Interview with Chris and Richie from Heavens Basement

Chris: Jonny and Rob have always played in bands together, they started Hurricane Party with other singers, guitarist and drummers, obviously it takes a long time to find the right people who all have the same goals, so a few people came and went. I replaced the original drummer after seeing an advert in Kerrang magazine, Richie came in later (also seeing an advert in a magazine!) and we met Sid in 2006.

Calle: What got you into music in the first place?

 

Calle: After some strong hurricanes in the US you changed your name to Roadstar (like a song on the Hurricane Party EP "Get This"). Was that your own decision or the management?

Chris: It was something we sat down and talked about, to be honest it was a decision that no-one was sure if it was right or wrong, the band made our views clear, the label / management made their's clear and the name was changed.

Calle: Who are your biggest influences?

Chris: There are so many influences between the five of us, it would be impossible to list them all! Their are the obvious great rock bands that we have always loved, the likes of Alice in Chains, Aerosmith, Guns n Roses but everyone has there own taste outside this, we try to bring a lot of stuff into the pot when we are writing songs.

Chris: As for new bands I would say 'Sign' from Iceland, we played some shows with them a few weeks ago, great band with excellent songs. 'Wired Desire' from Glasgow are worth checking out,we also played with them a while back and we are planning more shows with them, they have a good ACDC meets Skid Row vibe and also have very strong livers!! Finally I would recommend 'Pendulum', I don't know how big the are in Denmark but they do very well in the UK, if you like music like your rock music mixed with dance influenced music you should check them out.

As for older bands, there are so many to choose from who we love, 'Span' were a great band, it's a shame the spilt up, 'Alice in Chains' are well worth checking out for anyone just getting into rock music..and finally a small band from the 70s called Led Zep:) Every member of that band was and is a musical genius.

Chris: Yes, its fair to say towards the end we disagreed and clashed with our former management on everything which was part of the reason everyone (including them) were happy to part ways, we are a very laid back bunch of guys but we won't allow for anyone to walk over us - simple as that. We are proud of the things we done as Roadstar but it had to end, it always felt like problems outside of our control were holding that band back.

Calle: In April 2007 the band split up and formed again as Heaven's Basement. Does that name have a special meaning?

Chris: We actually got together as Heaven's Basement around Oct 07, but we spent the whole summer basically hanging out, having a good time, drinking to much and generally having a good summer! We never planned to start a new band after Roadstar finished but we found a whole new energy that summer and decided to give it a shot, it happened in a very natural way which is how it should be. The name actually come's from jamming in Richie (Hevanz's) Basement one night and writing the bones of our first 2 or 3 songs.

Chris: We don't really have a set pattern, some songs come together by all 5 of us sitting down and jamming on a riff together then things lead on from there. Other times someone will bring a whole song to the rest of us and the song will grow further from there.

Calle: Where do you find the inspiration for the songs?

Richie: I think we find it from the same places as anyone. Your own experiences, someone elses, pain, love, things on TV. The funny thing is sometimes you write a song. Put all the peices together and its not till afterwards that you realise something has inspired you. Sometimes things get to you on a sub conscious level. Somtimes they can turn out to be the most honest songs.

Calle: If you get the chance to work with a "big" songwriter, who would you like that to be?

Chris: We would be open to work with anyone to get the best out of us, we are actually thinking about producers for the debut album at the moment.

Richie: It depends on the kind of music really. Some genre's are doing great right now. Indie bands, R'n'B singers and that. But I think that in Britain our style of music is not doing great. There's plenty of bands that look the part but the music is lacking. I'm not saying that we're the bench mark or anything like that but i know that our first priority is writing and performing the best music we're able to produce. It feels sometimes that in our genre, thats not everybody's priority.

Richie: There's nothing set in stone at this point. But we have slowed the touring down slightly in order to concentrate on writing a few more songs with a view to recording that first album. We're not sure when it will be but we've always said that we want our first album to make an impact. We could have thrown together 12 songs easily by now. But we want to make the best album we can. That means making sure you have all the songs needed. When we feel we have that, we'll go in and record it. We're getting there.

Calle: And what can the fans expect from the album when it comes out?

Richie: We're curious about that ourselves!! Basically if you like what you've heard so far. Your going to love it.

Calle: You have played with a lot of great bands like Bon Jovi, Thunder, Alice Cooper, Nickelback and The Darkness to name a few. If you get the chance to open for/play with some other bands, who would you like that to be?

Richie: There's the obvious answers like Aerosmith, Motley Crue.....etc. We've seen the impact opening for bands like that can have for us when we opened for Bon Jovi. But I think that as much as possible we'd like to get our music out to as many different kinds of music lovers as we can. Not just necessarily classic rock fans, but everyone. Supporting a band like the Foo Fighters, Queens of the stone age, that would be cool to. If an audience is willing to listen and be entertained, we're willing to play.

The band kickin' ass live

 

Chris: Very hard question, Led Zep is the dream line up to be honest so apart from those members I would go with Eric Singer on drums, Joe Perry and Malcolm young on guitar, Steven Tyler and Duff on Bass

Calle: If people don't know Heaven's Basement, how would you describe the band in only three words?

Richie: Energy, Volume, Hungry

Calle: What's the best advice you can give to other up-coming bands?

Richie: Forget your ego, learn your instrument and practice! The more you play the better you can write, and the more you write the better songs you'll write. In the end thats what its all about. Listen and learn. Any dick head can style his hair, put on make up and get drunk. Its the music you create that people love. Not you!

Calle: What was the first CD/LP you ever purchased?

Chris: Van Halen 1 (I think) I remember having Aerosmith’s Pump on cassette too.

Calle: What do you do when you're not playing music? What's your other interest?

Richie: It ranges depending on the band members. Richie loves films. He has a huge collection. About five hundred i think. And rugby! He loves rugby!

Calle: What's your favorite drink?

Chris : Water, proper hardcore

Calle: Any last words for the fans?