Häxan: Putting The Bite Back Into Classic Rock

The old adage that ‘rock is dead’ has been around for a long time. Depending on what circles people are a part of, rock is part of it in one form or another, even if it isn’t dead. The genre has seen its fair share of transformation, but the classic side of the genre is something that has remained strong within the public conscious, thanks to bands like GRETA VAN FLEET or to a lesser extent, JET. Even so, the debut album from HÄXAN shows that rock is still alive and thriving. Their unique style and sound has garnered praise from fans and critics alike and as such, Distorted Sound sat down with the trio to discuss their music and the music industry in current times

“It was a long marathon rather than a short sprint, to be honest,” bassist Harriet Wadeson explaining the creation of their album, White Noise. “We probably recorded it over the course of a year. It was obviously very new territory for us we’d never recorded an album before, and we felt like that was such a lot of pressure on so just because we’ve been together as a band for so long. And we didn’t want to feel like there were any tracks on there that didn’t belong. We bought Jess [Hartley, drums] in kind of halfway through the recording of the album, and that kind of propelled us on to finish it. I think Jess was the missing piece for it. In the end, once we got Jess on board, it all seemed to fall into place.”

Within recent years, the discussion about women at festivals has grown into adding more onto the lineups and balancing the scales of representation. Having performed at festivals like Download, the band of course weighed in on the discussion with their experiences. “I think it rubs me up the wrong way, a little bit,” Harriet says. “The issue to me, is that it feels like it’s us and them, it feels like it’s always men or women, it’s never an all-inclusive thing, it’s a novelty to have a woman in a rock band or you know an all-female tribute band or an all-female band found some description. In some ways, it annoys me that women use it as a selling point and then in other ways that annoys me that it is even considered a selling point.”

“If you look back 20 years when it was Monsters of Rock,” she continues, “there were no bands, maybe one band across three stages, that had a single female in them. So as it sounds at the moment, there’s more music being made by women or more rock music being made by women. So it’s gonna take a while for good female musicians to get through to Download.” Sam adds, “we were lucky enough to play Download last year, on one of the smallest stages, and I think the fact that we will female have absolutely no part to play in it whatsoever. I’d like to think so anyway. Like Harriet said there’s more and more female bands coming through now than there were many years ago. So it’s not just going to be an overnight process where it’s a 50:50 sort of gender equality balance at major festivals like that.”

Even so, HÄXAN are looking forward to when they can perform again once it’s safe for venues to open up again. Songs like Black Sheep, Crash And Burn, and Skeletons are patiently waiting to be played like once again, and the rock trio are excited to return to the stage. “ I really can’t wait to play Crash And Burn live” Sam adds. “I just think it’s going to be one of those ones that when we’re in a live environment is really going to get everyone pumped and the room, bouncing and shit like that so I think that’s going to be one of the ones that’s going to sneak up on us and take us by surprise.” Jess also hopes that more will hear the album and come to their shows. “Most people haven’t heard of the band, so I hope people, they listen to it and you know get a flavour of what we’re all about and know that we come across that we’re quite a high energy band and we love nothing more than, than throw it all out at a live show. So I hope that people listen to it and they go ‘well I like this band, I want to see them live’ and then they come and do that!”

So where next? For HÄXAN, at least, that they’re able to still play and perform once it’s safe for the world to open up again. “I just want there to be a music industry to come back to, that’s all!” Harriet simply puts. “That’s what we can pay for isn’t it that there’s one and that we’re involved in it.” Currently, Sam would just like to say a few words to close this out; “just a massive thanks to people like yourselves for giving it a chance and reviewing it, and spreading the word online and further afield so a massive thanks to you and all the publications who picked it up and to the fans for bearing with us. Because like Harriet said earlier, it’s been a long process to get this album out, and they’ve been incredibly patient, and hopefully, it’s just been worth it and we’ll see everyone again, as soon as we’re allowed.”

White Noise is out now via self-release.

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