EMQs with Halogram

EMQ’s with HALOGRAM

Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Instrumental Progressive Rock band Halogram. Huge thanks to guitarist Javier Iglesias for taking part.

What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

My name is Javier Iglesias I’m the guitarist of HALOGRAM. The band is formed by Daniel (the Bass player) and myself. We met playing at a festival back in 1997 in Galicia/Spain. We were playing in different bands at that time and coincidentally 3 years later we ended up working together, as professional musicians in the same band, touring all around Spain for 2 years.  We had similar music taste and we were sharing albums and discovering new bands during that time. We always talked about creating our own project but due our work commitments we couldn’t find the time to do it so. After that period Daniel decided to move to London but we always maintained contact and kept sharing music ideas between us and it was in 2017 when we both had some free time to dedicate to the project.

How did you come up with your band name?

We came out with different options, two of them were HALO and HOLOGRAM, as they were already taken we decided to mix them out and we liked the sound of it.

What country are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?

We are from Spain, and the metal scene here is not very wide, there are very good metal bands but we don’t know many doing a similar style like ours.

What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single or Video)

We just released our latest single ‘Obsolete Future’.

Who have been your greatest influences?

Our influences are classic bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Metallica, Iron Maiden, In Flames, Helloween, Angra, Dream Theater, and also more “actual” bands such as Gojira, Periphery, Animals as Leaders, Plini and Intervals.

What first got you into music?

My love for music comes from my family. My father’s grandfather was already a musician and my father too. Since childhood I was always very interested in music, and thanks to my friends in the neighbourhood I started listening to bands such as AC / DC, Queen, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Metallica, etc. Something inside me automatically woke up and I think my passion for the guitar was inevitable.

If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

We would love to collaborate with any of the bands I’ve mentioned before and about musicians; a project including Steven Wilson, Guthrie Govan and Halogram would be epic!

If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

There is a festival in Galicia/Spain called RESURRECTION FEST, and every year is getting bigger. Would be awesome to play there as we wouldn’t need to travel much to get there and we could invite all our friends and relatives to enjoy that experience with us. J

What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

To be honest we never got anything weird from fans, we would like to mention something really special; a fan sent us a picture of a Tattoo of the cover of ‘The Falling Man’, our first single. That was amazing!

If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

We will continue working hard to give the best of us and reflect it into our future songs. Also thanking them for their support during these years.

If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

Dimebag Darrel.

What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

What I enjoy most is perhaps the sensation I get every time I play the guitar and, above all, how much it helps me in life to overcome problems. The worst thing about being a musician is the time you lose from enjoying family and close friends as, here in Spain, we work completely different hours than a regular 9-5 job.

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

The music industry changed drastically in the last 10-15 years. The technology helped new bands to reach more people without depending on the big labels and other intermediaries, but unfortunately with Spotify, internet radio etc a new way of intermediaries appear and that complicates things, especially for small bands.

Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

Dream Theater “Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory”

What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

CD definitely, even If I don’t use them anymore! I like to have the physical copy and enjoy the artworks and booklets that you can’t get with the streaming services.

What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

I’ve played huge gigs with other bands but one that really got stuck in my mind was one I did, along with Daniel, at a festival in Galicia, called “A fraga” in front of thousands. It was our first big gig for both of us and that made it really special.

If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

If I did not dedicate myself to music I do not know what I would do today, but probably it would be something creative.

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

James Hetfield, Guthrie Govan, Mike Portnoy, Angus Young and Batman!

What’s next for the band?

Our goals for this year are to continue writing new songs, try to get to the maximum audience as possible and to grow our fanbase.

What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?

https://www.youtube.com/halogram
http://www.facebook.com/halogramofficial
http://www.instagram.com/halogramofficial
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1cNNyzIQeGSz7GslbV52fy

Jaffa Cakes! Are they a cake or a biscuit?

Biscuit!

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

It’s a pleasure, thanks indeed for this opportunity and for help us out to reach more potential audience and invite everybody to listen to our new single ‘OBSOLETE FUTURE’. Also ask them to check our social media sites, listen to us in Spotify, add our songs in their playlists…follow, subscribe, comment …. We really are open to answer any questions and interact with our fanbase.

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.

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