Rockezine.com interview with Himsa on Nov 04, 2006

with Derek on Nov 04, 2006

Himsa is one of the upcoming metal bands these days. So we at rockezine.com thought is was time to have an e-mail conversation with Derek. Read it, but don’t take it to serious.
		Could you introduce Himsa and try to describe the kind of music that you play? Hi, we’re Himsa. We’re a metal band from Seattle. We sound like Winger.
		Is Winger your main influence then? And how do you describe the Winger sound? Yeah, for sure. Without them there would be no metal today. Their sound is amazing. It’s much like when you drop a cat in used vegetable oil and then try to run your diesel Volkswagen Golf off it. (the cat, not the vegetable oil)
		What’s your favorite Winger album? “The Very Best of Winger” is the best. It’s the very best, in fact.
		Can you give me a short story from the beginning of Himsa till now? How did you hook up with each other, tours you did etc. I was at a Seattle music convention and I saw a flier for someone looking to form a metal band. The flier said to meet later in the day in one of the rooms of the convention. When I went there I had to pay $500 to get in and listen about how I should buy vacation property near New Orleans. The guy giving the seminar was John Pettibone. I told him I went there to be in a metal band and he said I was the only metal guy who stayed for the whole seminar so he made me the bass player of Himsa.
		A few months ago you released “Hail Horror”, how did the people react to that album? A few people bought it, listened to it and then left us a comment on Myspace.
		How were the comments they left. Did everyone like the album? Most of them just liked that we added them as friends.
		Are you still satisfied the way the record turned out? Yeah, we thought Tue Madsen did a great job with the production.
		Why did you go to Tue Madsen (Denmark) to record the album. Aren’t there any good studio’s in the US? Yeah, but Tue was the guy we wanted and we wanted to be in his studio.
		Which albums (who also were record by Tue Madsen) made you decide to go to the Antfarm studio? We liked the mixing he did on The Haunted’s Revolver and the production he did on Hatesphere.
		Can you describe the creative process of making “Hail Horror”? How did the songs get written, arranged, produced, the lyrics, who does what in the band? Kirby wrote most of the songs and Johnny wrote all the lyrics.
		What does Himsa mean and where does it stand for? It’s an ancient Eskimo word that means 4 bedroom igloo. It usually stands beneath a cliff overlooking a snow field of bunnies.
		Himsa also so has a myspace account. What’s your opinion about websites like myspace? Myspace is great for bands. We love it when kids carve Himsa in their arm and post it as a comment.
		Do you download illegal music? Yeah, I like to download music that lives in an alley shooting crank and playing dice.
		What do you think of people who download the Himsa album instead of buying it? It sucks cause I can’t afford to make my Hummer payments.
		What about the sales. How many records did you sell from your latest two releases? That’s a great question, our old record label has never given us statements so we have no idea.
		Aren’t you curious? Yeah.
		What are the plans for 2006/2007? Write and record, tour. We’re going to Australia in November.
		What are your expectations for the upcoming Australia tour? Is it the first time our tour trough Australia? This will be our first time. I suspect that we will be bigger than AC/DC when we get there.
		When are you coming to Europe again? We’ll be there when our boat is fixed. Chad crashed it when he was trying to jump it over Snoqualmie Falls.
		Do you enjoy playing live? How is a typical Himsa live performance? We break guitars and throw things at the audience.
		What do you throw to the audience? Hugs and kisses.
		Himsa is touring almost 52 weeks a year. How can you keep that up? Don’t your miss your home or get in a big fight with the other bands members? Yes.
		What’s the coolest thing you ever seen on tour and what’s the best country to play? Best country to play is Hungary. Kids go nuts every time. Spain is good too. The coolest thing I’ve ever seen on tour was a cross in Texas that was 40 stories tall.
		Is playing in Himsa your job? No, it is our passion.
		Are you single? If yes, how should a girl hook up with you? Nope, there are 4 of me. 2 of me don’t hook up. The other 2 of me lie around and watch Project Runway. You can talk about TV with those 2 and maybe they’ll hook up with you.
		Who inspired you to play music, and why? Youth of Today, because I liked what they had to say and they believed in it.
		You’re the only member in the band that was there from the beginning. How is that and makes that you the bandleader? I’m not the bandleader, we all make the important decisions together.
no one knew who we were anyway		Did you guys never thought of changing the name? Because of the line-up changes? Thought about it once, but no one knew who we were anyway, so we decided to keep it.
		Did you ever visit rockezine.com? If yes, did you like it? If no, why not? Yes, I did. I wanted to read your interview with Trivium. They are hilarious.
		Why do you think they are hilarious? They say funny stuff, but not as funny as Avenged Sevenfold.
		When you may fill in the final question for yourself. What would ask yourself then? Why am I awake at 8am doing this interview when I just went to bed 2 hours ago.
		What’s the answer to your own question? I love our fans.
(Jeroen Habets)