Haken: "This is the start of the rediscovery of the band"

Haken are one not just one of the leaders of the current progressive metal scene, but one of the most unique and interesting bands out there, always restless and eager to try new musical avenues. After the release of the amazing "Fauna" they toured extensively in support of the album, they put out a spectacular live CD/DVD and they seemed ready for the next chapter to unfold and take them to new heights. But then, quite unexpectedly, guitarist Charlie Griffiths and bassist Conner Green left the band, raising questions about the future of Haken…

The remaining members, Ross Jennings (vocals), Ray Hearn (drums), Richard Hensall (guitar) and Peter Jones (keyboards) decided to continue as a four-piece, and working under the radar, they recorded a new (amazing) EP, consisting of five new songs and a fresh musical approach.

All of the above meant that we had a lot of questions. And so we were happy and excited to chat with Peter and learn about what happened within the band, how the new EP was formed, what led to this change of musical direction and many more interesting topics, regarding Haken's current status and their future plans.

Hello, Peter.

Hi, Chris.

How are you?

I'm good. How are you doing?

I'm fine too. It's been a while…

It's been a few years, isn't it?

Yeah, it's been more than three years since the last time we talked. It was just before the release of "Fauna"....

Oh gosh! Over three years then...

But in the meantime you came to Greece, so it seems like it's been less.

I think the last time we spoke, you were saying "are you ever going to come to Greece?" And we did come… (laughs)

Yeah, you did. Well, we made that one come true. So how are things going? Because to say that's a lot been going on since the last time we talked would be an understatement. So, before you go to the fantastic new EP, let's talk about some stuff that happened in the meantime, good or bad…

What do you want to know about?

2025 was a challenging time. It was tough. And it raises a lot of questions at this point in your life and your career

Well, "Fauna" was an exceptional record and you seemed to be doing great, so Charlie and Conner leaving the band came out of the blue… Even though there were signs when you pulled of the tour with Coheed And Cambria that something was going on…

Yeah, I appreciate that about "Fauna". Obviously, I can't go into too many details about everything that happened there. But, of course, things are not always as they seem…

2025 was a challenging time for us in the band. Obviously, we came to Greece and that was a highlight… (laughs). We played with Dream Theater and Mastodon, so that was a highlight as well. But things were difficult. And I guess, that did lead to what happened. That was a challenging time personally for me and for the band. It was tough. And it raises a lot of questions at this point in your life and your career.

But, we've tried to move on from that. We wanted to put everything that happened there into an outlet and to try to create something to show the band is active and to reform in a new form, a new grouping, a new structure. And to actually put something out, rather than have to wait too long to start again and go through the whole process of an album. Although there are more things in the works, but we just wanted to get things out and try to capitalize on everything that was happening. And as I say, just try to express that in something real that we could share with the fan base that we've built up over all these years.

Haken is never static with its styles

The first thing that came to my mind when I listened to the new EP was "which change came first?". Did you decide to change musical directions because you changed some members or you changed some members because you wanted to change your musical direction?

(laughs) Haken is never static with its styles, right? And "Fauna" in some sense is a strange one to contrast. If you look at the Haken back catalogue and then you put these two records next to each other, they are quite contrasting in styles. "Fauna" was a little bit of a throwback to the more eclectic, very varied, very rhythmically progressive part of Haken, but the new EP has a different sound, is quite stripped back and much more emotionally driven and atmosphere heavy. We were discussing what the next step would be since "Fauna" came out, and I think there was never really a thought that the next record would just take "Fauna" up a notch. I think a lot of us wouldn't even really know how to do that. "Fauna" felt so eclectic and vibrant, and that was somewhat the theme of "Fauna". So we knew that the next record was going to be more focused.

We were very busy touring after "Fauna" and trying to find time to write was difficult. So, there were ideas that would come and go as to what that sound was going to be, and we would start things and sometimes they wouldn't quite pan out. There's not really a direct correlation between the change in the band lineup and the music. The only correlation would be that we wrote this after that change in lineup. These weren't songs that had been floating around for a while and had started in the midst of everything that happened in the change, since the last half of 2025. We wanted to come together as a four piece and work very closely together in a bit of a different way to before… Like, really all four of us in a room writing all the EP together, rather than just like one or two people working virtually behind a computer or something. It was it was very collaborative and we wanted it to feel very real and organic in that way.

The EP is in some sense the start of this new rediscovery of the band

It's obvious that something's changed, and maybe it's that you worked more organically on this one. I have one complaint for this release… You could have written 20 more minutes of music and put out an album...

(laughs) Well, I guess the silver lining there is that there's a lot more music in the works. The idea was that we want the next few years to be very active for the band. We've obviously got a tour coming up. We're going to have more tours coming. We're going to have more music coming. The EP is in some sense the start of this new rediscovery of the band. But it's by no means that it's going to have to be years waiting for more music.

Does this new era means that you're gonna maintain your core as a four-piece and collaborate with maybe a new bassist or a second guitarist, or are you searching for permanent replacements that will get hands-on to the creative process of the band?

We're in discussions with options, especially for a touring bassist.

You'll need one soon…

Yeah! There are plans in the work for that. We've got a tour in two months, so obviously we're going to have a bassist with us. But we're exploring initially… we're trying to bring a very different type of live set out as well. Like we're using this moments to explore different ways to present. So we're really building a brand new live show that we're quite excited about. And we're exploring that, but we're also exploring, within that, how we arrange things as a five piece initially.

Long term, we are still exploring options there. As you say, this record was written as a four-piece and we had guest bassists. We're of course interested to explore the idea of somebody coming on in a more permanent capacity where they're more a creative force behind the music as well...

Rather than overtly committing to one bass player on this record, we thought it would be nice to have a couple of different sounds

Yeah, I get it. So, since we mentioned the guest players, how did you end up with Brian and Adam and what did they bring to the final product? What flavor did they add that you wanted them to add to the EP?

They both have relationships with someone in the band. Obviously, Nolly has worked closely with Haken, as he mixed "Vector" and "Virus". As for Brian, I think that contact came through Ray, who played on Brian's solo album a few years ago. They're in contact and we've met him through shows of The Aristocrats, etc... They were just in contact and we were trying to explore how we want bass to be done on this record.

And then it came together quite neatly in the structure 'cause we had five songs. One of them is entirely synth bass, which is "Eclipsed by You" and that kind of sits in the middle.  And then we had these four others and they fell into pairs in terms of mood… Two of them bookend the EP and then two others. And we had this idea to get two different bassist that have slightly different styles that might suit these songs differently. So, for "Delirium" and "Bleeding Sky", I think Nolly just obviously came to mind as somebody who's who worked on "Vector" and 'Virus". And then "The Fever Dreams" have a slightly different feel to them… Sorry, I should say "In A Fever Dream" and "Lotus", that was the working title, as they were both part of the same song. And Brian just came to mind, as he got quite a colorful way of playing.

So, it just felt quite nicely that we thought, rather than getting a single guest bassist. Especially with it being very soon in the midst of a change in lineup. Rather than overtly committing to one player on this record, we thought it would be nice to have a couple of different sounds on there.

George Lever came to mind because of Loathe… it was that credit that we were interested in. Especially their second record back in 2020 which we're all a massive fan of

What really got some eyebrows raised was when people saw George Lever's name on the production of the album. Because he's most known for his work with Sleep Token. And Loathe as well, but mainly Sleep Token… So I was wondering why you did want to have him on board and how much did he influence the final outcome? Because, you already know what you're doing in terms of productions and you don't really need to rely on any external producer…

I mean, it's interesting… Because, we had been discussing the idea of using a producer for about two years. And we hadn't settled with anybody, because we hadn't settled on the sound. But we were interested in this idea of having a sort of objective third party to bring a fresh perspective to our sounds and to sometimes be able to mediate maybe when you have a number of creatives who just don't quite agree but we have no clear way to solve it. So, we thought it'd be nice if you have somebody else to say "I think that's the best path" or "that's an interesting approach". We've been exploring this idea for years and then when we started to write "In a Fever Dream", because of the sounds we were going for and the vibe, George Lever came to mind… Interestingly, he came to mind because of Loathe… it was that credit that we were interested in. Especially their second record back in 2020 which we're all a massive fan of… the way that the guitar sounds, the overall mood of the mix and the production is something that we liked. He obviously has also a Sleep Token credit, but the Sleep Token albums that he was on are the earlier ones, which are not so much the ones that everybody knows, because it's before they blew up to huge levels. But as I say, it was actually more because of the Loathe record that we were drawn to him. We just started some sort of casual conversations with him and it turns out he was a Haken fan and he loved Affinity. So we're like "Oh, this is an interesting mix in that case". So things just went from there.

By the way, I've been trying to dig the new Loathe album. It's a bit different than what I'm used to listen to, but I'm trying…

I have not yet heard it. The other guys in the band have been telling me to listen to it, but I listened to just the singles. I found them pretty intense. I was like "Wow, this is quite out there". I'm excited to dig into the album. But yeah, they're definitely going in a quite interesting avenue.

But then, marketing wise, it's quite a statement that you have the producer of Sleep Token. Even though you chose him because of Loathe… you can understand that…

Yeah, I mean, of course. And I guess you never know how things are going to be perceived. It's interesting, of course, because the association with Sleep Token is their sound from their last two records, even though George didn't have anything to do with those. But, as you say, when it comes to marketing, things just stick and the headlines they travel far.

I can think a headline like "Prog sellout to Sleep Token"... (laughs) But, that would be in another time, I think we've got past these days that everything was a sellout.

Yeah, exactly.

It's somehow funny. Personally, I love Sleep Token, both the older stuff and the new stuff, so I don't find anything bad in the correlation…

Same here. I didn't really know them very well, but then we played with them, just before them, at a festival in the UK back in 2023, which was just when they were on that huge ramp up. And I started to listen to them. At that point, of course, it was just their most recent album, which was "Take Me Back to Eden"… But then I listened back and I was like "Yeah, this is all great. I really enjoy it for what it is". But yeah, as you say, you can't separate yourselves from these things sometimes.

So, since it's only five tracks, let's go track by track and you let me know how each track was formed, because I love everything about this EP. Starting with the title track, this could be my favorite, mainly because of the chorus, that's stuck in my mind since I first listened to it. So how did this come about? Was this the first song that you wrote for the EP?

Yeah, I think this was one of the first ones that we were writing. And originally it was about the length that it ended up being and we thought it was too long. So it got separated into two tracks which were "in a fever dream" and "Lotus". But then they both ended up being a similar length to the original song… (laughs). That was originally a bit of combined themes from both those songs, which we ended up separating. And that's why they sort of like bookend the EP.

A big influence for all of us is and always has been Radiohead

Yeah, I figured that out. Because it ends with the "fever dream" theme in the lyrics. In the past Haken would have let this be one, 10 or 15 minute long song with maybe some solos in the middle.

This was the first one and it was meant to immediately be a bit moody. I mean, a big influence for all of us is and always has been Radiohead. So we had ideas of like a dark Radiohead in mind with some of the intro and the sections. But then obviously it does go through a bit of a journey. And I think as we're writing that, we we started to lean into the darkness and just be a bit like "maybe we should put growls here". Which is why, in both those songs, we brought them back for the first time in quite a long time in Haken's music. So that was just a really fun process of experimentation to be like "this feels what this section needs right now, so let's do it".

And then comes "Delirium" which is super catchy and has a great video. And apart from all the other stuff that we've discussed, there is an element of Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree, especially in the vocal lines. Or is it just me?

I was hearing that a lot about "Bleeding Sky", which was the second single. People were saying that there was a Steven Wilson or Porcupine Tree vibe. But I guess, like with all music, Steven Wilson does that more grounded prog sound just really well, as he's staying away from the theatrics.

With "Delirium", the video coming last was intentional, because the first two singles just had these more abstract visualizers, and we still hadn't revealed a lot at that point. So the idea was that by the time we got to "Delirium", it was a bit more out in the open what was happening and that we had an EP coming and etc.

So, is Haken going to write three-minute, synth-based songs like "Eclipsed By You" from now on?

(laughs) "Eclipsed By You" was a really fun one. It felt like maybe one of the most experimental for Haken on the EP in terms of the vocal production, but also just the structure. As you say, it's like three, three and a half minutes. But then quite a lot happens in three and a half minutes. It's got a very linear structure and it just builds and then ends. At first, when we were writing it, we thought that we just have a little interlude in the middle, something sort of segue. And then the song started to build and we were like, "It's not justified to just call this an interlude". And it ended up having a big climax and it felt like a song in its own right. Admittedly, it is short by Haken's standards.

It would be risky, but it would be fun to put this out as the first single and, you know, have everyone going like…

..What is this?

Yeah!

Well, I felt like we almost did that a bit with "Fauna" when we put out "The Alphabet Of Me". It was a bit weird choice as the first single. Sometimes you experiment with these things…

But it was catchy as fuck!

(laughs) Well, yeah…

It was meant to feel like just a single piece, a single mood. Obviously with some variation in there, but it is something which you can just consume as a whole, to soak in that atmosphere

You couldn't not like this song. But being in the middle of the EP, it works really well. When you listen to the EP and you start with the "In A Fever Dream" and then you go to "Delirium", then "Eclipsed By You" comes very naturally. You're not surprised by then, because you see that it's going sonically in a place like this. And I think that that's a main advantage of the EP. It flows. Instead of picking a song out of it, I prefer to listen to it from start to finish…

That's a perfectly fair way to digest this EP. And it is quite short. I mean, not by EP standards, but by an album. It's easy just to hear it again. It was meant to feel like just a single piece, a single mood, obviously with some variation in there, but it is something which you can just consume as a whole, to soak in that atmosphere, which - as you say - flows throughout.

Just take into consideration that the last time Haken released an EP, they had one single song that was longer than the whole EP...

(laughs) How the music industry has changed since "Restoration" came out! (laughs)

There's as many opinions about what's classic Haken as there are people

Then "Bleeding Sky" is another atmospheric song that gradually gets heavier, but this is more classic Haken in some parts, I think, isn't it?

I can never tell anymore. There's as many opinions about what's classic Haken as there are people. But I agree in part. It's got a big catchy chorus and it's got an interesting structure again, it's not just a standard song structure. It's got some slightly technical guitar riffs and things. But again, it's quite a compact version of classic Haken because it's quite a short song. But yeah, I think it does have a lot of those features, as you say.

And then for the "Lotus", I have to say that I what I really like the most is the ending with the kind of choir vocals. You know, this dreamy stuff that bookends the EP with the "Fever Dream" section. I think that was a brilliant idea.

We did that in both "in a fever dream" and "Lotus". And the idea was to have all of us singing these key lines as a chant, as a group. That was really nice. We've done that a couple of times. We were doing that on "Fauna" as well on "Alphabet of Me" and some other bits where we're singing as a group in like "Sempiternal Beings". But this felt very much, as you said, almost like a choir. That was the sound that we were going for there.

With all respect to the other guys, I think that your keys set the tone for the whole atmosphere on this EP, so you must have been experimenting a lot and trying really different things. So how did you work on the EP differently than the previous times?

Yeah, definitely. I think as you say, it's a different type of music. The arrangements are different, there's more space for mood, for atmosphere, there's more space for keys and synths sometimes. So I really tried to create that atmosphere a lot. In terms of my approach, I tried to simplify it a bit. I went a bit more analog. To really capture that emotive mood that we've been trying to create, I wanted to simplify my own process. A lot of it is an analog synth or two running sounds through like guitar pedals and obviously some piano. I wanted quite a consistent sonic palette throughout the EP to tie it together, rather than every song to sound totally different. I'm always experimenting per song, but I wanted there to be a fairly consistent mood. So I've tried to create that in all the soundscapes and the sound design and the synths that I did from my past.

We will keep creating more different works and exploring different approaches to songwriting

Apart from the musical direction, it was also kind of the statement that you had no guitar solos, like a proper prog fan would would expect from you to have… Not even one…

(laughs) That was just the tone of this EP. It doesn't say anything about the future of the band. As you say, it's almost like one big song. It's got a mood, it's got an atmosphere, it's a motif. This work didn't feel like it needed solos, but we will keep creating more different works and exploring different approaches to songwriting.

So have you discussed which the next step will be your discography. If yes, is it coming sooner than later?

Yes! Without giving away any details about things, I'd be suffice to say that we are very much deep into working on things. So the EP was always part of a bigger period of working on music. It's not just a sort of isolated project.

The show in Greece was really hot, but it was really fun

I'm good with that. And then just to close this conversation, I don't know what feedback you got, but I collected a lot of great feedback, as everyone was enthusiast with your performance here in Greece, especially under the sun with so much heat. Everyone was stunned. And it was so hot.

It was so hot! (laughs) I don't think I've ever played a hotter show. Well, I've played a hotter show, but not in such direct sunlight when it was like 45 degrees. It was really hot, but it was really fun.

While you were playing I uploaded a photo on our social media and mentioned "Right now, Haken are the hottest band in the world! Literally!"

(laughs) I can believe that!

We are in many discussions about getting a lot more things booked in for 2027. So hopefully we'll be back out there before long

So, with all this great feedback, I thought it'd be a matter of time for a headline show. And I still think there are good chances. because more people know what you're about and how good you are on stage. Of course, we're not included in that leg that you're playing this autumn, but did you have any discussions or any indication that you'll return for a headline show?

We would love to come back to Greece and we will do everything we can. We loved the show. Obviously, I love the country. I have ties to Greece. I'd love to come back. So, we absolutely want to come back. And as soon as we can make that happen, we will. We're not coming to Greece in the run that we're doing in a couple of months, but as I say, we are in many discussions about getting a lot more things booked in for 2027. So hopefully we'll be back out there before long.