xfm.co.uk | January 2002
"We’re Going On The Road Pretty Much Until We Die" - Justin
How did you come to work together?
What have you got planned for 2002?
What are you most looking forward to?
What would you like to have achieved by the end of 2002?
What other bands have you been into recently?
Who do you consider to be your peers?
Who else do you think will break through in 2002?
What's your best song?
What do you do outside the band?
How important is breaking London to you?
THANKS TO XFM.co.uk
Having whipped up a storm live over the past 18 months, Hell Is For Heroes are set to tear into 2002 with their first single proper, ‘You Drove Me To It’. Frontman Justin Schlosberg told all.
"Basically, the four others [Will McGonagle, guitar; Joe Birch, drums; Tom O’Donohue, guitar and James Findlay, bass] were buddies from school. I‘d just got out of college and was going from dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to find a band. They were looking for a singer and we got introduced through a mutual friend, then went to a pub in Camden and got absolutely obliterated. Someone asked me if I wanted to join a band and I said ‘Sure.’ And that was that - we locked ourselves away in this rehearsal space in North Acton for about six months and just started making a very loud noise that people could barely hear or understand. It was very exciting."
"The last year has been about setting everything up and finding people to work for. Now we’re about to go out to LA to record the album, we’re doing it with these two Swedish hardcore producers at Sound City where the likes of ‘Nevermind’ and the first System of a Down album were recorded. The album will be done in two or three months and then I think we’re looking at releasing it sometime in the summer. So that’s the focus for the start of the year then we’re going to go on the road pretty much until we die."
"To be honest I’m most looking forward to just getting on the road, hardcore. We bought a banged-up van off 'And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead'. It’s this classic, dented Texan Chevy. It’s got a lot of history so we’re just looking forward to getting in that van and doing it proper. That’s what it’s about for us - the studio’s wicked, the whole experience of making an album is great and we are focussed on that, but ultimately we are about being on the road."
"I guess the most important thing for us is to make a record that’s gonna stand the test of time. We’re not that interested in being megastars very quickly - if that happens we won’t say no, but the most important thing for us is making a really important record that’s gonna last and is not just gonna hit the charts and then people get bored of it. We want something that gets better with every listen, even if it’s not an instant first hitter. It’s gonna be one of those albums that just grows and grows and grows and becomes a totally cemented part of everyone’s record collection."
"I really like that new Rival Schools album [‘United By Fate’]. I’ve had the privilege of hearing the new Trail Of Dead album which is coming out in a couple of weeks. It’s wicked, they signed to a major label but it hasn’t shown in the music, I think this album’s going to do it for them. The new Fugazi record I really like as well, ‘The Argument’, I think that’s wicked."
"It’s quite a hard one that. It’s hard to say who’s in the same musical territory ‘cause we’re not really sure what kind of musical territory we’re in at the moment [laughs]. In terms of just vibe and the bands we’ve gelled with on the road I’d definitely have to say Hundred Reasons. On the last tour we went out with them, it was just a fucking barrel of laughs and killer times. We kind of look at them as our kind of big brothers really - they really are doing it in a way that I don’t think many British bands have done for a while. We also went on the road with Biffy Clyro - similar kind of deal, maybe the music isn’t similar but just the whole kind of attitude. They want to do it and they want to do it they’re way."
"I’d definitely have to bet my bottom dollar with Hundred Reasons. To break the top 40, doing the kind of music they do, is an amazing achievement. Otherwise, it’s hard to say but I really like some of the stuff that band The Music has come out with, and hopefully Biffy Clyro’ll do well too."
"Every song we do, we’re probably not as prolific in terms of the amount of songs we write as some bands, but what we do pride ourselves on is a really good quality control in the writing process. We don’t let anything get to our set unless we absolutely love the song. So every song does it in certain ways but if I had to say one at the moment - and it changes from day to day, but I’m really into some of the newer stuff we’ve done that no-one’s really heard yet. So that gets me out of that one! It’s called ‘New Song’. It’s a working title!"
"To be honest, all of a sudden at some point last year that kind of time just evaporated. In the past six months I haven’t had a single day off - and that includes Christmas and New Year - it’s just been absolutely insane. When we do get a day off we normally just spend it doing laundry or catching up with family and friends. That kind of time is just gone now, I’m not complaining because it’s an amazing privilege to be so busy doing what you want to do, so long may it last."
"Personally our experience on the road has been just going to some of the towns around the country and just seeing the kind of vibe for rock music that is out there. Not just the major cities like Bristol, Manchester Glasgow or whatever but even in the smaller places - Bedford, Colchester - all over the place we’ve found that kids are just so up for it and there is such a good energy at the shows. When you come to London, invariably it’s industry dominated and a lot of people who wouldn’t necessarily be the one to go out to the store and buy your record turn up. Maybe they have some kind of career interest in it or something, so it is a different vibe. For a band that’s trying to make it I guess it’s important to play London, but on a personal level and on a music level, some of our greatest shows have been in little converted churches in the middle of nowhere. That’s what we buzz off as a band."
