Their first new record in more than a decade, Senser’s ‘Sonic Dissidence’ sticks two fingers up at authority and rolls its eyes so hard they strain in their sockets at the state of society. But never has dissatisfaction sounded so damn good. Devolution’s Jo Wright spoke with vocalist Heitham Al-Sayed about their new record, the band’s past, present and future, and what the fuck is going on with the world in general. And his views from the frontline of Senser are ones you’re gonna want to both hear and see.
So Heitham, did Senser want to make a new album which would inevitably be a commentary on the current chaos, or did they feel they simply had to make one so they could have their say?
‘We wanted to, of course,’ he says. ‘We never stopped making albums – it just took a long, long time to get this one together’ This is their first new music in twelve years in fact, but who’s counting?
And Senser, a band who rose from the underground back in the 1990s and have deservedly taken up space ever since, are as angry, accurate, and ready to go, as ever. ‘As long as you’ve got something to say musically and lyrically then it’s worth doing,’ says Heitham. ‘It has to be done. If I don’t have anything to say or any new or interesting way to say it, or if I didn’t feel I had anything to contribute, there’s no way I would do it.’
Senser is a collective renowned for their fearless lyrics fuelled by political unrest and backed by a hard hitting sound which veers from soft and psychedelic to explosive rage-filled rib crackers. And their take on situations (and the solutions that sometimes lie within their lyrics) is needed now more than ever.
Heitham tells us, ‘Over the last ten years there have been some incredible changes, and we’ve arrived at a point where fascism is on the rise, on both sides of the Atlantic. There are multiple genocides happening in the world which, because of social media, we are now face to face. And at the same time, when people get pushed to the brink, you do have these huge social movements, like people getting together to combat these terrible things. A lot of the things that we predicted in the nineties, in a kind of dystopian way, are sort of coming into being.’
And as Heitham alludes to, with the socials being saturated with so much troubling and unsettling content there’s pretty much nowhere to hide from it all.
‘People get a kind of fatigue from the levels of grim information that’s constantly coming to the fore. It’s reaching a kind of crescendo,’ he says.
‘Someone said something interesting recently, which was that we grew up with the conflict in Northern Ireland and we just thought it was a permanent thing which was always there. But eventually it passed. They came to an agreement and things settled down. So everything changes. Everything will eventually pass. There’s nothing that is, that will be eternally. So there will be a solution, there will be a way out of these situations, but we’re in a slightly critical phase where everything is in the red: the environment, these global genocides, resources, the rise of fascism. But at the same time we’re in this climate where everyone is connected. These things don’t stop on their own though. There has to be organisation on the global level.’
Intense flamethrower ‘Ryot Pump’ was the lead single which broke Senser’s silence and would be a pretty cool soundtrack to motivate such movement. The track opens the new album but actually came quite late on in the process of making the record. Heitham tells us, ‘It was probably the second to last thing that came together. It’s very lean, there’s not much to it, it’s not very long. A lot is said in a short time. It instantly had this sound of kinetic movement to it and the sound implied the lyrics, so we just went from there. I’m really happy with it. It works at shows as well. People really like it at gigs.’
How have the rest of the songs from ‘Sonic Dissidence’ (released on October 17) been going down? ‘It’s always strange,’ says Heitham, ‘because if people don’t know the song, you’re presenting them with something they can’t even sing along to, and they don’t know what’s coming – which I think it great. I remember Frank Zappa used to talk about surprise – you want to see something different. And obviously new songs are going to be surprising. People are more excited and open about it. When it’s a new song they’re listening slightly more because they want to pick up on what’s really happening rather than going mental. They’re taking it in! But yeah, the reactions have been great so far.’
Fans have grown up with Senser and the band are picking up new ones along the way. ‘It’s got to the point where people are bringing their kids!’ smiles Heitham. ‘And sometimes people travel from mainland Europe to the UK to see us. If Senser was someone’s first gig, they’ll bring their kids so it’s their first gig as well. It feels great. It’s very touching that we mean so much to so many people. We’re very, very lucky because our fans are very loyal.’
And they have great taste too. Even if Senser aren’t someone’s ride or die band, you’ll still be pushed to find a music fan who doesn’t respond with an enthusiastic ‘fuck yeah!’ when Senser are mentioned. They are a well-respected band. And the only way to get respect is to earn it.
Heitham tells us he was recently asked by a young guitarist how this whole being in a successful band thing is done. ‘It’s very hard for me to explain how to do it now, because when we started off, we bought a cheap van. And that was the secret. Buy a van! Have your own equipment and just go. And you play to whoever’s there and that exponentially keeps doubling, so by the time you’ve done it three or four times you’re playing to big rooms full of people.’
He adds, ‘The most important thing is to have something interesting and exciting, and to present something personal and new.’
Which is pretty good advice – because no one sounds like Senser, and they’re not doing too badly (early singles ‘Age of Panic’ will soon be hitting two million Spotify listens and ‘States of Mind’ sits pretty with well over 1.6 million for example).
Heitham and Kerstin Haigh’s dual vocal attack is another element that gives Senser an extra bit of spice. ‘I think for a lot of people that’s a really exciting part of it,’ he says. ‘It’s not completely bathed in testosterone. There’s a different energy in there. Kerstin was doing it before I came along. Her tone was in there before mine. I think the two voices is a really important part of the bans and people like it. They open it up in a different way.’
‘Sonic Dissidence’ is out on now, there are live dates on the calendar, so where do Senser go next, Heitham? ‘For us the creativity has to persist, and maybe we could figure out a way to make records in a shorter period of time! That might be a good step. I don’t really have any sort of ambition apart from to keep it together – keep the creative process flowing and play to as many people as we can. And they’re linked. The more music you’re producing the more you can play to new people because people have to have something new to come and see. There’s no great ambitions of conquering any territories or anything!’
Heitham adds, ‘The journey is the end with this. There is no destination with Senser. It’s the process.’
And as long as the world keeps turning Senser will keep going.
‘Sonic Dissidence’ is out now via Imprint Music
Listen to the album here: https://earache.lnk.to/SONICDISSIDENCE
https://www.facebook.com/senserband
Interview by Jo Wright
Photo by Rebecca Cresta