HYPOCRISY's PETER TÄGTGREN: 'Maybe This Is Our Last American Tour'
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May 06, 2022
The legendary HYPOCRISY project was founded in 1991 by Swedish musician, composer, and producer Peter Tägtgren. The band became one of the key names of the genre and deserved respect among the representatives of all sides of the metal movement.
In a recent interview with BLABBERMOUTH, Tägtgren was asked about the HYPOCRISY's current lineup and the recent changes. Tägtgren didn't sound too concerned about losing Horgh when speaking to BLABBERMOUTH. Instead, Tägtgren appears to be embracing what could be one of HYPOCRISY's last full tours in North America while looking forward to a more relaxed schedule writing music for his industrial offshoot PAIN and working with former RAINBOW vocalist Joe Lynn Turner.
Blabbermouth: Did getting a fill-in for Horgh make you re-think the set for your North American tour?
Peter: "No, we're not changing anything. If we bring in someone who can't do things, we're not in a good position. We turned everything upside down for the set. There's nothing much left. [Laughs] We're doing a lot of old songs that we either never played before or that we played maybe on one tour in the mid-1990s. There are a lot of changes. Of course, we have to do the 'hits' and things like that, no doubt about it. That's our obligation as a band. You want to play what people want to hear. I'm not paying for a ticket to go there, so I am responsible for making people buy a ticket and be happy. Who knows how many tours we will do. I have no clue. Maybe this is the last American tour. Maybe we do one or two more. I don't know how much there is in our system, so to speak."
Blabbermouth: Where, then, does HYPOCRISY sit in terms of your priorities when factoring in PAIN and other projects?
Peter: "Right now, it's a high priority. It's been since we released the album in September when the first single came out. Before that, it was to make the album and finish it. We weren't working 24/7 on the album; we were going a little on and off when we had the inspiration. Because if we just do it to release an album, I'm afraid it will be a shitty album because we don't put our heart into it. Your heart always has to be in it when you do things. That's the most important thing. Right now, PAIN is not a priority. HYPOCRISY is. That's what we're going to show people. While we're waiting to go out on tour, I'll write some PAIN songs for the next album. All the focus is on HYPOCRISY. To get all these old songs, you have to scratch your head to remember lyrics and things like that. [Laughs] Over 30 years and 12 or 13 albums — I lost count. It's really hard to make a setlist and make everyone happy. It's impossible. We know that we've been lazy for the last ten years to come up with some new stuff in the setlist. We turned everything inside out this time and updated the whole thing."
Blabbermouth: Are you much of a guy to listen to your back catalog?
Peter: "Not really. I look back to the catalog when it's time to write music and when doing the setlist. You want to keep your foot in the old things, especially when it comes to vocal styles. For the new album, I was listening to the old albums how I was singing — obviously not on the first two albums. I was trying not to lose it. As a fan of other bands, I get really disappointed when vocalists start changing their way of singing and start to lose their grip. I want to have one foot in the past. I worked really hard on the vocals on the new album. I wanted people to hear what I was singing. It's hard to get anything out of your mouth when you growl, so it took me a while to figure it out. I hope I can pull it off live."
Blabbermouth: "The Fourth Dimension" album was a big leap for HYPOCRISY. You went from a Tampa and Stockholm-inspired death metal band to incorporating atmospheric elements, which few bands were doing in 1994.
Peter: "You saw TIAMAT was changing to more Gothic. You saw a lot of bands changing at the time. For me, it was a coincidence because I found a keyboard in the studio that we borrowed. I started to play on it, which influenced me on 'Apocalypse' and 'The Fourth Dimension'. I've always been interested in where your soul goes when you die, different dimensions and things people are talking about now, like UFOs that come and go through different dimensions. Since I started to sing, I wanted to approach it differently, the lyrics. It became what I was always interested in during the '70s, like UFOs and weird stuff. I started to put those things in. I'm not the first. MEGADETH did it on 'Hangar 18'. A lot of bands also did it that didn't get famous, but I stuck to my theme. I felt honest to sing about it."
You can read the entire interview on the Blabbermouth website.
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
May 06, 2022
The legendary HYPOCRISY project was founded in 1991 by Swedish musician, composer, and producer Peter Tägtgren. The band became one of the key names of the genre and deserved respect among the representatives of all sides of the metal movement.
In a recent interview with BLABBERMOUTH, Tägtgren was asked about the HYPOCRISY's current lineup and the recent changes. Tägtgren didn't sound too concerned about losing Horgh when speaking to BLABBERMOUTH. Instead, Tägtgren appears to be embracing what could be one of HYPOCRISY's last full tours in North America while looking forward to a more relaxed schedule writing music for his industrial offshoot PAIN and working with former RAINBOW vocalist Joe Lynn Turner.
Blabbermouth: Did getting a fill-in for Horgh make you re-think the set for your North American tour?
Peter: "No, we're not changing anything. If we bring in someone who can't do things, we're not in a good position. We turned everything upside down for the set. There's nothing much left. [Laughs] We're doing a lot of old songs that we either never played before or that we played maybe on one tour in the mid-1990s. There are a lot of changes. Of course, we have to do the 'hits' and things like that, no doubt about it. That's our obligation as a band. You want to play what people want to hear. I'm not paying for a ticket to go there, so I am responsible for making people buy a ticket and be happy. Who knows how many tours we will do. I have no clue. Maybe this is the last American tour. Maybe we do one or two more. I don't know how much there is in our system, so to speak."
Blabbermouth: Where, then, does HYPOCRISY sit in terms of your priorities when factoring in PAIN and other projects?
Peter: "Right now, it's a high priority. It's been since we released the album in September when the first single came out. Before that, it was to make the album and finish it. We weren't working 24/7 on the album; we were going a little on and off when we had the inspiration. Because if we just do it to release an album, I'm afraid it will be a shitty album because we don't put our heart into it. Your heart always has to be in it when you do things. That's the most important thing. Right now, PAIN is not a priority. HYPOCRISY is. That's what we're going to show people. While we're waiting to go out on tour, I'll write some PAIN songs for the next album. All the focus is on HYPOCRISY. To get all these old songs, you have to scratch your head to remember lyrics and things like that. [Laughs] Over 30 years and 12 or 13 albums — I lost count. It's really hard to make a setlist and make everyone happy. It's impossible. We know that we've been lazy for the last ten years to come up with some new stuff in the setlist. We turned everything inside out this time and updated the whole thing."
Blabbermouth: Are you much of a guy to listen to your back catalog?
Peter: "Not really. I look back to the catalog when it's time to write music and when doing the setlist. You want to keep your foot in the old things, especially when it comes to vocal styles. For the new album, I was listening to the old albums how I was singing — obviously not on the first two albums. I was trying not to lose it. As a fan of other bands, I get really disappointed when vocalists start changing their way of singing and start to lose their grip. I want to have one foot in the past. I worked really hard on the vocals on the new album. I wanted people to hear what I was singing. It's hard to get anything out of your mouth when you growl, so it took me a while to figure it out. I hope I can pull it off live."
Blabbermouth: "The Fourth Dimension" album was a big leap for HYPOCRISY. You went from a Tampa and Stockholm-inspired death metal band to incorporating atmospheric elements, which few bands were doing in 1994.
Peter: "You saw TIAMAT was changing to more Gothic. You saw a lot of bands changing at the time. For me, it was a coincidence because I found a keyboard in the studio that we borrowed. I started to play on it, which influenced me on 'Apocalypse' and 'The Fourth Dimension'. I've always been interested in where your soul goes when you die, different dimensions and things people are talking about now, like UFOs that come and go through different dimensions. Since I started to sing, I wanted to approach it differently, the lyrics. It became what I was always interested in during the '70s, like UFOs and weird stuff. I started to put those things in. I'm not the first. MEGADETH did it on 'Hangar 18'. A lot of bands also did it that didn't get famous, but I stuck to my theme. I felt honest to sing about it."
You can read the entire interview on the Blabbermouth website.
