Exclusive Interview with 'TO HELL WITH TRADITION'

Achim Hofmeyer, a Heidelberg, Germany-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, established his solo project, To Hell With Tradition, in 2019. To Hell With Tradition continues to buck the trend, delving deeper and deeper into producing consistent coherent concept albums as the rest of the world seems to be moving toward creating and releasing isolated individual songs one after another.
Blurred is the most personal To Hell With Tradition album to date and is poignant in every way because it explores the hauntingly impulsive musical path set out by the predecessors with increasing confidence. Deep reflection on perceived duality is expressed as an intense, dialogic inner discourse. His upcoming third album, Blurred, features The Baton as its second single (26.08.2022). Blurred is based on a single, unified concept, so both the singles’ and the album’s pitches essentially read the same.

To Hell With Tradition continues to swim against the tide, delving deeper and deeper into the creation of consistent coherent concept albums as the rest of the world appears to be increasingly leaning toward creating and releasing isolated individual songs one after another. The deep reflection on perceived duality expressed as an intense, dialogic inner discourse makes Blurred the most intimate To Hell With Tradition album yet—poignant in every sense of the word—while consistently moving forward and exploring the hauntingly impulsive musical path set out by the predecessors. Check out the single ‘The Baton’ and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION: As a child of an army officer, I was relocated all over Germany every other year during the first 13 years of my life, until eventually I was sent to boarding school in Heidelberg where I was finally able to form long-term connections for the first time. This is also where I started to pick up the guitar and wrote my first songs.

I have always felt the urge to express myself in creative ways even in the earliest years of my childhood. For as long as I can remember, there has been this universal force about certain music coming, for example, from the speakers of my parents‘ yellow, old BMW whenever we took a ride and listened to random mixtapes. A force that – if only for a moment, for the duration of a couple of bars – made me feel a soothing oneness with the entire universe and yet a bittersweet ancient longing born out of the knowledge about the general volatileness of this sensation. Ever since then, I feel, I have been on a spiritual mission to create those precious moments with my own music.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION: I never had any lessons. Whatever I am using – be it the instruments I play, or production equipment, software etc. I have learned over years based on intuition, trial and error, and (nowadays, of course) hints gathered on YouTube.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘TO HELL WITH TRADITION’?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION: That is a tough one, since my parents must have had about 15 hours of music in their mixtape collection – mostly late 60s to early 70s power pop, disco and UK rock pieces. Looking back, some of it I would still vouch for, like the Stones, the Beach Boys, Queen, or the Beatles, of course, but some of it is just straight up cheesy, like The Equals, or The Rubettes. This is where I draw my love for layered vocal harmonies from. One band that stands out till today is The Kinks. Death of a Clown and Waterloo Sunset still make me cry with their haunting beauty.

The name is actually a title of a song I wrote when I was still with my band, Mellow, an indie rock trio from Heidelberg – ages ago. When I started out with this solo project in 2019, having just turned my life around leaving conventional paths, I instantaneously felt that this is the name for me. Not only does it reflect my personal life, but also the intention to refuse settling for any particular musical genre or arrangement approach – I am not doing it as a consumer, so why would I want to do it as a creator?

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION: Well, I do lack the arrogance to claim that I am the one gem in a world of gravel. There are so many undeniably talented artists out there, so many incredibly beautiful pieces of music – in any genre. I like to think that I am in a sweet spot between indie and mainstream that many people might not even be aware of – too unconventional to be mainstream, but too catchy to be indie. It is the combination of captivating sounds and profound lyrics that makes up my style. The questions my music is based on – as encrypted as the lyrics might come across at first – are as old as humanity itself. I love the idea of people out there listening to my music and feeling this universal connection, feeling understood in their longing, their search for answers – be it on a conscious, subconscious or emotional level.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as INDIE?
**TO HELL WITH TRADITION**:
I have never had the ambition to do covers or even intentionally sound like anyone in particular. Of course, intentionally or not, any musician’s style to some extent is impacted by the sum of what they have been exposed to throughout their lives, and it might take time to blend in more and more of an authentic touch. I feel that this authentic art is getting increasingly discernible in my work. I never set out to create music based on considerations what people might want to hear, or what might be of the best commercial success. I selfishly create music that gets me into those spaces I have cherished so much for all my life. When I notice that my music seems to do the same (or similar things) for other people, it’s all the more rewarding. Because it’s real. It’s art. Not business.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION:

To me this is one key aspect that separates art from mere craft or business. But it is not the only one. You can have music with seemingly political, spiritual etc. content but it might be born to a craft/business mindset, with a complete lack of depth and connection, so it is a rational concept mimicking profoundness, rather than a true expression of an underlying emotion. I appreciate technical virtuosity, but without the proper emotional basis it’s just shallow, cold, and sometimes even quite annoying.

While on the other hand, there are technically laughably plain and simple songs, that are absolutely mesmerizing and hauntingly beautiful, due to their undeniable, strong, authentic basis.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION:

That is an interesting question. For me, the fulfilment is not limited to the final production that I would have to earn with a preceding phase of work. Every step of the way is a source of fulfilment to me. Feeling this universal connection, seeing how vague ideas gradually evolve into round and tight songs that eventually form a whole cohesive album, experimenting in mixing and mastering – this gives me pleasure, as much work as it may be.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION:

I consider music to be something deeply intuitive and emotional, so there is no hard rational aspect to the way I am approaching a composition. There are two phases, however, I can clearly separate – the musical structure and the lyrics. With Blurred being my third album in 3 years, I can see a repetitive pattern in the process. First, I play the piano or the guitar more or less at random and sooner or later, I am attuned to the flow of inspiration. Suddenly there is this short chord progression, accompanied by this involuntary humming, and it all falls into place. I continue this process on a daily basis until eventually I have 10-12 song structures. Usually by that time, the involuntary humming will have given birth to scattered individual lines of lyrics. Then, sooner or later a contextual concept for an album takes shape and I get the creative impulse start writing corresponding lyrics, which then again happens in one marathon of a couple of days.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION: This would have to be the 10-year period during which I tried my best to adjust to a conventional life blueprint. Unintentionally, I started to neglect my creative nature, focusing on improving my compatibility with corporate life until I finally understood the eventually all to obvious signals of mental and physical agony.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

TO HELL WITH TRADITION: That directly connects to the previous question, of course. It was the moment I turned my life around in 2019, which immediately opened the gateway to all that bottled-up creative energy and rewarded me with so much inspiration. I have just released my third album in just as many years, and am already working on the fourth. This makes me truly grateful.