RPR (VIMH): Hi guys, congrats on your new album No Flag Will Fly Forever!
RPR (VIMH): What is the significance of the album name?
HDS: No Flag Will Fly Forever is a collection of songs exploring essential topics both eternal and specific to this era of humanity’s evolution. From the things that affect us all: climate change, racism, overt nationalism, the dangerous rise of the new fascist movements all around the world, injustice in our social and political systems; to the intensely personal experiences of spiritual and psychological growth and relationship health, this album is a voyage through the human condition as we experience it in our day and age.
As humans, we are more genetically and mentally similar than any of the apparent physical differences that have historically separated us. Where we are born is a lottery and the definitions of nationality and race are fleeting and transparent compared to the things that make us essentially human.
Borders change, money changes, languages change, rules change, religions change, flags change--but we remain human. And as humans, we are more the same on the inside than what we see on the outside.
RPR (VIMH): What do the lyrics talk about? Which are your major lyrics’ influences?
HDS: Horror Dance Squad is all about tackling the things that are critical to the development of humanity. Social and personal issues, justice and injustice, philosophy and spirituality--questions and topics that are pressing for us as individuals, but which we feel are common issues for humanity in general. We hope that if someone is struggling with an issue in their lives this album will have a song that will speak to them and help them find a positive way to deal with it--or at least a few minutes to mosh it out.
RPR (VIMH):Which are those elements that separate your new album from your previous albums?
HDS: Our new album is our most ambitious work by far. It is our deepest dive into the style we have crafted for ourselves and truly embodies the values and spirit of the band. We worked hard to challenge ourselves as musicians and songwriters to make sure we wrote the best songs we could. The album was recorded in Tallinn, Estonia and mixed by Cody Stewart (The Browning) in LA.
RPR (VIMH): How’s the fans’ reactions been to the new songs on your live shows so far?
HDS: Mosh pits! And we are looking forward to what will happen during our album release show on the 31st of October. We are sure it’s going to be epic.
RPR (VIMH): Do you prefer to be on the road or on the studio writing and recording?
HDS: Both have their ups and downs. Writing and recording together has always been a blast, but nothing beats playing your music to your fans and sharing that experience together. In both cases, we are always growing closer together and having the best time possible.
RPR (VIMH): How did you come up with the name Horror Dance Squad initially?
HDS: When we formed the band, we knew we wanted to make heavy music, but we wanted to go in a different direction than the “doom and gloom” most people think of when they think about this genre. And, of course, with any good band name, we wanted something that really represented the core of the band and us as individuals: Horror for the heavy influence, Dance to highlight the more fun and positive angle we wanted to approach our music with, and Squad to represent the unity we feel as a band, including the unity we feel with our fans and the many awesome people we’ve had the pleasure to work with while creating and sharing our music.
RPR (VIMH): How would you describe your music style to someone that hasn’t heard of you before?
HDS: A mixture of metalcore, electrocore, nu-metal and punk. Nucore doused with electronics. Catchy melodies and brutal breakdowns.
RPR (VIMH): Which do you consider to be the best male & female vocalist in metal history?
HDS: We’ve really been digging Courtney LaPlante from Spiritbox and we all really lovel Sam Carter from Architects.
RPR (VIMH): Which is the record you wish you had written and why?
HDS: We all really admired Bring Me The Horizon’s last LP amo. It was a great record and one that inspired us to continue doing exactly what we want to do, not what we think others expect us to do.
RPR (VIMH): Were you obliged to give just one album to extraterrestrials that would represent the whole human music, which album would it be and from which band/artist?
HDS: Oh my. Is there a possible answer to this question? Maybe something by Weird Al.
RPR (VIMH): If you had the chance to travel in time… where would you choose to go? To the past or the future and why?
HDS: I guess right now we’d have to say that we’d travel to a near-future time when we can get out there tour this album!
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