Artist Spotlight: The Hics
Shot by @nkt_studio
The journey of Sam and Rox, The Hics, has been an interesting one to say the least.
Labelled as one of the most exciting new bands in the UK indie underground in the early 2010’s, personal reasons saw the then six-piece take a sudden hiatus from the music industry. After years of relative silence, the last few years has seen The Hics revitalised and rejuvenated as a duo. One of the main reasons for this? A little known American rapper named Bas.
The global superstar fell in love with the band after discovering them on the GTA V soundtrack. They developed a strong personal and working relationship, writing and recording two tracks on Bas’ highly praised Too High To Riot project, and touring with the Dreamville collective. Now, they are back, better than ever, with Harmine, their eclectic, stylistically progressive and profoundly resonant new EP.
The five-pronged EP is an emotionally driven concoction of pain, loss, love and longing, wrapped up in deeply consuming, vibrantly devastating soundscapes and chameleonic vocal performances. All five cuts portray a different side of the duos personal and musical persona and outlook, delving deep into their psyche, thought process and stylistic tendencies.
I sat down with The Hics to discuss their impressive new EP, how their musical hiatus helped them refocus creatively, the ways in which the music industry has changed, and touring with the esteemed Dreamville.
How are you finding being back releasing? Do you feel revitalised and ready to make an impact?
Rox: Everybody has been really receptive! Our old fans have been so lovely and really enjoying the music which has been nice to get that reception from people who have been waiting for so long, and also a lot of new listeners. Our fan base is not afraid to show love.
Sam: We’ve had such an on/off relationship with social media for the past seven years, but we’ve still had such a hungry and welcoming audience when we have gone back on. We try to reciprocate that and be really personal with them. We’ve had some interesting 1-on-1 conversations with fans.
The fact that you’ve had such a warm welcome after such a long hiatus shows the loyalty and love fans have for you!
Sam: Massively, I couldn’t ask for a better base of people to be supported by. Especially in the world of music now where people tend to follow playlists rather than artists, it’s nice to feel like there’s a pocket of people on the planet who are Hics fans.
Who are your influences?
Sam: When me and Rox first started singing together, Fleetwood Mac were a huge inspiration. Their synergy, their rhythm and the melancholy in their music. The ups and downs of their music was brilliant. Also within the electronic scene that we grew up in, names like Little Dragon, Hiatus Kayote, James Blake and Disclosure.
Rox: We went to the same secondary school and we were on the same music program. Our school was heavily jazz influenced. I grew up listening to a lot of classic and jazz music. It’s a hard question to answer because in my head is a spider diagram of everything that’s ever influenced me.
It’s an eclectic mix of influences and you can hear that in your sound, there is no set genre or style. How would you personally define your style?
Sam: It’s weird because our output is as one, but we absorb different sounds. We just found a pocket with each other. We always wanted strong rhythm in our music and focus on simplicity.
Rox: I’d call it Alternative/Indie/R&B
Where did The Hics stem from?
Sam: At school, me and Jacob Walsh (ex Hics member) were drummers looking to create a drum beats orientated collective. We started writing beats together and finding a pocket together and we made a name, The Hics, which was an abbreviation of the word hickory for drum stick. We looked to find the missing link and were looking for a vocalist to duet with me. Rox was the Premier League vocalist in our school, and was interested in joining. From there, we got the other members involved and operated as a six, but that trio relationship of me, Jacob and Rox was the foundation.
How did you start picking up fans and critical acclaim?
Sam: I remember we had a gig in Kentish Town when we just had one song actually written, Lines and we planned to improvise the rest of it. Friends and family came down and we played the one tune at the end and blagged the rest. As a thank you to the audience, we said we’d drop Lines on Soundcloud that night with a thirty day free download. I got home, did a rough mix on headphones, got my mum’s opinion, put it up on Soundcloud and that’s what exists on Spotify today.
Rox: We pretty much woke up to being bombarded by loads of A&R. It was picked up by BBC Radio 6, Giles Peterson got in contact with us and loads of people wanted to managed us… it was good but kind of fucking ridiculous.
Sam: It was. Giles picked the record up, put it on Brownswood as a demo. We had the intention of releasing a remastered version of the track but then we just thought fuck it, it’s a vibe, let’s leave it as it is.
Looking back on Tangle now, how do you feel about it?
Sam: I don’t listen to it much. I listen to Russian Dolls, that’s the one that I think didn’t get as much exposure as it deserved. It was the one I enjoyed working on the most. It was so long ago now that it’s barely in my memory.
Rox: I’ve never listened to it by choice. Every time I hear a song from it, I start feeling ill. It sounds like a muddy mess, but I love it because it’s a part of me growing up; I wouldn’t want to go back to my first boyfriend, so why would I want to…
What made you start releasing again after the hiatus?
Rox: We wanted to release from about 2017 but there’s been a lot of hurdles. There hasn’t been a doubt that it was the road we were going down, even in the moments where we weren’t doing it as much. It was always the goal. I think other people believing in us, like Bas or our manager Derek.
Sam: I think American’s have this amazing way of describing everything as a product. They were able to set goals and compartmentalise the requirements that were needed to get to releasing music. It was overwhelming for us on the moment. We had this body of work and were trying to figure out what was next and with their help we were able to execute those targets, and found a label in Empire to do so. In the UK we didn’t really know what to do, the Soundcloud energy didn’t really exist anymore. The eco-system has changed so much now. We considered going for it part time, but we realised it was what we want to do and to do that you have to do it properly. It was about learning the steps to doing it.
How has the industry altered since your emergence a decade ago?
Rox: It’s exponentially different. It’s unrecognisable to me, nothing works the way it used to. It used to be word of mouth, community focused and there was more time given to release. It was still very A&R influenced, but now it’s so commercially driven. Even the way that social media has changed in that time, it’s become this personal marketing extravaganza.
Do you think it’s positive direction?
Rox: I think it’s a great thing if you are good at that kind of thing, but at the same time, you now have to balance your own creativity with having to sell yourself and get people’s attention which can be time consuming. It can take you away from your own creativity.
Sam: Back then, you could focus on your primary point of making a record, but now you have to be multi-dimensional and create all this content. It’s exciting because you’re constantly being challenged with learning new software. You have to schedule it into your week.
Rox: The last thing a creative needs is to make a schedule for themselves. It’s not healthy.
Sam: We were part of that privileged generation when you could disappear for two years and come back and people would still be interested. Now, you have to fight hard for your space. We never used to show our face, we used to just be a logo. We didn’t have a desire to show ourselves. Now, people need to see you to be attached to it, we have to be The Hics.
How has the hiatus changed your creative outlook?
Rox: I spent the time creating in a lot of ways, and I now feel more confident to say exactly what I want with the music and I have the vocabulary to back it up. I learnt a lot.
Sam: It gave me the opportunity to hone my skills and learn a lot more about sound engineering. I got to work with some amazing producers over that time who influenced and helped me
The fact you worked with Bas is crazy! How did it all happen?
Sam: We had a great working relationship with Giles Peterson. He had this radio slot on GTA 5 and he put ‘Cold Air’ as part of the soundtrack that opened the corridor to an American audience. Our good friend now, Diamond, heard the track and showed Bas and they hit us up on Twitter, saying they were coming to London and asked if we wanted to chop it up. They had a little Air BnB and we messed around which became Ricochet. Bas left and came back for the Forest Hills Drive tour, then we went to Metropolis and finished that tune and also Matches. That established the relationship we had with Bas, then he asked us to go out to America and do some videos and tour with them.
What was touring with them like?
Sam: When we went over to the States for the first time, we established a relationship with a lot of people, so when it came to touring we were just pulling up to our mates on a bus. It was just a massive family. We joined it late because of Visa complications so were stressed, but when we linked up with them it was like being in a living room with your family, it just clicked. It was a crazy tour, people singing our songs back to us was a new experience in the States.
Did that work and that tour give you the emphasis to make the EP?
Sam: Yeah I think so. It was inspirational to get out of our comfort zone, and that year gave us extra creative juice for our writing. All the experiences gave us a lot to talk about.
Talk me through the themes and concepts of the EP?
Sam: Isolation, introspection, detached, stuck in limbo, love and lost are the big hitters.
Rox: It’s all about interpersonal relationships.
I think the instrumentals reflect those themes and feelings, how did you construct them? What was the creative process?
Rox: No two songs were the same. It’s either really easy or really hard with us.
Sam: We make life hard for ourselves with that. We never have the same drum sounds. We like to build everything from scratch. It all depends on the song, like Caught In A Lie we got stuck with an eight bar chord sequence and a bass line. The lyrics came last. We usually find a loop we fuck with, I mumble rap until I find something that sounds right, whereas Rox can freestyle lyrics and melody at the same time. She will come out with a random sentence that will end up being the hook.
If you were introducing yourself to a new listener, what track would you play them?
Both: Tell Me
What’s next for you?
Rox: Another EP and touring!
Sam: Yeah, Hics gigs have become a thing of the past and they need to be the next thing. Going out and playing to audiences is my priority.