Interview with HyperDump guitarist Holyv and vocalist Ws

I personally loved HyperDump’s album Rational Pain; I thought it was an excellent blend of the zaniness of Faith No More and Strapping Young Lad. Unfortunately some have not liked the release so much, mostly due to it’s frequent musical changes and unwillingness to stick to a specific genre. That said, those of you who like things against the grain will be in for a good time when you hear this album! Check out this interview with guitarist Holyv and vocalist Ws and see what they have to say about their music.

Hi guys! I’ve really enjoyed Rational Pain. Are you pleased with how the album turned out?
Holyv: Hey! Glad you like, yeah we’re pretty happy of the feedback and visibility we’ve had up to now. We mostly got good reviews, some interviews in webzines and French magazines as well as a few ads, and the album is available in big French stores. Hyperdump has started to grow slowly and we hope it’ll go on this way!

Ws: We made an album that fits to our expectations at this time. The press feedback is really positive. As Holyv said, we slowly break through the metal scene, now what would be really cool for us is to have the opportunity to represent our album outside of France.

You guys leap all over the place style-wise. Are you ever concerned this will alienate your listeners?
Holyv: It’s true that we have many influences, when we compose we don’t put any limit on ourselves, as long as the song is good and the whole disc stays coherent. The result is that we can hear different styles in this album, and even within a single song. We’re aware it may be a bit hard to get into the disc at first, but I’m sure after a few times the listeners will get used to it.

Ws: When we started writing Rational Pain, we never thought we needed to mix this style with that one. We just composed what seemed to be fucking great songs for us. It was only when the album was released and reviewed that we realized our songs confuse most of our listeners. [laughs]

What is the plan to get the word out out on the album? Are you focusing on North America at all?
Holyv: It is first time the album is released in France, then if we make a lot of sales why not release discs abroad? For the moment our objective is more to get notoriety than to have Rational Pain sold out.

What would have to happen for you to consider the album a success?
Holyv: According to me, if we can get a track on a magazine sampler and interesting shows, then the album would have been a success.

Ws: I often look at my bank account, if some day I see more than 5 zeros I will say: “great, we can still release many albums!” More seriously what we would need is to represent our album along with a band having a strong notoriety. This would allow us to have much more visibility and show we’re not fools. We’re really awesome on stage!

Other than Faith No More who influenced the band?
Holyv: Actually Faith No More isn’t such a big influence for us. It’s something we often hear because the vocal style is sometimes similar, but it isn’t intentional. Bands influencing us are for example Strapping Young Lad, Meshuggah, Textures, Dream Theater, etc.

Any plans on touring? If so, where?
Holyv: We don’t have any tour planned yet. For now we try to play regularly and everywhere possible, at least once a month, and are looking to play in fests.

Ws: And if there are requests coming from North America, we would even be ready to come create havoc there!

Do you guys have plans to try and make the band a full time gig or is it solely for fun?
Holyv: Hyperdump has always been a really serious project, we hope to make it last as long as possible. But of course we have a lot of fun playing together!

If you had the opportunity to tour with any band still in existence, who would it be?
Holyv: I think we would choose Strapping Young Lad, because we all really like them.

Anything else you want to say?
Holyv: Thanks a lot for this interview and long live PureGrainAudio!

Ws: While listening to our album, don’t think too much, just assume we simply play fucking heavy metal. No matter which stream it has been bathing in!

Check out the song: “My Confusion”