There are some bands which truly are one of a kind and The Hector Collectors surely fit the bill and have so since the day they made their first inimitable steps back in the year 2000. Almost tinkering with a revival after their demise/hiatus around 2004, the Glasgow hailing mischiefs are back in full swing with new album, Remember the Hector Collectors? ..You Won’t Believe What They Sound Like Now!!!!!, an encounter which teases, flirts, and keenly pleasures ears in the band’s unique way.
Something akin to a blend of Television Personalities, The Freshies, and Half Man Half Biscuit, the quartet of vocalist A.J.Smith, guitarist I.D.Smith, bassist Joseph Greatorex, and drummer Gavin Dunbar have honed in on their poppiest instincts yet within Remember the Hector Collectors? though that creative dissonance which sets them apart still drives their lo fi revelry.
The album opens up with Drowning in Dorito Chips, rhythms immediately calling on attention before the track’s infectious stroll works on feet and imagination. Flirtatious keys add to the potent lure still led by those manipulative beats and the call of group vocals alongside A.J.’s magnetic lead. With a sniff of Josef K to its untamed pop, the song quickly and deviously got under the skin, establishing itself as surely the next single teaser for the album.
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a 25 Minute Response Video to DESTROY your Argument follows with its own shade of the jangling goodness fuelling its predecessor; the song just as anthemic in its slightly more restrained but no less rascal of an incitement before Content Farm pokes at the appetite with its spikier pop punk antics with a mischievous wink at familiarity. There is a hint of bands like The Sums to the song and also within its successor, Bullies, another inherent indie pop soaked stroll which is pure pleasure courting nostalgia and modern DIY enterprise from within which a Top Buzzer whiff escapes. Featuring as a handful of tracks the featured keys of Dave Gillies, he one of a number of guests across the release including guitarist Cal Wiseman Murray, keyboardists Chris Elkin and Billy Samson, and backing vocalist Martin Smith, the song like so many needs little help to captivate ears and a never too far from the surface smile.
The brief folkish medieval devilment of White Knight to F5 needed mere seconds to hook feet and lust, a success immediately repeated by next up Just Lovely, another incomplex pop jangle stocked with inescapable hooks and lo-fi misdemeanours recalling essences of bands such as Swell Maps and Fatal Microbes.
Across the pop ‘n’ roll of The Ad Hominem and the pop fray of Overton Window, band and album just accentuate their rich enticements, the first of the pair especially persuasive while Cognitive Dissonance eclipses both with its punk coated misbehaviour again hinting at the seventies and the antics of bands like O‘Level and Teenage Filmstars.
Edgelords provides a satisfying sing-along moment next, one proving very hard to resist within its melodic web with Abandoned Website following up its incitement with its own individual indie rural tinted jangle so easy to get involved with.
The album is completed by the outstanding Leeson Windfarm, a Scars hued encounter with espionage lined rhythms and intrigue loaded guitar. Vocally and lyrically, the song reflects on local and social observations, a regular spark to the band’s smart, playful words and those wicked song titles backed by similarly impish sounds.
As suggested at the start, The Hector Collectors is like few others, if any to be truthful, and as they re-energise their presence with new adventure in their sound that is not going to change any time soon, Remember the Hector Collectors? ..You Won’t Believe What They Sound Like Now!!!!! and its thickly enjoyable fun proof of that.
Uncaging melodic hardcore which commands attention, Wildheart is a band from Brisbane, Australia that is beginning to make a potent stir. The recent release of their new EP offers all the reasons why. With big thanks to the band we looked to discover more; talking beginnings, evolution, that latest encounter and more….
Can you first introduce the band and give us some background to how it all started?
We basically all came from other bands that had broken up or fizzled out, so us being the members who were still keen to create music came together and started writing music. We didn’t really have any particular genre in mind, we just wanting to create music that was heavy, melodic and powerful so we started writing and recording our first EP, A Thousand Days.
How has being involved in those other bands before had any impact on what you are doing now?
As mentioned before the band came together from other bands breaking up. The only thing we all wanted to begin with was the have more diversity in our music. So bigger choruses, more clean sections and really work on our songwriting and structuring.
What inspired the band name?
It was the first name we didn’t all hate ha-ha. The name was the last thing we did before releasing music and playing shows. There were plenty of words getting thrown around and ‘heart’ got said a lot and then someone came out with ‘Wildheart’ and kinda all agreed on it. It didn’t connote any particular genre which we liked; all our friends dug it so we just ran with it.
Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?
Not so much when we started. But I think now that we’ve been around awhile now we really focus on things that matter to us, so a lot of songs deal with personal issues such as anxiety and depression, issues of abuse or
So how has the driving intent of Wildheart evolved over time?
When we first started we were just super focused on playing as many shows as possible and just enjoying being in a band and playing live. I think now we are definitely doing everything with intent and looking at the pro’s and con’s and making sure we’re making the right decisions to keep us moving forward.
Since your early days, how would you say your sound has similarly evolved?
We’ve definitely gotten heavier and I guess…darker. But I’ve always strived to keep that core sound in there…Big choruses and lush clean parts.
Has it been more of an organic movement of sound or more the band deliberately wanting to try new things?
I’d say it’s more organic. Line-up changes have played a part and I’ve taken on the majority of writing duties so I definitely have a particular style but one thing I’ve been very focused on working on my songwriting and giving each song a distinctive flare and something that people will remember, not simply just throwing as much ‘cool sounding’ riffs into the mix.
Presumably across the band there is a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?
I don’t think I can pin point anything in particular. Sometimes I think of a riff at work, sometimes watching another band live can inspire me, not so much musically but it can push me to work harder and push myself harder. Sometimes I’ve even walked out of a movie with creative ideas.
You mentioned the songwriting earlier; do you have a particular way or process to your writing?
Usually it just starts with me hashing out ideas then I’ll move onto demoing the songs and sending them to the rest of the dudes to get their take on it and we just go back and forth then eventually we’ll start jamming them in the rehearsal space until we’re happy with how everything is coming together.
How about the lyrical side; where do you predominantly draw the inspirations?
I think just personal experiences. Real thoughts that have come from whatever the lyric writing is dealing with at the time, or if there has been a particular topic weighing on someone’s mind. Occasionally we have come up with a concept before any music or lyrics came together. Above/Below being a good example. We wanted to write two different songs one being more upbeat and melodic and one just being super dark and heavy and then we though to tie that into the experiences of someone dealing with bipolar disorder.
Give us some background to your latest release.
We Are is the best music we’ve created and released as a band. We knew we wanted to write darker and heavier songs whilst staying true to our original intentions of simple writing powerful melodic music and just building on top of that.
Could you give us some insight to the themes and premise behind it and its songs?
We knew we wanted to delve a little bit deeper, obviously the music itself is darker so the lyrics in turn go that way as well. Everything we wrote about all comes from personal experience or events that we’ve thought about or been subjected too. Songs such as Solitude are very much about dealing with anxiety and a lack of self-worth and uncertainty, Void is about substance abuse, Calloused is about trying to move on from heartbreak. Then as a comparison Grief is basically a f*!k you to anyone who has taken advantage of their position and made unwelcome advances or gone as far as to assault someone, be it in a band or within the workplace. Essentially Then you have the title track We Are which takes a more worldly and more exploitative approach looking at things happening around us such as the general sense of oppression that is occurring in modern society, be it because of one’s race, gender or gender identity or more closely aligned with the lyrics “the top one percent” seeking to suck away any financial stability we might have, especially the younger generations.
Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?
Final state for sure, I’m generally a pretty relaxed dude but that’s one area I’m super OCD about. I like to leave room for some experimentation in the studio and sometimes something you thought worked doesn’t so you change it up, but the core song structures are always down pat before we go in.
Tell us about the live side to the band, presumably the favourite aspect of the band?
We’ve always been proud of the fact that we always give it our all live and don’t hold back, and blown a lot of money on gear. Good guitar tone is everything.
It is not easy for any new artist to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it your neck of the woods? Are there the opportunities to make a mark if the drive is there for new bands?
100% you just have to work hard for it, and don’t expect everything to just fall into your lap. One thing that is super important is to “own our local” Play as much in your home town as you can as people will remember your name and people in the industry will take notice and actively look to seek your band out.
How has the internet and social media impacted on the band to date? Do you see it as something destined to become a negative from a positive as the band grows and hopefully gets increasing success if in a climate where people are not buying music or is it more that bands struggling with it are lacking the desire to keep it working to their advantage?
Social media marketing is a hard one, it’s always changing and evolving but it’s become an integral part of how we reach people these days. But at the end of the day I believe if you write good music, play tight live and put your self-out there you’ll see some headway eventually, it’s very easy to compare yourself to others within the realms of social media so always take a breather and remember to focus on your own journey.
Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add or reveal for the reader
If you haven’t already checked us out please do and if you have thank you so very much! Hit us up on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date as we have plenty of rad stuff lined up for the next few months!
So boisterous and tenacious, let alone infectious, that a bouncing body to its bait is inescapable, the Cinders sound is an infection in the waiting. All the evidence is there on the US band’s new album; a collection of indie pop tracks embracing a host of flavours as they romp in the ears. We had the pleasure to find out more with big thanks to the band, examining the band’s beginnings, inspirations and of course Cinder’s latest album alongside much more…
Hello and thanks for taking time out to talk with us.
No problem at all! Thank you for having us.
Can you first introduce the band and give us some background to how it all?
Cinders is a rowdy-acoustic-pop band from Salt Lake City, UT.
Members
Adrian De La Cruz: Bass Guitar
Austin Harris: Keyboard / Multi-Instrumentalist
Brad Bennett: Drums
Chelsey Powell: Saxophone / Vocals
Jordan Zabriskie: Vocals / Guitar
Montana Smith: Vocals / Guitar
We were brought together by a love for music and a desire to make a career out of doing something that we actually love. We are all of the same mind-set that if someone has a passion, they should be able to be passionate about it and do everything they can to pursue it! And for the last 3 years that is what we have been doing.
Some of us met when we were teenagers. We jammed to a lot of the same music and rebelled in the same ways (we would wait until the 3rd time our mom asked us to clean our room to actually do it). Some met a little later in life when we had matured a bit, gone to school, and experienced life around different parts of the country. Within our search for self-discovery we would always come back to music. It is what we love most and what we will continue to do the rest of our lives.
Have you been or are involved in other bands? If so how has that had any impact on what you are doing now?
Yeah most of us have been in and out of other bands! Whether they were high school jazz bands, or metalcore bands, we have all come from a musical performance background. Each group/band taught us important lessons about working together and about what it takes to make a successful band.
I think we definitely pull aspects from each band we played in. It has played a big role in creating our genre and how we act on stage. We are very different from all of those projects though so we approach Cinders very differently. Our ultimate goal is to have fun and bring people together. So we try to write songs with that goal in mind.
What inspired the band name?
It felt like an appropriate name for a band of 6 people who have played music for years but never together. It is short and sweet and represents our music well…though because it is so simple, people often feel like it should be more complicated and add in “the” to the title. We are not The Cinders ha-ha. We are a huge fan of The Led Zeppelins though…
Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?
It was something we all wanted and needed. Music is what drives us. Playing in a band with people as motivated as yourself is awesome. We felt the sound we had to offer was familiar but unique. It is like when you meet someone for the first time and they are super cool, but you feel like you have known them for years. You wonder why you haven’t known it this whole time and from now on it becomes a part of you.
Do the same things still drive the band when it was fresh-faced or have they evolved over time?
When we first started, I feel like we had a smaller view of what we wanted the band to become and how we were going to get there. We have always wanted to be a touring band. We were definitely driven by hopes and our dreams and by each other and that has not changed.
But what has been added to the list is a compilation of all the successes, all the lives changed, all the support from fans, all of the small goals achieved, all of the trials conquered, all the lame part time jobs, and all of the fun experiences. With all of these things motivating us and driving us, we won’t stop until we get where we want to be.
Since your early days, how would you say your sound has evolved?
Short dumb answer would be “slowly”. We didn’t realize how much we loved yelling and hitting instruments super hard until we played live. Even the softest songs from our first record became much heavier live. So when we hit the studio again we had more of that mind-set of creating fun live songs that would appropriate to break our instruments to. We of course don’t break our instruments though… because, well, we need them to make music.
Has it been more of an organic movement of sound or more the band deliberately trying new things?
Tooooootally organic for sure… I don’t think we have had very many discussions on what sound we want and there hasn’t been any disagreements with what the songs turn into. I have seen band after band split up because they have different ideas of what they want the music to be. So many start their own solo projects; so many release EP after EP sounding like a new band every time. But with Cinders, we all just kind of do our own thing and trust each other and build on our demos until a final song just sounds like Cinders.
Presumably across the band there is a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?
Twenty One Pilots, one of the biggest bands in the world right now has a heavy influence on our work ethics, our goals, and our expectations. Tyler and Josh are from Ohio and they started as nobodies. They worked hard, they released music, they toured, they did all those things that bands say “we will do that when we are a big band”. They are proof to us that any band from anywhere with whatever tools and connections they have or don’t have can make a career out of music touring the world. It has inspired us to go all out and make our live shows as crazy and fun as possible. We want people to say “that is the funniest concert I’ve been to” whether we played for 25 people or for 25,000 people.
Is there a particular process to the band’s songwriting?
Songs will typically start with an acoustic guitar and a vocal melody. There may or may not be lyrics written yet. The lyrics will usually come as the chord progressions are discovered. The song will form first as a rough acoustic demo, it won’t really take shape until each member has sat down with the demo to add in their flavor and make necessary changes. We often will sit down and jam with each other before we solidify a song idea.
Where do inspirations to that lyrical side come from?
Inspiration can come from literally anywhere. I remember being in the grocery store writing down the lyrics for 100 Foxes on my grocery list. Typically they will come from personal experience or feelings though. We really try to show what we are feeling lyrically rather than tell it. A story is much more interesting and meaningful than an explanation.
Would you give us some background to your latest release?
We are extremely stoked that our new album, Looking Forward to Looking Back, is finally out! It just came out on September 29th and it is our second full length album. This record is much heavier musically and lyrically. It is a matured sound for the band and really drives emotion. It has been a 2 year project and our proudest achievement to date!
Give us some insight to the themes and premise behind it and its songs.
We really wanted to make something that reflected us and the way we feel, and the way our fans feel. So the premise would be that we want everyone to know that no matter what you’re going through right now, there are always good things that are on the way. The album title, Looking Forward to Looking Back really encompasses the theme of the album. Each song is very reflective and forthcoming at the same time.
Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?
We are very fortunate to have been able to build our own studio. So we are in the studio almost every day. We are always recording new ideas that we have. Whether we have a full song or just a cool line, we want to have it recorded. We started out with just over 30 demos for Looking Forward to Looking Back. In the end we felt very strongly about the 11 we chose. We didn’t want to just settle on any tracks. We wanted to make sure that this album was the best that it possibly could be.
Tell us about the live side to the band, presumably the favourite aspect of the band?
The shows are the best part! The crowd energy is always insane! The fans are seriously the best part of it. To hear all those people screaming our songs right back at us is so cool. We may have some easy listening songs but we treat every performance like a punk show and go as hard as we can every night. We want to make sure that everyone who paid to see us gets the show they paid for!
It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it your neck of the woods?
The music scene in Salt Lake City, UT is awesome! There are a lot of college towns around us as well that have great venues and incredibly talented musicians. It is hard not to be a lover and supporter of music when the music scene you are in is so cool. We love touring nationally. There is nothing like coming home and playing a show for your town though. We are always the most excited for those shows!
How has the internet and social media impacted on the band to date? Do you see it as something destined to become a negative from a positive as the band grows and hopefully gets increasing success but in a climate where people are not buying music?
Social media has played a huge part in our success so it is hard to say too many negative things about it (other than it taking over all of our lives ha-ha). There are a lot of awesome YouTubers that have become great supporters and friends who have shared our music to their worldwide fan-base. We rely a lot on the reach of our social media and our online marketing to help reach fans across the world we wouldn’t have normally hit! We definitely look at it as a positive for our band.
Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add or reveal for the readers?
Thank you so much for having us! Looking Forward to Looking Back is out now! Make sure to follow on Spotify and Apple Music so you can hear it now!
Across the pop ‘n’ roll of The Ad Hominem and the pop fray of Overton Window, band and album just accentuate their rich enticements, the first of the pair especially persuasive while Cognitive Dissonance eclipses both with its punk coated misbehaviour again hinting at the seventies and the antics of bands like O‘Level and Teenage Filmstars.
Since your early days, how would you say your sound has similarly evolved?
Have you been or are involved in other bands? If so how has that had any impact on what you are doing now?
Would you give us some background to your latest release?