“So you take songs like Fucking Hostile and you try to reverse the meaning of the lyrics,” explains Habus. “Obviously, it’s going to end up being something quite nice – so Fucking Hostile became Politely Obliging. It’s all back-to-front,” he points out.
“This first record has been based on Vulgar Display Of Power, so we’ve renamed it Refined Concealment Of Infirmity, because it’s the opposite of the title. Ben and I split the record between us halfway, so he worked on five songs, and I worked on five songs, and then on the eleventh track we collaborated together…
“I honestly can’t remember how I came up with the idea for the album originally,” he adds, “I must have been sitting on the toilet or something at the time.”
Despite being a co-founder of the project, De Hoedt claims he’s never even heard the original version of Pantera’s classic 1992 record. While Habus proudly announces his heavy metal roots, De Hoedt reveals his ’80s pop leanings.
“I’ve never even listened to the album,” states De Hoedt. “It’s not my thing; it just doesn’t work for me. I also didn’t want to have my perceptions of this project influenced by anything, so I just left it alone. I personally have a soft spot for artists like Bryan Ferry and David Bowie – the guys that had the adult aesthetic and took care of their appearance and had that certain amount of pretence and pompousness and the idea of looking good in the latest suits! But those guys also had the artistic creativity.
“I do have a broad pallet though, I know that I love my prog and I’m slightly more into the Peter Gabriel end of Genesis. I’m a big fan of ’80s production, but I listen to heaps of ’90s hip-hop as well.”
Habus, on the other hand – while being a classically-trained composer and an avid fan of classical music and the opera – admits he comes from a very different musical background to De Hoedt. Not that it matters at all when it comes to Indians To Heaven…
“I love death metal and I love the classical music just as much,” he enthuses. “Myself, personally, I have been a huge Pantera fan and I’m not ashamed of admitting that either. I grew up with that kind of stuff. All those bands like Pantera and Cannibal Corpse and stuff, it had been a while since I’d listened to it so when I heard it again I started developing a bit of a nostalgic love for those bands. At the same time I started to realise how cheesy a lot of it is too, in some ways.”
Although a concept band, there is nothing cheesy or silly about Indians To Heaven’s music. After spending a year and a half working on the new album, Alex says perhaps the most exciting part was getting to work with legendary producer Tony Cohen (The Birthday Party, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds).
“We’ve taken our time getting our shit together,” Habus states. “Ben and I started doing this over a year ago and we spent the better part of the year rehearsing the songs as a whole band. Working with Tony Cohen on the production side of things and mixing the songs was a very exciting thing for me because I am a big fan of his work and I grew up on Nick Cave albums. It’s been a great learning experience for us in general, just this being our first professional recording that we’ve done.”
Following the upcoming launch at The Toff – also featuring support from The Pretty Strangers and Cuba Is Japan – the band are next looking forward to getting started on the rest of Pantera’s back-catalogue. “We get bored easily, so yes, we’re starting to do new material already,” laughs De Hoedt.
“You know, Pantera have, like, five commercial albums,” adds Habus. “The goal is to complete the entire Pantera opus, so we’re looking at doing Far Beyond Driven next, then we’ll do albums like The Great Southern Trendkill, which will be called The Quiet Life Up North .”
“Our bass player Daniel is leaving to pursue a scholarship in the US at a prestigious university, which we knew would happen before he even joined the band,” announces De Hoedt. “I don’t know if we’re going to replace him, we’re not too keen on the idea because he’s such an important member of the band. At the same time, we appreciate the fact that we may need to perform again at some point and we’ll either have to reconfigure the music to fit the lineup, or find someone with the capacity to fill in for him for the time being.”.
“I think everyone sees this as quite a long-term project,” says Habus. “There are eight albums to cover, which would take a pretty long time.”
