SOURCE – How would you assess the depth and diversity of material on this set of tracks compared to your previous release Hyloxalus EP? Where do you see the greatest differences or improvements to the overall output?
Mike Bell (Guitars, Bass and Vocal) – This one has more black metal influence than the last one (especially on 10,000 Neolithic Ghosts). Not so much in the way of the vocals, but the instrumentation – lots more fast strummy bits and blastbeats. Plus, some Insomnium worship in the middle of Neolithic Ghosts. Also, I think the production is improved – the Hyloxalus EP had a really good mix, but this one sounds thicker! Especially in the drum tones, Danial REALLY nailed it.
SOURCE – Danial Devost collaborated with the mixing on Aposematic. How did that come about and what did he bring to the record?
Mike Bell (Guitars, Bass and Vocal) – I’ve been playing in bands with Danial for years! He is a genius, and my go-to guy for a lot of things. He’s been doing the Hylo stuff since the start, and I would rather him be doing that over anyone else. And don’t forget – he also drummed on both of the EPs(That “session member” thing in the EP credits is probably a formality at this point, heh!).
SOURCE – How would you assess the musical chemistry and personalities within the two members of Hyloxalus? What do you think you each bring to the table to make you unique and special as a whole?
Mike Bell (Guitars, Bass and Vocal) – Basically, our dynamic goes like this: I do most of the writing, Nina suffers through all the terrible terrible drafts of the songs/lyrics I go through before we get to something that works, then we go record it and Nina finishes her parts in like an hour, because she is an absolute professional. She’s super easy to work with.
SOURCE – How do you feel that Aposematic brings Hyloxalus to the next level?
Mike Bell (Guitars, Bass and Vocal) – Outside of the more diverse songwriting and improved production, I think we promoted this one a lot better than the first EP, which we didn’t really do any promo for at all unfortunately. Also, this one coincided with us getting a live lineup, so I would say that brings us up a notch or two as well!
SOURCE – What do you hope people get out of Aposematic when they hear it?
Mike Bell (Guitars, Bass and Vocal) – I want everyone who listens to this to be so inspired by our music that they create a holosimulation of us, and that they put this holosimulation aboard a space station where the holosimulation version of us becomes a trusted friend of the main crew somehow, even though all that Holo-Hyloxalus does is sing songs once in a while and call everyone “pally”.
SOURCE – How did you guys as a band handle this extended downtime from shows and music activity with the COVID-19 pandemic? What long term impact do you believe this pandemic will have towards humanity?
Mike Bell (Guitars, Bass and Vocal) – We’ve been a studio project up until about a month ago, so nothing really changed! The only interruption we had was being unable to meet up and record vocals due to COVID getting really really bad where we live. This delayed our EP a bit, but outside of that it had basically been the same. As for COVID… well, I think it’s really thrown a lampshade on the dangers of misinformation. It would not have gotten as bad as it did if we all were working with the same basic set of facts instead of 3 or 4 different ones.
SOURCE – What have you changed your mind about the most either in the music industry or outside of it over the past two years – and why?
Mike Bell (Guitars, Bass and Vocal) – Having no shows really drove home the importance of having good songwriting for me. Live shows are vital and awesome, but at the end of the day if the songs you write aren’t memorable, then your band isn’t really going to stick in people’s minds, I think.
SOURCE – What’s on the horizon for Hyloxalus over the next year or so? Will there be touring excursions stateside and abroad planned for 2022 as things open up and are safe to do so?
Mike Bell (Guitars, Bass and Vocal) – Well, we got a live lineup together and we’ve got our first two shows planned for October – Edmonton and Calgary, opening for the bands Ravenous Eternal Hunger and Tides of Kharon for their dual album release gigs. Very excited! After this, the plan is to work on a full-length album. As for touring – nothing too crazy yet. We’re hoping to do more live shows at some point. Would love to tour internationally! I’m going to end this interview by saying HAILS, and check out our Bandcamp!
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