IT’S “20 QUESTIONS WITH CROSS” DAY!
There have been so many things to do lately and I’m so late with this interview.
I planned to get Beastial Piglord (BP) aka Hudson to sit down with me and talk about his latest album release before it came out but you know what they say, never plan things. The album “Wiped Out.. Way Up” came out on September 12 this year and here we are almost a month later, finally, sitting down to talk about this masterpiece.
Cross – How you doing, Hudson? Been a while…
First of all why did you want the cover to have so much orange in it? Ain’t like WOWU was going to come on Halloween. Or was that your plan but you finished it earlier and you couldn’t wait to show it to the world?
Hudson – I’m just funny about things, I want every album cover to be a certain color, a different color from the last, same as the music.
Cross – When did you realize that the acronym of “Wiped Out.. Way Up” says, WOWU? (Laughs)
Hudson – When you pointed it out to me. Haha
Cross – (Laughs) This album sounds very different from all the albums you already got out there. What changed? It’s like you’re trying to get out of the frames of old-school experimental black metal. Are you trying to invent a new genre?
Hudson – My new goal is for each upcoming album to be even weirder and more genre bending than the last.
Cross – “Wiped Out.. Way Up” starts with “Taken Advantage Of” intro, “Reset Character” comes right after it and, to me, the way it starts has a sort of “PanterA – Domination” feel to it. That riff is heavy and the song takes a turn to weirdness as soon as it gets to the middle. What gears did you use for this song, your Dean From Hell? And how did that riff popped in your head?
Hudson – I got the riff idea just f*cking around with a metronome I was using for a completely different song haha. Also that entire album was recorded with my 8 string schecter.
Cross – Interesting! Third track, “A Rift Apart” sounds sludgey. Was this a sort of leftover from Viorensilt (your April release for this year)?
Hudson – Nope! That song was meant for this album, however, 2 songs were leftovers from “Muzz” and I figured why not throw them on this album? (Piezoelectric and Clutz)
Cross – I actually named one of my kittens after your album, “Muzz”. A not so much known fact. (Laughs)
“Lurch” the fourth track of WOWU is a total freak show. It really is magnificent. (Laughs) How much horror did you watch to get that one song done?
Hudson – Haha It was just a drum beat I recorded and trimmed it to the sections I liked and then just followed the drum beat with the bass and went from there.
Cross – Next one is “Sullen”, totally different from the rest of the album, co-written and performed by Levi Clark. How did that happen? (My opinion, that is a great collaboration. Your guitar work in this one with your vocals add so much “pain” to it).
Hudson – I wrote that song and then last minute asked him to just ramble over the song and he did. And it worked nicely, he even recorded his part on a cell phone and the sh*tty quality makes it sound cool.
Cross – It does. I think “King of the Worms”, track number six, is the most eerie song of the album. What did you use for that “piano part”?
Hudson – I think you’re talking about the music-box that starts the song and goes all the way through. That’s my mom’s music-box from when she was a kid. I just wound it up and recorded and built the song around that. And the thing slows down the longer it plays so the slow change in tempo throughout the song is badass to me.
Cross – I loved it the first time I listened to it. (This album is a bit older to the two of us). And now that you mentioned it, I think you told me about it back then. “Hop The Twig” – can it be considered a love song? (Laughs)
Hudson – All my songs are love songs. Haha
Cross – Right! (Laughs) “Piezoelectric” was it named after the effect?
Hudson – Most of them have some meaning but that one was just something random I saw in a book and figured why not.
Cross – We got to track number nine, “Clutz”, without even noticing. (Laughs) I’m sure everybody can recognize that laugh the song starts with. Was that were you got the inspiration from, for this song?
Hudson– The song is about me because I’m clumsy as hell, and I also love “Tales from the Crypt”.
Cross – Who doesn’t? Let’s move to the next one. “Conformite Europeenne” that’s a deep title. The song to me sounds like some sort of spaceship confrontation. Is there a chance for us to see any of the lyrics?
Hudson – As always BP lyrics are for the listener to decipher. I delete all my lyrics aftereach song because I don’t think lyrics in this style of music even matter. It’s more about the music, the sounds your hearing.. Music has no language.
Cross – I kinda agree with that but still, as a book lover, I love me some lyrics. “Belulah Los Gatos” raw vocals. “This Was Your Life” is kinda same style with “Sullen” but this time you sang it all by yourself. Was that how you liked it or you couldn’t get Clark to sing one more? (Laughs)
Hudson – Haha I only want usually one feature on an album if I do have one.
Cross – Fair enough. The13th title, “Coiled”, what did you use for the ending of this song?
Hudson – Haha That’s just some random stuff I recorded and ran it through a bit crusher and an auto filter, some people will know what that is. Haha
Cross – “Uncultured Swine” what do you say at the beginning of the song?
Hudson – Just a bunch of absolute nonsense, inspired by King Buzzo from the Melvins lyrics.
Cross – That was my last attempt of getting a lyric out of you. (Laughs) I think I have one though. I don’t even remember to which song it belongs too, unless it has the title. I should check. (Laughs) “N. T. T” what does it stand for?
Hudson – Not This Time. Haha
Cross – Cool! The 16th and the last song of the album. Why did you decide to end the album with “Eye Biter”?
Hudson – I just think it fit really well as the ending song.
Cross – I read some comments on YouTube under your full album upload. They call WOWU a stew of King Diamond, Phantasm (the band), O.L.D, GWAR beauty. How do you feel about that?
Hudson – I like all those bands so that’s a huge compliment.
Cross – Not so sure about Phantasm or O.L.D (not that familiar with them) but, King Diamond and GWAR, love em!! What are you doing these days, are you working on another album? How different is it going to be this time?
Hudson – Yep! I’m working on 2 albums actually. Haha I am always working on 2 albums at a time, usually recording full songs for one, and then recording the drums for the next.
Cross – That’s awesome! Y’all heard him, new album coming up. Let’s hope on Halloween. That be cool! Anything else you would like to add, Hudson?
Hudson – As always stay tuned, its only getting weirder.
Cross – Thank you for your time Hudson, always a pleasure!!!
CROSS Artworks 