Hyperspace Deliver a Massive Pop-punk and Rock EP

The latest record from Hyperspace delivers a very colorful, bright, and pop-coated punk record that also features classic pop-rock licks, guitar work, and vocals. This album is packed with personality, tells some stories, gets a little personal when it wants to, but always has some amazing guitar work and hooks along the way.

The Distant Signals album doesn't waste much time with its first track, "Let's Go", which boasts pay pretty bountiful approach and this thriving energy along with loads of catchy progressions, crew vocals, and classic pop punk attributes, all breeding this atmosphere that feels slightly nostalgic, especially if you grew up listening to a lot of punk, and breeds a youthful undertone that is pretty inescapable.

This is an amazing track to introduce the record book because you're getting some of the best staples of the album right here on this first individual song. However, listening to the entire record is an absolute must, especially if you love punk rock music or pop-rock, because there are plenty of surprises around its corners, and again, there are elements about this full album that showcase the band going in slightly different directions throughout its course.

One of the things that really hits the hardest about this is the energy levels. It feels like a lot of these songs were recorded live on the floor, to an extent. It seems almost like everyone involved was feeding off of each other's energies the entire time, and that's why you get this live performance aesthetic.

There are definitely songs that are a bit more colorful or flavorful than others, like "Come Away With Me", which has a wonderful way of bouncing off the walls and giving you a lot of that character-riddled approach vocally and lyrically.

The riffs are awesome on this track, but there are a lot of memorable progressions and riffs throughout the full album as well.

One of the big things about this album is that there's always a heavy-handed pop coating. There are loads of memorable sections, melodies, and hooks along with some big choruses strewn throughout this release, and it's something that feels good to listen to.

These guys definitely feed a little bit on the experimental side of things as well. As I mentioned earlier, the songwriting goes in different directions sometimes, and some of the songs get a little heavier than the others.

"Those Words" is a damn near perfect example of exactly that. This track has more trudging and palm-muted guitar work, heavier drums, and there's a little bit of a darker edge throughout it.

You can hear a little bit of metal influence coming through, but that is just a normal part of punk rock in general.

Even pop punk has a lot of thrashy approaches in terms of the guitar work and energy.

The drummer in this band is absolutely perfect for what they're putting out there. He doesn't just add drive or sit right in the pocket; instead, he breeds a little bit of electric energy and liveliness into the songs, and a lot of the time, it feels like the rest of the band is sort of pushing off of that.

This, in turn, is also why some of these tracks give you that live performance vibe.

Personally, I dig when these guys get spacious. Sounds like "She Said", both of vast kind of undertone, mostly due to this airy synth pad that goes through the background of the track giving it some depth, but there's also the drumming that has a lot of high hat work bouncing on a four on the floor style beat, and this whole thing feels a little bit more post-rock, early 2000s radio heaviness kind of feel.

You can hear a little bit of that brooding sort of undertone musically, and I dig this aesthetic as well, simply because again, it brings in a slew of these different influences and keeps you on your toes throughout the record.

This is an album that encompasses a lot of a heavy rock approach. It's almost as if each member in the band is influenced by slightly different stuff, and when you put them all together, you're getting something really robust, full body, excitable, flavorful, vivacious, and can still have a bit of vastness, get personal, or thrash when it wants to.

So, you're taking in a lot of great stuff throughout this album.

For example, the last track on the record, "1989", has a '90s indie rock kind of feel to it.

It's not super fast, it's less punk rock than some of the others, but you still get a little bit of that expansive underbelly, and it is very radio-friendly and just reminds me of some of those bands you would hear in the late 90s or early 2000s on rock radio stations everywhere.

This is an album you should listen to all the way through. Listening to a few songs from this record won't give you the full spectrum of what the whole thing has to actually offer.

As I mentioned a little bit earlier, there are loads of those surprises around the corners, no two songs are really alike, and intensities and energies sort of fluctuate.

After listening to this full record a few times, I realized that I wanted to have a chat with the band and find out more.

So, while you listen to this album, read through our interview with Hyperspace below, and don't forget where you heard this first.

Let's talk about Distant Signals! This record was a thriving cross of grunge and pop-punk with great tones and energy !  Where did this album come from? 

Jason (guitar, vocals): The signals came from deep reaches of outer space... But seriously, besides a few exceptions, this record was a songwriting collaboration between Ryan, Kayvan, and I. A lot of the songs started from a drum beat, like "Those Words" and "1989". Others like "I Wanna Believe" came out of just jamming together. 

Ryan (drums, backing vocals): Once Jason ran out of songs, the three of us would dive into practice sessions where we'd either jam and improvise to find what clicked, or someone would throw out a killer riff—or in my case, a drum beat—that sparked something fresh. Around that time, I was really into bands like Off With Their Heads, Royal Blood, Phoenix, Sugarcult, Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers, and old Offspring albums. What made the creative process for this album stand out to me was how, after laying down the drum tracks, we'd each take turns at Joey's studio to hear the layers our bandmates had added. I'd get this indescribable electric buzz every time I headed over there. We'd tweak synth parts, add low and high backing vocals, and I'd even throw in some guitar tracks. It felt like being a painter with a blank canvas—each new layer brought the whole thing to life.

Kayvan (bass): As cliche' as it sounds, it really did come about naturally for the most part. Ryan had some interesting beats that he kept playing, and often times we built some songs off that. Jason had some riffs and an older song, and I had a couple of songs. Some things started out much slower and were later sped up.

I'm hearing a few different approaches to this record! Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

Jason: My main influences are Weezer, Green Day, Matthew Sweet, and Superdrag. For this record, influences that came out were The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and Figdish.

Ryan: Oh man, where to begin? On top of the influences I mentioned earlier, I was cranking up a ton of stuff from The Ataris, Bad Religion, Blink-182, Bouncing Souls, Descendents, Fig Dish, Folk Implosion, Goldfinger, Hum, Jimmy Eat World, Less Than Jake, Local H, Primus, Sebadoh, Millencolin, Mustard Plug, Toadies, and Unwritten Law.

Kayvan: Absolutely! Glad you noticed the different sounds. "Distant Signals" was a solid amalgamation of our influences. I'm kind of all over the place influence-wise, but my earliest influences were Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) and Cliff Burton (Metallica). Stuff like Death (Chuck Schuldiner), Black Flag, old UK77 punk, Matt Freeman (Rancid), Mike Herrera (MxPx). Although I think on this record my primary influences were probably more along the lines of Bruce Foxton (The Jam), Peter Hook (Joy Division), and Simon Gallup (The Cure).

Did you record this at a home setup, or at a big studio?

Jason: We recorded it at Orange Peel Recording Studio and Aria Recording Studio with Joey Jones. We had previously worked with Joey on our "Delusions of Grandeur" album. He really helped us achieve the vibes and sounds we were looking for on each song.

Ryan: I tracked the drums over at Orange Peel Recording, and man, the whole experience was just sublime!

Kayvan: What Jason said. I don't know if they are considered big studios or not, but our recording engineer Joey definitely has tremendous skills.

How did this all start for you as a band?

Jason: We started writing "I'll Be Back" during the pandemic shutdowns. We were practicing virtually and separately in our homes through an app called JamKazam. It was wild writing something without even seeing each other. When we got together in person the first time, the drums sounded like Led Zepplin's "Immigrant Song". "Let's Go" was also written a little before we recorded our previous album "Emulator", so that got carried over. The rest of the songs just developed over time through jamming and ideas we all brought to the practice space. I certainly didn't set out with a plan to make an album, we just had some many new songs- it made sense to record and release them.

Ryan: During the pandemic, speaking purely from a drummer's perspective, funneling the whole creative process through Jamkazam software was super challenging—we were all fighting latency issues, and on top of that, I don't even have an acoustic kit at home, just electronic drums. But to give Jamkazam credit, it got way better over time. Then, once we finally got back together in the practice space in person, I'll never forget that rush of playing on an acoustic set again. I'm convinced that energy is what sparked the creativity behind 'Distant Signals.'

Kayvan: Yeah...it was a different experience over JamKazam for sure. I guess "I'll Be Back" was our first virtual effort? During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time writing different songs; "Valentina" came from that. "Rebel Girl" was an old riff I had been playing forever but never used and I thought it would be funny to have a song about Han Solo singing about Leia and talking smack to Jabba and Boba Fett. We kept the song and expanded on it a bit, and Jason wrote new lyrics for it. The rest of the songs really did come about naturally...either from a drumbeat that we built around it, or a riff or bassline. 

Are you performing live right now? 

Jason: Yes, we're still active and have a few shows we'll announce soon.

Ryan: At any venue that will accept non-cover bands, which appears to be challenging these days.

Kayvan: We took a bit of a break this year to do the recording and album release, but playing live is always on the agenda.

Now that this is out, what's next for you guys?

Jason: We're going to Disney World! Lol. We're planning a small tour of the East Coast of the US in March 2026 to promote the album. 

Ryan: Following wherever Jason and Kayvan take me!

Kayvan: Like Jason mentioned, we're aiming for a mini-tour for next year and we have some local shows lined up as well.

Who's in all your headphones right now?

Jason: Lately it's been Husker Du, The Smiths, and Teenage Fanclub. I've also been watching this asian band flawlessly perform the entire "The Bends" album by Radiohead, without any edits on YouTube.

Ryan:  Air "Talkie Walkie", Boards Of Canada "The Campfire Headphase" , Fischerspooner "Odyssey (Limited Edition)", Less Than Jake "Anthem", and The Suicide Machines "Destruction By Definition."

Kayvan: Different things. Sad lo-fi stuff. I've been revisiting some old death metal from the 90s. The Cure's "Songs of a Lost World." Stuff from younger bands like Deep Sea Diver, Temples, and Roxferry. Modern bluesmen like Christone "Kingfish" Ingram and Buffalo Nichols.

What would you tell people they can expect on this release?

Jason: Get ready for 11 new songs about aliens, Star Wars, time traveling robots, disillusionment, mortality, and failing relationships.

Ryan: My attempt at keeping time without a click track!

Kayvan: More so than the preceding records, there's definitely a wide variety with this one. A solid mixture of old school and sounds that are unlike older Hyperspace material. Hopefully not a letdown?

Before we go, what would you like to express to fans of the music? 

Jason: Thank you so much for all of your support over the years!

Ryan: Thanks a bunch for throwing your support behind the one true Hyperspace, and for supporting local artists!

Kayvan: Thank you ever so much; support your local artists.

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