Sever The Servants – das sind Hide Tepes (Instrumente, Programmierung) und Mike Nolen (Gesang). Nach den ersten Singles hat das norwegisch-amerikanische Duo im Sommer seine Debüt-EP Sever The Servant veröffentlicht, die auf dem Plattenlabel Produkt 42 erscheinen ist. Mit ihrer Musik kreieren Hide und Mike experimentelle EBM- und Industrialklänge, die eine schattige, bedrohliche und geisterhafte Atmosphäre erzeugen. Das alles kling unheimlich gut, ebenso die brandneue Single „As the crow flies“, die Ende Oktober erschienen ist.
Who is behind Sever The Servants?
Sever The Servants is made up of Mike Nolen (Hitchcock Guillotine/Long After Midnight) and Hide Tepes (Carrion/MissFit Toys).
How did the project come into being? What made you decide to start Sever The Servants?
Hide: I`d been aware of Mike`s solo work as well as Long After Midnight for quite some time, both of which I liked. If I remember correctly it began with Mike asking me to do some artwork and a remix for Hitchcock Guillotine, throughout that process we found we had similar ideas regarding music. STS came out of me wanting to explore new areas of electronic music. While synthesizers and such are of course a large part of Carrion I wanted to come at it from a new and different angle as well as being able to focus solely on the music and for once not being the frontman. In fact, I never intended to be the frontman of any band, I started out playing bass.
Mike: Like Hide said, I had asked him to do some artwork for a solo release (that I still need to finish), and we found we had a lot of common ground as both fans of music and as artists. At that point, while I’d released things in the past with my own vocals, I hadn’t much confidence in my voice so everything I was working on had other people singing. When Hide asked if I ever did vocals, my response was: „Yeah, I guess sometimes.“ Once Hide sent me a few tracks and I heard the dark, minimalist vibe he was going for, I was into it.
Can you tell us a few things about the connection between you both and your journey into music?
Hide: We`ve had endless conversations about everything we hate and bonded through our common dislike of various factors found within today’s music scene. As far as my journey into music is concerned it all started in my early teenage years for me. I was always far more into rock and metal than any electronic music so the soundtrack to my adolescence is littered with 70s and 80s rock bands like W.A.S.P., Mötley Crüe, Kiss as well as Misfits and Dead Boys. Once I got a little older and discovered black and death metal bands such as Death, Morbid Angel and Bathory became important to me and my evolution as well.
Mike: We’re also both pretty much into modular synth stuff and making angry noises with electricity, we definitely have some long discussions about gear we like. I think I started identifying things I liked to listen to around age nine, and movie soundtracks through the early 90s introduced me to a lot of songs that had a lasting impact on me. From the late 80s hip-hop and techno in the first Ninja Turtles movie to all the industrial and techno on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. All of it really laid the groundwork for appreciating drum machines and synthesizers. When I was around fifteen I realized I wanted to do more than just listen to music, so my dad got me a guitar. That didn’t stick, but at some point I got a sampler, then Fruity Loops and started figuring out how to do electronic music.
If you had to describe your music in terms other than music, what would you say?
Hide: So far this project has had a bit of a Cadavre Exquis method to it without that ever being a planned thing. I think because of that what eventually becomes a Sever The Servants song could carry traces of the state of our shared psyche in the moment of composing.
Mike: I can’t do better than that description.
Forget about genres for a second – Sever The Servants‘ music sounds like…?
Hide: Delirius archangels sighing in tongues
Mike: Anxiety
What are you looking for in music?
Hide: Something that excites me, be it a picture painted through the lyrics or the music for that matter, interesting production details, something that drifts away from the norm of polished, chained to the grid of perfection. To be flawed is to be human, I want the most exquisite dirt.
Mike: I don’t always know, but I know when I hear it. Sometimes it’s ear candy, sometimes it’s clever lyrics, sometimes it’s both. Production quality is always important, though. I’m always interested in unique approaches to sound design and rhythm. There’s not a lot of ideas that are new, but the way the sounds delivering those ideas are shaped and layered can be endlessly innovated.
What are your first musical memories? When did you first fall in love with sound?
Hide: I`ve been told this story by my mother quite a few times about how as a child, around the ages of two or three I would be placed in front of the TV and she`d put on a VHS tape with live footage of The Doors. Several years later I would explore The Doors on my own and come across songs that sounded eerily familiar, eventually I tracked down the tape and sure enough a lot of what had sounded familar to me was featured on the tape I watched with some sort of regularity as a child. As for when I fell in love with sound that`s a little harder to pinpoint as I never had the moment so many artists speak of where they see or hear a certain band and make a definite decision that it`s what they want to do with their lives, I always wanted this and I don`t know where or what it comes from, it`s what I`ve always done since the moment I was able to. I`d spend much of my younger years on my own, locked away in my room listening to The Crimson Idol by W.A.S.P. or Shout at the Devil by Mötley Crüe alongside Joy Division, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy. When I stumbled across bands like Coil, Throbbing Gristle and Einstürzende Neubauten that certainly opened the doors of possibilities for me. What initially intrigued me about industrial music was the lack of limits and how anything at all, any object, any sound at all could be musical and an instrument. I think that`s when I began paying attention to sound as such, collecting field recordings and seeing the potential in more or less everything.
Mike: When I got my first sampler and synthesizer – Boss SP-202 and a Yamaha CS2X – I had no idea what I was doing, but there was this vast horizon of things to explore and learn. They gave me a sense of what might be possible with manipulating sounds and it motivated me in a way that trying to practice guitar never did. That said, I really look at my musical journey in two different parts and two different beginnings. I took some pretty long breaks from even thinking about music between having kids and a couple of failed marriages. Seeing Skinny Puppy on the Down the Sociopath tour in 2015 very much woke me back up and got me back on track. I like to tell people it was my religious experience – I saw the angels of the lord and their names were Kevin. And Cevin. Jokes aside, that lead me back into writing and this time around really learning about sound design, how to use distortion, how to program synth sounds that feel dynamic and alive.
Which person, artist or incident inspired you when you first started making music?
Hide: I always felt a bit of affinity towards The Damned given their status as outsiders amongst outsiders which I could, and still do relate to. As mentioned above there was never a singular moment for me, it`s just what I`ve always done and wanted to do. I never had any other plan or desire.
Mike: Trent Reznor, Rhys Fulber and his work with both FLA and Fear Factory. Skinny Puppy’s The Process has also been close to my heart in terms of writing and production.
What impact do your surroundings have on your music? Which sort of mood produces the best song?
Hide: I don`t think one mood produces a better song than another, it`s all relative to the listeners and in the moment of composition, the creator. Regardless of mood or surroundings the most important element to me is authenticity. Whether something is good or not is objective and subject to your taste but something being authentic and the product of your true self is far more important. My surroundings are the mountains and trees of the Norwegian countryside so I`m sure none of the music I make is typically what would be associated with that. A more fitting sound for my surroundings is probably something in the vein of Wardruna. I`m simply not limiting my creativity to reflect where I am there and then. At least not as far as my physical vessel is concerned.
Mike: In regards to Sever the Servants, I sit and listen to each instrumental on a loop and scribble out words that match how it makes me feel. Going in with a clear head usually helps, although it’s one thing where general anxiety can be useful because I just write it out („Dread bloom“ is a good example). That leads to everything else, and I tend to do my best work starting with no mood – let the sound take me to the emotional place it needs to.
Your debut album Sever The Servants came out earlier this year. How does the birth of a new composition happen for you? How does your compositional process work?
Hide: Typically a song begins taking its shape as I`m hovered over my modular system, a single background sound or a melody could be equally inspiring and making me want to further explore it until I`ve dug my way down several new sonic holes. At some point I`ll decide to hit record and multitrack each section from drums to bass and so on. I`ll usually experiment with different arrangements and structures even before recording so that once something is recorded, I have a pretty good idea of what the completed track will sound like. From there I send it over to Mike for him to add words and voice which he sends back my way for mixing and chopping and mangling of the vocals if I feel like it`s appropriate or could add something to the song.
Mike: For my vocal parts, I’ll get lyrics down. Sometimes Hide has an idea for a line or phrase that I’ll work with. Once those are together, I’ll plug in a mic and do a couple rough takes over the whole track playing with different kinds of delivery. I’ll sometimes adlib a few words or phrases during the recording process, too. After that I record a bunch of extra layers of whispering and whatever might be useful, then send it all to Hide to pick apart and layer on the track.
How does the visual aspect relate to and reflect your music?
Hide: As someone who grew up on 80s rock of course the visual side is always considered, but no amount of cool or interesting aesthetics can ever make up for or replace bad music, so the music always comes first. I handle most of the artwork and the approach for STS is not that different from any other projects I`m involved with where I fulfill a similar role. I always thought the cover art, band photos, videos or any other visual aspect should in some sense reflect the music and be a visual representation of what you hear. That said, it`s definetly something you can play around with to manipulate people perceptions, perhaps through presenting an artist visually in a way that is in total contrast to the music. I tend to work with symbolism and metaphors quite a bit so I`ll usually look at lyrics or perhaps overall themes if any have been discussed or stumbled upon for a release and pull from that to inform the visual side of things. I very rarely, if ever, do something just to look cool or edgy. I sometimes think there`s too much aesthetic and not enough substance, a quick glance through the metal or goth scene should confirm that.
Mike: I’m not a visual/graphic artist, but I love things that create a sense of mystery or allude to a possible supernatural/occult presence. Something that draws you in and lets your imagination work on what might exist under the surface. Hide has a brilliant feel for that sort of design which is what prompted me to work with him in the beginning.
What’s next for you? What are you most looking forward to?
Hide: Mike and I have been extending our collaboration into the world of Carrion through him mixing and mastering the [Blood + Diamonds] EP which will be released October 14th via Produkt 42. I`ve also spent the past year working on the 4th full-length Carrion album that will once again see Mike handling production, though when that will be ready is too early to comment on right now. As for Sever The Servants we`ve been discussing the possibilities for a second album and have a single called „As the crow flies“ that should hopefully be coming out late October or early November.
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