Hammok vocalist/guitarist Tobias Osland guides us through the references and the sentiments of their intense, intricate and intoxicating new album.
The Scene
I never really doubted the initial spark of that first verse, which then became the title of the entire album. That was such a beam from the sky moment, and you don’t really get too many of those. We had a lot of the instrumental for the song leftover from the first album, like the main guitar riff and the first verse. I just started recording vocals in a hotel room, touring the first album, and it just became this fully fledged picture.
Those moments are so precious, and they felt like they spoke to where we were at that moment, but also to where we are right now, in the middle of releasing this album and everything we’ve done in the past months. What with the singles and the local shows we’ve done, and all the people we met and talked to. It just feels very much like this. One sentence that can mean so much, and it really felt like the North Star for what we would do with the rest of the album.
Semi-Automatic Machines
I think with a lot of these songs, I remember having that feeling of, ‘I don’t believe anybody else is making this right now’. It feels like I’m surprising myself, and that’s the thing that happens when you’re pushing the furthest you can. That might be uncomfortable, but mostly it’s just very exciting. All of a sudden, everything changes, and the whole picture shifts, because you’ve done something by complete accident. Or you’re in a moment where you all of a sudden feel something very different, and that moment becomes very much what the whole making was about in the first place.
So this song is like a Bleachers song, but also Jerome’s Dream. It’s like screamo, but what if Jack Antanoff made it? It’s completely ridiculous, but it comes from a moment that feels completely golden. It can be very time-consuming to be chasing that, and always shifting things around, but there is a lot of that all over this record.
Gooning For Free
We had the instrumental, where it’s just one chord and a rhythm, and it just felt good. From there, I was thinking, ‘How can I kind of elevate this?’, and I just started kind of recording. I hadn’t written any vocals, and for some reason I just said the line, ‘Fucking reach a conclusion or I’m gooning for free’ And then I stopped and I was like, ‘Can I say this? What does this mean?’
Looking back, I can see that it is based around this whole, this whole, like, self-eating reflection of internet capitalism. The post-COVID, self-centred, get-your-money-and-get-yourself-settled-and-get-a-cool-house-and-do-whatever-it-takes approach. Riffing off that with a very Reddit-type language. All of those small niches are now so much more mainstream. I really like artists like Lingua Ignota, who can take something really crude and spin it into something truly visceral, with real bite, and then, in turn, become really deep. That’s what we wanted to do here.
Blast Off (Blast off) Blast Off
On our playlist of references, we had a lot of fun talking about and referencing Korn. The ‘Got The Life’ music video, where they are all pimps, stuff like that. Then there was a lot of The Blood Brothers and The Dare, too. All things that have that ‘Let’s Party’ feel. Being able to create such a fun contrast. Sometimes you have something that feels very silly, stupid, and mundane, but then you can flip it around and create something that’s also really meaningful. If you’re sharing in laughter and fun and in the party spirit, you can also talk about something real.
We just saw Joey Valence and Brae live last week, and that is like the perfect example of this. They can be super real in the midst of being like telling dick jokes, and that became very big for us.
BANG
This is a very muddy song. Early on the album, it became very apparent that we had songs that were very bright and full of a kind of frenetic energy, like ‘Blast off (Blast Off) Blast Off’, and then we had this side, like this song, that is just dark and uncomfortable. This is a very specific experience that I pulled the entire song from. We played a very big festival here in Oslo called Aya Festival, where we’re getting messages before the show from people saying, like, ‘Do you know what they’re doing?’ because of concerns about the festival’s ownership. So I ended up saying this huge thing on stage, and the second I got off, a guy who works higher up at the festival pulled me aside, confronted me, and was going off about this stuff in my face.
All of a sudden, you’re standing in the middle of it, and you’re involved, and you have no idea what the right way to go is, and that is very much that, that is just the song for me. That’s why it feels so dark, because this situation has made everything very complicated.
Groundbreaker
If there was any reference for this album, then it was ‘Silent Alarm by Bloc Party. There’s such a coolness to them, and to that music, to me. The sound is so minimal but so chic. So this song was very much an exercise in how we can get that flavour whilst still being really aggressive, physical, and nasty.
Tap Water
I remember getting the riff for ‘Tap Water’ and realising that it was such a low bpm. That’s cool, but it’s also different. Can I actually do something about it vocally? I remember we all discussed the song, that it might not be on the album and that we should keep it for later. But then thinking that it was just a really good song and that it should stay. But then, talking to Sergeant House, they said, ‘That should be a single’, and otherwise we would never have done anything like that.
You’re always scared of being the hardcore band that does that one song with singing, and it sucks, because the singing is bad, and it doesn’t feel the same bite and character. But I was inspired by ‘Thought You Were Waving’ by Militarie Gun, and hearing a band like that do that sort of song felt like I could do something here, too. We now have a sound we should look into further, as it could be fascinating.
CND
Making this album, I was listening to artists like Fred Again.. and Justice more than anything. I remember downloading Fred’s Boiler Room on my phone, just listening to it on repeat, thinking how amazing it is that you can move a crowd, move people, and create this united energy. Then I was scrolling on TikTok and came across someone playing a kick pattern to a house track. The guitar in this song has the same kick pattern. We’re creating this bridge here between something like ‘Genesis’ by Justice and Glassjaw. The track has tonnes of swag, which I think both those artists have as well.
Thirst
A reference for me here was ‘People’ by The 1975. They are almost paying tribute to their older self in hardcore bands. We are an actual hardcore band, so we can just do the fucking thing, you know? There are recordings on this song that are so crusty. The first pre-chorus guitar was recorded with an SM50 and 58 lying on my desk, pointing in the general direction of my amp. It’s almost in time enough to make sense in the song; it is a very simple rock vibe that is cool, but at first, I wasn’t sure if it’s for me, just because we are often so hectic, and we are trusting this one riff and one groove. But it’s become one of my favourites forever.
When The Kids Are Too Old To Cause A Scene
It’s funny that this is the closest we’ve come to Refused, and we are releasing it after they are gone. The working title for this song was ‘Real Hardcore Song’. It very much mirrors ‘Gooning For Free’ for me; Very short song, one riff, just straight to the point and get off your ass and move.
It’s just, it is very based playing shows, meeting people who are at least 10 years older than you, and talking about how hardcore used to be, especially here in Norway. They’re saying it used to be cool, but now it’s gone. It’s also them saying to us, ‘I’m so happy you guys are doing what I was doing 20 years ago. I gave up a long time ago, don’t give up on yourselves. Somebody has to keep that vibe and spirit going. It can’t die; it has to be refreshed by a new generation. And I’m happy that seems to be happening, and it is probably bigger than it has ever been.
Confidence Of A Beaten Horse
I remember, while producing all the songs, being very conscious of song lengths. I was scared of wasting time, and I wanted things to be really tight and concise. But with this song being as long as it is, it felt like it was nowhere else to go. It is weird how things keep piling on, and you keep digging, and you find a new direction, and you find a way out of that thing, and you come back to the chorus. Some of the longer songs on here were tough to write. They are much harder to finish. If you are making a long song, the moments really need to matter. They’re maybe more important than in any other type of song. But throughout it, you stay true to the song, the feeling, and how you’re making an impact.
For My Friends
I stumbled across that line, ‘But nothing is scary for my friends’, and I love it so much. There is so much pride within it. The whole idea of this band constantly reaching out and addressing the listener throughout this journey, and always about pushing energy, is actually about so much more than just the notes or the guitar or the crazy blastbeat or me screaming really hard. I mean, that is it.
It all just becomes so strong and potent after you’ve dismantled your relationship with your own band, your audience, or your future audience, and the people that you hate, and yourself. You’ve been through all of that, and not you’re saying, ‘Okay, now tell me you can’t feel anything. Because this is the scene, and if it doesn’t make you feel something, maybe you weren’t in it in the first place. The guy from Cold Orange says something like, ‘if you’re not with us, you’re against us’ or some shit. We’re not that hard, but it is also true.
