20/07/2026
Here's a nice surprise for most of you, I HATE & SUBROSA have decided to work together on the first ever vinyl version of the group's debut album, "Strega", originally an I HATE CD-only release (2008). Finally it is time for a run of 312 red vinyl to be unleashed upon mankind!
Mastered for vinyl by Magnus "Devo" Andersson, Endarker Studio, in 2026.
https://ihate.bandcamp.com/album/strega
https://www.facebook.com/SubrosaSLC
https://www.instagram.com/subrosaslc/
What follows is an interveiw with Subrosa vocalist/guitarist Rebecca Vernon
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-Tell us what is going on in the Subrosa camp at present.
We are preparing to play Fire in the Mountains in 12 days, and even though we have had quite a few practices, and practiced a lot individually, there was a lot of dust to shake off. The sound finally started to sound like it was really coming together at our last practice this past Sunday, after so much work. I think we are all feeling a little more confident about playing this show. We are profoundly excited to play it. We are also hand-painting a bunch of parasols and getting other merch to sell at the festival. It is exciting to make our first merch in eight years!
-How do you feel when listening to you 2008 debut album 18 years later?
Honestly, I had not listened to it all the way through since it came out in 2008! It brought back a rush of memories listening to the mastered version for vinyl. I have tended to always view Strega as simply a prototype or precursor to the three that came after it (No Help, More Constant, and Battle of Ages), but listening to it again made me feel new appreciation for it, for its own sake. I felt a certain sense of pride and also some surprise, that I felt the songs have held up well over time. Each song has its own personality and there is a lot of variety between them. Listening to Strega again felt like seeing flesh and bone materialize on a phantom that has existed only in my head for so long, that had become indistinct and blurred by the passage of time.
-How do you look back at the persons you were when recording Strega?
We had a strong vision for what we wanted to accomplish, but no real clue as to how to make it happen. We were full of hope, optimism, blind faith and passion, and hadn't been affected by some of the darker times that were ahead for us, as a band and individually. Sometimes I yearn for that old Rebecca, but at the same time, I'm glad to be where I am right now.
-Who were your main influences back then?
Our main influence was a band from Utah called the Red Bennies, who were in turn influenced in turn by Sleep, Jimi Hendrix and a band from the 60s called Black Pearl. I first saw them in 1996. It was my first time encountering sludge metal, and it was like an atom bomb going off in my soul. I still have never heard another band like the Red Bennies, nor have I heard one as angry, even after all the hundreds of heavy bands I've seen.
Another major influence on SubRosa was PJ Harvey. Again, there is no one else like her, and her heavy, simple approach to blues riffs and matter-of-fact, seductive caterwauling knows no equal. Her approach to riff-writing was especially influential on me.
-How do you think the album will be received by fans of your later recordings that has not heard Strega previously?
I think a lot of fans who have not heard Strega before might see it much as I did, as a valiant but ultimately basic precursor to more powerful, more realized albums to come. That is not entirely wrong. But I invite fans to listen to Strega and appreciate it for its own sake, as I did when listening to the vinyl masters a few months ago. I felt a sense of joy remembering the songs, and even surprise. There were so many songs I had all but forgotten. I even got up and danced to "Black Joan," to my 13-year-old niece's horror.
-Do you have any favorite tracks from the album?
I think "Black Joan" is my favorite track. I like the lyrics on the choruses, "I see my train a-comin, black wheels like thunder rolling/won't you help me pack my bags?/I'm leaving, and I'm not coming back." A triumphant goodbye to a bad era, which I think nearly every human can relate to.
-To finally have the debut available on vinyl must feel great?
Yes, it feels incredible. Thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into making this happen! It feels like a nod to our roots and an honoring of those first steps into the unknown.
-You released 4 studio albums in your active period, 2005-2019. What lead up to the band split, and why did you decide to reform in 2025?
Honestly, playing SubRosa Subdued for Roadburn had a big influence on the band split. I had been wanting to explore softer, more minimal songwriting and delivery, focusing on the folk roots of the band, for a few years, and that set was so enjoyable and satisfying that it confirmed to me that that was the right direction for me to go in creatively. I tried to simply put SubRosa on a break, but it was really hard for us to go on a break. So I ended up feeling that I had no choice but to end SubRosa, even temporarily, so I could focus on my solo project The Keening.
-Are songs from "Strega" still part of the live-set?
We don't have any songs from Strega for our Fire in the Mountains setlist, unfortunately. But when we played our Subdued set at Roadburn in 2016, we played "Sugar Creek"! We even played "Mirror" from the pre-Strega demo The Worm has Turned. I think the songs from Strega translated well to our Subdued set, because of their stronger folk roots. It was after Strega that more doom metal started creeping into our sound. I believe Beneath the Frozen Soil, who we toured with in Europe in 2009, had a big part in that influence. RIP our beloved Linus Pilebrand.
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Thanks to Ola Blomkvist for parts of the questions/interview!
