Kalistani Major History

[Doc]

Sulari's Hypoderma tops hard rock album charts
Alt-Metal band combines surf themes with nihilism
Sulari, Duchy of Suldanor
January 5, 5507


Hypoderma's Sophomore album "PowerPlant" is as loud as its name suggests

The Sulari Alternative Metal band Hypoderma has been staples in the Sulari hard rock scene for about 5 years. Forming around their love of loud music and surfing, the foursome has now topped the Radio 1 Hot 100 Album Chart with their follow up to 5502's Out of Bounds. The new album PowerPlant brings a heavier grungy sound than Out of Bounds and is led off by the Single "Deep Swell" which is a metaphor using surfing to describe the trial and tribulations of heroin addiction.

"We tried to focus our music and our lyrics on stuff we know about," said lead singer and songwriter Rob "Mondo" Phillips. "So basically surfing and drugs. The single talks about the ups and downs that you get when you do hard drugs for a long time. It kind of undermines you, you might say, like it pulls you down like if you were caught in a huge wave and getting thrown around and getting bashed up against a reef. You really dig the high of riding the wave until you get basically drowned. Some people never make it out of those waves, you know. We're the lucky ones."

Other themes explored on the heavy hitting but introspective album including the band's ambiguous sexuality, depression and anomie. "A lot of it has to do with drugs." said lead guitarist Will Montero. "I think we can explore some metaphors, but in reality, drugs have been the common thread. Addiction is something we'll probably struggle with for a long time, but you know here, we can look at this and say we were clean enough to put this record together, like to be all on the same page long enough to make this music."

Discussing his process, Phillips put it like this: "Well, I start the day with like a smoothie. Lots of fruits and plants to get me some nutrients. And then I go surfing til about 9:30, and then I come home and have a sandwich. A lot of the time me and Willy and Gerard (Hassan, the drummer) will all go out surfing, while Brian (Michaelson, the band's bassist) is doing other sh-t, like working or something. We'll start writing music about 1 or so and keep at it til 6:30 or so, maybe come up with some riffs, and try to put it together in these songs. For dinner we eat some pizza or something then go surfing again. Surfing takes our minds off a lot of stuff. It's a pretty good routine to maintain, and we're kind of in this little surf gang at Vista Muerte (Beach, south of Sulari) and we all maintain this community and try to help each other stay clean and sane, you know? That mental health thing is also part of the process. We've got a ton of songs we'll probably never record."

"Yeah, you know, sometimes the girls will go surfing with us, or come over just to hang out," said Montero, "But I think especially Mondo and I spend most of our time on the water... we started using together, and I think that is a bond, even though we're both pretty straight now, like its a bond that you don't really ever give up. And we're keeping each other strong."

When asked why so much of their music is about drugs though they are trying to distance themselves from their previous drug abuse, Phillips said "Well, you write what you know. Not all of our stuff is about drugs, though. I mean some of our music actually just is about being out in the sun and feeling the warm rays and basking in it, some of it is about love, and the weird ways that can twist and turn. You might even say that some of it is basically pop music, but just played with like really heavy guitars, you know. It's not all dark and evil."

When asked how this record progresses Hyopderma's sound from Out of Bounds, Montero laughed. "We made a little money off the first record so the first thing we did was like eat. And then the second thing was buy all new instruments. I had some really crappy guitar that I bought at some thrift store here in town, and like one of the pickups was busted and everything. I got a few pedals, and we actually got a PA. I think this time I am experimenting with ways to produce different sound quality, I think its called, with like the same set up. So I will explore what guitar feedback does with harmonics and then I'll put like a reverb pedal on there, and you know, just try different stuff to make different sounds, and if I like the way that sound makes me feel and the things it makes me think of, I'll try to fit it into a song here and there. And I think the guys are really getting real good, for real. You can tell, like Brian's grooves (on bass) are head and shoulders above where he was at on the first album. I'd like to say its because we're clean now, but really, it just because he started practicing and stopped being so lazy."

On plans for a tour, Phillips was non-committal. "Yeah, touring is probably not a huge priority for us right now, just because life on the road... eh, you know, there's a lot of great people you meet on tour, but I think like you also meet a lot of people who say they are your friends and the next thing you know, you wind up in a dirty hotel room somewhere like four days later and you missed two shows... It's not really the healthiest place to be right now with maniacs like us, you know what I mean?" Montero added, "We have dozens of venues we can play here in Sulari, for sure, and we'll go up to Kaliburg and promote the record up there because the only people we know up there are with the lable (KMI released PowerPlant). But, I think I'm healthy enough to say I ain't going anywhere near Swede Port or any of those places... Not for a while. And in other countries, like ODEN stuff finds you. People know we're from the -Stan, you know and they are like 'Man I picked up this ODEN stuff, wanna do some with me?' and you just know that its all stepped on and cut up because in most of the world it's all illegal and sh-t... its not safe."

You can check out "Deep Swell" on M7, or right here below. Meanwhile, as PowerPlant on KMI Records hits number One on the Weekly Hot 100 Album poll, expect more singles from this band, and several dates in and around Sulari, Dana, Yoshimi and Kaliburg in the coming months.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K50oa8-iw5E]