It’s been a few weeks since Broken Hymns first unleashed their new EP Peyote into the world. Since then, our excitement towards it hasn’t even slightly wavered. The EP is a five-track collection of explorative, boundary-pushing prog-rock that you’re bound to get lost inside of.
So fresh off the EP’s release, we caught up with the band to chat all about it, the instinctual element of their sound, and what the future holds.
With an epic and explorative new EP fresh under their belts, we caught up with Perth-based outfit Broken Hymns to chat all about it.
HAPPY: Hey how’s it going? What are you up to at the moment?
BROKEN HYMNS: It’s going great! Simpsons is on Monday to Thursday, Avatar just got added to Netflix, and Peyote is released; cannot complain.
HAPPY: We’ve been loving Peyote! How does it feel having the EP out there in the world?
BROKEN HYMNS: It feels good. We’re very proud of the EP but at the same time the gratitude isn’t instant and nor should it be! It’s a slow grind and we’re keen for it, so while we’re stoked to have music that we’re proud of out there. We’re also always thinking about the next step and I think that keeps you grounded and goal driven which is obviously important.
HAPPY: For a debut EP, it feels like you guys have a very strong direction with your sound. How long had this project been in the works before you released the EP?
BROKEN HYMNS: I don’t know if the sound we’re going for is an intentional direction as such, it feels quite instinctual. We’ll generally start with a rough skeleton for a song and work our way through it from there. If it’s worth sticking to we’ll know because we come back to the next rehearsal wanting to play it! The process of working from a base upwards works really well for our sound because it allows a lot of individual freedom, being able to add your own spices to a song. The songs on Peyote probably took us roughly a year and a half to feel like they were studio ready, then it was just a matter of choosing between a few different songs.
HAPPY: Could you walk us through how the band came together?
BROKEN HYMNS: It’s a bit of a journey, but I’ll try to condense it! Cristian, Jess and I (Caleb) met via perthbands.com R.I.P (pretty much a dating site for Perth musos). You write a little piece about what kind of music you’re into and what you’re hoping to create. Cristian sent me and Jess both a message early 2016; I think we ended up playing Smells Like Teen Spirit in Cristian’s spare room and that was clearly good enough to keep going, in truth I think we just enjoyed being with people who liked good music and were nice. Alex joined early 2017 through another band dating website called Bandmix and Tommy joined the band last late 2017 through one of Cristian and Alex’s side projects anddddd now we’re all best buds!
HAPPY: Do you have a favorite track off the EP?
BROKEN HYMNS: Yes! We all love Psychowarfare, can’t stop playing it live. The organized chaos is great cathartic value.
HAPPY: Can you tell us a bit more about the EP’s title, Peyote? What made you use this as your title?
BROKEN: Well it’s nothing too intense but I (Caleb) was on the way back from work, looking up “Cactus God” on my phone (don’t ask me why) and falling on Peyote. I felt like the psychedelic cactus theme matched the experimental style of music we were going for, as well as the cactus being our logo; it just fell together. I also had an artist who I thought could use the theme really well and he killed it! Jaes Bidwell @jaes777 check him out, absolute gun. Found out later that Peyote is also known as Devil’s Root so that’s a cheeky little bonus.
HAPPY: Are there any other artists you’re really loving at the moment?
BROKEN HYMNS: We all love Run it Back by Guerilla Warfare, it’s a bit shorter than the progressive stuff we listen too generally but a good song is a good song and that one goes hard. Fear Inoculum is getting the run it deserves and anything Gojira is always a safe bet. We’re pretty Karnivool obsessed as well so they’re always cranking in the car with the boys. In saying that we’re all very much on our own little musical journey and we love that. I’m sure each person in the band would be able to give you a list of what they think you should be listening to and we’ll fight to the death over it!
HAPPY: What’s next for Broken Hymns? Any other exciting plans in the works?
BROKEN HYMNS: New music! We’re really excited about the new music we’ve been able to make since recording Peyote and we want to keep the ball rolling. We’ll have some gigs lined up around Perth over the next few months where we’ll be playing a mixture of the EP and our new stuff so stay tuned and come on down!
HAPPY: Cheers for the chat!
BROKEN HYMNS: Thankyou :)
Peyote is available now. Listen above.
