Oh, we really love all the underrated artists that transverse the lines between many contrary styles and sounds. The newest magnificent work from Santa Rosa based experimental rockers HOSE RIPS pushes the listener to think beyond the standards we know, and embrace the new. We’re thrilled to you give two new tracks by one of the bands to watch out for in 2017. Listen to and “29” and “Armor” below and scroll down to see the first-hand commentary on both pieces.
Both tracks will be featured on HOSE RIPS’s upcoming debut EP, to be released on September 2nd. The band is playing one show this month in Santa Rosa on July 28th (RSVP HERE) and one more on August 15th in Oakland (RSVP HERE).
29: Named for the dusty army base town 29 Palms in Southern California, which rests up against Joshua Tree National Park. I usually don’t tell the whole story of our songs, but this one is fun so it’s worth digging up. The lyrics are based on a vision shared between Inger and Fifi about a person who gets stung by a cactus needle. At first, they panic as they lose all hope of living a human life, but by the end of the song they are resolved to make good company of the desert wildlife. I have a lot of family in 29, and grew up visiting Joshua Tree semiannually. When I was little someone in my family convinced me there were cacti that would literally jump out and get you with their needles, and I believed this until I was about 11. The thought of a cactus with the ability to move quickly like that is carved in my subconscious.
We wanted to start the record with this track because it’s usually the first one we play at shows, and this whole release is a stab at capturing the live set as faithfully as possible. Andrew Oswald (Secret Bathroom Studio in Oakland) was a lot of fun to record with because he was incredibly pro at capturing our headfirst sound and keeping the vibe really sharp and lively.
Armor: I’m really glad to put these two songs out together, because there’s a special joy in evenly splitting the singing duties with Fifi, and it was important to show that we are more of a collective voice than lead-driven. I have always looked up to the simultaneous simplicity and other-worldliness of Fifi’s lyrical concepts. We talk a lot about the armor that people create for themselves to survive in a world heavily affected by preconception. This character has an obsession with adding layer after layer of armor, and isolating themselves in order to keep from experiencing any vulnerability. I can’t say whether its a habit that’s working for them or not but the freak out at the end of the song gives me the impression they reaching a sort of crescendo surrounding this aspect of the character.
This is one of the only songs written entirely in the practice space. Most of the time I bring a song skeleton in once it’s vaguely formed and do most of the arranging at home, but this song was so straightforward and cutthroat that it was obvious we should keep it uncomplicated.
