After 16 years of new music, Hyperstatic is releasing Witnesson cassette and digitally! The 4 song EP was recorded at Candyland by Mike Montgomery and was mastered by Anna Bentley at QCA. They will be celebrating the EP release at Northside Tavern on July 20th with La Cerca and Young Runners.
On Thursday, CincyMusic will be debuting the first track from the EP! In the meantime, we sat down with Brian Hoffman to chat about what the fans should expect at the Release Show, and the nexts steps for the band.
Tell us about recording process for the new EP - Witness…
Finally making it to the studio was exciting. Mike and Sam had both done quite a bit of studio time in other projects, but it's something I'd been wanting to do for a long time. We'd spent a few months getting ready and testing new material, so we were fairly ready by the time we started recording. Mike Montgomery at Candyland did a great job of putting us on the right path and was unbelievably patient when it came to retakes and mixing. One of the great things about being in the studio is rethinking some of the songs you've lived with for a while and rethinking what is possible. This led to some interesting guitar overdubs by Mike and Sam, which we never had the luxury of doing live. Everybody was superbly professional, which made my job easy.
What can fans expect at the release at Northside Tavern on the 20th?
Our setlists have typically been a good mix of classics and new material. Bringing new songs into the fold is really what keeps us going, and the NST gig on the 20th will be no exception. Something we've been doing more of since we started playing out again is instrumentals, which comprise about half of our set now. Not only does it give me a break on vocals, but oftentimes there's a certain "breath-ability", you get with instrumentals that you don't get with vocals, so anyone that may not have seen us in a while will get to experience a different side of us.
Plans for the band in the future? Are you going to make us wait another 16 years for new music?!
Absolutely not! We took a break for a few years due to other projects and various life intrusions, but after a road trip to see Superchunk in Columbus last year, we've really gained new focus. We have a load of new songs in the works so as the year progresses, we'll be varying the setlists even more. This also means that there will be plenty of material for a full length, which we hope to start recording sometime next year.
I love that cassettes are making a comeback, what made the band to decide to release in that format (plus digitally)?
I've always been a fan of cassettes as well, mostly due their portability. Way before digital music came along, being able to walk or drive around and listen to music was hugely liberating. Many people seem to remember them as sounding bad, but a good quality tape on a nice player can sound great. So, even though its appeal these days is probably more one of nostalgia or novelty, the resurgence is very welcome as far as I'm concerned. From a logistical standpoint, tapes are a lot easier to make than vinyl and great for people to be able to buy and stick in their pocket at a show. Digital is kind of a necessity at this point, because that's mainly how people consume their music (including me, when I'm not near a stereo), but we want to have something tangible that someone could take home and actually listen to if they wanted to. Whenever I see a band I like that has tapes for sale, I try to pick one up so they can keep making music!
