Hazemaze Interview

If you want to relive the glorious spirit of the 70s, this is the place to be. And the maze starts from Sweden. Heavy, riffy, bluesy and dreamy, Hazemaze are giving us one the finest 70’s influenced stoner/doom/fuzz records in 2018. That’s why we decided that it is a mandatory to contact the guys and invite them for a short chat so to understand more about themselves, their superb record and their undisputed love of those influenced years. Now, breathing in and out, let’s take a step into this maze full of haze.

– Welcome to Blessed Altar Zine, HAZEMAZE! It’s pleasure to have you here! How are you?
– Hi Blessed Altar Zine! Ludvig here and I’m good, how are you?

– First of all, please present Hazemaze to our readers. Let us know more about the band, the members…
– Hazemaze is a three-piece band that formed in the spring of 2016 in the middle of Sweden. The band consist of me Ludvig Andersson (vox & guitar), Estefan Carrillo (bass) and Nils “Ein” Eineus (drums). We started out as a garagerock band but that changed when we realised that our backgrounds in music made us sound nothing like garagerock. We drifted into the haze of old school heavy rock and stoner/doom.

– Stoner, doom, fuzz, rock, psych, blues…So many things going on in your music. What will our readers meet when they listen to Hazemaze for the first time?
– What they meet is up to the listener to decide. We’ve had people comparing us to a mix between Soundgarden and Sabbath, others say that they can smell the weed haze through their speakers. I think that it is a very individual experience, check it out and you’ll see!

– Are you living (in) the 70s and from where do you take your inspirations?
– We do love the 70s in all its glory and we tend to buy old equipment such as our amps and guitars from that period. Call us geeks but it has a big impact on the sound and the feel of the music.

– Why Hazemaze?
– The name is taken from a song by a band named FUZZ. We really liked the song and the sound of the band, so we thought it would be a cool band name.

– The doom, stoner, psych genre is really thriving nowadays. How a young band is feeling and what obstacles do you meet?
– Perhaps the only obstacle that we have encountered as a band is getting our financials in order. We have goals that we want to achieve but sometime it gets restrained due to financial issues but we always manage to figure it out one way or another. As long as we keep out ambitions straight, everything is possible

– Your debut self-titled full-length album was released in February. Will you present it to us. Tell us details about the recording, the idea behind etc.
– The only idea we had when we recorded this album were that we wanted a common thread going through the album so that the listening experience would be as pleasant as it could. We recorded the album with Timmy Ternestål, a long time friend of mine, up in Falun in the northern parts of Sweden. He was studying to become a producer, so it worked out great for both parts. Since we recorded in a school facility (Högskolan Dalarna) we had a very limited amount of time. The album is actually recorded in under 24h!

– Are you working all together on the songs and lyrics, or you have split roles?
– Usually, Estefan or I will come with a riff to the rehearsal studio, we’ll start jamming and see where it goes from there. As of now, I’m the only one writing lyrics, but we usually go through them together.

– Which song from the album describes you best as band and why?
– I would say it’s “Wall of Confusion”. The song contains parts of all our backgrounds. There are some hard rock tendencies, some blues, and some stoner. A blend of what we like the most!

– How has been the response to the record so far?
– The response has been overwhelmingly good so far! We’ve had our fair chair of good reviews and people tend to appreciate what we do!

– You ran out of vinyls actually…J
– Yeah, during our mini tour of Germany we sold out! We left Sweden with about 15 LPs and 25 t-shirts and came home empty handed, such a great feeling and we are truly humbled and honored that the people of Germany were so supportive!

– Where do you prefer to be – in the studio or on stage?
– It’s two different worlds so it’s hard to choose one. I would say that we love both equally!

– Well, what are your concert plans and what to expect from you on stage?
– As of now we are currently working on our second album, so we haven’t booked that many shows. If someone asks us to play, we’ll play if the date is doable and the pay is fair. Going to a Hazemaze show you can always expect an explosive and ear numbing experience! We give it all!

– Are you working on your next record already? When can we expect or hear new stuff from you guys?
– As I said in the previous question we are working on new material. We premiered two new songs in Germany and will be playing them live when we are on stage!

– Is the wall of confusion too big nowadays?
– The wall of confusion is always too big. The mind is a powerful thing!

– How far do you want your haze to reach?
– Worldwide of course!

– Did I miss something important? Is there anything else you would like to add or share with us?
– Be sure to follow us on our social medias for updates on shows and such!

– Thank you for your time and this interview! It was a real pleasure. We’ll be looking closely on you and will keep in touch!

Interview by Count Vlad

credits:
Album art: Acid Nighmare Design (former Helfvete Art) and Magnus Nicander
Photos: Magnus Nicander