Hands of Attrition got in touch to tell us of the release of their debut single, a major moment for any band! You can watch the video for it below, and trust us when we say it’s 6 minutes you’ll not regret spending on a new song. A great mix of groove and mainstream metal with some dirtier overtones, it’s catchy from the off and will have your head nodding by the end of the first verse!
How did you meet?
Three of our members had posted advertisements in order to find like-minded musicians in a quest to start a new project. Tom, Dale and Anthony all contacted each other separately showing interest in each other’s abilities. Conversation ran easily and we decided we needed to meet up and have a jam. Right from the beginning the excitement was real. Chris and Dale go way back in terms of friendships and music, similar to Anthony and Jay; both were recruited because we knew they were awesome musicians.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Our first practice was 2017 believe it or not! We thought it was important to make sure we were fully prepared before we presented ourselves to the music scene. It’s a process we all agreed didn’t need to be rushed and so here we are in 2019 ready to play some tasty riffs!
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Wow, have you got time for this! So, every band goes through the trials of what band name do you go with. We settled on a name prior to HOA but after a few weeks of using it, it just didn’t gel with us. Tom posted in our chat group a million and one names but then came, Hand of Attrition out of nowhere. We just knew right then, that’s our band name. Our identity.
What are your influences?
We all share some common influences because otherwise it just wouldn’t work so all of us are very much into the likes of Lamb Of God, Machine Head, Killswitch Engage, Pantera. We could go on… We all have our own flavours of music we enjoy from such crazy acts as Rammstein and industrial metal all the way through to American classic rock and real hard-hitting doom metal and prog metal. Finding a balance between our influences is always the fun part haha!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
The key to our music is respecting every members’ individual style. The hybrid of heavy-hitting riffs with melodic groove is exciting for us to play and we hope that shows.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
As with most bands, life factors and experiences speak volumes in our lyrics. The main thing to listen out for is just the raw emotion that our vocalist gives in every performance. Even in rehearsals, Tom will give 110% and you can see that the lyrics mean something. It’s easy to attribute them to your own life and what you have been through. Our lyrical theme isn’t a static one, more so about how you build as a person even in times of tragedy. Some lyrics are made in the moment and don’t hold any relevance to our trial and tribulations; you just won’t be able to forget them.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We are currently perfecting our live show performance. With being such a new band and our single dropping on 6th July 2019, we are eager to get out there and play live. We have been booked for a major event in the metal community, so stay tuned to our social media for updates! We are all very excited.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
All of us have been in previous bands and have many stories we could tell haha, but the focus is on HOA and our future. Don’t worry though, we are promising our fans the best underground metal gig we can!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
- Anthony – Ibanez 6 String (Lead) through a Peavey Valve King
- Chris – ESP Ltd 6 String (Rhythm) through a Laney Iron Heart
- Jay – Cort Bass 5 String through an Ashdown
- Dale – Tama Superstar Hyperdrive 6-piece kit. Tama speed cobra double pedals and a mix of Meinl cymbals and Istanbul Mehmet cymbals. Drumsticks of choice are Promark 5B with Evans Onyx skins.
- Tom – Prefers a Shure SM58 live but we recorded with a few different mics to get the best out of every performance.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We are currently promoting our live shows; we are stoked to have been booked for our first live gig just two days after our debut single release! It is crazy to see such passion from fans so early in our release. From thereafter who knows maybe an album maybe more singles. We want to let everybody know that we have no plans to stop pushing ourselves further.
What are your plans for 2019/20?
Maybe an album launch, maybe a tour; who knows! That’s the fun part, right? As far as we are concerned, we want to play music for all to hear and enjoy. It doesn’t get much better than that!
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
- Balls Deep – Headliner
- Callous Hands – Supporting
Callous Hands are a band worth checking out; they certainly do not belong at the bottom of the bill, but you asked and we dig them!
Hands of Attrition: facebook | instagram | youtube | spotify
