Hella (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hella | ||
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 Left to Right: Zach, Spencer, Aaron, Josh, Carson
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  United States |
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| Genre(s) | Math Rock Noise Rock Avant-Garde |
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| Years active | 2001 – present | |
| Label(s) | 5 Rue Christine Suicide Squeeze Ipecac Recordings |
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| Associated acts |
The Advantage Team Sleep The Holy Smokes |
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| Website | Official website | |
| Members | ||
| Zach Hill Spencer Seim Josh Hill Carson McWhirter Aaron Ross |
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| Former members | ||
| Dan Elkan Jonathan Hischke |
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Hella is a musical duo from Sacramento, California. They play a technical, Nintendo-influenced blend of math rock, noise rock and avant-garde. The primary members of the band are Spencer Seim on electric guitar and Zach Hill on drums (although both are multi-instrumentalists). In 2005, the band expanded their live band by adding Dan Elkan on vocals, rhythm guitar, and synth and Jonathan Hischke on bass guitar. In 2006 Dan Elkan and Jonathan Hischke left the group. The new line-up includes the additions of Josh Hill, Carson McWhirter (of The Advantage) and Aaron Ross.
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[edit] History
As high school students Spencer Seim and Zach Hill were both members of the NorCal band Legs on Earth along with Josh Hill on guitar and Julian Imsdahl on bass and vocals. The band achieved some moderate local success, becoming renowned for their wild live shows and Primus-esque sound. The band sounded similar to Primus, especially the vocals and bass but Zach Hill described it in an interview as "Devo, Talking Heads kind of thing"[1]. They released one cd in 2001 called "Lasers & Saviors" on local record label Para-Sight Records. It is out of print. In 2001 they went on hiatius and later broke up. There were problems within the band and some say it was because of a drug addiction Julian faced. Julian Imsdahl is currently in the band Grandstream (formerly known as Little California), and was previously in the band Eraserhead. Zach and Spencer decided they wanted to continue playing together and pursue a less mainstream sound. According to Zach, they didn't always intend to remain a duo, though: "[We] had intentions to start a band that was like... Kinda like what we were doing with just the two of us, but with more people. But, we couldn't find the other people so we decided to do it just with the two of us." Their name is simply a reference to the slang word "hella" that is common throughout Northern California and has no deeper meaning.
Hella's earliest recording was the self-released Leather Diamond EP, hand-assembled in a nondescript cardboard sleeve and sold at some of their first shows. On March 19, 2002 they debuted proper with the full-length Hold Your Horse Is LP on 5 Rue Christine Records (a subsidiary of Olympia, Washington based Kill Rock Stars Records). On these recordings the band forged their classic sound, playing minimally arranged, abrasive instrumentals that still retain an idiosyncratic sense of melody. The Falam Dynasty 7" was also released this year.
2003 saw Hella begin to deviate from the basic framework in the studio, although their live sound remained largely unchanged. Released on June 17 of that year, Hella's Bitches Ain't Shit But Good People EP (originally a vinyl only release) featured many firsts for the band. An earlier recorded (Leather Diamond) version of a song from their first LP, Republic Of Rough And Ready, became their first widely released song to feature vocals (provided by friend of the band, Dan Elkan). A version of "1-800-Ghost-Dance" with vocals by Elkan was available as a downloadable mp3 on the band's website in late 2002/early 2003. The Bitches EP also found Hella using bass guitar, synthesizer, and drum machine for the first time. Total Bugs Bunny On Wild Bass, also an EP, was released on August 26th and featured the overt use of synth, sampler, and drum machine and an apparent influence from 8-bit video game music, first hinted at on the opening track of Hold Your Horse Is, "The D. Elkan". Hella rounded out the year with a split live 2xCD with San Francisco, California based Dilute.
Hella released their second full-length LP in 2004, The Devil Isn't Red. A denser album than Hold Your Horse Is, in many ways it was a synthesis of their earlier sound with some of the sounds they had played in the studio the previous year. Other releases for the year included a split 7" (w/ fourtet) and a limited edition, Japan-only release of the 3 song Acoustics EP.
For their 2005 release, Hella again experimented with their sound in the studio. Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard, released through Suicide Squeeze Records, is a double-solo album, with Zach and Spencer each recording a whole disc's worth of material independent of each other. Zach's disc, Church Gone Wild, is a caustic, almost impenetrable 56 minute noise piece, with Zach doing all the vocals and instruments, save for a few guest appearances; while Spencer's disc, Chirpin Hard, again experiments with the fusion of 8-bit Nintendo music with punk tenacity and math rock technicality. Hella also expanded their live band to a quartet in 2005, adding Dan Elkan on vocals, rhythm guitar, and synth and Jonathan Hischke on bass guitar in order to render songs from Total Bugs Bunny, and Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard live, in most cases for the first time. This line-up toured the US in support of Out Hud in Spring, System of a Down/The Mars Volta, Les Claypool, and Dillinger Escape Plan in the fall as well as numerous headling dates in the U.S. as well as visits to Japan, Spain and the UK.
A DVD/CD EP release titled Concentration Face/Homeboy was released on November 8, 2005 on 5RC Records.
As of 2006, Hella consists of Spencer Seim, Zach Hill, Hill's cousin Josh, also played in Legs on Earth, Spencer's Advantage bandmate Carson McWhirter and Aaron Ross. The first release from this line-up, entitled There's No 666 In Outerspace, was released on January 30, 2007 on Ipecac Recordings. [5]
[edit] Side projects
In addition to their work in Hella, Spencer and Zach have also recorded with a number of side projects.
Spencer plays drums in NES theme music cover band called The Advantage (a reference to the NES Advantage controller), notable for using only guitar, bass guitar, and drums to replicate the 8-bit programmed music of the games.
Zach has recorded albums with Tough Guy Fantasy/Arctic Boys, Flössin, Crime In Choir, Nervous Cop (with drummer Greg Saunier of Deerhoof and harpist, Joanna Newsom), Friend/Enemy (with Tim Kinsella, Sam Zurick, Todd Mattei, Jim Becker, Caryn Culp, Graeme Gibson, Emma Grace Lansangan, Nick Marci, Chris Powell, Azita Youssefi), Zach Hill And The Holy Smokes (the release of which was accompanied by a 138 page book written and illustrated by Hill), as well as playing drums for Chino Moreno's band Team Sleep, The Ladies, Kenseth Thibideau and Marty Anderson's band Howard Hello and Jeordie White and Chris Goss's band Goon Moon. More recently Zach Hill has teamed up with Mick Barr from Octis/Orthrelm and together have released the LP Shred Earthship on 5 Rue Christine.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Hold Your Horse Is CD/LP (5RC, March 19, 2002)
- The Devil Isn't Red CD (5RC, January 20, 2004)
- Church Gone Wild/Chirpin' Hard 2CD (Suicide Squeeze, March 22, 2005)
- There's No 666 In Outer Space CD (Ipecac Recordings, January 30, 2007)
[edit] EPs
- Leather Diamond CD-R EP (2001)
- Falam Dynasty 7" (5RC, September 10, 2002)
- Bitches Ain't Shit But Good People EP (Suicide Squeeze, June 17, 2003)
- Total Bugs Bunny On Wild Bass EP (Narnack Records, August 26, 2003)
- Concentration Face/Homeboy DVD/CD EP (5RC, November 8, 2005)
- Acoustics EP (Toad Records, 2004 & 2005 in Japan) (5RC, September 12, 2006 in US with additional songs)
[edit] Split Releases
- Live 2CD (Sick Room, October 10, 2003) (with Dilute)
- Div/orce 7" (Ache, March 12, 2004) (with Four Tet)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Maylone, Sean. "Hella is not big band jazz, but neither are you", Fish Rap Live!, 10 March 2005.
- ^ http://www.killrockstars.com/basement/discography/discography-5rc.html
- ^ http://www.thenitmustbetrue.com/hella/hella2.htm
