QUICKIE OF THE WEEK: A short interview with Matic Blagonič (HEI‘AN)
written by Marko Jakob | 15.10.2025 |
Pix666: Hello Matic. Thanks for your time. How are you and the others from the band doing?
Matic: Hey! Thank you so much for having me! We’re all doing pretty good, thanks for asking!
Pix666: Please introduce your band Hei‘An to the readers in a few short sentences. How did it all begin and what kind of music do you make?
Matic: Well, if we want this one to truly be just a few short sentences, I can’t really go into the story of how everything began, but yeah, to make it short and concise: We are Hei’An, a 5-piece up-and-coming post-metalcore band from Slovenia. I founded the band in 2020, but we only “truly” started being active in like 2022. We’ve released 2 albums so far, one live EP and a remix, and have had gigs in many European countries and even overseas, and have managed to perform at some big festivals like MetalDays, ESNS, 70000 Tons of Metal and some others so far. While our music falls under the modern metalcore / post-metalcore genre umbrella, at least with this new record for sure, we make music that kind of blends various different genres and styles into one big thing, so you can definitely hear a lot of pop, electronic, dance, trance, darkwave, deathcore and possibly even more influences if you listen to our stuff closely. But our main point is making music that is deeply emotional, somewhat cinematic, has a strong message and story behind it, and is catchy and exciting to listen to, at least to our ears. 🙂
Pix666: I think our readers are just as curious as I am: what does your band name actually mean?
Matic: It comes from the Chinese language! Aljaž, our harsh vocalist, came up with it (he studied synology, so he speaks Chinese fluently) and suggested the idea to me before he was even involved with the band itself, as I had a very hard time coming up with a name for the project that would fit all the criteria I had in my head – I wanted it to have a bit of a deeper meaning that would tie in well with the band’s sound and direction, and I wanted it to be unique (so possibly not based off of anything from the English language), sound cool, and be short and easy to remember. And as soon as he suggested the name “Hei’An” to me, it all instantly clicked. So, basically, we stylized the spelling a teeny tiny bit, but in essence it means “darkness” and can be translated as “peaceful / ominous darkness”. Since our music always comes from a dark place, yet has a sense of “peace / hope” woven into it all throughout, it felt and still feels like a perfect match.
Pix666: From the founding of the band to the release of your first album, two years passed – which was exactly during the Covid pandemic. Could that perhaps even have been an advantage, since it allowed you to fully focus on working on the songs?
Matic: For sure! I had been writing songs since early high school, all with just a guitar and my voice, so a really singer-songwriter kind of thing, and although I used to post little snippets of them on Instagram and whatnot at the time, I didn’t really “do” anything with them, I never truly properly recorded them or released them. And then when the Covid pandemic hit, I suddenly found myself with a lot more time on my hands and way less stuff to do, so I decided I might as well take advantage of that and actually do something with the songs I had “on my drive”, so to speak. I really wanted to think everything through properly, so that’s when I came up with the idea for the band, the concept for that first album, the general sonic direction I wanted the band to take at the time, and although I first thought it’d be more of a solo project with “hired musicians”, it quickly turned into an actual “proper band”. So although the Covid pandemic caused a lot of damage to different aspects of society, a lot of which we still haven’t quite fully recovered from, I’m honestly thankful to at least have had the chance to take that time and do something “productive” with all those songs I’d been writing. Now, the pandemic also rendered us unable to rehearse together or hit the studio for select periods of time, so in some aspects, it also prolonged the release of our first record in a lot of ways, but that initial lockdown was still super “useful” for me to actually get everything moving.
Pix666: How does the songwriting process work in Hei’An – who is responsible for what, and what inspires you when writing songs?
Matic: I’ve started writing 99% of Hei’An songs released to date completely on my own. For the first album, the workflow was quite a bit different, but the workflow we sort of implemented for our new album “Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye” was as follows: I started each song idea from just playing around in my DAW, exploring and messing around with different synth sounds, pads, beats, samples etc., and I was sort of making little loops that just sounded cool to me, and they were all purely electronic at first. Then, when I had something I truly liked and that made me feel something, I expanded that idea a bit, started adding live instruments, and only at that point when I already had a good general outline of a demo, I shared it with the rest of the boys in the band. Then, everybody added their own little ideas and their own touch, especially pertaining to their own respective parts of course, I just made sure everything aligned with the vision I was starting to craft for the specific song’s direction. I only wrote the vocal melodies and lyrics towards the very end of this first stage, depending on what the instrumental made me feel. Of course, we also made a lot of retroactive changes here and there for everything to properly fit together, until we had a pretty well fleshed out demo. A lot of the magic also happened in the studio and during the production process, but all of the “main” stuff was done in that demo stage. So it’s very much a collaborative effort, but I’m still kind of the one making sure everything aligns well with the vision I have in mind at any given time. In terms of what inspires us.. Instrumentally and production-wise, we just love to make music that “hits us in the feels” and that is exciting, fun and inspiring for us to make, and we really try not to burden ourselves with any pre-conceived notions of what a song is supposed to be, but rather let the song itself “lead the way” in a sense and see where it takes us. Lyrically, I draw inspiration from different things, depending on the song and “era”, but for this album, I had 3 main thematic pillars that the album greatly revolves around. One is my sexuality (I publicly came out as bisexual a while ago and some of the songs tackle the themes of the hardships I’ve had to go through due to some aspects of society and even some former close friends and family members rejecting me just because of that), the second one is my MS and subsequent depression (I was diagnosed with MS between “imago” and “Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye” – doing good now, though, the disease is in remission at the time of writing! – which caused a lot of confusion, uncertainty, the feeling of impending doom and dread, and subsequently my mind spiraled to some very dark places because of it all), and the final one was more of a sociopolitical reflection of our decaying society that kind of ties it all together (with the surge of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, bigotry and all-around baseless hate that seems to be on the rise nowadays, which is something immensely worrying, at least to me). In that way, each song on the new album kind of addresses a “ghost” (so, past trauma) that I wanted to “kiss goodbye” (so work through in a cathartic and therapeutic way through the process of creating this record), and I kind of urge the listener to try and do the same if they can – thus, the album title, “Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye”.
Pix666: A few weeks ago your second album was released – how satisfied are you with your work, and how were the fans’ reactions to ‘Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye’?
Matic: Very! We all feel like we’ve managed to grow so much as individual artists and musicians, and as a band, and we really pushed ourselves to try to do EVERYTHING better than we did with “imago” (although we are still very proud of that record!), and I feel like we’ve achieved that. Like, I’m not claiming “it’s the best album in the world” or anything, but it definitely IS “the best album we as Hei’An could have put out at this given time”, so yes, we are incredibly proud of it! Of course, we want to keep pushing ourselves and keep growing so that every release is hopefully better and better and better, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are proud of what we’ve done so far. And the fans’ reactions have been overwhelmingly positive! A lot of people DMd us telling us some very personal stories about how a specific song helped them through some personal struggles, and it’s always extremely touching to read something like that. So thank you so much everybody for listening and supporting, we love you all, truly! <3
Pix666: I just checked out some of the new songs and I’m really blown away. What are the main differences between the two albums?
Matic: Thank you so much, so glad you like the new stuff! In terms of the main differences between the albums.. “Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye” definitely displays a higher level of overall musicianship and songwriting / arranging ability than “imago”, as we all really did work our asses off to improve our “craft” and put out something “even better in every way”, if that makes sense. It’s a much bolder record, and although part of it may sound a bit more “conventional”, parts of it are drastically less “conventional”, but still work very well in the context of each respective song, and the album as a whole. The “poppy” aspect is even poppier, but the heavy aspect is even heavier, and that contrast and vibrance makes the album an even more exciting sonic rollercoaster in my eyes. Then, of course, the other main audible difference is the production – we took one a much more electronic-influenced route this time around, and the production in general is way more polished and “well-produced”, reminiscent of modern metalcore / alt rock bands like Bring Me The Horizon, Architects, Bad Omens, Sleep Token etc., which is a sonic direction we’ve really grown to absolutely LOVE over the years. So yeah, two very different albums, but I feel like they both still sound “unmistakably Hei’An” if that makes sense. Super proud of both, and super proud of our growth. Hopefully we can continue improving and expanding our sonic horizons with each subsequent future release as well!
Pix666: What about a tour or a release show for the new album – is something like that planned?
Matic: We have a lot of stuff in the works for 2026 and beyond, but sadly we can’t announce anything yet at this time. But yes, we do have a release show coming up – not only a release show, but an actual 2-day album release festival, here in Ljubljana! We’ll be headlining both days with dedicated “Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye” sets, and we have 2 different openers per day, so 4 total, a Hei’An DJ set after party on the second day, a food truck, a custom Hei’An beer.. A bunch of really cool stuff! And, it’s the only 2 Hei’An live performances in 2025, so you shouldn’t miss it! 😉
Pix666: Cool! Do you have a link where to buy a ticket?
Matic: Of course! Here’s the link: https://www.mojekarte.si/si/skupina/hei-an-festival.html?
Pix666: In Slovenia there have been, and still are, really big and well-known metal open-air festivals such as MetalDays and Tolminator Festival, which are visited by fans from all over Europe. But how big is the metal scene in your home country? Is there perhaps even a rock or metal radio station?
Matic: The scene is somewhat small compared to some other places in the world, but it’s still surprisingly vibrant, lively and “healthy” for such a small country! There are a lot of local metal bands here, an abundance of rock and metal shows from both foreign and local bands – big and small – happening all year round, and yes, we even have a few internationally famous festivals! I’d say the scene here is generally more oriented towards more traditional and more extreme metal subgenres, so that might not be playing in our favour all that much, but the local scene has still been extremely supportive and loving towards everything we’ve done so far, so we are pretty lucky to be based out of a region where the scene is this “healthy”! And although I don’t think we have a dedicated metal radio station, we do have more than one rock radio station (some are even REALLY big on a national level), and they play metal as well, they’ve played several of our songs before as well, and still are!
Pix666: You’ve already shot some great video clips, most of the videos have over 100.000 views on YouTube. Do you or anyone from the band actually like looking at such statistics? And what’s your general view on the development and influence of social media in the music business?
Matic: I mean, yes and no. You have to keep an eye on all kinds of statistics in this day and age, make sure you understand what they really mean, properly analyze everything and adapt your future strategies from what you’ve learned. But it’s not like “looking at statistics” brings any of us any kind of “inherent joy” on its own. I mean, of course seeing a song reach some kind of milestone is always super exciting and humbling, but that excitement honestly fades away so quickly.. What truly stays with us are meaningful fan interaction – when somebody leaves a heartfelt comment somewhere, when somebody DMs us and tells us a personal story about how we saved / changed their lives (variations of that have happened several times before, and I always get goosebumps and misty-eyed when it happens), when we see fans having the time of their lives at a show, when somebody approaches us after a show and tells us how much a particular song means to them.. THESE are the moments that truly stay with us and that we are always the most grateful for. But yeah, to touch on your second question and sort of tie the two together.. Social media and DSPs have pretty much become the “pillars” of a band’s growth in this day and age. So even if it’s not like “we enjoy monitoring and analyzing statistics”, it is something that we truly need to do, as a vast majority of music industry professionals, agencies, labels, booking agents, promoters, festivals etc., and even a big chunk of the listeners, all put great weight on a lot of these statistics. Especially Spotify monthly listeners. Which of course makes total sense – your online performance is a great indicator of “real life performance”, as all of those monthly listeners for example, ARE individual people, some of whom will be coming to shows, buying tickets, buying merch.. So the industry puts a big focus on these numbers, and we totally get and understand that, it’s just how it kind of works right now. So although we would personally maybe prefer to have been born like 10 years earlier (that would have actually been enough!) and started this band at a time when social media and online DSPs didn’t straight up “dictate” many aspects of this industry, we fully understand that it’s an ever-changing and ever-evolving landscape and we just need to evolve with it in several ways, and we fully accept that and try to do that to the best of our abilities. I wouldn’t say “the old school way of doing things” or “the modern day of doing things” are inherently better or worse than the other, it’s just a fact of life that every industry evolves over time, and so does this one.
Pix666: Matic, what has been the greatest moment with Hei’An for you so far – and what plans or wishes do you have as a musician for the future?
Matic: Oh, there have been so many.. One moment that I’ve mentioned several times before in other interviews, but still gives me goosebumps every time I think of it, was when we played in Brno, CZ a few years ago, and it was a pretty small show, but the audience was so kind to us, super energetic, seemed to have had a blast.. And anyway, there was this guy in a wheelchair, moshing, partying like crazy, he came to the front of the stage a few times and gave us high fives, fist bumps and whatnot, and he just had the biggest smile on his face at all times, especially when he directly interacted with us.. It was just such a sweet and wholesome moment, one we’ll surely never forget. If you mean in terms of achievements, I don’t know, we still have sooooo many goals we want to reach, but so much cool stuff has happened already as well.. Getting to perform at the legendary 70000 Tons of Metal festival cruise as our second and third-ever live performances as Hei’An was pretty damn legendary. Also getting through the screening process for the Grammy Awards and being the first-ever Slovenian act to have done this in those specific categories (“Best Metal Performance” and “Best Rock Album”) was pretty surreal as well. In terms of plans and wishes.. The most “imminent” first career goal for me, and all of us really, would be to get this band to a level where it can generate enough revenue on its own (without the need for “side jobs”, “day jobs”, “side projects”, any kinds of external funding etc.) so that it can sustain itself and all of its respective activities (recording costs, production costs, promo costs, manufacturing costs, touring costs, taxes etc.) and also sustain us individually well enough so that we can live at least somewhat comfortable lives. When we reach that point, it will definitely feel like the SINGLE biggest achievement of our careers so far haha.. But yeah, we just want to keep writing and releasing music that means something to us and that excites us, and tour as much of the world as we can in our lifetime. Sounds pretty simple, but it’s quite a goal to be honest.. But we are confident we’ll make it, as we truly are working our asses off for this band. But we also always find new goals for ourselves, so you know, once we DO reach all of this, I’m sure we’ll already know what the “next” goal is etcetc. We love to challenge ourselves, and we love to do our best to try and grow as individuals, as artists and as a band at all times, to the best of our abilities.
Pix666: Apart from music – are there any other things you enjoy? Do you have any unusual or interesting hobbies?
Matic: Well, music has taken over most aspects of my life in recent years to be honest, but yes, I do have other activities and hobbies I enjoy. I really love cooking, I even considered applying on MasterChef a while ago, but I doubt I’ll ever do that. I also love astronomy and astrophysics (at one point, years ago, I was deciding between that and music in terms of how I would continue my studies, but I then chose music, and have absolutely 0 regrets). I love reading, I love watching movies and TV shows, especially in the horror genre.. A lot of little stuff here and there to unwind. But yeah, even in my “100% free time”, at least listening to music, if not actually doing anything with it, still takes up most of all my time, and I’ve been loving it so far.
Pix666: Do you have any other news about Hei‘An that you would like to share with the fans?
Matic: I feel like I’ve shared everything “imminent” in some of the previous answers.. But we do have a lot of live activity coming up, it’s just not announced yet, and we also might be dropping new music sooner than anybody might think (not “right now”, but sooner than “a few years” FOR SURE), so if anybody likes anything we’ve done so far, you should keep your eyes peeled for announcements, as there will be a lot of them relatively soon! But for now, I’d like to thank everybody for their overwhelming support on “Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye”, and hope to see as many of y’all at our release festival at the end of the month! Thank you so much!! <3
Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting answers – good luck for the future. I hope to see you live one day, maybe even here in Vienna.
Matic: Thank you, and thanks again so much for having me, this was fun! Vienna is definitely on our list, so hope to see you there when we do perform there! 🙂
https://heianofficial.com/
https://www.facebook.com/heianmusicofficial
https://www.instagram.com/heianofficial/
Photos © Grega Stamenovič & Hei’An
