HEAVEN’S BASEMENT has come a long way since we last spoke to them just after releasing their ‘Unbreakable’ EP back in 2011… They have gone on to release their debut album and shared the Festival Stages at some of the biggest shows in the world with some of the biggest bands out there… next stop SOUNDWAVE.
Mark: Hi, Chris, how are you? I think the last time we spoke was a couple of years ago, when you’d just released the ‘Unbreakable’ EP, and now we finally get to see you in Australia. How did that come about?
Chris: Yeah, finally! Probably about 6 months ago we were in London, and we met A J Maddah, and we said we really want to come to Australia and play Soundwave. He knew the band, he’d heard the EP and the album, and he said, cool, we’ll sort it out for you!
Mark: You guys get on well with the festivals, don’t you? We’ve seen you at Download, Sonisphere, and you did Rocklahoma, this year, in the US.
Chris: Yeah, we’ve probably done 20-25 of the festivals this year, we’ve done all the ones in Europe, like Hellfest, Hard Rock Hell, and Bloodstock, and we’ve done one in Spain, and we probably played 5 or 6 in the States as well, back in May, so it was a really good year for us.
Mark: What was your reception like? Was it different from home, playing somewhere like the States?
Chris: Yeah, obviously, playing the UK festivals, and the European festivals, people know us more, when we played Download; there was probably about 25,000 at our stage, watching us! It was our first time in the States, so we were lower down the bill, and it was the first time a lot of people had seen the band or heard of us, but the response was still really good. We made a lot of new fans, and we also made friends with a lot of the bands that were on the bill.
Mark: It sounds like things are going great for you this year; does it feel like you’ve taken a big step up this year?
Chris: Yes, massively!! The album came out at the start of the year, and we literally started touring on January the 1st. We went to Canada, for our first tour over there, which was with Buckcherry, our only time off has been between tours, where we’ve come back home and prepared for the next tour! The tour mentality has been we’ve been doing a month or so in Europe, and then then doing a month in the States and Canada, it’s very much like an old school tour mentality, like in the 70’s and 80’s, we concentrated on North America and Europe and other parts of the world at the same time, as opposed to, some bands these days who focus on one country, we’ve been trying to take on the whole world, really!!! That will continue next year, going further, when we come to Australia, no rest for the wicked!!
Mark: That’s great that you’re bringing some great UK rock here! I think you’ll go down well over here, I don’t know if you are familiar with Soundwave, a lot of it’s at the heavier end, but the crowd know their music and I think you’ll get a pleasant surprise! The new album, “Filthy Empire”, is, I think, your best yet; the critical response has been very good. Is that the feeling you are getting, as a band?
Chris: Definitely! As a band we have done something we are really happy with and then put it out to the world and the response was fantastic, and gave us the platform to tour everywhere. On the album we wanted to capture as much live energy as possible and show people how dynamic we are as a band. The album has some of the heaviest and the lightest music we’ve made, it’s a great cross section,. I feel that a lot of rock bands these days are rather one dimensional; they do an album that’s pretty much the same start to finish. We’re more like the old school bands we listened to growing up that want to show different sides to ourselves and our music, not too much, but enough to make it an interesting listen.
Mark: I love the fact that you do mix it up, you go out there and play acoustic shows and stuff like that, makes it more interesting for the fans and I imagine sets some challenges for you as musicians that keeps it all fresh.
Chris: Definitely
Mark: Just to give the Australia audience a bit of a taste of Heaven’s Basement what can we expect from a live show?
Chris: The main thing is to expect the unexpected! Its guitar, bass, drums and vocals – no backing tracks – we’re very much a live rock and roll band. Every show we change the set around, we’re very hard and aggressive so equipment breaks, people fall over and maybe someone jumps in the crowd! It’s quite unpredictable in a good way – it keeps everyone on their toes!
Mark: It sounds like you are going to go down well with the crowds down here! That’s just the sort of think we like!
Chris: We’re all about the interaction!
Mark: Any chance of any solo dates when you get down here?
Chris: I think there will be, we’ve not set anything up yet but we’re there for two weeks and Soundwave I think is six shows. So we hope to play with some of the other artists on the bill, or maybe we’ll get lucky and get to open for one of the bigger bands.
Mark: That would be great and we’d love to see you out West! What songs should we look out live from the new album ‘Filthy Empire’?
Chris: We’ll there’s the single of course – ‘Fire Fire‘ and ‘Nothing left to Lose’ and ‘I Am Electric’ apart from that pretty much everything is fighting for a spot in the set so it depends how long we get to play for! Songs like ‘Welcome Home’ and ‘Executioner’s Day’ the first ever song we wrote from the first EP. Of course we’re still playing songs from the EPs, but we choose a set based on what we think the crowd will like.
Mark: We had a couple of questions from social media I promised we’d ask so here goes – does the band watch cricket and if so what is your prediction for the Ashes.
Chris: Um, we don’t really watch cricket at all we know that Australia we’re really good and had the upper hand for years and there’s a huge rivalry, but it’s not really our game… I’ll still back England to win, based on the fact I know nothing.
Mark: A very good answer
Chris: We do watch the football, but I probably shouldn’t mention that based on the fact that I’m a Manchester United fan and I know AJ is a mad Liverpool fan! So I have to keep that quiet.
Mark: If you could have been a ‘Fly on the wall’ for the creation of any great album from any period, just to see how the magic happened and it all came together, what would it have been for you any why?
Chris: That’s really good, probably one of the Zeppelin albums, or maybe Dark Side of the Moon, later on maybe Nirvana – Nevermind, or Rage Against the Machine’s first album which would have been cool as it was recorded live. It would have to be an old school one though as of course a lot of albums these days are made in a completely different way.
Mark: How do you record yourselves, is it a mix, do you all bring something to the table and work it up acoustically? What’s your process like?
Chris: We don’t really have a set pattern or rules; every song has a different story. We might start with a riff or a lyric idea and we tend to all work on them ourselves then bring them in and then get in the rehearsal room and start working them together. With the album we went in with maybe 50% of the album done and the rest we finished in the studio once we’d got our head in the game. We find its best not to have any rules.
Mark: And finally what is the meaning of life.
Chris: Enjoyment and living for the moment. Having a good time and enjoying yourself, that’s all you can do.
Mark: Thanks for flying the flag for UK rock mate, you’re one of the best out there and we can wait to have you visit us for Soundwave.
Chris: Thanks mate, we can’t wait looking forward to seeing you Mark, catch you later
