Wales once again throws us a quality act. Surely the odds of a small country coming up with so many great bands defies logic? Let’s find out what makes this bunch tick…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Hello, we are Helldown and we are from Swansea, South Wales.
How did you meet?
We came together the old fashioned way, where brothers Matt and Ben put physical adverts out for a drummer. Unfortunately, this was when we had a music store in Swansea, as both Rowlands and Cranes had to close down. After being together for many years, we later found out a friend of ours played lead guitar very well which turned out to be Lewis, our longest standing lead guitarist.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Believe it or not, that is actually quite a difficult question to answer. From 2013 we have been together but from the beginning we never really took it seriously as we had no real aspirations.
Then later down the line, when we introduced Lewis, things took more of a turn where we knew what we wanted but were still unsure how to go about it, meaning there have been a lot of learning curves.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
This was actually one of those light bulb moments between myself (Ross) and Ben while we were discussing possible song names. We had many song names floating around and one of us just misheard each other and went “Helldown”? And ever since it stuck.
What are your influences?
We initially started off as thrash, with not many influences beyond the genre. However, over the past few years, more influences have snuck their way in and this shows with our latest releases.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
It’s difficult to say to be honest, we all have such varied tastes in music it all seeps into what we write. I guess what makes us unique is that it’s us four thinking about the songs and where we want to take them. If any one of us wasn’t a part of the band a different perspective would be brought in.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
We have a broad range of themes. We aim for the general topics covered in metal, because they’re so rich you can never run out of material. But we also like to try new things, we’ve been mulling over ideas on the Salem witch trials and similar periods in human history. It’s really interesting to find a perspective, whether it be first or third person.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Our live shows are just packed full of energy, power and drive. Over 10 years of being together, we have never kept track of how many shows we have performed but remember nearly all of them all very well.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Honestly, this has to be wheelchair moshing at our show in FUEL last year. This was an unforgettable show, made even better by a wheelchair mosh!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
We play a wide range of different brands. We primarily use Kempers, with Lewis using Fender and Ibanez, and Matt using Dean, Epiphone and DBZ, with Ben on bass using Darkglass with a Fender bass.
For drums, Ross is with Tama, Paiste, Evans and Promark, as nothing really beats this combination.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We are currently plugging our latest release “March of the Damned”. This is our 3rd single of 2024, with 2 more singles to come before 2025.
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
We aim to release our next 2 singles, and then ultimately work towards our debut album release during 2025.
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.
This is a great question, we would probably choose a band like Power Trip to headline, and then ask South Wales’ finest to make up one great lineup!
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