One of the more recent revelations in the prog scene is UK-based Haken. Their debut album, entitled Aquarius, received very favourable reviews and some even consider it a modern classic. Coming up with a worthy successor is a daunting task by any stretch, however these lads succeeded in doing just that with Visions. Richard Henshall (guitar/keyboards), Ross Jennings (vocals) and Diego Tejeida (keyboards) were more than happy to answers my questions about the new album, touring partners and their favourite records of this year…

Congratulations on releasing a more than worthy follow up record to the critically acclaimed Aquarius. Are you happy the way it came out?
Richard: Thanks a lot. During the recording process, it’s always tough to predict how the album will turn out, as all you’re hearing on a daily basis is rough unvarnished audio. Thankfully, we’re all extremely happy with the end result, I don’t think we could have achieved anything more at this point in our career. We left the album in the capable hands of Christian ‘Moos’ Moschus to mix, as we felt he did a superb job with ‘Aquarius’. In my opinion, he has surpassed himself with this album; everything seems to have greater depth and clarity.

Aquarius was met with very positive feedback. Some even hailed it as a modern classic. Did you guys feel any pressure when you started to work on Visions?
Richard: We were definitely very conscious of the success of ‘Aquarius’ whilst making ‘Visions, we even jokingly played around with the idea of calling it ‘Second Album Syndrome’!  It was hugely important for us to keep moving and progressing, so we worked extra hard to ensure that ‘Visions’ had its own identity. We decided to take a heavier approach by making the guitars a little more prominent and creating denser orchestral arrangements. We even employed the services of a string quartet to provide the album with an earthy feel; they have done a brilliant job of enhancing the pathos within our music.

What themes are touched on the album lyrical-wise?
Ross: The concept of ‘Visions’ spawned from a dream I had where I saw my own demise that felt insanely real! The idea of confronting one’s own death fascinated me, so that was the initial inspiration. Throughout the writing process it developed into a more complicated story exploring themes such as the nature of consciousness, the transience of life and a couple of the tracks on the album explore the concept of dreams within a dream (think ’12 Monkey’s or ‘Inception’). Our narrative is told through the eyes of an innocent boy, who has a nightmare in which he is murdered – it seems so real that he convinces himself that it was a premonition and spends the rest of his waking life trying to track down his killer, whilst mentally preparing to meet his death, perhaps leading to his psychological undoing. All is revealed in the closing 22 minute title track, but ultimately it’s up to the listener to decide how much was real and how much was imagined.

When the band started to work on Visions, what was the general mindset within Haken? What where you collectively striving for?
Ross: We all felt it was important It was important to follow ‘Aquarius’ with something big; in our eyes, ‘Visions’ had to be as good as, if not better than our debut effort. Therefore, Individually and as a band we have tried to push our boundaries with this album, I’d like to think we’ve successfully built upon the ideas that were laid down on ‘Aquarius’.

In what way did the recording sessions for Visions differ compared to your previous studio experiences?
Richard: We recorded ‘Visions’ in the same way as ‘Aquarius’. Ray recorded his drum parts first, which we’re engineered by John Papas at Hardbeat Studios in Wembley. Each of us then took the drum parts home to our personal home studios and recorded our instruments over the space of a month or so. We then hired a microphone and recorded the vocals, over a two week period, within a makeshift vocal booth in my loft. This seems to be the most cost effective way to do things nowadays and is ever increasingly the way bands in our position operate. Our recording schedule was incredibly tight as we wanted to make the disc available, ahead of release, to everyone attending Prog Power USA, so you can probably imagine that it was pretty agonising at times. To add to the intensity, we had to prepare for our performance at Night of The Prog festival, conveniently placed right in the middle of the whole process. Thankfully the gig was a success!

All the members in Haken are masters of their musical craft. What is your stance in the ongoing “feel” vs “technique” debate?
Diego: It all depends on what the music requires you to do; sometimes you need to get your fingers busy, and other times you need to have enough room for an expressive solo with rubatos and crescendos all over the place. It’s also very important to play as tight as possible in certain sections, whereas in others you just need to play the right couple of notes in the right places; it’s all about contrast and balance. Having a good technique is crucial if you want to be able to dominate your instrument, everyone in the band takes practice very seriously and we’re constantly pushing our boundaries. However, being technical for the sake of being technical ends up killing the primary purpose of music: being a form of human expression.

In the past you’ve opened for Riverside, Diablo Swing Orchestra and King’s X just to name a few. What are your most vivid memories of these experiences and which band would you like to tour and perform with?
Richard: We’ve been blessed to play with some great bands so far in our short career. One gig that sticks out vividly in my mind is our performance at Night of the Prog festival. It was a step up from anything we had previously done, so to me it marked the next stage in our career. The crowd was absolutely amazing; their warm response to our set was overwhelming. It was our debut performance on German soil, so we were completely oblivious to the fact we had fans over there, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear them chanting our lyrics. We were all absolutely buzzing when we came off the stage, it was a great feeling! Also, to meet the guys from Dream Theater was an added bonus; they were so down to earth. I would love to tour with Pain of Salvation or Porcupine tree, that would be an honour for us.

The latest trend in progressive rock/metal community is to fuse influences from the great seventies prog bands in their music. The latest releases by Pain Of Salvation and Steve Wilson are clear examples of this. Haken isn’t a stranger to seventies prog either. Do you think there’s such a trend and what’s your take on it?
Richard: I’m a huge fan of both Steven Wilson and Pain of Salvation, as is the rest of the band. They never fail to deliver great music, which I admire them for. You’re right, it seems like they have gone for an earthier stripped down sound for their latest releases, which is very reminiscent of the prog bands of the past. Opeth are another band that have taken a similar approach in recent years, ‘Heritage’ is a perfect example of this. I think it’s great that bands like these are exploring new sounds and recording methods; if bands don’t evolve they would just become stale. Just like those bands, we have a huge love for 70’s prog too; Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull and Yes are a few names that come to mind. I think it’s important to pay homage, without sounding identical, to these great bands of the past; after all, they laid the foundations to where we are today.

Nowadays there’s seems to be a greater appreciation for prog rock/metal in general. How does this affect Haken?
Richard: I have noticed a slight growth in the prog community over the last few years. There seems to be a larger selection of younger fans out there, which is great for the future of progressive music. Classic Rock, the UK’s largest rock publication, has recently started an offshoot magazine dedicated to prog, which, in my opinion, is a promising sign. There is also a new annual prog festival in London, which has already hosted some of the biggest names in the Prog world; the organizers wouldn’t have set it up if they didn’t feel there was an audience for it. It’s hard to tell whether this growth has affected Haken as we’re just at the beginning of our journey; we haven’t got the point where we’re stopped in the street quite yet. We’re still at the grass roots stage, we’re trying to establish a loyal fan-base through playing lots of gigs.

Time for the final question. We’re getting toward the end of 2011, so what are your recommendations as far as music goes for this year?
Richard: I’m loving Grace for Drowning by Steven Wilson, he seems to have hit the nail on the head with this one. There are a great bunch of musicians on this album, so it’s well worth a listen. ‘Bilateral’ by Leprous is another great released this year!