Following three prominent singles and a run of shows earlier this year, Hypnosister (aka Ex-Allusondrugs guitarist Damian Hughes) receently announce his self titled debut EP to be released on 27th July via Sleep All Day Productions and also released a new track Scribbles. After his departure from Leeds based psyche-grungers Allusondrugs, Hughes launched his new fuzzed out space pop project, Hypnosister in mid 2017 drawing influence from My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana and Neutral Milk Hotel. Having released only a handful of singles and played a short run of shows earlier this year, Hypnosister has already attracted the attention of the likes of XFM’s John Kennedy, Punktastic and Upset Magazine.
Hypnosister’s self titled debut EP, written, recorded and produced in it’s entirety by Hughes, is made of a mixture of new material and songs originally intended for his old outfit, Allusondrugs.
Check out Scribbles below!
We managed to catch up with Hypnosister as he talked about his upcoming EP and more!
So how pumped are you for your debut self titled EP?
I’m so excited. I’ve been slogging away at it for what seems like ages now and I can’t wait to let everyone see what I’ve been doing. I love the whole process of making music, from the birth of an idea and building it into a song, through the recording and right up to the production, It’s my favourite thing to do in the world, but now I just want to hold this thing up in the air and wave it around shouting “EVERYONE, LOOK AT THIS!!!”
Will this be any different to Allusondrugs work?
I don’t like to repeat myself. I don’t see any point in writing the same song over and over. I like to keep things moving so it stays exciting. You’ll definitely recognise certain vibes and feelings that you’ve experienced in music I’ve made in the past, but this EP is about looking forward, it’s a taste of what’s to come.
What is your favourite track from the EP?
You mean who is my favourite child? I can’t choose, they’re all important to me in different ways and equal amounts. Also, the thing is, I’m already writing music for future releases. I write music constantly, all the time. I love all the songs on this EP but I’m even more excited about what’s coming in the future!
How has the release of Scribbles gone down so far?
Scribbles is a bit different to the first few tracks I put out, It’s a bit more epic sounding, more of a wall of sound than the earlier, big pop-rock chorus stuff. People definitely notice the difference and seem to really like it. I think it’s good to shake things up a little bit every so often to keep everyone on their toes.
Can you tell us something about the EP no one else knows?
This is embarrassing… Sometimes when I record songs I like to play around with it by speeding the song up or slowing it down to see if it can inspire more ideas. When I sent one of the songs off for mastering I sent the wrong version by accident, so now I have a weird slowed down version of that song sat on my hard drive all mastered and ready for release. Oops!
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
I think it would be more fun to work on some music with a completely different kind of artist like a painter or a sculptor, someone who has no musical background whatsoever. They would explain their artistic vision to me in the way that they would normally approach a painting or whatever and I would try my best to interpret that into music. It would be amazing to see the result of something like that. Failing that, Erasure.
Will you be touring at all this year?
I certainly am touring this year. You can see Hypnosister at the following dates:
20TH JULY – SANCTUARY, BURNLEY
28TH JULY – THE HORN, ST ALBANS
2ND AUGUST – THE WASHINGTON, SHEFFIELD
4TH AUGUST – THE EXCHANGE, KEIGHLEY
11TH AUGUST – THE SWAN, WORKSOP
18TH AUGUST – LITTLE BUILDINGS, NEWCASTLE
What was the first ever gig you went to?
My Gran says that she and my Grandad took me to see Rod, Jane and Freddy when I was 3 but I can’t remember it. My introduction to live music was really weird. The first time I went to see a proper band was the metal band Sikth at Leeds Playhouse. The gig was seated, Sikth were opening for this nice, quiet jazz band with a string quartet. The vast majority of the audience got up and left within the first few minutes and all the remained were me and a handful of friends sat in the front row of a big theatre watching Sikth go mental at us. We met them afterwards. It was the weirdest night ever.