1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the musical project these days?
Thomas: Since we started out in the end of december 2015 we have been doing one full length album called ”Now they are Everywhere - There is No Escape!” that was released by ourselves digitally but will get a CD press by Symbol of Domination (Russia) & Black Lion Productions (Sweden). It will come out in April/May somewhere. Shortly after that we have been doing two EP’s called ”By Sword, By Pick, By Axe, Bye Bye” and ”The Melting Body Horror Experience” and will soon release (which may have come out when this is published) called ”A.I.D.S.”, I think? Right Greigh?
Greigh: Yes, A.I.D.S. will be our third EP before we go for our second full-lenght album in March month.
A.I.D.S. is a term which director Peter Jackson joked about in his debut splatter-classic "Bad Taste" and is an abbreviation for "Alien Investigation and Defence Service"
Exactly why we chose that abbreviation was mainly due to Dark Throne's masterpiece F.O.A.D. (Fuck Off And Die) and It's a kind of homage of that album in general (You will understand why when you see and hear it on friday when we release it digitally on our Bandcamp.)
2.Recently you have released 2 ep's, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both of the recordings and also how do they differ from each other?
Thomas: ”By Sword…” had a strong old school thrash feeling while keeping punk/hardcore elements intact. I think it is very cool and has some very cool riff ideas. ”The Melting…” took a more rough punk-ish approach with some more bizarre moments and included more variations in the vocals than before. Every release is something new. You'll never be able to catch us before hand what we are doing.
Greigh: There's also much of a Doomish Slam Death/Slow Down Metal act in some of the tracks; Almost progressive, jazzy and generally weird in a unique way that I love.
3.The band has only been around since December, but so far has released 1 full length and 2 ep's, do you put a great amount of time and effort into writing and creating music?
Thomas: The music is done very spontaneously to capture the essence of what is going on in the consciousness at that specific time… after discussing ideas with Greigh what kind of vibe we want on a song. However when I go into the actual writing and recording I have more or less no clue what is going to come out. That’s the magic of HOTA. We know in which realms we are working in but what gets out in the end is pure moments of being ”in the zone” at that specific time, feeling creative and enthusiastic. Lot of musicians want to put grandiose words to what they do to seem ”big”. I tried my best right now to answer but since music is what you hear, describing it with mere words seems to put a limit on it which I think is not necessary. People will project and make assumptions anyway so I don’t know if it really matters what I say.
Greigh: It's in this way we do our work together. We live considerably far apart, so the cellphone and our computers is our only way to communicate with each other. We work with the assets we have and when we are most effective, we write and produce a complete song in a matter of hours. We have almost a rule to complete one song each day, which has resulted in three EP's in a month.
4.The lyrics and the samples on the ep's come from horror movies, what are some of the horror movie's that you have covered with your newer music?
Greigh: We are cult- and indie-lunatics, so primarily we are inspired by the archives from the 60-90's century like Zombi 2, Ghost Town, Xtro, The Blob, Street Trash, Basket Case, Slime City etc. Sometimes it may happen that we differ ourselves, and that is something we're possibly going to work on because we don't want to be too repetitive and boring in the long run. We start at a point and continues downstream. We want to continually evolve.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hordes Of The Apocalypse'?
Greigh: The band name was taken from our song title "Hordes of the Apocalypse" which is about a zombie invasion with inspirtation from director Umberto Lenzi's film "Nightmare City" (1980). We thought the name sounded great, so it was just purely spontaneous as it was named.
6. So far the band has only been a studio project, are you planning on doing live shows in the future?
Thomas: HOTA’s music would kick major ass live, no doubt about it. I never say never, as it is pointless since things always change, but why not a day? Right now though we are heavy into producing a lot of material.
Greigh: I have an extreme stage fright, but because of our energy I could easily have given it a try in each case.
7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?
Thomas: Considering our variety in styles and wild attitude it has been better than I thought. It doesn’t really change anything as we keep on going anyway, but I think it is terrific that people seem to respond to it well! I think HOTA is fresh air in a sometimes very stale music climate.
Greigh: We have actually managed to open the eyes to a whole new audience, so it will be interesting to see how it looks like in about 1 year.
8.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
Thomas: I have been doing music for Damnation Army and have had some underground releases as well as 2 albums out on Mascot Records (2006 & 2009). Other than that I have done countless demo’s and stuff in the past and currently will have an album out on Black Plague Records (USA) with a black metal project called ”Isgärde”. At the same time I just joined a group called ”Havoc Existence” with members of Khaos-Dei (France) and War-Head (Croatia) and some other guys. I also work with doing music for entertainment in form of DVD’s or independent films. Currently I have produced music for a 6 part documentary called ”Plastic Movies Rewound” that’s been covered by Fangoria and is directed by Mike Malloy who did a successful documentary called ”Eurocrime the italian cop and gangster films that ruled the ’70s”.
9. When can we expect another full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Thomas: As for the music, it will be done as always. It will be what it will be depending on the vibe of that time. Entertaining for sure!
Greigh: We have a new full-length album coming up in March, but we don't want to reveal too much about the sound and its structure.
We can promise that there will be extraordinary and 70's generation will frown of surprise.
10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Thomas: I’m not listening to a lot of music, believe it or not. Mostly a band called ”Dirty Loops” nowadays. But of course I have a big background in listening to metal.
Greigh: I can't go an hour without music. I listen to different genres depending on periods and seasons.
Music affects my feelings somewhat significantly, but it's definitely much metal, punk and hardcore into different subgenres,
and also rock, blues, jazz, classical, ambient and electronic music countered with different game and movie soundtracks.
11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Thomas: Exercising… running and calisthenics. Drinking coffee. Spending time with my new labrador puppy. Watching movies. Effortless meditating. Contemplating in stillness.
Greigh: To avoid people? Haha, no. but it could be a hobby. I rarely socialize with friends, more than my family consisting of fiancee and a son in just 4 years.
Besides the music, I also work with a movie and music fanzine namned Goregasmic Magazine with my colleague Tim Nordstedt. We are just going to release our fourth issue.
I also like to watch movies and play video games, when time permits, so to speak.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thomas: Thanks so much for doing this interview. It is much appreciated. Good luck to you and your zine.
Greigh: We hope you will take the time to listen to our upcoming EP and continue to follow our progress.
There will be a lot of new things throughout the year - We will never stand still in our creation. Take care!
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