Alberta Sludge/Doom Riffmakers HAAZE Release “Swamp Mama” Single

By Prog Sphere on October 16, 2018

Finding inspiration in writing tunes that fans can bang their heads to, Red Deer, Alberta power trio Haaze are all set to launch their new album. Coming out on January 7th in digital form, as well as a limited LP edition of 100 available via Transistor 66 Records, Swamp Mama is a crushing release both musically and lyrically. The band partnered up with Doomed & Stoned for an exclusive premiere of the title track off of the upcoming album. Have a listen below.

Singer and guitarist Mitchell Soloway reflected on the creative process of the upcoming album.

“It’s funny because there never was a set process. Alex and I had just finished and released our EP ‘Riff.’ On our very first show as HAAZE the guy who did sound for us came up to us and was like, ‘you guys have a killer sound and I would like to try recording you live off the floor in my studio.’ Both Alex and I were like ‘hell yeah, we can do that!,’ knowing fully we just recorded all the material we had. Lucky for us the date was a couple months away. When we did meet up with him (Ranjit Ranawaya) we recorded three songs in about 12 hours, two of which eventually made it to the album (‘Stereotypically Doomed’ and ’35 Indians’). A few months later we decided to do a video and release ‘Stereotypically Doomed’ as a single to help promote us, we also gained a full time bass player (Jack Sutherland) and decided to track four more songs which all made the cut. Basically half our album was recorded about five months apart from the other half but we did all the songs live off the floor in the studio with Ranjit which we are super proud of. What you hear on our record is what you get live.”

HAAZE’s main goal with Swamp Mama was to put out a record that was heavy.

Soloway went on saying: “I have played in so many bands over the years where it wasn’t quite what I wanted to do, but I played anyway because of being with friends or whatever. When the singer for our last band bailed on Alex and I we took a break for a bit but my intention was to start writing the type of shit I had always had in my back pocket and wanted to play. I had no gear, and was just playing on an acoustic guitar. I would send Alex riffs that I recorded with my phone being like, ‘dude, check it out,’ and probably annoyed the hell out of him. Once I committed to too forking out the cash I built my rig and the rest was history.”

Lyrically, on Swamp Mama HAAZE explore everything from Soloway’s own personal issues and thoughts to making up stupid characters and just running with that.

“I try not to write lyrics in a serious way or super literal but the songs have their meanings. Really, when it comes time to write lyrics I just write about what’s in my head at that time. When we worked on all of these songs I was going through a really rough patch in my life where my dad had passed away and I wasn’t dealing with it in the most healthy way possible. Not to mention the place I used to work was a super toxic environment so it fueled a lot of writing. The lyrical content ranges from missing old friends and accepting my borderline alcoholism to singing about a swamp monster who is a “fucboi” by day and serial killer at night. Or in the song ‘AL’ I wrote it from the perspective of a companion AI that realizes its own potential and how it is being abused. The AI takes matters into their own hands, destroys the master and creates an army of synthetic beings who convert humans into fuel for their rocket ship so they can explore the universe.”

Swamp Mama is out on January 7th, 2019; pre-order it here. Listen to the first single and title track below.