How to Party at the Edge of Collapse: An Interview w/ HURACÁN

There’s a storm brewing in Belgium, and its name is Huracán. The band has never been about comfort or compromise; their music drags you into the undertow, a sonic force that feels as much like an exorcism as it does a celebration. With their new EP “2025”, they don’t just soundtrack the end times; they wrestle with it, claw at it, laugh at it, and dare you to dance in the wreckage. Where most artists try to escape reality, Huracán insists on staring it down, chaos, collapse, and all.

This isn’t just a record about riffs or rhythms; it’s about survival, family, absurdity, and finding fleeting beauty in a crumbling world. A new dog, a tattoo, a near-tsunami panic, a cat, and even an interstellar comet; these aren’t distractions from the music, they are the music. Hear what they have to say.

“2025” is the name of the EP, but how was 2025, at least the first half, for you as people, not just as musicians?

Bert welcomed a new dog into the family. Tijs and his wife and kids celebrated their bond with matching tattoos. Christophe had a near-apocalyptic moment in Japan, where he was convinced a tsunami was coming (spoiler: it didn’t). Geert’s household got a tiny new member: a cat.

Oh, and there was that mysterious interstellar object supposedly heading toward Earth in October 2025. Turns out it’s just an icy comet, crisis averted.

But on a global scale? 2025 has felt like a slow-motion collapse. With everything happening in the world, it’s hard not to feel like civilization is teetering on the edge. That sense of powerlessness, of being just one person in the face of overwhelming forces, is something that lives within the band. It fuels the music, the urgency, the frustration. “2025” isn’t just an EP title, it’s a reflection of the chaos we’re all living through.

From “Huracán” to “Realm of Instability” to “We Are Very Happy” and now “2025,” how has the way you argue, agree, and build songs together changed?

In the early days, during the first EP and much of ‘Realm of Instability,’ almost the entire song was developed by Geert (guitarist) and Tijs (drummer).

Starting with “We Are Very Happy” and continuing into “2025”, things have become more collaborative. The foundation of each track still comes from riffs and drum rhythms, usually born out of jam sessions between Geert and Tijs. From there, we all dive in together, refining song structures, testing vocal lines, and adding or removing ideas.

By recording demo versions early and using digital recording tools during the writing process, we’ve gained more freedom to experiment, piece things together, and trim ideas where needed.

Lyrics are handled by Bert and Tijs. Each of us brings our own influences, creative ideas, and focus points to the writing process. It’s not always easy to find consensus, but the melting pot of this all is exactly what defines who we are.

People have called your music a tempest, a disruption, chaos you can’t escape. Do you see that as something you can sustain forever, or is there a softer side of Huracán waiting to surface someday?

We’re all soft little angels, really, truly, but Huracán is the space where our energy, adrenaline, and maybe even some bottled-up frustration come to the surface.

Since we love coloring outside the lines, we never rule anything out. Still, I don’t see us releasing a soft album anytime soon. A hidden track, a bonus piece, or a short side project where we explore soundscapes or acoustic passages might happen. For instance, ‘Still There’ on “We Are Very Happy” is already a kind of interlude where we take a moment to catch our breath. We already did a Stavinsky-like remix of our song Bruises by a friend.

In “2025”, we aimed for a compact, powerful set of well-defined songs, which naturally left less room for our softer side. But who knows what direction our next work will take?

Visuals seem inseparable from your sound. Simon Barroso’s artwork, Wim Reygaert’s video work. For “2025,” what imagery or aesthetics became part of the sonic DNA from the very start?

We always look for visuals that connect with what we’re doing musically. It’s important for us to put our own stamp on things and not be boxed in by genre expectations.

Wim is a fantastic and versatile artist with a truly unique perspective. He produced our previous album, “We Are Very Happy”, and created a video for one of the tracks (Bruises). For “2025”, he took care of the visual side of the EP. We gave him complete creative freedom, and the result offered a fresh lens through which to view the music, an image that’s hard to put into words, but one that perfectly captures the sentiment.

We already didn’t see the four songs as separate entities. And with Wim’s artwork, they become a unified whole, giving the EP a distinct identity.

If a listener pressed play on “2025” in total darkness at 3:00 AM, what would you want them to see in their mind before track one even ends?

Given today’s overload of pre-packaged, AI-generated content, we want to give listeners complete freedom to imagine something personal and authentic at 3:00 AM. Whatever they like (winks)

That said, during the day, they should definitely take a moment to check out the video we made for ‘SLAVES.’ In it, we combine the artwork with live footage to highlight the energy we’re aiming for.

You’ve mentioned wanting to make a statement with your music. What’s the statement you hope “2025” will leave behind when the dust settles?

“2025” is our raw response to the bleeding state of the world, channeling frustration into sound. We try to express the deep sense of helplessness we feel in the face of the forces that make this world a terrible place for so many, and the inner struggle that comes with it for ourselves.

Even though the themes in our lyrics aren’t exactly uplifting, we hope the energy and drive of the music give listeners a boost, a refreshing slap in the face that helps put the misery into perspective. That’s also why our performances themselves are more positive-minded, like making a party with huge energy.

Do you write with live performance in mind, or does that energy only come after the songs exist?

Live shows are the heartbeat of what we do. Over time, we’ve become much more conscious of how our songs translate to the stage. In the early days, we didn’t really think twice about how an awkward tempo shift might feel live, but now, we actively consider the headbang factor, the surprise moments, and those explosive parts where you just want to lose yourself completely.

We write with that energy in mind. It’s not about tailoring the music to fit a formula, but about amplifying the emotional impact when it hits a crowd. Every riff, every break, every build-up, we want it to resonate not just in headphones, but in sweaty rooms full of people who feel it in their bones.

You’ve built a sound that straddles post-metal, sludge, and progressive rock. With so many elements at play, how do you know when a song is truly finished?

We don’t consciously think in terms of genres like post-metal, sludge, or progressive rock when we write. If a riff or idea pops up that feels strong enough to build a song around, we dive in—without really knowing where it’ll take us.

The process is more about trimming and shaping than planning. We keep cutting away at ideas until a coherent path reveals itself, and that’s when the song starts to feel “finished.” Honestly, having deadlines, like studio time or mixing sessions, is a blessing. Without them, we’d probably keep tweaking forever.

Were there any forbidden ideas during the writing process, sounds, words, or approaches that someone in the band said, ‘No, we can’t do that’… but you did anyway?

Not really, no. We actually tend to be pretty aligned when it comes to musical taste and the direction we want our songs to take. Of course, there are moments of debate, maybe over a lyric placement or whether something feels a bit too much. But that’s part of the process.

What’s important is that nothing makes it into the final mix without full support from everyone in the band. We challenge each other, sure, but it’s never about shutting ideas down; it’s about pushing them until they feel right for all of us. So, if there ever was a “forbidden” idea… we probably just twisted it until it worked.

You’re playing with Hippotraktor, Celestial Wolves, and at Desertfest, three very different energy zones. How do you adapt Huracán’s sonic violence and intimacy to such varied spaces?

We don’t adapt at all. I think we commit. Whether it’s a sweaty local pub, a packed club show with Hippotraktor, or a massive stage at Desertfest, we try to bring the same sonic and emotional intensity every time. That’s our signature, and we stand by it.

Of course, each space has its own energy. Playing alongside Celestial Wolves brings a different vibe than sharing the stage with Hippotraktor. But that contrast is what makes it exciting, for us and for the audience. We thrive on that tension. It’s not about changing who we are; it’s about letting our sound collide with whatever space we’re in and seeing what sparks fly.

Playing an aftershow for Monster Magnet and supporting Life of Agony puts you in front of some very different crowds. Which kind of audience is harder to win over, the curious ones or the ones who think they already know what they like?

I believe that the curious audiences aren’t maybe that hard to win over. Our music blends a lot of different elements, so there’s usually something that catches their ear and pulls them in. The variety in the musical structures of our songs and the multitude of influences make our music appealing and accessible to many.

The crowd that thinks they already know what they like is maybe a bigger challenge. They’ve got their favorites, their expectations, and they’re not easily swayed. So, then we try to break those walls with structure shifts, the energy, the diversity in sound. And when it works, when you see someone go from skeptical to fully immersed… that’s the best kind of win.

If the Huracán of 2015 could hear the Huracán of 2025, what do you think they’d say? What’s one dream project you have, outside of albums and tours, that fans probably wouldn’t expect?

We’d like to think the Huracán of 2015 would be pretty damn surprised. They’d hear the sonic maturity of their aged alter-egos from the future, and hopefully recognize the spirit, just evolved and battle-tested.

As for dream projects? Funny enough, we recently joked about winning the lottery, and it quickly turned into a serious conversation. Top of the list? Building our own music hub, a place with a venue, studio, rehearsal spaces, the whole deal. A creative playground where we could not only craft our own work but also support other artists in doing the same. Some wild dreaming won’t harm, no?