Mark: Hi, Ann, how are you?
Ann: I’m good, how are you doing?
Mark: Not too bad! Thanks for taking time to talk to The Rockpit. It’s been a long road for Hellion, and that’s probably an understatement!! I remember buying your first EP in 1983, on Music for Nations in the UK, and now here we are 32 years later with the anthology. Tell us about the resurfacing of Hellion, why are you back now?
Ann: Well, it was a situation where I felt I really needed to get in and record for a dozen different reasons. People were saying all kinds of stupid things, like Ann can’t sing anymore, her voice has blown out, a bunch of ridiculous things like that, and that inspired me, as it made me angry, and anger can be a great motivator! Also I had the honour of having the support of some wonderful people, and it was suggested, why don’t we just get out there!
Mark: You started off as a keyboardist and moved to bass, you also got to LA when you were pretty young, what was the scene like there when Hellion first started?
Ann: When Hellion was first around, it was the very early eighties, and we had a whole lot of clubs to play at. When I first came to LA, there was the pop scene sort of in the seventies, The Ramones, and The Sex Pistols, all those things were happening, and usually with Heavy Metal, it was a do it yourself kind of situation, we threw gigs in the back yard of our house, and we evolved a good following and then were able to go in to the clubs. We headlined pretty much right away.
Mark: Some of those clubs are still around, and sadly some are gone. What sort of places were you playing?
Ann: We went into a place called The Troubadour, which is still around, and we played there one show a month, and that really was one of my favourite ever places to play, in LA, even though it was small, the crowd was all age, which was great. I just think the shows there were very special; we often had a lot of great bands on the bill so the shows were packed and the lines went around the block. It was very reminiscent of the Marquee in London.
Mark: Which of course you played, to packed houses back in the day as well.
Ann: We did.
Mark: I remember not being let in there once, for being underage!! It’s hard to imagine when you look back, that Hellion were considered, especially in the States, too heavy, when you listen to the stuff that comes out nowadays! Was it that you had the right idea, and you were just around too soon, or did you see yourselves as trendsetters, or did you just anticipate what was going to come? How do you look back on Hellion now?
Ann: Individual members had problems with other bands with lead singers, my final band included, so by the end of 1981, early 1982, myself, Ray Schenck, and the other guys were all sick of lead singers, we’d form a great band, and then the lead singer would develop, what I call LSD (Lead Singer Disease!), and we’d end up with no singer! We decided we just wanted to go out and play, and we started doing what we did, and we shared vocal duties, and somehow I ended up singing more than the other guys, and eventually ended up being the lead singer. During that time period, by the time we had developed a big following, the record companies pretty much, were signing about 30 different bands in LA, but of those bands that were being signed, they were more the bands that were geared to the power metal ballad, radio friendly, you have to say! Being in LA, it was very much a scene where you had to be like Dokken or Ratt, or very commercial to get those record deals.
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