Courtesy the Spikes<\/p>\n
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Iago Haussman is settling into his new Boulder surroundings.<\/p>\n
The Rome-raised musician who plays out as the Spikes<\/a> has been coming stateside since he was a child, so there wasn\u2019t too much of a culture shock when he decided to make the college town his home nearly three years ago, after recording his 2023 self-titled<\/a> debut EP here.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew for a while that I wanted to leave Rome,\u201d the 22-year-old says. \u201cNot because of any specific reason, but just because the music scene in Rome is not as strong as it is in Boulder. I feel that Boulder has a bit more of a scene, more of a live music city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019ve traveled to Denver, to Lafayette, Longmont, and I really, really like how each place here has its own subculture, its own scene beneath the scene,\u201d Haussman continues. \u201cYou can tell how important music is here inside of the U.S. and Boulder a bit more clearly than Italy. You can see how it changes people, how it can affect the way people think, the way people feel, their style, their emotions. You can really feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n He also feels he can make a similar impact in Boulder, given its breadth and support of independent artists.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really does depend on what you\u2019re doing and creating. I feel that there is a lot more opportunities here, smaller venues for up-and-coming artists, the open mics and, I think you guys call it, the jam sessions here,\u201d Haussman says. \u201cI feel like for people who are up and coming, it\u2019s a pretty good scene.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s where he currently is with the Spikes. After breaking up with his high school punk band, he wanted to shift his sound and reflect a more mature version of himself as a musician. \u201cThe Spikes\u201d moniker is more of an alter ego of sorts, and allowing him to do that. Honing in on indie alt-pop, Haussman is now showing exactly what this is with his first long-play, First Light<\/em><\/a>, released independently last Halloween.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t quite know what I was doing,\u201d he says of the sonic sea change. \u201cI was trying to figure out my voice and what the next sound was for me. I knew that I wanted to try something different, and I knew that I wanted to explore more of my lyrical chops, I would say.<\/p>\n \u201cI just started to write, and the first EP was really just me trying to figure out my voice. I was trying to find my sound, trying to experiment with anything,\u201d he adds. \u201cI feel that First Light<\/em> is a much more refined and raw version of my first EP.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While heavily inspired by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, particularly more modern albums Push the Sky Away<\/em><\/a> (2013) and Ghosteen<\/a><\/em> (2019), Haussman, with his baritone voice, pulled a lot of creativity from other mediums. As a poet and painter, he turned to American literature and film while writing First Light<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, it was not just musical inspiration, but another huge inspiration for one of the songs was The Great Gatsby<\/em>,\u201d he says of previously released single \u201cDancing (In the Palm of My Hand).\u201d<\/a> \u00a0\u201cI was also inspired by films like Apocalypse Now<\/em>,\u201d which served at the jumping off point of track \u201cJungle Boy<\/a>,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a mixture of all forms of media that inspired me to create this album, but I feel that mixture helped me with creating the full picture here,\u201d says Haussman, who prefers wearing simple black suits and unbuttoned white dress shirts.<\/p>\n Typically, he doesn\u2019t try to hinder the music muse, but harness it whenever it does strike \u2014 whether he\u2019s consciously working on it or focusing on another artform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt really does depend on what I am writing. There are some moments where I\u2019m inspired by other forms of media, there are some moments where I start to write and the song comes out fully formed,\u201d he shares. \u201cFor me, in songwriting, I never found that there is a specific method that I use for songwriting. It varies and changes always. It\u2019s constantly shifting for me.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say I don\u2019t try to bleed the artforms together; in some weird way, it naturally happens. There are times, for instance, when I have written poems and those have become songs. There were times where I was painting something and I thought of a song idea,\u201d Haussman continues, considering the question, and his response, carefully. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words, but it\u2019s that being caught in the moment as you\u2019re doing something else that that hit of inspiration happens, and you have to rush and get pen and paper to figure your thoughts out.\u201d<\/p>\n A good example of this type of open-ended process and melding is the song \u201cThe Exit,\u201d<\/a> the last track on the EP, which has now become a setlist stable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThat song was originally a poem I had written for my poetry book,\u201d he says. \u201cThen I just brought it into the studio, and we were messing around with it, trying to figure out if it would work for a song. Now it is a closer for most of my shows. It\u2019s taken its place there.\u201d<\/p>\n Haussman is bringing the Spikes to Trident Caf\u00e9,<\/a> a spot he\u2019s played before and grown fond of, on Saturday, March 7. Boulder band The Much Too Much<\/a> is also on the bill. <\/p>\n Since performing First Light<\/em>, he\u2019s found that his shows are becoming more somber, in some ways, and bardic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really varies from what I\u2019m feeling at the moment. Am I feeling angry? Am I feeling sad? Am I feeling happy? But this new record, I feel like it\u2019s going to be a lot more slower, more poetic,\u201d he explains. \u201cSomething I want to try to do is make people actually experience the music and the lyrics and stories I\u2019m trying to create, and the scenes and feelings I\u2019m trying to convey. I would like people to be transported. I would like people to be able to plug in their headphones, listen to the album from front to finish, and be in another world. I want them to feel the stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That can manifest itself in many ways, he\u2019s already discovered, as people have opened up and shared their perspectives and sentiments on the Spikes. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou can always hope for people to do certain things with your songs, but there are moments when people tell me their own experiences and it surprises me when someone has a completely different experience than what I intended them to experience when I originally wrote the song,\u201d he adds. \u201cI do like when people have their own emotional take on the music, and I always take it in. It\u2019s hard to put into words. I find it quite beautiful when people tell me their thoughts and feelings and what they were perceiving when they heard a song.\u201d<\/p>\n While the Spikes is technically a solo project, Haussman isn\u2019t going at it alone and has recruited other musicians, including Boulder peer and producer Max Davies<\/a>. He\u2019s also done some recording at eTown Hall<\/a>\u2019s studio. It\u2019s all helped him build community in Colorado. \u201cI am constantly collaborating with people, but he\u2019s been somebody who I have been working with for about two, three years now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Haussman hints at a sophomore follow-up, as well as a covers EP, and even though he still splits time between Boulder, Rome and Berlin, he\u2019s excited to work on the Spikes out in the Rockies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI like the peace and quiet here. I feel like it helps me write,\u201d he shares. \u201cI also like the juxtaposition of having a quiet place here and then afterwards heading back to Rome or Berlin and having the craziness there.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m somebody who always likes to be on the move,\u201d Haussman concludes, \u201cbut for now, I would say Boulder is feeling pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n The Spikes, with The Much Too Much, 6 p.m. Saturday, March 7, Trident Caf\u00e9, 940 Pearl Street, Boulder; the show is free.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\nEmbracing an alter ego and finding a new sound<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Upcoming Concert and Music on the Horizon<\/h2>\n