Formed in the early 80s but languishing in obscurity after the tragic death of their frontman, Hell were one of metal’s great fan. But in the early 2010s, acclaimed producer and superfan Andy Sneap helped resurrect the band, introducing them to a new generation of metal fans.
In today’s crowded marketplace - where genres and scenes constantly divide amoeba-like into increasingly narrow entities – a genuine sense of the unique is sadly something of a rare commodity within music, metal included. Indeed, such is the proliferation of bands that it doesn’t even seem to be an issue anymore – if a new band sounds like another older band, who cares – they’re just paying homage, right?
But then, every once in a while, you discover a group who are so fresh that they turn all your preconceptions on their head. Hell are such a band. Watch the video for On Earth As It Is In Hell, or, better still, see them live, and initially the gloriously unsubtle spectacle is so over the top, so theatrical and so unlike anything else out there, that you’ll be wondering what it is you’re witnessing.
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Few obvious points of reference exist, yet its heart is also quintessentially and undeniably heavy metal, combining dashes of Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate and even Rush with a sense of melodrama that makes King Diamond look shy and retiring. And the strangest thing about this groundbreaking outfit? They’re not even a new band. Far from it; last year’s debut album Human Remains was some two and half decades overdue, and all the more poignant for it. Indeed, behind Hell’s larger than life music is a story of tragedy, obscurity and resurrection.
Formed 30 years ago, the seminal five-piece managed to carve quite a name for themselves during the early 80s with their theatrical and progressive take on the heavy metal template, but a number of setbacks – most obviously the collapse of their record label and mounting debts – eventually led the band to split before they could release a full length.
Sadly, this would play a part in the suicide of their distinctive guitarist, vocalist and frontman David Halliday soon after. So it was that the group were consigned to the history books, with only a handful of legendary demos as proof of their existence.
But that was not to be end of the tale. During their brief time together they had made a fan and friend in a young guitarist named Andy Sneap, who'd go on to become guitarist for legendary UK thrashers Sabbat, and a producer for Megadeth, Machine Head, Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir and many other big hitters within the metal scene.
“I originally met these guys when I was 12 years old,” Andy recalls. “I started having guitar lessons from David Halliday, and then saw Hell about three months after that. I didn’t even know he was in a band and I was totally blown away by them. I think the only other band I’d seen was Iron Maiden and I was as impressed with Hell as I was with Maiden – even though it was in a pub it was as big a show! I became very good friends with them and, if I’m brutally honest, with Sabbat we ripped a lot of Hell stuff off. Not intentionally, but if something is that much of an influence it just comes out on your playing.”
Despite their close relationship in the early 80s, Andy would lose touch with the members of Hell following their split, just as they in turn would lose touch with one another as their lives took them in different directions. Guitarist Kev Bower, in particular, would prove highly elusive, spending much of his working life in the US – in fact, it was only a chance move by his son that led to the various parties meeting once more and reuniting the long-dormant band.
“I went through a really messy divorce which resulted in me losing contact with my son for five years,” Kev explains, “and when we were finally reunited, this little chubby kid had grown up into this six-foot, tattooed metalhead. As we started spending time together again he would play me these bands he liked – Trivium, Exodus, Nevermore, Opeth – and going through the booklets I saw all these albums had been produced by this Andy Sneap guy. I had no idea that Andy had gone on to become a producer and told my son, ‘Bloody hell, this kid was at the front of every show we played, we were his heroes!’ He didn’t believe me though, he thought it was some dad bullshit, and actually made contact with Andy to find out if it was true. Of course it was, and Andy was delighted as he’d spent all these years trying to find me!”
“Kev came down to the studio,” explains Andy, picking up the story, “as he was always interested in the recording side of things, and straight away I put a guitar in his hands and said, ‘Play that riff, I want to hear this song’, ’cos all I had was the cassettes, the demos for the album. I’d been listening to these songs for 20 years trying to remember how good it was live, and I just said, ‘For shits and giggles, why don’t we record some of these songs? I have a studio, we have weekends off, we can do it just for a laugh.’ That was four years ago and we slowly began piecing this album together three songs at a time, in blocks, and we ended up with this album recorded.”
Finding the band’s members was only the start of the challenge, and making Hell a working band once more was no small task, particularly since only one guy had continued playing his instrument in the intervening years.
“It’s funny,” laughs Andy, “when they knew me I was this blond kid on the front row of every show who used to follow them round. Now I’m the one cracking the whip and telling them what to do. It’s never easy and I’m just as guilty – when Sabbat stopped I wasn’t playing as much, I focused on being a producer.”
“It’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and the worst,” smiles Kev. “We do these shows in front of huge numbers of people and you’re a rock star for the weekend, then it’s back to the day job, so it’s a bit of a cleft stick at the moment. But coming back to the band is just awesome. I’d been out of the music business for the best part of 25 years and not played for 25 years, so this is a dream come true!”
A true labour of love, the three remaining original members (completed by drummer Tim Bowler and bassist Tony Speakman) worked with Andy – who both produced and played guitar – crafting an album that stayed as close as possible to the true spirit of the original band, and its sadly departed frontman.
“I’ve never been better prepared to produce an album than this one,” says Andy. “I’ve been listening to the songs for 25 years! When Dave died he left me everything; his guitars, amps, the rights to the songs in his will. I’ve always felt I had to do something with this and carry it forward, and having this opportunity to get his songs out there… it was something I had to do for him and his family really. I’ve really gone to a big effort financially and personally to make sure it was all done properly, all the publishing has gone to his next of kin and we made an effort to include him as much as possible on the record. In the middle of The Devil’s Deadly Weapon we lifted his voice from the demos, on the intro to Macbeth that’s him, the ‘bring out your dead’ part of Plague and Fyre, that’s him from a live show, so I’ve really gone in and tried to put him in on the album as much as we could.”
Of course, a gaping hole still existed within the group in terms of a vocalist. Initially Sabbat/Skyclad vocalist Martyn Walkier took on the role, but when that didn’t work out the group accidentally found their replacement in Kev’s brother David, who’d come in to the studio to do a few backing vocals. It’d turn out to be the final piece of the puzzle and David’s superb voice and incomparable stage presence has provided a definite figurehead for the group’s live performance.
An actor by trade who’s worked on high-profile UK TV shows (Casualty, The Bill, Heartbeat, Coronation Street), his dynamic performance brings a unique sense of drama that the band have built upon in their stageshow, making use of elaborate stage props to create a theatrical experience. The songs themselves naturally stand out from the crowd for the simple reason that they were written back in the early 80s and updated by a band who – Andy aside – are largely unaware of the last 30 years of metal history.
“It’s so important to try and do something original and I don’t see that in metal nowadays,” ponders Andy. “In the 80s you’d put a record on and you’d know immediately who it was because every band sounded and looked a bit different. Now it’s gone the other way, you have to fit into a genre, you have to have that haircut where the wind is blowing from one side. Unfortunately, we don’t have hair – it blew a little too hard I think!” he laughs. “But it is important, I don’t think we’re like anyone else. There’s a quirkiness to Hell which is so original and uniquely British really, with the little bit of tongue in cheek humour, it’s got a charm and I always liked that about the band. Germany’s got Rammstein and I’d like to think we’re putting some of that similar theatricality into our music too.”
“One of the great things about this band is we have a Grammy award-winning producer, a trained Shakespearian actor and I’m a carpenter,” chuckles Kev. “That’s my trade, so all the stage set is my work. The latest thing we’ve done is kit Dave out with a pair of four-foot stilts. He’ll be there as Pan and be 10 feet tall with the horns going on. One thing this band is definitely not short of is ideas. There are so many bands who just wander onstage in jeans and play, which is cool, but it’s never been enough for us, it’s not what we’re all about. Our objective is to entertain and I think people appreciate that.”
Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 233, June 2012
