With Halflives’ new EP, Resilience just around the corner, we caught up with the alt-rockers to ask about their goals as a band, their 2020 plans, their upcoming EU tour with Icon For Hire and the goal to work with Fueled By Ramen. We spoke to vocalist, Linda Battilani…
For newcomers, how would you describe your sound?
An in-between among the pop and the rock worlds, featuring electronic elements and memorable arena-rock choruses.
What’s the story behind the band name?
Years ago I had a conversation with someone about love and we stated that “life is half without love”. That’s where I got the idea for the band name “Halflives” from.
Your new EP, Resilience is dropping on 13th March – what would you say are your main inspirations for it?
Frustration, anger and the need to prove myself worthy surely inspired me a lot lyrics-wise. In a matter of sound I wanted to experiment more compared to my previous work and imposed myself very few restrictions during the songwriting process, even if that meant scaring some fans off at first. I’d say Alice Merton, Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish had quite a role in my influences for this record.
The EP features a track with Kellin Quinn, that’s pretty exciting! How did that collaboration come about?
We heard that Kellin was looking for artists to work with for guest vocals so we hit him up and sent him the track by email. We actually sent this email with zero expectations and five minutes later he had already replied saying he was digging the track and asked where we wanted him to sing. So good!
Do you have a stand out lyric from the EP and why?
Damn this is a tough question. I have favourite lines in all the songs! (After having been thinking about this for 20 minutes…)
I’d say “oh my, I’m never on time, how did I miss the warning sign? I sleep to kill time, don’t think ‘bout hard times, forget that all the blame is mine, I’m out of time” from ‘Time Bomb’ as it sums up pretty well the mess I’ve gone through (and I’ll probably go through it again, it comes in cycles).
How would you compare your sound in Resilience to your 2017 album, Empty Rooms?
As I was telling you earlier, I definitely allowed myself all the freedom I wanted during the songwriting process, so it’s obviously different. Definitely more grown-up, raw, minimal and unapologetic.
Halflives are heading out on an EU tour with Icon For Hire at the end of this month – how are you guys feeling?
Thrilled! We missed being on the road, 2019 has been a year of “preparation” and we worked backstage a lot (studio sessions, video shootings, getting ready for the EP release and so on). Now it’s finally time to get back in action and I can’t wait to feel the live energy again!
Do you have any plans to do more tours this year?
Of course! 2020 is going to be one hell of a year for us. We’re gonna come back to the UK this summer and we’re already planning new tours for the fall.
What are your main goals for the band?
Another tough question I need to find an answer for in my head quite often. I only recently learned to break down the bigger goal in small steps and victories. The goals for 2020 are doing 3 or 4 tours this year (2 of which are already scheduled and confirmed). In addition to this one of my dearest goals is to have my music featured either in a TV show or in a video game. I’m a big fan of the cinema and game industries and it would be a dream come true for me to achieve this. Last but not least, my end goal is to make a living from music and I’m working on it every day step by step. As a means to this, I would gladly work with Fueled by Ramen at some point, make sure to let them know for me!
Now to end with a question that I’m always keen to ask bands – what was the first concert you ever went to?
All Time Low in 2009 on their “Nothing Personal” promo tour.
Halflives’ new single, ‘Hard To Break’ drops on 28th February and their new album, Resilience will be released on 13th March.
In the meantime, check out their recent release of ‘Snake’:
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