Good evening perverts,

New song uploaded, ‘Human Clockwork’. A dark brooding track with a big finish. Listen to it.

Pure Hateful Abandon.

Had to squash the file so the sound quality may suffer...whatever.

V/Martin

1.Hello to England! Hope, you are fine. Not every of our readers will know you and your band, so please tell us some words about you and the history of Hateful abandon.

V/M - Hello! I am fine, busy drinking a nice cold can of lager.

Hateful Abandon is the culmination of an idea I dreamt up back in 2003, originally called 'Leere'. I started playing around with riffs and music that could change mood dependant on the style of lyrics and vocals implemented. For example, a very pretty piece of music could easily turn sour with aggressive vocals or hysterical screaming layered over the top. Later on, in 2004 changed the name of the project to 'Abandon' and recorded a short EP entitled 'Never-ending Black Torrent of Death' on my four track. I was very ill with flu during the recording and perhaps the most successful quality of this recording was the fact that the illness seems to seep through the recording...it's practically potent. ....

As for the music on the EP, despite it being picked up and released by a few labels on CD and cassette I was more than unhappy with the product. It was steeped in Black Metal imagery and sounded, well, awful. Atrocious recording and horrible digital drum machine. So having got half the ingredients right (the atmosphere) I decided to go back to the drawing board. I recorded a few more songs using a small drum-kit, but again these recordings were less than satisfactory.....

At this point I had known TomSwine (Swine, Salute) for a couple of years, and at a Motorhead gig late 2005 he expressed interest in working with me on a new record. I changed the name of the project to Hateful Abandon to distance ourselves from another couple of bands also with the name 'Abandon'. To cut an even longer story short, HA is the result of the meeting of two very similar musical minds riding high on the fumes of sonic history, the summit of which is the newly released 'Famine (Or Into The Bellies Of Worms)' CD.....

2. Some of our readers perhaps know Basilisk, which owns something like a cult status in the black metal scene. Why did you put it to an end and how has Hateful abandon developed the last years to become, what it sounds now?.

V/M - I put an end to Basilisk because of the over saturation of one-man Black Metal bands of which there were hardly any when I started. I really don't want to be part of a club with so many members! Haha. I still do Basilisk, although nothing I do nowadays will ever be released. There is no need for more Basilisk records. HA sounds like it does because it sounds like the inside of our (the band's) brains.

3. I tried to describe your music as a mixture between Darkthrone and Joy division, where the 80s....Goth/Punk influence is in great majority. How do you agree with that?....


V/M - That's a decent starting point! Although I have read many bands described as the above, we are the only band that REALLY sounds like it. Haha. I have to add though, our sound is not a mere 'cross' between genres. We do what we do and the result is a happy accident. ..
4. How can we imagine the developing process of "Famine"? ....

V/M - I'll run you through a typical recording session for 'Famine';....

I arrive at the studio 11am -  we listen to loud music whilst we set up the equipment. 12pm - we unwind with a couple of energy drinks/booze, smokes and more music. 1pm - we jam a bassline for an hour or so. 2pm - record the drums. 3pm - more smoke, booze and music. 4pm - we record the guitar. From here on in we got smashed and record the vocals. Listen to the track, shoot the shit and eat kebabs up until 4am. Very great times. Nothing deeper than that I'm afraid,....

5. So, we come to my main point of criticism. Why is the album so short? I want to hear fucking more from Hateful abandon. I remember the only Basilisk album was similarly short.....

V/M - Yeah, it's short. We simply didn't want to put any filler on the record. It flows together beautifully and no two tracks sound the same. We wanted a short, deep, catchy pop album and I think it does the job. If people want more, well, mission accomplished! The new record (which we are recording NOW) will be longer and should be with you this year. The Basilisk CD was short because it was so damn stressful to record.....

6. How are the reactions from press and fans until now?....

V/M - Very good! Although there has been some confusion about what pigeonhole or 'genre' to put us in. I can only sit back and laugh when I see such a struggle. It's Pop people...sorry.....

That said, we are truly humbled by the great response, as long as people 'get' it.....

7. Do you have plans to play live? ....

V/M - We do. We've got to put a full band together first...and that will be harder than you think. Next year maybe.....

8. You preach total artistic freedom, so, how does the future of Hateful abandon look like? Will your music develop to a more gothic or more black metal sound? Or even to something completely different?....

V/M - HA has already developed into something that is impossible to categorise. New stuff is neither more Black Metal nor more Gothic  - The wonderful thing about HA is that we can never paint ourselves into a corner. There is literally nothing that is off limits for HA. We can do what we want. The only thing I can say about the next record is that it will be 'Famine' multiplied by ten.....

9. Your albums of Basilisk and Hateful abandon can be "purchased" freely (and of course illegal) through the internet by blogs or torrents. What do you think about that development? Are the sales figures important to you?....

V/M - Sales figures are only important to me because I'm crazy about Todestrieb records. The more sales we have as a band, the more money the record label will have to introduce us and everybody else to great new music that deserves a product. I also think underground distribution is very important. Not to mention holding the PRODUCT rather than just having 1000's of sound-files you'll never listen to. Let's face it, I'll never make a living out of HA, and I make no money out of it, so sales to me just gives me a satisfying ego boost that someone has liked the record so much they have parted with cash for it. If someone downloads it and enjoys it, then it still nice that it's touched them.

10. So this is the end of the interview, please feel free to tell our readers some last words!....

V/M - No last words. This is the start...we will change things.
 

My dearest specs of pittance,

It would appear, my friends, that I'm suffering from what I can only describe as 'post-natal-depression'...the 'Famine...' CD was a difficult birth. Luckily I had Swine and Todestrieb to hold my hand through the difficult 4 year labour.

Now that the little fellow has been shat out, all I want to do is trawl the internet looking for the slightest glimmer of interest in him. I never used to be like this...I'd spew music out of my ragged hide like it was red hot diarrhea and not give a tinkers cuss whether folks liked it or not. Interesting development I must say. Maybe it's because I fear he will be misunderstood. Can you listen to music incorrectly?

In my boredom and as I'm a music FANATIC and in the spirit of a lot of 'top 10 albums of 2008', I thought I'd share 10 fantastic albums with you. Now these aren't my favourite records of all time, just what I'm listening to over and over again at the moment and in some cases, for a long time.

In no particular order:

1.       KILLING JOKE – 'Brighter Than a Thousand Suns.' One of the only albums to make me dance. Jesus, I'd give my right bollock to hear a new album with as many hooks as this today. Written off by many as one of the Joke's weaker albums because of the 100% proof pop megaton BOMBS this album sweats out like ducklings.  Sod 'em I say...stick this on and dance to your day job. Possibly my choice album from my very favourite band.

2.       RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY – 'The Very Best Of...' "You can't put a 'Best of...' album in your list!" I just did. Deal. Whereas the few albums they did do stand up on their own, you can't beat this 23 track behemoth of hit song after hit song. Not a boring second on the record and that it in itself is very rare. Dark, impressive confrontational pop.

3.       CELTIC FROST – 'Into The Pandemonium.' It's pretty popular to choose 'Morbid Tales' or 'To Mega Therion' over this one when gliding your finger lightly along the spines of CDs on the rack. But don't...next time pick this one and revel in madness. Preferably the more recent edition with 'In the Chapel in the Moonlight' on it. THEIR BEST SONG. UH!

4.       KROHM – 'A World Through Dead Eyes.' Just an incredibly layered record. Takes a few listens but keeps on giving. Really great musicianship gives music like this an extra push. Miserable, beautiful and downright deep. I need to get his most recent recording. Stat.

5.       JAPAN – 'Quiet Life.' Low, hard –fingered fretless bass like chewing on the rubber hat of a toy Smurf. Melancholy, honey throated vocals lull you with quasi homoerotic 80's 'popness'. If I didn't love Japan, I'd fucking hate them. Consider that to be the highest praise possible.

6.       PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED – 'Public Image.' Nobody can really label this with a pointless genre. People have tried to give it the Post-Punk tag. It's just PIL. It is to my mind the most pure Lydon there is. From the sublime and pumping bassline to 'Public Image' to the scathing honesty and truth of 'Religion I' and 'Religion II.' If ever we needed Lydon, it was in '77 and now in 2008.

7.       GBH – 'City Baby Attacked by Rats.' Just makes me feel like drop-kicking newborn babies. Heavy Metal Punk. End.

8.       PESTE NOIRE – 'Folkfuck Folie.' What a fucking mess. What a fucking FANTASTIC MESS. Actually, scratch that...it sounds like every moment of this record was planned and blueprinted to the finest detail...Nope; it's just a fantastic fucking mess. Nope, it has to be planned, amazing songwriting. What a mess. Fantastic. Backwards.

9.       AUTECHRE – 'Chiastic Slide.' An audio jigsaw you put together with your mind. Stunning counter rhythms, plips and (dare I say) plops go by you both at the speed of light and in a sickening crawl through sticky digital fur.

10.   WATCHTOWER – 'Energetic Disassembly' Like the above but with guitars. It's Spooky Tooth but a million miles an hour. It's cunnilingus with a bass guitar. It sounds like someone has thrown the drummer down the stairs and then cut and pasted it back together in a manner fit for TOTAL PINPOINT PERCUSSIVE ACCURACY.  Outstanding.

That's it. Show's over. Piss off.

V/M

A release announcement from our admin dept. at Todestrieb Records HQ : -

"The special editions of Famine (or Into the Bellies of Worms) are now available. These are early copies released for those most eager to hear and supportive of the band and the label. We have tried to put together a memorable special edition to celebrate this record

The official release date is December 2nd, the CD will then be available to order alone. If you prefer ordering from your local distributor ask them to stock Famine (special editions only through our mailorder), our contact is ttr@todestrieb.co.uk"

http://distro.todestrieb.co.uk/

Good Afternoon Pills & Potions,

As you'll no doubt see, the full documentary is now up. If you have the stomach for it, you'll be enlightened for a full half an hour of human tragedy and an eye-opening look at what Stella Artois can do to a couple of bitter bald musicians over the space of a few hours.

We start off reasonably sober and positive, then it all goes downhill...

Enjoy the car crash.

V/M

Hello my 'lightly-dusted-with-cobwebs' friends,

As you can no doubt see, a video has been posted for 'Lungs' from the upcoming 'Famine' opus. Spliced within the suitably fitting archive film is rehearsal footage from the recording session of the next record, filmed by our very own admin staff at the formidable Todestrieb records.

The rehearsal footage is from the upcoming Documentary (or Drunkumentary, as it turned out), where we answer several burning questions regarding our little outfit and hopefully shed some light on our intentions with Hateful Abandon. Rather than a written interview, we felt that to explain things ourselves on camera you could relate to what we are planning a little more.

Part ONE of the documentary will be posted in the next couple of days (indeed, maybe even later today), we will break down each track from the album and explain the lyrics in as detailed a fashion as possible given the amount of alcohol quaffed. So keep an eye out - once again, any follow up questions from either Tom Swine or myself can and will be answered by sending a message here or at mastervastere@yahoo.co.uk.

Try and enjoy yourself...time does not stand still for anyone.

V/M

P.S Part one of Documentary now up!

Good Afternoon robots,

Some of you may have noticed that there is a doodad on the page where you can download the album track 'Diamond Spine'.

Please make use of this feature and spread it around, of course, in the old days I would release a single or 7". Now in these days of techno-ness it's a free give away...madness!

Bang goes my opportunity to be on 'Top Of The Pops'.

As ever, your lover...

V/M

Good Afternoon misfits,

The final mix has been finished and sent to Todestrieb records, so it's coming at long last!

Presented here are 3 tracks from the final mix you may have heard before...but hey, what do you want for free? Blood? I can get you blood if you want.

Cheerio

V/M