Hacktivist: Locked And Loaded
Since HACKTIVIST burst onto the scene with their refreshing, exciting blend of metal and grime they’ve really went from strength to strength. Even though they have experienced a few setbacks including the departure of founding vocalist Tim ‘Timfy’ James they have bounced back to be more formidable than ever before. The arrival of vocalist Jot Maxi (who previously did a guest spot on their track Rotten) has injected some added venom and intensity into their offering.
“I knew Jot before he moved to France because he used to live in Milton Keynes and we used to see each other in the same circles, rap battles, raves and stuff,” explains vocalist Jermaine ‘J’ Hurley. “We had talked about doing something together for a long time so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get him on board. The transition was really easy.”
As well as the arrival of Jot the band recruited guitarist James Hewitt (previously of EXIST IMMORTAL) who has also brought a wealth of experience in the fields of production and recording along with him which has paid significant dividends. “Having James on board has been absolutely brilliant as he is a really hard worker and just settled in straight away,” discusses J. “He hooked us up with Logic Pro X so we could all record parts in our homes and just send bits and pieces between each other and he’s also taught me a lot about vocal techniques too and helped me out with plugins and whatnot which was really handy.”
With their new acquisitions on board and settled into the groove through lengthy bouts of touring it was time to get working on their highly anticipated second album which became what we now know as Hyperdialect, their first full length effort since 2016’s Outside The Box and a release which has thrown a lot of experimentation and innovation into the mix to really take them to the next stage in their evolution. “We actually had the opportunity to record real drums this time round which I’m really excited about. I feel this has allowed us to really take things to the next level.” states J. “We had the album pretty much good to go and then the pandemic happened and we were advised against releasing it during that time. That was the only real setback we experienced to be honest. Everything else came together pretty smoothly.”
Inspiration can come in many forms and can strike in the most random of places. Whether it’s walking down the street, having a chat with a friend or even just hearing something on the news. There is a lot going on in the world right now; the pandemic, increasing poverty, climate change, sporadic natural disasters and it is providing musicians with a lot of ammunition to display their unrest at current events.
“I’m always writing lyrics and certain lines will just pop into my head. Some of the lyrics I actually wrote years ago and I was looking for the appropriate time to use them,” describes J. “Like the lyrics in Planet Zero, ‘As we let nature take this course, how long will we be around? No one is sure’. I’ve had that lying around since probably before the first album! I’ve got loads of recordings and bits and pieces on my phone or scribbled down in notebooks. I might be having a conversation with someone at work and then suddenly think ‘Oh! there’s a song in there’. I also draw a lot of inspiration from other bands and what is happening in the world as well. It was kind of scary as in the song Cold Shoulders, an older song which was on our self titled EP I wrote the lyrics ‘volcanoes erupt from beneath’. I didn’t expect to see this actually happening on the news! Our songs usually start with an instrumental, like a blueprint, which James will send me over and I’ll just vibe with it and see where my mind takes me. We practice a lot before we do the final recordings and everything so we can get everything really tight. Me and Jot were sending vocals to each other to tie up all the placement but there were a couple of challenges along the way. My parts on Planet Zero were super fast and it took me a little bit to get to grips with that and get it right. We haven’t had the opportunity to play it live yet so I need to work on where to take my breaths and things like that.”
Hyperdialect is out now via UNFD.
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