Staying on home turf for today’s BotD, bringing you some noise from Nottinghamshire!
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re all based in Nottingham, England.
How did you meet?
Jamie (Keys) and Mike (Guitars) were in a band called The Death Notes before, they found a new drummer in Dave and then put out an advert for a singer. They auditioned for about a year I think and then narrowed it down to me and another guy. It was all a bit like X-Factor or The Voice or something, and they voted for me. I was moving up from London and liked their sound. They had a couple of instrumental demos on Soundcloud one of which became our debut single “Lucid”. And the version we released is very close to the initial version I showed to them in the audition.
How long have you been playing as a band?
As Hurtsfall? Since January 2018.We’ve all been in bands for years before that. It’s something that’s important to us all.
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Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
The name was there when I tried out! It was one of the things that drew me to trying my luck auditioning. It just felt right for me with it being quite moody sounding but also ambiguous. I like to tell people it’s from the pain Satan felt after falling from heaven. But I did ask the guys and they told me they just put random words together “until they didn’t hate it”…
What are your influences?
Eclectic. We all bring something quite different but there’s a few bands that we all look to and draw inspiration from like: Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Christian Death, The Mission etc. We’ve also been compared to David Bowie, Bauhaus, New Order and Paradise Lost as well, which I enjoy.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We started out with a shoegaze sound at demo stage but we quickly became more and more 80s. Our music is dark and diverse, switching from heavy rock to dreamy ballads. What strings it all together is this dark romantic retro vibe that is usually built around the keyboards or my voice. We’re also pretty unique in rarely having lead guitars as it’s all bass or keyboard driven.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Most of the songs are about how miserable I am, to be honest. Whether that’s about something specific, love or life, or just general gloom.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We put on an epic live show. We’ve only done a handful but we really get into it which the audience respond to. We all dress in what makes us feel like us and all have slightly different styles with varying degrees of extreme. I’ll always try and come up with a new look or at least a new variation of a look. I will always ask whoever is doing lights to not be afraid to go wild for us. And we break out the smoke machine whenever health and safety permits. There’s never enough smoke in my opinion! I remember one gig we really went overboard and for half a song I couldn’t see, I just had to stay in one spot so I didn’t walk off the stage!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
We had a guy jump up on stage and sort of dance around and put his arm around me in the middle of a song. He must’ve just really been enjoying it.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Some of our favourite brands for musical gear are: Nord, Pearl, Remo, Fender and Audio Technica
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We just put out our new single Revelator with a music video and a lyric video which you can find on YouTube and Facebook. And we finally launched a merch store with some really cool t-shirts. And if you’re one of the first 50 orders you get a free download of our new song with every purchase!
What are your plans for 2020?
Well like everyone else 2020 has halted most of our plans. So we’ll keep doing what we can. We were lucky we recorded some material before COVID hit. So we spent lockdown tweaking some singles. So no plans yet, but you can expect to hear more from us before the year ends. And I will tell you, each song will have a totally different feel.
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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!
We would love to support The Cure and still hold out hope this could happen one day. So Robert if you’re reading this send us a dm! To open for us I’d invite my mate’s band Immortal Machinery. He plans violin and they do dark epic rock, similar to Hurtsfall but plenty different enough to make for a varied show.
