Stop The Pop | (January 2002)

Interview from the cool site - stopthepop.com

The chances are that you've heard of Hell is for Heroes, but you haven't actually heard them. Formed about a year ago, they are best known as "that band formed from Symposium" (they have got two members of Symposium in their midst). Despite having two members of Symposium in the band, singer Justin admits "I've never really heard any Symposium." In those 13 months of existence, they've only released one single (the brilliant "Sick/Happy") and even that wasn't meant to have happened, only being their demo. However, from that CD it is quite clear what the band is about: big drums, bigger riffs, and huge choruses. With the release of new single "You Made Me Do It" in January, it seems HI4H are about to join the burgeoning ranks of Great British Rock Bands. I hope you realise the fact that I'm bothering to write up a proper article shows how great I think this band are. But with so little material released, you might ask how I can place such praise on them. Simple- I caught up with them while they were supporting the other of my Great British Hopes, Hundred Reasons. A lot of people into the underground scene obviously agree with me, as the response they got when they opened their set was incredible: one of the most energetic (if not plain violent) mosh pits quite literally erupted at their feet. And I can tell you that my expectations were definitely surpassed by a breath taking set. Touring with Hundred Reasons was preceded immediately by a brief stint with American Hi-Fi. For a band to tour with two big bands, before they've releases anything major shows how much faith the industry has in them. (And I can tell you neither of those tours were buy-ons.) But more importantly, they've already been signed to a major; the Chrysalis branch of EMI. 'Touring with American Hi-Fi was fun' says Justin. 'It was a lot less intense than this [tour with H*R], cos we play every night, except for Sundays.' Does touring for long periods as a small band ever become hard? 'Well sometimes I think, oh god, this is fucking hard work. But then I look at some of these other bands like Errortype:11 [the other (American) support on the H*R tour] who have to do it over a much longer distance. I always check myself when I say it's hard, cos I know it's much harder for bands like that.' Justin is a really nice bloke, and you have to agree with him on almost everything he says. When you dream of being in a rock band, you don't think about the tours you have to do before you get big. And you don't think of the way it could end any second; 'I'm aware there's no longer a career in being in a rock band until you get huge' says Justin. At Oxford, it seemed like tension was starting to seep into the band: although they joked about it, they had left their drummer on the hard shoulder of the motorway between Swansea and there. 'We'd just had enough of his smell.' Donning my detective hat and magnifying glass, I suspect that wan't the whole problem. Hell is for Heroes is a pretty groovy name in my opinion, so you won't be surprised to find it wasn't made up by the band. It was in fact taken from a war film of the same name. So what are Hell is for Heroes' favourite films? 'I like the Coen brothers' stuff. Anything a bit different from the norm, a bit cleverer than your average blockbuster.' Nothing precise, it seems. Also, rather weirdly, Justin says he hasn't seen the film 'Hell is for Heroes'. Anyway, a bit of a random topic that… Interestingly, for a small British band, they aren't too worried about the way that American bands have taken over our teenagers' listening. Perhaps it's the fact that they're already signed to a major, or that they haven't released much, but they don't care about the way bands such as The Strokes or Andrew WK get all the attention. 'Good music is good music as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter where it's from.' From Justin at least, it seems that the guys in HI4H are really in it for the music. I mean, it can't be the most enticing prospect; joining the remnants of a band who didn't make it. However, with the kind of fresh music that HI4H are making, it suddenly makes it seem worth while. And although they say it gets hard work, the tour with H*R seems to be a barrel of laughs. As we arrived at the venue, all the guys are messing around with fake knives (apparently an H*R private joke) and it's smiles all round, despite what seems to have been a heavy night in Swansea the night before. I don't really care about where music's from, as long as it's good. And HI4H are good; they're a genuinely exciting prospect. However, when great British bands get ignored cos of the latest nu-metal band, with guitars down-tuned and egos over-inflated, I get annoyed. In my view, if hell is for heroes, then these guys had better get ready to meet Satan.