Sieging the Storm: On Hiding From Humans Ep 'Radio', Nostalgia in Pop-Punk, and Writing Music in the New Year
Nostalgia has always been a driving force in the music industry. Now more than ever, we search for signs to take us back to a time where we felt most at home in our memories. Instrumental soundscapes that take us back to our childhood, vocals that may paint an idyllic picture of other moments that we wish could go on forever. Pop-punk is a genre that seems to understand this more than most. Many pop-punk bands from last year have implemented nostalgic beauty to their work and have made it commonplace. Now Hiding From Humans can be added to this list of accomplished musicians.
Their recent EP Radio only lends credence to their memorable and high-octane energetic sound. Inspired by a myriad of pop-punk bands from the mid-'90s and early 2000s, nostalgia runs through every fiber of this Canadian band's make-up. After going through the pandemic like most of us this past year, Hiding From Humans took time to develop an Ep that is coated with syrupy sweet guitar riffs, addictive lyrical presence, and kinetic percussive presence that will keep listeners invested from start to finish.
While the band has their original sound, implementing their musical roots was very important to them. From beginning to end, Hiding From Humans does not hold back any of this energy. However, Radio is more than just a brilliant instrumental and vocal trip down memory lane. It's an emotional rollercoaster filled with tracks that delve into the inner workings of love, heartache, daily struggle, and endless hope. Yet through it all, Hiding From Humans seems to give some semblance of hope that there is light beyond the dark times. Here to explain the Ep in more detail to us, Regina's own sprightly and skilled act is here to share more, and what's next for their blossoming careers.
How did Hiding from Humans come to fruition? How did you guys come to meet?
Before Hiding from Humans, Curtis and Danny were in a band for years together. They continued to jam by themselves after that band had ended as well. Paul had created a project with a couple of other guys and they were looking for a vocalist, so Paul searched around and eventually got ahold of Danny, so they began jamming together.
At that point, the current guitarist of that project had left, resulting in them asking Curtis to see if he was interested. Then, as fate would have it, our bassist left. Having known Chris for some time, and having jammed with him alongside Danny, Paul asked Chris to step in on bass. At that point, it was fate and essentially a match made in heaven. The rest is history!
Hiding From Humans ‘Radio’ EP Art
How did the local scene affect your band's sound along with your band's music tastes?
We have always been into punk/pop-punk of all kinds. I believe the combination of all our unique tastes, as with most bands, left us with our own take on modern pop-punk that sounds fresh out of the 2000s. As far as the scene goes, and due to Covid, we haven’t really even had a chance to embrace or be a part of the scene with this project yet.
Your sound derives from the mid-'90s to early 2000s pop-punk sound, which I saw made a serious resurgence last year. Do you feel in some ways this has helped your music reach people seeing that people are craving nostalgia within their music? As an artist in this genre, why do you feel that is?
The thing is, none of us as members of the band, have ever stopped listening to that music. For myself (Danny), nostalgia is a big part of it, but I honestly think it’s just my favorite genre. I don’t blame people who want to get a hit of nostalgia using pop-punk to get their fix. We’re at that point where it has been quite a while since you heard it on the radio consistently, and everything on the radio is so much different. Everyone likes to go back to their roots or remember moments from when they were younger.
Radio has it's own unique sound in terms of having these sweet, syrupy guitar riffs, catchy riffs, and this exciting percussive energy. While you guys have this playful structure going for you, it effortlessly intermingles with some nostalgic pop-punk elements. What was the writing process like creating and recording this EP?
The writing process is mostly what you just said. Curtis spends a lot of time messing around with riffs at home, and when he strikes gold he brings it to the band. I spend a lot of time at home singing melodies and coming up with chord structures as well. We then work on the structure together as a band, and of course, Paul and Chris give input on the guitar as well at this point. After that, we slowly work on it and hammer it on an anvil until it’s the shape we want.
The recording was honestly a much more simple process, but an extremely fun one. We found the guy we wanted to engineer it, and even though we knew he was awesome he still managed to impress us. A lot of energy on that EP is a result of working with Justin Bender.
Radio deals with a myriad of subjects such as love, heartache, and the daily struggles of endless hope, yet at the same time provides its listeners this sort of safety blanket to your fans know you are there for them. I think that is pretty important considering the year we have just been through and some of the events currently going on now. How has this release helped you cope with 2020? Did this also change the way you wrote during this period?
Just like the rest of the world, we had a hell of a year as well. There were lots of personal battles and issues on top of the whole pandemic thing. I think the music played a fantastic part in keeping us distracted and less focused on the negative. We had most of our music written before the garbage of 2020 began, but the stuff we have written after Radio I feel has been influenced by the negative energy of last year.
Having to sit at home a lot more brought out some different energy and writing styles I think, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Since we are still in the middle of writing more music, I would imagine the future songs will be affected as well.
Are there any ambitions this year you want to realize that you didn't get the chance to fulfill last year?
The obvious answer is that hopefully, this all blows over so we can at least start to play some shows. Writing and recording is a huge chunk of the pleasure but playing in front of a bunch of people is a whole different experience. I think we all miss that, as it has been a while since any of us have had the chance to do that. I’m excited to experiment with the writing process and maybe get a little darker and hit some harder subjects.
Listen to Hiding From Humans latest single “Whinge” down below!