motel void

The Haunted Youth, the band of Joachim Liebens, has become a Belgian indie sensation in no time. The songs, often about the struggle of life but coated in gloriously dreamy guitars and synths, are therapy to Liebens, and strike a chord with fans and critics all over Europe.

MOTEL VOID: Your debut album ‘Dawn of the Freak’ from 2022 was a huge hit: great reviews by critics, loved by many fans (almost 20 million streams on Spotify). I suppose it was a life-changing success. How did it feel to find out that so many people in the world connect with your deeply personal music?

JOACHIM LIEBENS (THE HAUNTED YOUTH): It was eye opening, at first I was convinced nobody was gonna listen to it, it was fine with me, though. Now it’s like I almost know people are gonna listen, which makes me insecure at times, but in a good way, it’s harder to convince/satisfy myself, because I want my fans to have bangers to listen to. It can sometimes be crippling as well, making me overthink. But I’m in a good place with it now, like, I’m excited because I know people are waiting for more, you know?

MOTEL VOID: Last year you played around 80 shows all around Europe. Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, France, Spain, Czechia, Hungary, of course Belgium and the Netherlands… also big festivals like Pukkelpop, Eurosonic. How difficult was it for you to finish your new songs/record and find inspiration for making new music while playing so much? Do you write music on tour as well? And how do you enjoy ‘tour life’ in general?

THE HAUNTED YOUTH: It was an absolute chaos, obviously there was lots of experiences to draw inspiration from, and the need to write songs got me to a point where I didn’t want to tour anymore. I just wanted to be home, check in with myself in many different ways, since up until then my way of dealing with tour was by getting fucked up every night.

This time around, I changed a couple things, because I ended up having multiple breakdowns this summer, it got pretty bad. I was just stuck in my head with everything I was going thru, couldn’t let it out. So, I bought some gear to make music in the hotel room, did some research on how to maintain my health on tour, I have brought a box in the van now that’s got like, some vitamin supplements, protein powder, a mini blender to make shakes, etc… since I often have a hard time getting food down on tour because of the adrenaline, or something bothering me.

All those things I didn’t expect to be dealing with surprised me, overwhelmed me. And the band. But we’re all finding our own ways to deal with these things. I’d say we’re just trying to find the right balance now, and it’s starting to work for us. Once the songs are done, I’m pretty psyched to go on tour again!

MOTEL VOID: You had great reviews in the United States as well (KEXP e.g.). Is a ‘US tour’ your next goal?

THE HAUNTED YOUTH: Damn fucking right it is. The only thing is that all those things take time, for stars to align, and there’s so many good bands there already.

So, in the meanwhile I’ll just be making more stuff. We’ll see when they decide to book us! If they don’t I won’t be less proud of the music anyway.

But I feel more related to American culture in many ways than to Europe, so it’s obvious I want to play there. It feels like the whole scene I’m looking for is right there. I might already go there in a couple months to stir some shit up by myself, I don’t know how, but I’ll see what happens… I love kexp for letting us in, I always was a huge fan of their channel on YouTube. shoutout to Kevin ❤

MOTEL VOID: You wrote and produced your debut album by yourself. Now you’re releasing a new single ‘Into You’. How did your recording process evolve?

THE HAUNTED YOUTH: It went pretty smoothly this time, I didn’t obsess a whole lot about the wrong things, I actually just let it flow right out, with gaps in between working on it, that took months sometimes, I just decided I wanted to keep it fresh in my ears so listening to it over and over would hurt the song more than anything.

I think I started writing the instrumental quite some time ago, and it felt like the soundtrack to when I was falling in love for the first time, like sweet sixteen shit. But I feel like that every day with my current girlfriend, so I decided to build it around falling in love with her, and how I had a lot of anxiety giving in to these feelings, given my parents divorced and I got my heart broken so many times, in love and friendship, that I didn’t want to get hurt anymore. but the song eventually ends up with me giving in. That part always brings me to tears when I listen to the song and think about it. Makes me happy.

MOTEL VOID: When you were around 18-19 years old, your biggest inspiration was Joy Division, after that it was MGMT, DIIV, Mac Demarco… Who were your inspirations for your upcoming album?

THE HAUNTED YOUTH: I think this time it wasn’t so much other artists, or new things I discovered. But more so my own feelings at the time. I was dealing with a lot of shit back then. I actually got tired of music for a long time. Especially indie rock. It all sounded like noise, not the good kind. It just pissed me off. I listened to some artists though, but they are the same as I was listening to back when dawn of the freak was being written. But I’m listening to them differently now, in a way. I’m pulling from my own feelings more than I’m trying to sound like this or that. It’s like I’m folding myself open. I still sound like me, but more direct and completely me. All the influences are still there, but more present, more outspoken.

Dawn of the freak kinda got wrapped in this hazy blanket that sounds like a bit of everything at once, but now I want to be more in people’s faces. More aggressive, more honest, more pure, more intense, more dynamic in highs and lows. Artist I did listen to were Lil Peep, Lil Tracy, Suicide boys, Blink 182, My Bloody Valentine, Diiv, Ekkstacy,…

MOTEL VOID: That’s a great combination – mbv, Lil Peep, Blink 182. I’m looking forward to that new record even more now haha! Anyway, besides making music – you used to paint. Is it still something that you like to do in your free time?

THE HAUNTED YOUTH: I kind of got bored with it, and the whole art scene was nothing I could really relate to, so maybe when I’m like, 50 or something, I might start again lol. I’m way more into designing artwork and clothes now.