Hell To Pay
Date: 4 November 2013
MG: Hi, great to catch up with you guys again!
HTP: Likewise mate it’s been a while!
MG: Could you give us a very brief background to Hell to Pay?
HTP: I suppose everything really kick-started for us when we won what was then 106.1 Rock Radio’s BOTB competition back in 2010… as a result of that we played a couple of sold out shows at The Ritz in Manchester went on to play with the likes of Paul Gilbert, The Treatment, Reckless Love, Snakecharmer, and a host of others as well as record a couple of EP’s and finally our first album ‘Judgement Day’
MG: "Judgement Day” is the band’s debut album, how excited are you to finally have a full album out. Here ya go...!!!!!!
HTP: It’s brilliant to have finally got it out there… some might say it’s been a long time coming but we just wanted to make sure we had a collection of tunes that really represented us as a band. We listen to so much stuff from across the rock / metal spectrum (and beyond) that making sure all our ideas fitted together was a challenge. It’s brilliant to finally have people listening to it and we’ve had some amazing feedback so far which has been really encouraging.
MG: Having reviewed your superb EP previously, I must say “Judgement Day” shows the bands pedigree and is brilliant do you have any personal favourites on the new album.
HTP: That’s such a tough question having spent so much time working on them… I love them all! If I had to pick one it’d have to be the opening track ‘Prisoners Of War.’ It’s a little different in terms of arrangement with this big Prog esq intro and then blasts off into one of the heavier riffs on the album… we open with it live and it just helps create that air of intrigue and suspense before kicking everyone in the face. It just immediately sets the tone and gets us and everyone else in the mood!
MG: Plans for the rest of this year?
HTP: We haven’t got a great deal planned for the end of the year, we’ve had a pretty good year so far and put a lot into bringing this album to fruition. I think we all just needed a little bit of time to make sure we’re ready to meet 2014 head on and make the most of it!
MG: Next year is going to be a big year for Hell to Pay I am sure, tells us about your plans for 2014?
HTP: Everything is just in the planning stage at the moment so there’s not a great deal I can tell you but we are confirmed to be playing on the Main Stage at the HRH:AOR festival in March and are in discussions to do another UK Tour around then and we’re also working on making our first foray into mainland Europe.
MG: You are four very talented musicians and have a great future ahead of you, what would you say are the best and worst things about being in a band in this day and age?
HTP: Thanks very much. The shows will always be the best thing! When you look out and see people singing along and coming up to you after the show telling you how much they’ve enjoyed it then there’s no better feeling… that’s the whole reason we all set out on this journey in the first place. The worst thing is definitely the drive home!
MG: Your live performances are known to be lively and a must see, do you have a personal favourite City / Town to perform in?
HTP: We’ve had a lot of fun in plenty of places! London & Nottingham have always been good fun as well as some smaller towns like Leighton Buzzard where the people were brilliant and really took to us. Nothing beats coming back to Manchester though, people always turn out for us and we’ve had so many special nights here it would be difficult to pick anywhere else.
MG: You have covered “Stormbringer” by Deep Purple was it a hard decision to choose a song to have as a cover on “Judgement Day”...
HTP: It’s a tune that we’ve been playing live for years and just instantly gets heads banging. It’s a massive song with a monster riff and we just thought it’d be one we could heavy up a little and fitted with everything else going on the album. We’re big fans of the whole Coverdale, Hughes & Blackmore MK:III version of Purple and have always talked about doing it. Being in the studio for a few days doing the album gave us the perfect opportunity to do so.
MG: You have only really been going a short while, what would you say has been the bands biggest achievement to date?
HTP: Personally for me sharing a stage with Paul Gilbert will be something that’s hard to top. He’s such a hero for myself and Dan and being privileged enough to sit in on his sound check was a great experience. For the band as a whole though being given the opportunity to share the stage with a host of great bands next year at HRH:AOR Festival is a massive achievement for us.
MG: Four words to describe Hell to Pay?
HTP: Balls Deep Heavy Metal
MG: Any final words to your fans and our readers?
HTP: If you’ve ever been to see us, bought a CD or t-shirt, watched a video or left us a message thanks so much for your continued encouragement and support. It’d be completely pointless doing any of this with out you.
If you’ve not… sort it out haha!!
www.helltopayband.co.uk
www.facebook.com/helltopayband
Interview by: Seb Di Gatto