Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Asher (vocals), Mark (guitars), Norman (keys). Live members: Kyle (bass), Stu (drums)

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Hydrogen Skyline? How long has the band been around?

Norman: Prior to Hydrogen Skyline I was working as a solo artist/producer for EDM and industrial music, and when I realized bands were more fun, I decided to start forming this group.

Asher: I had never been in a band before Hydrogen Skyline! Gasp!

Mark: Prior to Hydrogen Skyline I was playing with a group of college friends in an avant garde project called Young Dead. Actually, Norman and Asher came to one of my shows with Young Dead and convinced me to play in their band. And here I am!

Hydrogen Skyline as of this coming October will have been around for five years!

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

The band’s name has a lot of differing opinions as far as origin, but Norman stands firm that it was based on a hallucinogenic experience where he watched whales swimming in the sky while listening to the Mars Volta. So, we kind of roll with that.

Technically we’ve never changed the band’s name before based on us actually coming onto the scene in 2011. However; we did have some other names during the formation of the band. Some of them are too ridiculous to mention, but the top ones prior to HS were: Rogue Letter Red, Releveler, and Halovore.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Generally, we write all our songs as a unit while sitting together. There are times Mark or Norman come in with a riff idea and we elaborate from that, but usually everyone has their hands on every aspect of writing.

For Photovoltaic, we’d be remiss not to include the help of our amazing producer, Jeoff Harris. As artists, it’s easy to get overly consumed with the writing process and get stuck in the same ideas, so having Jeoff on board for this record was insurmountably helpful with bringing a lot of new concepts in our sound to life.

Looking through our discography, there are a lot of themes of personal change throughout our music. Sometimes that comes across as reflective of more of a somber concept, and other times it comes across as a very confident anthemic piece. As a lot of life seems to center around change as a personal challenge, I would be hard-pressed to assume we’ll every completely diverge from that.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

It differs per member, but overall we all agree that we love what we’re hearing from Twenty One Pilots, Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons, Metric, and the Neighbourhood.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

Norman: The only true thing that inspired me to start a band, aside from the love of music, was the status of how cool it was to be in a band in high school. Which is sad, but I fully admit that I started out as a total poser. However; there have been highly emotional albums and concerts that have inspired me to continue beyond my initial shallow reasoning, and probably the most memorable of those for me was seeing Nine Inch Nails at Red Rocks Amphitheater here in CO.

Asher: Not necessarily. I love music, and love so many artists that it’s hard to say only one has been inspiring. When Norman was working in our basement with forming Hydrogen Skyline, I found myself really drawn to the music they were writing at the time and I remember thinking “hey, it would be fun to sing in a band with my husband”, and with my former choir experience, I guess I passed the bar!

Mark: Man, so many rad bands that I almost don’t know where to start. Jimi Hendrix has been a huge influence through my entire life. Steve Vai. Man, just a ton.

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc…

We have so many routines! We love to jam out to something that we’re currently listening to in the truck before heading out. Sometimes its fun to take a group shot of rum before hitting the stage, other times not. We’ve even begun team gym attacks recently in Pokemon Go! But our main preparation is to huddle up and just talk up our reasoning for performing which is to have a good time and to get others that are watching us to have a good time!

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

There’ve been a lot of high times for us, but I would have to say most of our highlights have been getting to play with some of the really fantastic world renowned bands like Atlas Genius and Civil Twilight, and how amazing it is to get to know some really great artists and seeing who they are as people and not just performers.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Norman: I would love to tour with Foo Fighters – those guys just seem like really great guys that have an amazing time doing what they love. Our music doesn’t match up, but I think they would make a tour seem like a blast.

Asher: Touring with Twenty One Pilots would probably be the most fun another band who isn’t Twenty One Pilots could possibly have.

Mark: Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco! No question about it, those guys know how to party.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I think that does it! Thank you so much for taking the time to read about us and checking out our music!