A Brand New Hell

At the start, we wanted people to know who we are, and where we've came from. But we don't really want to be compared to our previous bands; we want to be able to stand on our own two feet as Hellions." Unless you're Josh Homme, Dave Grohl or Ian MacKaye, if you leave one band to start another, chances are people will talk about your new band with a caveat about 'featuring members of…' Like death or taxes, it's pretty much inevitable in the music world. Therefore, discussing the debut album of post-hardcore outfit Hellions, it's impossible to ignore the fact that the band was formed out of members of The Bride and House Vs Hurricane. "When The Bride called it quits, three of us weren't ready to give up writing music so we decided to start something new and fresh. Dylan played bass in House and was a really good friend of ours and when House disbanded he was keen to jump on board."

After Hellions had sorted out their personnel, Caruso says the band got straight into deciding what they were going to sound like. They wanted to escape the somewhat prominent shadow of their previous bands, but stay true to the type of hardcore they all loved. "With our previous bands, everything was really eclectic and there was such a mix of influences. For this band we weren't sure whether to stick to one sound or keep that experimental vibe and have a variety of sounds on the record. There were a lot of late nights and long chats about how we wanted to sound. And I think in the end, after a few arguments, we just figured that we're a new band, so we can do what we want. So we just started writing and keeping ourselves happy was the only real goal." Hellions then got into what would become Die Young, the most auspicious debut the Australian hardcore scene has seen in a long damn time. "We went in and started laying down rough tracks. It didn't really take too long at all. Within two months we had most of the record written and ready to go."

It's been a fast ride for Hellions, but it's one indicative of the band's immense talent. And while it hasn't allowed very long for fans of House Vs Hurricane and The Bride to grieve those bands' passings, Caruso hopes that kids will soon embrace Hellions for what they are. "Fans of the previous bands tend to get defensive about the new band's sound and stuff like that. And it's kind of hard to take sometimes. We accept it, and it's just what people do, but it's a little bit of a bum out when you see a flyer and it says 'ex-The Bride'. There's not really any need for that any more. We've been around for a few months and people know the deal by now."