Most readers here surely have heard him playing guitar in different bands - mainly in Reveal! (as Spine) and in No Future, also in GRAVMASKIN and live with Obnoxious Youth in more recent times - last week it has also been announced that he has officially joined them as a steady member of their live line-up.
The following conversation however will be completely focused on his solo music: his guitar sorcery, as we often call it here, because - as those of you who have listened to his instrumental solo music will know - it has that captivating, spellbinding and almost uncanny ambience which is able not only to keep the listeners immersed, but also to actively carry them along in the passages unfolded through the strings. [For those of you unfamiliar with Lukas' solo music, we recommend reading our Focus On article about him.]
His first solo album, "Folkmord I Ting" was released on his own label End All Parties in September 2023, he then has been bringing it live on several dates, including on his first solo tour across Europe in February 2024.
We reached out to him to ask him about this experience, how he feels about the album after some time has passed, his influences, his future plans and more: he has kindly offered us some interesting answers, which we find to be a really fascinating way for anyone who appreciates his music to add a deeper perspective to it.
We want to thank Lukas for taking the time to answer our questions and we hope that you all will enjoy reading this as much as we did!
Throughout the interview as well as at the end of it, you will find all the links to listen, buy and follow Lukas' music.
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| Lukas Häger during his first solo tour February 2024, photo by Thilo Antelmann |
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L.H.: I recorded the album just around when maybe I had done like one or two shows in total. So, I didn't have the live perspective down, so to say. I listen to the album and I think it's a really good recording, but what's lacking would be the dramatic changes that you may go through in a live setting, which I will implement in the future.
The first album was the first try to see what will happen, I wouldn't have done anything differently, because that was who I was and what I was doing at that time.
But in the future, I would think differently. And, of course, the songs that I recorded on that album have morphed into live performances, I add new things all the time. It's a living organism.
U.M.: What would you say were the most rewarding and the most challenging aspects (if there were any) of playing your solo music live?
L.H..: When you play live in the way that I did, when the music calls for attention, I play with silences. So the most rewarding experience was when I managed to get a sort of drunk and chit-chatting room to pay attention and to be all quiet while I knew there was a crescendo coming. And I felt like, now I'm going to show you what I have done and what will come. That was the most rewarding.
The most challenging aspects really lie in the preparation: I spend a lot of time preparing what I will play live. When I'm up there on stage, I almost always feel comfortable, if I know that there's somewhat of attention going towards me. I am a guitar player and that is what I do, so if I sit on stage with a guitar, I'm pretty much always comfortable.
So the challenging aspect is preparing, when I'm on stage, I feel comfortable.
U.M.: Your label End All Parties has recently released a split tape with your and PÅGÅ's live sets performed in September 2023 in Finland. Whether people perceive it like a memory of a show they've been at, or as something they can finally hear despite not being able to be there, it certainly makes for a great way to connect with the music on a different, and deeper level. What would you say is, in your opinion, the most interesting aspect of a live album / recording?
L.H.: I can think of two examples of live records that I hold so close to me. I have a list of perfect albums and two of those albums, that share a lot, are: SWANS, "Public Castration Is A Good Idea"; and: EARTH, "Live Hex".
And what's interesting about those records, in particular, is that they sound like they're just recorded by some guy in the audience in a club which is not filled, in a club with a capacity of three/four hundred people but there may be 40-50 people in that audience. It feels cold, it feels like you were there somehow.
I guess it's hard to say what's interesting about it otherwise than the obvious you know, you catch a live band in a vulnerable position, without makeup or the chance to alter it. Compared to a studio album, where you can polish anything and everything until it becomes what you think you want to show people. But in those raw live recordings, you have no chance to really make a grand masterpiece out of a not prepared, you know, blend soup. I guess you understand what I'm trying to say.
Otherwise, what would be interesting about live recordings is that you can capture bands between albums. I love to dig into bootlegs to see what my favorite bands sounded between good albums, maybe Led Zeppelin is a good example of how the development is going, if you're into that stuff.
U.M.: Did you record these shows with the specific intention of releasing them later on?
L.H.: I record most of my own shows, just to document it. Maybe we had some idea, but it wasn't really planned in that way. We decided to do it because we felt we did great shows.
U.M.: Which musicians would you say are the most influential in your style of playing?
L.H.: For me personally, I mean, there's obvious choices, musicians who have sat down and played instrumental guitars: Robbie Basho, John Fahey, Wilburn Burchette. Jimmy Page, if you look at his performance of "White Summer" in the Royal Albert Hall, I think it's 1970.
I listen to a lot of the great blues singers, the great guitar wizards of the 1920s and 30s in U.S.A.: Bo Carter, Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Skip James, Charley Patton... the list goes on.
Other than those, Popol Vuh, something I tried to capture. I guess that would be a sufficient list.
I don't listen to techniques that much, I only care about what goes into the ear.
U.M.: Have you already begun writing new music?
L.H.: I always write new music all the time. The problem is to find something to make a complete product of, with an album title and artwork; something that is coherent, something that works as a whole and as a physical plate.
My next plan is to record a version of the set which I have been touring with, properly in a good room.
And I already have plans for album number three, which I'm writing for right now.
The main thing I'm listening to, as I've already told you, is the old American style of playing; it's pushing a hundred years now and you know, for me to be able to pick that up ...it would be a blessing if I can only manage to grab the smallest piece. That is where I'm at right now.
The 1st press of "Folkmord I Ting" is sold out, but copies of the 2nd press and of the CD edition are still available at the label.
It's possible to follow, listen and buy Lukas' music at End All Parties on Facebook, YouTube and Bandcamp.