Hell Is For Heroes - London, UK, Summer 2002
By: Toby L
A group so fiercely attention-grabbing from the outset that you'd have to be partially dead not to want to embrace them with open arms and a longing smile, Hell Is For Heroes are the complete antithesis of years of vacuous rock talent emerging from the UK.
Having spawned tunes memorable enough to grant repeat-plays until the listener obtains repetitive ear-strain injury, let alone live-shows that compel on first sight, the quintet's specific evolution over the past twenty-four months has been a rapid, albeit sturdy one. Primarily SW London friends since any time worth remembering, guitarist Will McGonagle, fellow power-chord basher Tom O' Donahue, drummer Joe Birch, and bassist James 'Fin' Findlay decided to get their groove on and form their own alt-music outfit. Except - one problem: where's the singer..? Well, enter Justin Schlosberg, not so much a wanna-be frontman as a gonna-be star, a man with a commanding stand-up-and-take-notice presence and vocal-shudder that proves loud enough to compete with his fellow band-mates' huge, angular mansion of a sound.
Naturally, a couple of single-releases follow, there are rave press-reviews, blah, blah, blah, but what really sets their reputation alight are the band's commonly-described-as-incendiary live-performances: the ideas, melodies and textures so painstakingly immediate and crushing that The Deftones and Rage Against The Machine's new revival start-up act with Chris Cornell best take note.
It's because of such a past dazzling and accumulating fans all the time through their concert/festival-appearances that we're inspired to meet them here today, prior to a sell-out London show at the legendary Garage. Huddled at a restaurant-table just across the road from the venue due to be set ablaze tonight are four-fifths of the group, Findlay nowhere to be found.
'The thing is, having played lots of shows, it's helped us to get our confidence up,' states Birch on the live-aspect of their work. 'And playing with a lot of good bands has been great as well - last year, we supported Hundred Reasons, and that was a great tour to do, because they'd come on and always do a brilliant show: that's something that's there to help you raise your game whenever you're playing with a new band, or whatever... It's always inspirational. With this tour as well, with Biffy Clyro and thisGIRL, they're two inspirational bands to watch.'
Seated on an opposite side from his fellow partner in sound, Will nods. 'A lot of people said that, when we came back from America, we had just jumped higher (in our sound); I suppose it did us good, because we played the songs so many times in the studio - but we still feel that we're getting better. At the beginning of the tour, we weren't as good as we are now...'
He pauses, his face becoming noticeably anxious. 'After saying that, though, we're probably going to stink tonight...'
As it happens - they don't at all; how could they? Instead, hundreds of fans surf their way to the front to catch closer glimpses and grabs of their 'Heroes, such screeching infernos as 'You Drove Me To It', last single 'I Can Climb Mountains' and first ever limited-edition 45-release, 'Sick/Happy' generating a deafening roar and faithful shout-back to the stage of every word.
'For me, personally,' starts up Justin, 'before you go on-stage, you always have doubts. But, the cool thing about playing shows is that, as soon as you actually get on-stage, the buzz and the adrenaline of playing live just totally takes over; you don't think about anything, really... All the best shows happen when you're not trying how to work the audience, how to play your instrument - you're just f**king vibing off the energy.'
It certainly seems such a way from a viewer's perspective; even during the most intricate of moments, there's always visual action to behold on the stage.
Commenting on this, McGonagle reveals, 'When we started, we would pull off all these cool moves - but we never landed on any notes! But, now, we're learning how to do them both, which means - in certain instances - you have to concentrate more on the playing.'
'Yeah,' supplies the singer. 'You've got to avoid falling into the trap of just doing moves or clichéd actions for the sake of it - if it's not natural, then it's wrong.'
Thus far, your live-work to date has also usually involved touring with plenty of other acts on the bill - doesn't this set a parameter of competitiveness?
Tom ponders briefly. 'It's definitely only positive when you play with other bands,' he utters. 'I don't think it's a competitive thing - you just want to do the best you can do, and it's not about competing.'
'Yeah,' agrees Will, 'otherwise, it sounds like you're turning it into a bit of a sport... Like, say there's a football-pitch, with one team that's got to win - but there's three bands on the bill, and the thing is that the kids are allowed to enjoy all three bands. As long as what the other bands are doing is good, then competition doesn't creep into it.'
Could it be seen that you're part of a new, British guitar-assault arsenal, then? And all those that play alongside yourselves are within the same league?
Justin is quite fervently against such a proposal. 'We don't think of ourselves in scenes or whatever, but we do recognise that there are a lot of cool British rock-groups that are around at the moment that we really like; there may not be as many of them as there once was around five years ago or whatever, but bands come and go. If you start thinking in terms of what scene you're going to fit into, or what group of bands you're going to fall alongside, you begin to lose your own originality or individuality.'
'The thing about a scene is that it does more harm to the bands that are associated than if they just existed without such a tag,' contributes Joe, 'it should just be about whether you're good or bad.'
'If we do headline tours, I think that, if the kids are playing six, seven, or eight pounds for a ticket, it's not right for them just to come and give them a 40-minute show,' rounds off Justin. 'You want to give them a night out of good bands; it's a great opportunity to introduce people to new acts as well.'
Their views, even on the nature of scheduling a support-cast for all to observe, certainly account for an invigorating change of attitude, a lack of pretension and confidence in their own abilities often not existent within your run-of-the-mill contemporaries.
But being in such a band isn't just about globe-trotting, observing the colour of various groupies' underwear and then playing a bit of music to a few people in between it all; no. You've also got to document your sound on recording-equipment. Damn. Work. As aforementioned by the group themselves, there was a veritable stint at the start of 2002 where the boys worked on their debut-LP. Entitled 'The Neon Handshake', the 12-track record is set for release early next year, and is destined to spark quite a reaction, such numbers as the self-explanatory tenderness of 'Slow Song' and manic 'Cut Down' both perfect examples of the band's penchant for grinding contrasts. Yet, the end-result wasn't an easy-going contraption at its first stages of growth.
'Initially, it had gone a little bit pear-shaped,' explains Birch. 'We had made a couple of decisions about the producers which didn't quite come off, so it got to the point where we had three songs recorded and they weren't that great... Justin then tracked out these guys on the Internet that he was interested in - and it was almost like fate what happened. We rang them up and said, 'We're playing in London on Tuesday, would you like to come,' and they said, 'Right, well, we finish our work on Tuesday - so we'll fly over to see it.'
These characters only happened to be two hardcore producers, famed for their work with Refused and The Hives. But, despite their particularly heavy past credentials, the pair's efforts have been entirely exploratory of HIFH's bold instrumentation, complementing, as opposed to reinventing, their sound already defined.
'When we got to do the album with them, it was as if it was meant to be,' continues Joe. 'To come out with it all mixed and mastered, it's a bit of a relief, because I feel that we've pretty much made a record that's surpassed our original worries by a long way. It's now a bit of a dream: kind of going over to LA, living there for two months...'
But what about fans possibly accusing you of selling out - it's Los Angeles, after all, not somewhere close to your heritage or roots...
'Well,' grins Will, 'when you've got the choice of recording in Milton Keynes or LA - what would you say?!'
The man has a point.
'On paper,' he proceeds, 'the studio we worked in wasn't even that great, in terms of all of its facilities, but you only have to see who's worked there previously to see why it's quite so special.'
Yes, such characters numbering System Of A Down with their debut-LP have been present in the very same set-up. Oh, and some lot called Nirvana, who produced a thing called 'Nevermind'. So, with all this going on, and working with people that could truly share your vision, what are your after-feelings on the record?
'I think it's hard to really be objective about it, because we've lived with all the songs for so long,' fairly retorts Schlosberg. 'I listen back to it, and it's hard to tell if they're good, shit or average, but what we're proud of is that it's all come from the heart - whether it's a seminal-album or a piece of shit, we've made the album that we wanted to make.'
Even still, does this enable any pressures on your part, worrying about what your followers will think of the package?
Will is thoughtful on the matter. 'I think that now it's out of our hands, it's best not to expect anything, because - if the album sells three copies - it doesn't mean to me that it's rubbish, because I liked it before it was released... But, if it suddenly becomes perceived as one of the greatest things ever, then it still won't change the way we feel about it.'
Amusing as their beliefs can come across, the humanity, sincerity of the sentiments is something you wish was slightly more contagious amongst their peers. It's such openness that inspires a topic-change; so, when the band evaluates its time in music already, are there any aspects on the development that stand out and inspire them to wonder just how they've got to where they are now?
Tom shows no hesitance on creating a response. 'Getting strong management, good luck, happy accidents,' he clarifies, 'it's all important. There's been no game-plan at any point in the band. You can say the same about the future about this band - anything can happen at any time.'
'If there is any forward-thinking in what we're doing, then all it is involves continuing the writing-process, and we've even started writing new tunes again, which feels really good,' Justin informs, peering at us with his distinctively piercing stare. 'We definitely see ourselves having a lot more to say and a lot more to offer after this album is out.'
You mention 'new' songs - any specific direction that varies from what you've conjured up so far?
O' Donahue: 'Well we've lived with our songs for a while now, so it's always good to play something else that's fresh; so, with new songs, it's been more interesting, because we've been writing more together now as a band.'
As a 'band', eh? But, with Hell Is For Heroes, what does this mean?
Tom attempts to touch upon it. 'As a unit, we work - but I don't know how that happens.'
Joe suddenly becomes brash, his South London drawl serving as strangely hypnotic. 'Nah - Tommy brings a laissez-faire cool to it all; everyone in the band probably just analyses things, but he just does it off the top of his head.'
Tom retaliates. 'Yeah, and Joe's quite an enigma...' He smirks. 'Nah, he's the gent of the band - before he's drunk. He's quite complex, too - and I think he's a bit f**ked-up actually.'
'Also,' laughs Will, attempting to become slightly more complimentary, 'musically, for Joe - if I come up with a riff that I play, in my head, I'll have a drumbeat that I think should go with it - but, when we play together, Joe will come up with something far better, more original than what I was expecting.'
Justin finds his turn. 'To me, the most important thing about being in a band is that the music comes second. Firstly, it's just finding that common-ground in our personalities and being able to identify with each other; before we did our first rehearsal, we just got together and got pissed up in a pub and talked about everything, what we wanted from the band - everything... That's where the spirit of what we're doing comes from; anyone can just learn to play guitar.'
Tom gets the final say. 'I think we've spent so much time together that you get to learn people's good points and their not-so-good points, you just get to know the person... And then you can decide if they're a c**t or not.'
How heartfelt. But doors are opening soon for tonight, and the early-evening slurs of nearby Friday night drunkards are proving to be rather loud. So what's the joint band-goal for the year ahead?
'It's simple: I'd like us to be respected,' answers Tom, 'and for us to be able to make really good records.'
'I'd like kids to pick up instruments and form bands because they enjoyed what we've done - like when I was a kid and heard 'Nevermind' by Nirvana for the first time,' replies McGonagle dreamily. 'That'd be good enough for me.'
Justin is less romantic. 'I just don't ever want to get a job.'
Don't worry, Schlosberg - the success that you're achieving now seems to indicate that such a disturbing thought won't become a reality any time soon.
Photo-Credit: Scarlet Page
Artists in this article: Hell Is For Heroes