new album “Carnival Cadavre” on August 19th at the Summer Breeze Open Air in Dinkelsbühl, Germany. We always love to play there, and with the release of our new album it’s going to be one of our highlights this year. And there will be some more festivals too, like for example the Rock Harz Festival or the Dong Open Air, both in Germany, too. We’re really looking forward to these shows!

Of course we’re also looking for ways of promoting our new album and playing it live. So perhaps we manage to do a tour in autumn and making a music video is also under discussion. But as always, time will tell… (

 

– That’s all, thanks once more for your time. Now feel free to add some final words.

I hope you’ll enjoy our new album “Carnival Cadavre”. Just keep your heads banging and stay faithful to good music!!!

 

Tania Giménez

tania@queensofsteel.com

 






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