EXRON EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: HIPPIE SABOTAGE

Masters of the chill vibes and chill trap, Hippie Sabotage released their first-ever studio album since bursting into the scene back in 2014. Busy touring on the road for the last few years, quarantine was the perfect time for the Hippies to delve deep into producing Red Moon Rising. 

The album is a beautiful 11-track expression of the current state of the world through the eyes of the Hippies themselves. With many years to mold their style and sound, Red Moon Rising is a reflection of their authentic selves.

Check out our exclusive interview with Hippie Sabotage where we chat about their new album, quarantine down-time, and drive-ins shows.

Exron Music: Congratulations on your latest album Red Moon Rising. Your cover art gives me trippy Alice in Wonderland meets Rick and Morty meets the apocalypse vibes. Where did the inspiration for the art and the name ‘Red Moon Rising’ come from?

Hippie Sabotage: We were just really inspired by the artist that we hooked up with (Know Future). We were going back and forth with a lot of different ideas and a couple of different aesthetics. And it was really just him presenting us with this wild landscape that we felt it really matched the songs that we were making. The way he pictured us on our path was really the perfect signifier for the journey we were about to take.

Kevin had been listening to a lot of Neil Young ‘Harvest Moon’ and then we made Red Moon Rising right when we got off tour before everything got fully crazy – it had just shut down and it seemed fitting for the times. The blood moon was like a sign of the times that we wanted to reflect on all the craziness. We just wanted to reflect how we view the world and how the world views us, and kind of put that into sound as best we could with our off time – it’s really as simple as that.

Exron Music: This album overall has a different feel from your past releases. It is increasingly intricate, developed with beautiful intros and outros, and very pointed with your lyrics. What was your thought process in this release that is different from your others?

Hippie Sabotage: We really just had enough time to sit down and go through the full idea of it. Whereas we did, I think 400 shows in five years or something like that – something wild – so we didn’t have the physical amount of time to sit down and really process a full project that represented our creative thoughts.

So with this we really just focussed on presenting a cohesive idea and sum up the sound that we had been developing the last three or four years, post Devil Eyes which went absolutely crazy. It really was just Jeff focusing on his songwriting and writing more things that are more personal to us and just word selection…trying to expand beyond.

Exron Music: I’m sure you two have a favorite track, but what do you think is your most underrated track on the album and why?

Hippie Sabotage: ‘Red Moon Rising’ is definitely the most underrated because it probably should have been twice as long!

Exron Music: Each song seems to flow flawlessly into one another with your lyrics telling a continuous narrative about overcoming adversity. What is the lyric line(s) that you vibe with the hardest? Why?

Hippie Sabotage: On the track ‘Enough’, in the hook on the song, because there’s a bunch of metaphors for overcoming adversity. I think just generally in life, life isn’t always peaches and cream and as we’ve tried to navigate this crazy chaos, like everyone else, I think it best encapsulates how we’re feeling and how the world is just in general.

Exron Music: We saw you play a drive in show in Ohio. How did the experience compare to playing regular shows?

Hippie Sabotage: It’s absolutely great. It gives us a new opportunity to work on putting all new instrumentals into our set that wouldn’t have been considered before and it allows us to play a little bit of a chiller set and change what we’re doing on the fly a little bit. If we feel like doing more singing songs off the album, or Jeff wants to do the guitar and end it with righteous and different, and really just kind of vibe out to that. It’s really just a new format that we’ve been trying to experiment with and that I think it’s been a great opportunity for everyone to get out of their houses and take a breath of fresh air, and party a little bit safer.

Exron Music: Do you think our connection with music during this time is strengthened or hindered with the absence of live shows and festivals?

Hippie Sabotage: Honestly, I think that it just allows people to consume music a little differently for a short period of time. But if anything, I think it’ll allow people – both fans and artists – to delve into music and really hear the small details and everybody’s albums that may be overlooked during the chaos of when everything was normal. I think it really just gives people more time to digest what they like and then search for new things around that.

Exron Music: What have you guys been up to during this time in quarantine? (Maybe besides smoking weed lol) Do you have any hobbies outside of making music?

Hippie Sabotage: We love to go skate in Venice Beach and that’s been our outlet for relaxing. And it was really our dream coming from Sacramento as skate kids to live in Venice Beach and to be able to skate around the boardwalk. So we’ve really just been enjoying that and the blessing from our fans that is allowed us to do that. We’ve also been working on the next drop for our Devil Eye OG Pre-Roll – which is coming soon!

Exron Music: What is one misconception about yourselves or your music that you want people to know?

Hippie Sabotage: I don’t know if it’s a misconception, but we always want people to know that we absolutely love the music that we make and we are beyond grateful that our fans come to the shows, listen online and share that same experience that we have. I feel like a lot of days there’s like a disconnect between an artist in their music, whereas for us, we’re really trying to put 100% our whole selves out there. We’re just honestly grateful that people have related to that, respected that and just blessed our family with amazing times, you know?

Exron Music: Any exciting news or last words for your fans? Or your haters?

Hippie Sabotage: We got more music coming and more shows and we’re working on. We’re going to put out some merchandise and we’re really trying to focus on buckling down and make another record to give to everybody just because I know everyone is just as bored as we are, so why not? We’re pretty much a quarter of the way into doing that so I’d say everybody lookout for that!

Jaci Soukhathivong

An Atlanta gal chasing her love for electronic dance music. I’ve been with Exron since 2018 and have the privilege of contributing to the culture alongside other badass women whom I now call my friends. My introduction to the scene was first influenced by trap music, but my discography has since expanded to touch a bit of everything. Some of my favorite artists are Zeds Dead, Cloonee, Nghtmre, Flume, Infekt, Sosa, Bleu Clair, Subtronics, but the list goes on forever.

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