Into The Pit with…HAIL SAGAN
January 16, 2023
Into The Pit had a chance to sit down for an interview with our good friends and amazingly talented band HAIL SAGAN.
- (Into The Pit) Hello and Happy New Year Sagan and Nick of the jaw-dropping, thought-provoking band Hail Sagan! How did the holidays treat you?
- (Nick) The holidays were great. We hope yours were good too. We ate good food that Sagan cooked and we watched our favorite Christmas movies.
(Sagan) Nick’s is “Jingle All the Way” and mine is a tie between the original “A Miracle on 34th Street” and “Elf.” Nick says the movie “Elf” is about me. Haha…
- (ITP) Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Hail Sagan been on hiatus the past couple of years?
- (Sagan) We were not on a hiatus, but more of an old-fashioned “band is writing an album” kind of a thing. The way things were before social media, lol. When we were growing up you had to wait five years for a band to write an album and they toured once in a while. Now it’s expected to pump and dump and we refuse to do it. Nick doesn’t think it’s artistic to be a windup toy with a cymbal and hat. Art is about creativity which cannot be forced.
- (ITP) I did see that Hail Sagan has a new song coming out on January 27th, titled "Alongside Their Own". Can you tell us more about it?
- (Nick) Yes! It is our first release in a few years. We’re looking forward to it. We don’t want to give too much away but if our songs “Doors Will Open” and “Dark Cloud” had a baby, it would be “Alongside Their Own.” The music is a good mix of heavy, hard, and loud sounds along with the softer stuff too. We experimented with tuned-down guitars. Sagan’s signature screams are peppered in everywhere and even take full throttle at times. And of course, her clean singing shines through as well.
- (ITP) Does this new song mean that we can expect more new music from Hail Sagan soon? A full-length album or EP? Or would you entertain the same idea as Clown (Slipknot) and think about releasing a song every month or two instead of the fans having to wait for a year or more for a full album?
- (Hail Sagan) The name of our upcoming EP, “Disclosure” is the first half of a concept album that will contain two parts. The first part will have six songs that are released every six weeks over the next few months. And then the second part will be released the same way. We will be offering a limited CD run once each release is complete. Each song will also feature an interactive lyric video so fans can sing along.
- (ITP) You produce a majority of your own music, so how do you know when it's ready for the masses to listen to? Do you just blast it on the studio speakers? Use headphones? What is the test you do to know the song is ready to be released?
- (Hail Sagan) We know exactly what it should sound like so we produce it to our best ability and mix it as well as we can. Then we send it off to a producer to give it a polish with a pro mix and master. When it’s ready we listen in the car and if it sounds good there, it’s good to go. We fully produced “Disclosure”‘ourselves and Cole Clark of Sightglass Sound mixed and mastered the songs. The latest EP features both of us playing the instruments together and collaborating our strengths to outdo our past releases. We think “Disclosure” is our best music and we found our sound.
- (ITP) I know it may be a little while before you hit the road again, but what are some bands you would love to play with? I hope it would be bands that are really interactive with the audience because that's one thing I love about your live shows.
- (Hail Sagan) We really want to try touring with more variety in terms of genre. It would be kind of badass to open for Eminem. We’ve always felt that pigeonholing genres into a show is a bad idea. For instance, let’s say someone wants to go see their favorite metal bands play, but their partners hate metal and love hip hop. So they compromise and play mini golf instead. If the show had a mix of genres, they both would’ve been happy to attend. It’s more fun when there’s something for everyone.
- (ITP) What do you do with your time away from music? Any hobbies? Activities to help with stress relief or refocusing?
- (Nick) Sagan spends most of her time reading books, and working on art and miniatures; she builds dollhouses and room boxes along with the miniatures that go inside. She also knits, crochets, gardens, and cooks.
(Sagan) Nick’s hobbies are photography, video editing, learning software programs, and sitting in the hot tub. Oh, I almost forgot..we play VR. Lol.
- (ITP) Being a gamer during some of my free time, I have to ask, how did your song "Doors Will Open" end up in the game, "Wreckfest", which is available on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and other platforms?
- (Hail Sagan) We won first place in a contest to have our song featured in the game. Our fans came together and voted for us. We promised if they helped promote the contest for us we would release a video for the song. And we made the video for them as soon as we won.
- (ITP) I do appreciate you taking the time to sit with me for this interview, but before we wrap it up, can you tell the fans how they can keep up to date on the latest Hail Sagan news and where to find some amazing Hail Sagan merch?
- (Hail Sagan) Thank you for having us. We appreciate your time. The best place to find all of our links is at www.hailsaganofficial.com and we have a bunch of new merch for the upcoming releases.
