#309 Karl Hensel of “Desperate Acts”

Desperate Acts emerges as a fresh band with confident, passionate, yet gritty melodies.Their debut album, coming out September 10th on SBÄM (Worldwide) and Kings Road (US) titled ‘State Secrets’ is a call to start paying closer attention beyond your own backyard.   Singer Matt Keil explained, “I think the recurring theme is being aware of constant, abject horror in the world and how to be part of a positive change versus being focused on very small daily challenges and issues that are not really that important. The song ‘Drying Out’ is a nod to all of the ways we waste our time when there are bigger problems to fix, there’s darkness present in the song, but it’s never over-dramatic and there’s a clear undercurrent of hope and perseverance.   State Secrets was originally meant to be tracked in Boston with producer Jay Maas at Getaway Recording. His resume includes everything from Bane and Defeater to Citizen and Title Fight (and Jennifer Rostock). To navigate the 2020 lockdowns, it was instead tracked with Brian Herb at Mother of All Music in St. Paul, Minnesota after pre-production was done virtually with Jay over a few months. Brian is normally touring doing tech and sound work for Alice in Chains and Jerry Cantrell and his resume includes everything from Helmet to Bush with a long list of live and studio recording credits. Jay collaborated with Brian to get the mixing and mastering done. Drummer Karl Hensel recalled, “I wouldn’t recommend doing demos recorded on Iphones, communicating about songs via youtube and Facetime, then recording one person at a time with another engineer in the midst of a pandemic, after writing music together and navigating quarantine safely throughout.  However, if we had recorded when we booked time with Jay, six of these songs wouldn’t have made the record.  We made the most of the longer, slower process.  It’s weird to say it now, but I know I needed the distraction and we have a better record because of it.”   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/desperateactsmnWebsite: https://desperate-acts.com/Spotify: LINKSBAM Records: LINK Brought to you by AIXdspShop now and get up to 50% off on all plugins.Website: HEREPledge monthly with Patreon https://www.patreon.com/apologueShop Apologue products at http://apologue.ca/shop/Support my Ride to conquer cancer in august: LINKBuying a Tesla? Use my referral link: https://www.tesla.com/referral/simon24498Get 1000 miles of free supercharging