INTERVIEW: Richard Henshall – Haken

A true force to be reckoned with in the world of progressive music, British act HAKEN have spent the past eight years chipping away at themselves and the scene, working their way up the ladder, espousing innovative technicality with humble digestibility, and consequently attaining the status they hold today. Showing absolutely no sign of slowing down, the dynamic sextet are now officially ready to unleash their fifth full-length attempt Vectors, an occasion eagerly anticipated by the community. In the midst of the pre-release campaign, we sought momentarily enter the HAKEN realm and find out exactly what’s going on. Assisting us in doing so was a sprightly and enthusiastic Richard Henshall, the band’s lead guitarist. Here’s what happened.

So Richard, new album Vectors comes out this week. Stylistically, what can fans expect this time?

Richard: Well in the past we’ve always kind of dipped our toes into the heavier side of our sound, but I reckon this time we’re gonna dive head-first into that. So, definitely more metallic sounding, probably thicker in terms of texture, but there’s still that 80s influence in there as well. So, there’s quite a lot going on. It’s quite eclectic.

Maybe more of the ‘djent’ stuff you dabbled with on Affinity?

Richard: Yeah exactly. We’ve basically tried to focus on those parts and really bring them to the forefront of our overall sound. And, we got Nolly from PERIPHERY to come in and mix the album for us, and he’s really given us a modern edge.

So, generally, how was the experience of working with a producer of that kind of status? Have you seen a difference in the end-product compared to last time?

Richard: Well, we love PERIPHERY, and we love the sound that they come out with, and we loved his mix on SIKTH and the DEVIN TOWNSEND album. All of them sounded amazing. We want to really delve into the heavier side of our sound, so he’ll be the perfect guy for the job. He was so focused, and really in control of every aspect. He got involved when we were recording the drums, and he went down to London with Ray [Hearne, drums] and tuned all of the drums in a particular way, which really gave a certain resonance to the drums that we haven’t really heard before. And also, with the guitars, me and Charlie [Griffiths, guitar] went down to his place in Bath, and reamped all of our guitar parts through a bunch of his heads, so I think the guitars have taken on another level really. But in general, he’s a really cool guy to work with, really chilled. He was listening to our opinions, we were listening to his, and I think it was a fairly good, symbiotic relationship. All in all, he’s a great guy to work with. 

Just to come back to the writing process itself, can you talk a little bit about any influences you’ve had this time, or if there’s any different influences that have come through in this process compared to in the past?

Richard: I guess, between the six of us there’s quite a lot going on. We have quite a broad range of stuff that we listen to. For me, I’ve been listening to a lot of this guy called Tigran Hamasyan; he’s an Armenian jazz pianist, but he incorporates these crazy, MESHUGGAH-like polyrhythms, along with Armenian folk-y stuff, but then jazz as well. It’s totally niche, and it’s a really cool sound that he comes out with. I’ve been trying to incorporate a lot of that stuff into my writing, and just generally carry on the same stuff we’ve had in the past, but give it just a heavier slant. So, you’ll hear shades of KING CRIMSON and RADIOHEAD, but just delivered in a heavier way.

So, I just wanted to get your opinion on the length of the record. This is the shortest album you’ve put out, and it does seem like they’re getting shorter every time. Do you think that this is a reflection of you refining the HAKEN sound over the years?

Richard: Yeah, our first two albums were something stupid like seventy-six minutes, which is very long. A lot of people like that, and I like long albums, but I also like short albums as well, they’re a lot more digestible. I don’t think we’ve compromised in any way in terms of the quality of the music, we’ve just tried to streamline it and cut out all of the excess fat that isn’t necessarily needed, and just focus on the best parts of the song, and try to bring the quality out. It’s hopefully an album that, when you listen to it, you don’t wanna just leave it for another week, you could potentially just listen to it again straight away. But when you have a really long piece of music, sometimes it’s quite overwhelming; by the time you get to the end of it, you’re just like “oh man, I can’t do that again”.

But, the format of the songs hasn’t necessarily changed. There’s some long songs in there, but just less of them. So do you feel like you are streamlining, but staying true to the format?

Richard: Yeah, I think we’re just trying to keep our writing focused. Sometimes, in the past, you could argue that some of the melodies meander a bit, which isn’t a bad thing ‘cause sometimes it’s nice to let a melody grow, but for this album we just wanted to make it more concise, and just in-the-face That’s the vibe we were going for; hopefully we pulled it off.

Talk to me a little about The Good Doctor. How has the response been?

Richard: Really good. This song is probably the most tongue-in-cheek on the album. It’s always a risk to start the whole release programme with that kind of stuff. We did it with Cockroach King, which has a similar vibe, and thankfully that has become a fan-favourite. But yeah, all of the comments have been really amazing; everyone seems to like it. It’s a nice short one, and that’s exactly what I was talking about really, with the concise nature in the writing; that really epitomises the whole writing process of the album I feel.

I see what you mean about ‘tongue-in-cheek’; I definitely see that, not least because of the themes. There’s definitely some striking themes going on, and you seem to be pushing this as part of the PR campaign as well. So, could you talk a little about the message and the lyrical content?

Richard: Well that’s the first song on the album, and the one that really sets the scene. I guess you could say that this is probably our closest album to a rock opera. There’s definitely a narrative flowing through. In this song, there’s a patient who is undergoing treatment, and he unearths a lot of dark thoughts, issues, and bad memories. That ultimately sets the scene, but I don’t want to be too explicit about it; sometimes it’s nice to allow the listener to interpret it in their own way. But, it kinda tips the hat to some of our old themes and old musical ideas in our back-catalogue. So I’m sure our listeners will pick up on that.

Staying on the theme of motifs, I’ve always felt that HAKEN has become famed for not shying away from exploring new styles and making radical changes album-to-album, each album taking on its own identity in that sense. With that in mind, how would you characterise the identity of Vectors in comparison with your other records?

Richard: I think you’re right there, because like I said before, we’ve got quite a range of styles that we listen to. So, when it comes to writing something new, we’ve gathered new influences over those two years, so hopefully that reflects in the music we’re writing at that time. It’s definitely our heaviest album; every time we release a new album, we’re building upon what we’ve done in the past, so you’ll hear all of these shades of KING CRIMSON and GENTLE GIANT, but there’ll be more modern influences this time.

So rather than characterising it as its own thing, would you more say that it’s an amalgam of the journey from the start of HAKEN to now? And I guess, a continuation on Affinity as well?

Richard: I think it’s a continuation, and also, this one is our most collaborative work to-date. There’s definitely a piece of each one of us, so it’s a unified vision, which is really cool. As we’re writing the music, we have to compromise and take everyone’s point of view into account, and I think we’ve really nailed on this one in terms of giving everyone a say.

Talk to me a little bit about upcoming setlists. Are you aiming to perform every track on the album live?

Richard: We’re definitely hoping to do it across the whole touring cycle. I’m pretty sure we’ll get all of the songs in there. We haven’t actually come up with the setlist yet, but when we’re building a setlist, we generally gravitate towards the heavier songs because they’re the ones that get people going, and they’re really enjoyable to play live. The whole album is like that for the most part, so a lot of them are going to work well on stage I think. Hopefully we’ll do quite a bit of it.

And do you feel like you’re reaching a point now where the discography is well-established enough for there to be a good chunk of everything, and for it to be a lot more varied?

Richard: Yeah, definitely. This is the fifth album, and we’ve got an EP as well. There’s a lot of music for us to choose from. So yeah, it gets harder and harder with each tour.

I’d like to briefly move on to something slightly different and a little more industry-based, and turn your attention to the British band ARCHITECTS. They’re a home-grown act who have always stayed true to their original sound, but they’ve managed to put themselves in the public domain on a huge scale, and now they’re announcing shows at venues such as Wembley Arena. So based on this, being someone who’s been in the industry for a while, I just wanted your opinion on it. To what extent do you think there is a growing mainstream market for alternative bands nowadays? Can ARCHITECTS lead by example with what they’re doing?

Richard: I think it’s a great thing, because they’ve basically built everything up from scratch, and they’re in charge of every aspect. It’s a massive, massive achievement for a band who plays alternative music to get to a stage like Wembley. I always felt that when we were starting out HAKEN, that we’ve almost maybe missed that era of the big bands, because the market is so saturated. There’s so many people recording amazing music just from their bedrooms using Logic and their laptops, and they can get it sounding perfect, and the production sounds amazing. So, I guess it’s hard to get to that point, because there’s so many bands out there competing with each other. I think if you really focus and persevere with it, hopefully you’ll get there. Steven Wilson for example, he’s been doing it for years and years, and he’s just put in all the hard work and paid his dues, and now he’s playing Royal Albert Hall three nights in a row, selling every night out. So I guess it’s a matter of keeping the quality up and also just dedicating the time. Generally, progressive music fans are very loyal, and they stay with you; a lot of our fans are very dedicated, so I think that could really help. But yeah, it’s amazing to hear that guys are still doing it.

I agree that progressive fans are loyal, but also, I’ve always felt that your music is very digestible, particularly in recent years. So, personally, I could see HAKEN songs being played in an area. Do you feel like you could see yourself playing with HAKEN on a huge stage like that?

Richard: There’s always that thing in the back of your mind when you’re writing a song; you’re trying to visualise it on a big stage. When we’re writing, we try to incorporate big choruses and sections that are hopefully gonna work well in a large venue or at a festival. It would be a dream to play in a venue like Wembley. One venue I used to love when I was growing up was Brixton Academy; such a cool venue, and I’ve seen so many bands there. So I reckon maybe that would be a stepping stone towards a big arena. But further down the line, that’s what we’re aiming for; maybe ten years down the line. I imagine our music would work well in that environment.

So on the topic of touring and playing shows, what’s going on for HAKEN in the near future?

Richard: We’ve got another two songs that we’ll eventually put out before the release of the album, and then we’ve got the LEPROUS tour coming up which we’re all totally pumped for, and also we’re supported by BENT KNEE on that tour; they’re another amazing band. And then, we’ve got a Europe tour starting in mid-February till the end of march; we’re doing the whole of Europe, and then a few festivals in Finland at the end. We’re also playing South America and Mexico for the first time. Once that’s done, we’re gonna hopefully get back over to Australia and do it all again I guess. So it’s gonna be a whole, long, two-year touring cycle I think.

Just to finish off, any final words for the Distorted Sound readers?

Richard: Yeah, well thanks for reading, and if you’ve got this far, well done! I hope you enjoy the album, and hopefully we’ll see guys at a show at some point. Cheers!

Vector is set for release on October 26th via InsideOut Music. 

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