1. Thank you for taking the time to meet us here at ALTvenger Magazine. For all those not familiar with your work, can you tell us what Hidden Place is all about?
HP: Hidden Place is a band born in 2004 by siblings Sara Lux and Fabio, Antonio, Giampiero.
2. Your sound can be described as electro wave, electro pop, with a hint of vintage sound but still it remains a bit colder than those terms suggest and your work is characterized by that icy feel. Did you go for it intentionally or it just happened naturally for you?
HP: Everything is coming naturally. Our sound is born from what we feel the moment we compose music. Obviously we are influenced from bands which we love. Every track can sound different but in end there is always the sound we love. It can be electro, wave, post punk etc..and yes, with the icy touch.
3. I am sure you had your influential artists, but it seems there is a mix from various genres though, yet similar, can you tell us who inspired your work in the early days when you were just starting?
HP: Many and different bands inspired us like Clan of Xymox and 80’s 4 AD bands, The Frozen Autumn, Kirlian Camera, Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Death in June, Factory’s bands and 80’s Italian new wave etc.
4. After “Fantasia Meccanica” released in 2007 I can hear a slight twist in your musical expression on “Punto Luce” from 2009. As I consider “Fantasia Meccanica” as some sort of homage to vintage and retro synth music, Punto Luce sounds more up to date. What are your own thoughts on those two albums?
HP: ”Fantasia Meccanica” has been the input for “Punto Luce” and also for other albums. In some way you can notice in one there is more cold wave and in another more synth pop but in end there is always the HP touch. We’re glad that the audience appreciated the difference of these two albums understanding the evolution of the band. We like to take risk in all of our songs; making them different in some way. We’re not the kind of band which makes similar songs for 1, 2 or more albums.
5. A new shift can be heard on “WEATHER STATION early works”, that I consider more experimental than the previous two albums. It is more minimalistic with some industrial elements and it is my favourite. How do you feel about that material?
HP: Yes, exactly, in “Weather Station” there are more experimental parts and also a more industrial sound. Considering the equipment we used to record this was so cheap we are SO satisfied. The “making of” was, I can say, so “punk”… we didn’t care then about expensive instruments etc. We were so happy to make songs with so basic instruments. As I said everything was so cheap! Maybe it is because of it that this album sounds so grey and icy.
6. Of all the releases which one do you consider your best; or do you feel equally passionate about all of them?
HP: We love all our releases. All of them belong to one time of our lives. We have great memories of all our albums.
7. What can we find on “Retrospettiva 2004 -2014” and “Retrospettiva Vol.2”?
HP: “Retrospettiva 2004 -2014” is “a best of “ where you can find tracks taken from albums from this decade. In “retrospettiva vol.2” there are different tracks taken from these albums but as “different versions”, released only on this album and one song called “Alla Mostra Dei Costruttivisti”.
8. You have collaborated with some other artists, so can you name a few for us?
HP: We had great experiences with artists like The Frozen Autumn, Handful of Snowdrops, Patenbrigade:Wolff etc.
9. You are present on social media, and we can find you on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and you share some of your music with us on Soundcloud. Do you consider being present on those channels helped you gain more exposure and how important is the communication with your fans and general audience?
HP: Being on social media is good and bad at same time. It’s good because you can promote and sell your music, but bad for different reasons. For example, we noticed some bands feeling so proud of themselves only because getting likes on their pages. They take care more of their FB pages, getting likes and whatever, than their music… that is sad! From our side I see that many buyers and listeners of our music don’t have even FB accounts. This means that FB does not rule music. Thankfully as a band we were not born in the FB era or we would, like many, be “a Facebook band” 🙂
10. As for live shows, as I have not seen any from you yet, what can one expect from Hidden Place on stage?
HP: First, we hope you’ll have the chance to see us. On stage you can expect just simple people playing their emotions in music.
11. Being an Italian band, how much are you recognized on other markets in Europe and world in general besides your home country?
HP: We are very well recognized also because we have different label distribution around the world.
12. How much do you experiment with your visual appearance and is it something that you consider important for the band’s image as well?
HP: On stage we have always visual presence. The connection music-visual is very important and creates the right atmosphere for our music.
13. What are your future plans regarding music making and live shows?
HP: This will be announced as soon as possible.
14. Is there anything more you would like to tell us but no one knows? 😉
Sara Lux: First i want thank you for your kind interview… I hope to keep doing what I do, always with the same passion.
But above all I hope the desire to change will never be extinguished in me and HP, and to share what is our style, our way of seeing things with the public.