· Good day, Hell:on! Here we go with the in-depth conversation. What's the meaning of your band’s title? What's the origin of that name? Have you changed the band's name before?
Hey! Here we go)
So, originally we called Hellion. Idea of such a name (very unique, haha) came to me in early 2005 during a road trip when I was listening to WASP. So this is how it was started. Then after our first album was released we found out that it was at least a couple of bands with the same name. So, we changed our name to the current one. And I love that changes so much. It has more meanings and fits to our vision what the band should perform. It is just like Hell is On.
· What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
I guess it is something close to death metal with some orient and tribal influences. At least I feel it in such a way. Regarding influences, there is a lot. Major it is Death, Slayer, Rotting Christ maybe. Sepultura, Vader.
· How long have you all known each other? How did you meet? When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Our native city is not so big, so we met before Hell:on in a different projects. Some of us played thrash, some black, some power metal. But mostly we knew each other since the late 90-s. Main idea to make something together appeared in 2004. At the beginning it was only me (Alex) and Oleg, our drummer. Then we started to play together and think about how to “steal” musicians that we like from other projects. It took about half a year or something. In early 2005 we finally started to play with a full band. Firstly we thought of playing something like Death with big influences of thrash metal like Sepultura or Megadeth or early Metallica.. Then we had a period of interest to Swedish melodic death, I guess it has some impact on our second album. I guess our “own” style became to appear on 3 – 4 album, after 5 years of playing together.
· Are you a member of any music organizations?
Not really. Of course we had such experience in different areas of the metal industry, but not now. The main activity now is only the band.
· What can you tell me about your instruments? (i.e., Are you subject to brand loyalty or will you play with whatever's available? What made you choose the instruments you have now? Was it cost or was it a style/model/brand/color preference?
At the beginning of 2013 we received an offer from a local representative of Fernandes guitars to become their endorsers. Proposal was good: a bit less than half price for all guitars we choose, promotional things etc. So we checked their assortment and chose an aggressive V-shaped Vortex Elite model as our main instruments. Very sharp and at the same time very solid sound. Both guitars have sustainer as one of the pickups and it is a very cool feature. All our albums starting from 2013 were recorded only with these guitars. It sounds good, it looks good, it has real metal vibes. And we don’t want to change it for something else. Awesome instruments. And of course it is black color. J
· Where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
We played numerous shows in Eastern Europe during the last 10 years. Mostly it was Poland, Slovakia, Czech republic. Less in Germany, Netherlands. Some small clubs, some festivals. Several good support shows. Last Autumn we had a small tour with Rotting Christ here in Ukraine, it was awesome. Also a small tour in Germany with guys from Pripjat supporting our split EP, also we played at the "Way of Darkness" festival together. Great venue, great festival, crew, audience.
For the next year we have confirmation with the Wonnemond festival in Germany and a proposal for a small tour in Czech. But you know.. nobody knows how it will be next year, due to this Covid pandemy, let’s wait and see. Now we are concentrating on the release of our new album, not at live shows.
· Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you ever play any covers? Do you have a set playlist?
Yap, we have some tracks we play most. Mostly this is material from the last three albums. We often play Filth – opener from “Once upon a Chaos” 2015, also Curse of Flesh from the same album. And we like to play Satan from “Age of Oblivion” 2012. We usually finished the show with this track. It has some orchestra parts and is very pathetic and monumental. Perfect to the finish of the show. Once we played in Poland and Seth from Behemoth came to our show. And when we talked after the show he told, that Satan it is our best track so far. It was great to hear, of course, so we play this song with big pleasure all the time.
Regarding covers we also have some favorites. It is Territory (Sepultura) and Dead Skin Mask (Slayer). But we are a bit tired of playing covers and we play it now very seldom. Now we prefer to play only original material.
· Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?
We try to compose music all together and when we do this some magic happens and Devil is coming to the rehearsal studio ;-))) Mostly our songs are antireligious and talk about inner self. Sometimes we talked about dark and ancient rituals. But there is a lot of hidden meaning in all topics. Regarding the changes, who knows.. we grow as musicians and composers from album to album, and our vision of the world is changing as well. And this is such a pleasant journey. So, we will see.
· Could you briefly describe the music-making process?
Usually it starts with guitar riffs and drums over it. Then we try to “catch the feeling” of the track, its vibes. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. As for me it is very close to shaman’s ritual. When it happens we just let it flow.
· What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?
We live in different cities for the last 10 years, so we play all together not as often as we want. Our drummer and second guitar player live close to each other so they play a couple times a week. But usually we play separately from each other with sample tracks. But when we gather in the studio it is always fun. We laugh, drinking, talking about tours we had. And playing of course.
· How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
Hard to say. We received a lot of experience during tours in 2009-2012. And due to performance on big festivals. I remember we played with Kreator in 2007 and we were shocked by their professionalism on stage. It gave us a good lesson on how to perform our own stuff. And there were a lot of the same situations. And every single case taught us something that made us reflect on our creativity. Of course every studio album gave us a big experience.
· What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
You know, when we started to tour over Europe in 2010-2012 we spent a lot of time on the road. With no money, with shitty food, lack of sleep and showers. You know, all these realities of underground metal bands. Of course we started to conflict and hate each other. Couple of times I thought that there is an end. But! You know, being in a band is just like having a family. You have to trust each other and forgive each other. You have to learn to hear each other. This year we celebrated 15 years as the band and I’m really proud of it. To be together and still play our music is one of our biggest achievements.
· What's your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?
Not really. I mean of course we would like to play big tours and big festivals. We would like to be heard by people and so on. But mostly we just want to have fun to play and spend time together. When we started we tried to impress everybody with our music. Now we try to impress ourselves. That’s the goal. Last year we were nominated as Best Ukrainian Metal Act 2019, it was cool. But much more cooler I felt myself when our vocalist told me after listening to our last album that he finally liked all my solos on the record, hehe))) coz I did a great job in the studio and was really proud of it.
· What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?
Never give up and be prepared to work hard
· How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?
Through our official site: www.hell-on.net
There is all necessary links
· Is there anyone you'd like to acknowledge for offering financial or emotional support?
There are a lot of good people around us. We are grateful to them for all the good things they did and do for us. And there are a lot of bad people around us, we are grateful to them as well, they helped us to become stronger and wise.
· Any last words?
Thanks for the opportunity to talk about our music. Keep metal alive!