Hare Squead Talk Their Latest “Superweird EP”, The Irish Music Scene & More!

Hare Squead, the Irish duo have been quickly making a name for themselves. Hip-Hop and Ireland may seem like two points on opposite ends of the spectrum but the now-band of two, made up of Tony Konstone and Lilo Blues, are imprinted within both worlds and look at themselves as more than just an anomaly.

The group started out in 2016 and gained a storming success with their “Supernormal” EP in particular with fan favourite single “Herside Story” which led the likes of Goldlink to jump on the remix. Having taken an 18-month hiatus, Hare Squead made their anticipated return with “100 Miles”, a guitar driven single inspired by the vulnerability intertwined in Aretha Franklins “I Say a Little Prayer”.

Now back with their latest EP entitled “Superweird”, I caught up with the pair and asked them a few questions… 

For people who aren’t aware of your music, please introduce yourselves..!

We’re Hare Squead from Dublin!

Which song do you both think made Hare Squead take off?

Our most popular song’s or song’s people would most be familiar with our name would be Flowers, Pure and Herside Story.

What’s the music scene like in Ireland in comparison to somewhere like London?

It’s predominantly Folk / Traditional, Rock, Indie music. There’s also a big Techno scene too, but over the last 5 years or so a lot of different styles have been coming to light and Hip-Hop has become one of the most listened to genre everywhere, and Ireland has been doing its small part in that too. The Irish Drill scene’s got some fire!

You’ve recently released your latest “Superweird” EP, tell us more about this? Were there any messages you wanted to put across? How long did it take to complete?

“Superweird” wasn’t exactly the most thought out project. It was more that we felt we needed more music out so we kinda pulled up a couple of tracks that we really liked and put them together. The name came from one of our boys Jordy who thought the EP should follow up to our last EP “Super Normal”. Each track is unique which is what makes it cohesive in some way. They’re all weird haha!

You have two features on the EP with both Jay Prince and Peter Xan, why these two artists in particular?

They’re both dope talented individuals that we highly admire. We had these tracks we were working on at different times and felt they would fit the vibes perfectly and they did! Tracks are “Like I’m Barack” and “Meeting With Myself”. Big love to the both of them for real! Y’all should check them out!

You are both referred to as a Hip-Hop duo but have been experimental with your sound over the years, “Superweird” arguably blends various genres. How would you describe your sound? A lot of artists now prefer not to be boxed into one specific genre..

Yeah we’d like to not be boxed in you know. That’s kind of always been our approach, to just be fully expressive in sound. We listen to so many different styles of music, so I think that’s why our music changes so much. I think our presence and personalities and love of different styles is what makes it that “Hare Squead” sound. We’ve got some cool punk songs too! 

What inspires you musically and lyrically? Do you guys draw from personal experiences, observation of others or both?

It kind of varies from song to song. One might be all up in your feels and another might be edgy or another might have a story to it. It depends on the mood of the day haha!

You both recently flew to Berlin for your ‘COLORS’ session for “Minor Gangsters (Gully)”, I read that this song is more politically driven. Could you tell us a bit more about the back story of this track?

Ahahaha oh shit nah it’s not really political. It is a reply to a politician we bumped into on Brick Lane last summer. He recorded us, put it on Twitter then a few months after posting it called us Minor Gangsters…… not cool man. That’s just not cool!

We messed around with the gangster narrative and made a lil bop to it. Was ignorant of him to say such things and then to give a pitiful apology didn’t make it any better. That’s his lesson to learn. We move forward! 

What have you both been doing to stay inspired during the madness that is going on? Do you guys have any Netflix recommendations?

Been binge watching on Netflix, over eating and banging out Fifa!! Any man can get it on that!! For real. We’ve got the studio at home so we still recording, producing and writing. Gotta stay active!

What more can we expect to see you from this 2020?

Hopefully this pandemic can be controlled so we can be out again! Got so much music to release and a couple festivals lined up!! I miss my friends! 

You can listen to the Superweird EP below and on Apple Music here.