Review Fix Exclusive: Hands Like House’s Alexander Pearson Talks ‘Dissonants’ And More


Review Fix chats with Hands Like House guitarist Alexander Pearson who discusses the band’s upcoming album “Dissonants,” as well as their new single, “Colorblind.” Breaking down what makes them tick creatively and their goals for 2016, Pearson lets us know why they are set for a massive new year.

About Hands Like Houses:

Over the last several months, Hands Like Houses has teased fans with new tracks “I Am” and “New Romantics,” and with the release of “Colourblind” excitement for Dissonants will reach an unprecedented heights on a global scale.

Dissonants was produced by James Paul Wisner (Paramore, Underoath), and features twelve massive rock-radio anthems. Fans can pre-order the album now at iTunes (w/instant download of “Colourblind”) and http://handslikehouses.merchnow.com.

Follow the band at https://www.facebook.com/handslikehouses for additional updates.

Review Fix: How did you guys get together?

Alexander Pearson: We got together in a pretty typical way. A majority of the band had been childhood friends then started playing music together, that coupled with the music community in our home city (canberra) being quite small meant that after a few member changes we had our lineup cemented pretty early on. 

Review Fix: What bands have played the biggest role in your creative process?

Pearson: This question is always changing and for the recent album it’s even harder to narrow it down. I’d actually say for this album in particular it was more centred around emotions – frustration, anxiety and longing then add to that the extensive touring we had been doing and what we saw connecting with our live shows and then that is more what inspired and motivated us. We will always have bands we look up-to though, Circa Survive, Thrice and The Receiving End Of Sirens – they will always hold a place in our hearts,

Review Fix: How was “Colourblind” written? Is there a story behind it?

Pearson: Colourblind started off as just a guitar riff and some chorus chords that I’d been playing over and over in dressing rooms, in vans and on buses as we toured. Then after warped tour 2015 we hit the studio and it really started taking shape, it was really exciting to see! In the early days of the song the pre-chorus vocals were actually the chorus vocals but then we eventually decided we needed it to be bigger and Trenton came back with what we have now. This process has become somewhat the norm for us now – start with a guitar riff or some chords and then it just quickly expands from there as each layer gets added. 

Review Fix: What was it like to work with James Paul Wisner?

Pearson: James is one of a kind haha! He’s definitely a character. We worked with him on our previous album ‘Unimagine’ so we already had a fantastic relationship, we were really honest with each other as each song came to life and more ideas got added. He is always so blunt when refining songs for the album and its something we really need as we’re all so creative that sometimes we can go too far. 

Review Fix: Bottom Line- what makes this album a special one?

Pearson: This album is by far the most intense experience we have ever had. The whole process was so constantly fueled with emotions, there were some really low points and some incredibly high ones as well. This is our album where we get to say “this is almost broke the band!”. It’s aggressive, raw, fragile and intense and we are dying for everyone to hear it! 

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2016?

Pearson: We want to be known haha! We’re tired of always hearing “this band is so underrated,” “they deserve so much more recognition,” “how have I never heard of this band before.” We want everyone to know what we’re about, to not be able to put the record down and be dying to come out to our shows!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Pearson: Global domination haha we aren’t settling for anything less.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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