HIDRIA

Hidria from Finland has been around since 1999 and as of 2019 will celebrate 20 years as a band. They have also allowed tapers to tape their concerts and have as well released two live records up to this day, “Live Eleven a.m.” and “Live at Heart”. Somewhere in between spacerock and folkrock this band can provide great jams as long as 15 minutes.

                                                Courtesy: Hidria.

You are a band from the northern parts of our world. Many people associate Finland with various kind of metal and heavy rock, how come you dug into the groove of space and folkrock?

There are many different styles of bands coming from Finland, metal just happens to be most known. For example we have a vibrant electronic music scene and lots of artists that just do their own thing and don’t care about genres. Hidria is one of these bands, we do what we want, we can play with folk, metal or electronic music styles in same song no problem…

You have released two live records so far. Can you tell us a bit of why you chose to release these two recordings?

These two gigs happened to be bigger profile gigs in bigger festivals with very good multitrack recording possibilities. And organizers of these festivals were interested of releasing this stuff in collaboration with us.

If we look at Europe there´s especially a big scene for spacerock and instrumental rock in for example Germany. How would you describe the opportunities to perform live in Europe, and how big is the scene in Finland compared to the rest of Europe?

I have no idea. I don’t know theses scenes that well. Finland has a pretty good scene for every type of marginal music. Ofcourse because the small population its’s small. But people are also very active and enthusiastic about what they love.

This book deals with the phenomena of “tapers” and “taping”. How many times have you been asked by tapers if they can tape your band?

I don’t know, it happens every now and then. It’s always ok with us. We usually ask to have the recording for ourselves also if we are asked for permission.

What´s your views about taping and the possible “disorder” of having to document live concerts?

It’s ok if it doesn’t bother other audience members experience. I’m not a big fan of seeing tens of cellphones floating above audience though.

Do you usually listen back to a tape provided by a taper, or do you care less?

Yes, we usually listen at least parts of it to check the sound, or if some interesting stuff happened during the show, like a good jam for example.

Have you ever collected live recordings yourself and if so, which bands did you collect?

No, not really. Before I used to do that when travelling. I used minidisk to record jams, ambiences and samples.

What makes a live recording great in your ears?

Sound has to be good. And sometimes gigs are just special when everything goes just right and there’s connection with the band and audience through music. Sometimes you can really hear from a recording that this was really a special gig for everybody.

Why do you think that alternative and instrumental bands tend to be more supportive of “taping” than more mainstream musicians?

Maybe copyright paranoia? I don’t feel like we have to make money every time somebody hears our music. So we are just happy if people are listening to our music. I think it’s the same with most alternative bands.

If a taper wants to tape Hidria, what´s the best way of contacting the band, and do you have any restrictions in regards of only audio or videotaping?

Email hidria@gmail.com We don’t usually have restrictions, if you don’t bother anybody while doing it.

Do you have any last words you would like to share with those reading this book?

Recording live shows is a great way to have a piece of history which remains for people to enjoy. Specially nowadays with internet archives makes these recordings easily accessible to music lovers.

Many thanks!

For more info on the band:

https://hidriaspacefolk.bandcamp.com/