Hammok - 2000 Trees Interview

I'm Tobias. I play guitar and sing in hammock. I'm Ferdinand. I play the drums in hammock. And it was great to see you. We at 2000 Trees. It was great to see you play the caves. Thank you. How was it for you guys? How was that on stage? It was great. It was, it was ridiculously warm, but I was so, so happy to see it, kind of, kind of a bit. But yeah, I was super happy to see so many people and people knowing the new songs. Like I saw, I saw some guy like mouthing the words to like our song The. a shirt's 200, 2000 we finally did it and it was so great I mean it's it's all you want. What was your favourite song on the set. Today it was C&D, C and D, yeah, I mean, we, uh, there's, there's huge subs on this stage, and we have some subdrops, some very specific subdrops, and in that in that song, it just feels like when you're standing on the stage and the subdro goes off, it's the coolest vibe in the world. So, so I'd say like, probably C&D for me as well, like, or the scene, the scene is always, always a great song, it's like. It's just like about what we're doing and that's, yeah, I mean, so yeah, I really enjoyed tap water as well, uh yeah, like the response. Yeah, and also it's a slower song, so it's some time to breathe, and I can, I get to sing a bit, hopefully in tune, uh, yeah, and not scream all the time, so yeah, those, those songs are really very special, yeah. No, that's amazing, and you guys, you've already touched on, you know, this blending of genres, which I, I really wanted to talk to you about cos often. You know anyone that plays metal, it can go very dear and you play metal festivals, you know, the Bloodstocks or or or other ones of this world. You guys are blending, even seeing you, um, you know, play triggering stuff live, triggering the kick drummer, there's digitals, it's got that extra sub bass to it, um, can you talk about trying to blend, you know, metal and punk and hardcore and all these other genres and then make that work, make that cohesive as a band, it's a cool mix of stuff. I, I really, I really believe in. When you're inspired by something, being inspired by the concept of what that is, rather than just like the exact sound or the exact technique or or that guitar sound or whatever it is, like, I really believe in in the concept of why is it moving me? Is it a certain rhythm? Is it like a certain way, like the bass hits or the drums or whatever it is, so, so by just like by that kind of practise. I feel you naturally philtre your stuff through yourself, because you're kind of just responding to what you like and why you kind of like it, in not too much of an analytical way, but just like in a very emotional way, uh. And, and that comes with just like listening to lots and lots of music, like whatever it is, if it's, if it's uh like watching a boiler room or, or if it's a slipknot or if it it is like code orange or like bands who like are very like blending, their, their expression is so diverse and like I want to listen to like when I wake up, I want to listen to some dance music. And then I wanna listen to some hip hop and then you wanna go and, and listen to some knocked loose, and then you're like, I wanna listen to some jazz, like whatever it is, and by that, that practise you, you philtre it through through your own system and it comes out just like being one thing. I feel like we've never had a discussion about like trying to blend in more of that and more of that. It's just like happy accidents and just your emotional response. So when you, when I, Like have recorded a, a guitar or whatever, and I by accident, put it on the wrong track, put it on the bass track, and it surprises me and I'm caught off guard, and that, that is like creating an energy. You always follow that. So just following, following that energy and we kind of like creating the energy that we want to create like we wanna have a mosh pit going, wanna have a, a circle beat, like all of that is in our music. But how can we create that energy in a slightly different way, like, can the guitars only be super high and the bass be super low? Can the guitars only be super low? Like some songs now are like the guitar is pitched down an octave for the entire song, which is ridiculous, like, but it is like it feels really physical and it's completely by accident. But uh yeah, all of that is very, very interesting, and it just comes out in this way that feels like our band. If it didn't feel like a band. I don't think we put out a song. Exactly, that group think when you bring ideas to the table and jamming them out in a band, the, the people in the room are gonna tell you, you know, the guys in the band, and then when you play it live, the crowd tells you, right? You want to do more to get people jumping. Yeah, and we've got more jumping songs now than ever, which is great, like we got a song in 120 BPM, that's the ultimate spot for jumping. I mean, we're we're essentially Limp Biscuit right now. No, and it's, and it's bigger than ever. We just saw those guys, uh, headline, uh, Download Festival. I, I can imagine that would be so crazy. We saw them at tonnes of Rock, uh, headlining as well. Uh, it was like actually felt kind of dangerous. It's, it's properly out of control. It's on the edge, isn't it on the edge. No, they did an amazing thing, they just played 80s easy listening, you know, soft set in between every other, every batch of songs. That with us as well. Let, let the crowd calm down because people are going so heavy, you can't mellow, mellow you can't play that for an hour and a half without people losing it, but that's, that's wisdom, I think, that's what you learn when you've been doing this 30 years. Definitely, yeah, yeah. But speaking of which, tell me about how you got started on your instruments and what was your gateway into, you know, this genre and exploring this feelings through music, feelings through playing. I think, I think for me. Guitar was always around. My father plays guitar, plays bass, and my mother has also been a musician, so it's always around. You always have that acoustic lying somewhere in the living room. No one knows where it came from. No, it's just like it's just there, and for me it was just there for a long time, and one day I kind of just asked, how do I play this one, this one Grease song, like a bassline for Summer Love and there's some it's a great bassline, and One Direction ripped it off, so. Word, uh, but yeah, I just started there and my father just learned, learned like teach me some, some more chords and it just kept going and, and then I got in the school band and and met him and he just kept growing and this has been jamming? I mean, I mean, tell, tell, tell them the story. Yeah, well, uh, we started, yeah, we're born in the same year, so we got into the school band. I was already playing drums in the marching band. So uh he was on guitar with me on, on the drums, we always wanted to play Smells Like Teen Spired by Nirvana. er they wouldn't let us because it was a bit too much for like er for the school ceremony and stuff, so we had to like sneak in during the, during our breaks and stuff to, to do that. Uh, so yeah, when the, the school was finished, we were like we, we have to keep playing. We, we need to play Smells Like Teen Spirit live. Yeah, we need to do this more, right? You don't, well you don't want it to end, a lot of people that really connects with what a lot of people who follow my lessons, follow my channel do. They wanted to do it in school and then they couldn't anymore and they and they stopped and this was a need for you. Yeah, yeah, exactly, we just had to play that song. and we started the band a couple of months later we did perform it live on a local open mic kind of thing. I was not the singer at that point. So thank God for me. Yeah, so I guess that's it. I mean, yeah, it was very it was very like we got a rehearsal space in our town and just like We were like left alone just to do our thing and they like some very great grown-ups just provided some stuff, the basics, and then we were just off and the band had that name that we have now at that point as well, so it's been like actually going for 100 years, which is crazy. So yeah, it's incredible. No, it's wonderful to speak about was it Oslo that this is this is like our, our small hometown Horton. It's super small, but it's, it's great, but like we wouldn't be who we are now if we didn't grow up there. So that's like the skate park and the practise space, that's where, that's our, that's our place, yeah. Actually, small shout out to the city we grew up in. They provided us with a free rehearsal space. That's so important. I really want to mention Nick, I have travelled through Norway once. I've I've trekked Trolltanga. Oh yeah, OK, yeah. I haven't been. That's probably the most metal thing I'll say all day, but it's a, it's an amazing place and there is often this support for the and just some, it's like with football, and any national football team that wants to do well, you've got to invest in the grassroots, you've got to give people places to play. Same with music and that's so important, so shout out to that town, right? And it's a wonderful thing it keeps going. What then stepped up the band to kind of, you know. I, what, what made you write the original stuff, not just keep playing the covers, which is tempting. I think, I think we, we always knew we wanted to like make, make original music. We, we also were very like pragmatic about it, so we know we gotta start like, we gotta start a place that, starting with covers, learning to play together, getting a chemistry, and then starting to make music. And then we did like that band until we were like 18, us two, we moved to Oslo. The rest of the band quit. They wanted to do something else, and then in the pandemic we started this up again. I decided I'm going to be the vocalist. I haven't done it before. I've done some backing vocals, done some screaming in my bedroom. Uh, and, and, and then it's like, OK, first week we make a song, and then we, we created this whole plan of like we're going to do 5 singles in a year and just like just mapping out where we're gonna, we're going to go and, and, uh, and it's been going ever since and. Yeah, that's incredible. Is there anything you, before we finish, is there anything you want to give a shout out to? Any more tours, any new releases? Yeah, I mean, we're, we're here now, we're going to do some festivals throughout the summer, and then we're going on a support tour in Nothing. The Shoegaze Band was going to be great, 8 dates there, and then we're home for a month and then we're doing a support tour with Sparta throughout the UK. Everybody, everybody loves them. So, so, so yeah, supporting them on like a really a 3 week tour through the UK and Europe and all of that, really exciting, super excited to bring this music, which is about community to an actual community. Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much for chatting with us. Thank you for having us. Thank you.