Interview: The Hellset Orchestra

How did you all meet up?
Michael: I was playing guitar in a band called Male Kar, which was a kind of stoner rock thing, but I wanted to use my background at playing piano. The initial plan was to have a Ben Folds or Eeels type band with a keyboard, bass and drums. Then everything else just kind of fell into place. We invited a group of friends along that were great at using their instruments and after our first practice together we realised that everyone present was a core element of the band.
Dan F: We played our first gig in February 2004 at Bunkers Hill and did a 20 minute set. It felt a bit unrehearsed before, but when we went through it seemed to totally click. We didn’t know if anyone was even going to come, but then the place got rammed and everybody just went mental.

You’ve done quite a lot to say that you’re only just a year old...
Mike: It feels like that! When we played at A Drop In The Ocean at Rock City it was almost a year to the day after we had started. At the very beginning we just thought that if we ever got to play the main room at that place then we would have made it.

Is it true that you’re all from classical music backgrounds?
Dan O: I don’t like to be described as that. I think that there is something quite boring about classical musicians who pretend to be in rock groups. We’re doing this because it’s what we want to do it, not for any other reason.
Michael: The way that the music is orchestrated is a bit like a classical score, but played on a three stringed guitar. If you say that we’re ‘classically trained’ then that probably just means we had music lessons. You can’t teach people how to rock!!

How would you describe the Hellset style?
Michael: Some people describe us as being gothic, but that’s such a vague word? Is gothic like a piece of architecture or is it like Marilyn Manson. If I was pushed I’d say we are Neo-Disco Power Prog!
Dan Fraser: Gothic is the style of architecture prevalent in England during the 1700’s. We’re not that.
Michael: We’re definitely not Placebo either.
Dan O: I’d say it’s dramatic prog
Dan F: We get such mixed reviews that we just end up ignoring them. We’ve also been described as ska and none of us are really happy with that.
Nadia: People see me coming in with my violin at work and ask me what kind of music I play. I just tell them that it’s theatrical pop rock type stuff.

What do you think to the local bands scene in Nottingham..
M: It’s good at the minute because you get to know other people in other bands. You see them at the same places or certain gigs or whatever. It feels like it’s a good time, but I don’t know whether that’s just because I feel more involved in it now than I did before.
Dan F: Nottingham seems to be producing some strange bands and maybe that will become our scene. I think we could crack the market for quirky eccentric leftfield bands.

Which other bands are you feeling in the city then?
M: I’m a big fan of Punish The Atom and we’ve said that if we were an 80’s style guitar band then we would probably sound something like them. I like their theatrical nature and it’s obvious that they have thought about their performance, which is something that we always do. I also like a band called Lords, which is two guitarists and a drummer from Notts, playing heavy dirty blues.
Nadia: I like the Magic Heroes. I think they’re pretty good and I really like their afros.
Dan O: I’m also in a band called Master. It has an oddly contrasting relationship with the Hellset Orchestra, but the similarity is that both bands are very much about the performance rather than just the music. We don’t play guitars, it’s a ukulele, a banjo and a clarinet. We’ve got drums now as well!

What do you do when you’re not in the Orchestra?
Dan O: I make performance art in a collective called Auntie Nazi. It’s quite intense, audience participation stuff. I’m helping to make a short film at the moment, with a local filmmaker called Ian Finley, which is good fun.
Nadia: I design underwear for a living for Cortaulds textiles, which is a job I love. I’m training to do a half marathon at the moment, which is something I’m enjoying.
Dan F: I guess traditionally you would say I’m unemployed, but I’m actually quite busy at the moment. I also play the bass and do a lot of stuff on computers. I do all the design and the website for the band. Myself and Nadia are also in another group with a lady called Tina Carter and we do performance art stuff together. At the moment I’m also doing some freelance filming for an art project.
Mike: Away from Hellset, I’ve been working on a symphony that might be based around the twelve labours of Herocles. I’ve been doing that when I get time and also writing new stuff for our album. As for the other members, Adam was born to drum. He just drums twenty four hours a day, seven days a week I think…
Dan O: Amy does a lot of performance stuff too. She works for a company called Reckless Sleepers and does her own performances which are under the banner of Shrug. Jason makes a lot of music both on his own and with another band. He’s recorded about thirty solo albums by now, which you can probably only hear if you go around to his house.

What’s coming up for the band over the next few months…
Mike: This summer we’re playing in Germany at a festival called Dasfest. We took part in a battle of the bands style competition at Rock City and were picked to go through and play at the festival. It’s our first ever gig outside of Britain.
Dan F: It’s part of an initiative from Nottingham City Council to try and get better links with the city of Karlsruhe in Germany, with which the city is twinned. We’re playing at about 4.30pm on the main stage on Sunday afternoon. It’s rumoured that other bands on the bill include Slayer, the Stranglers and the Chemical Brothers. We’ve had a look at previous photos and there are 100,000 people there in the crowd! It’s a sea of people in a field! There’s also a human beatbox guy from Nottingham called Petebox that got in too.
Mike: We’re also working on our debut mini album which will be out this summer. It’s going to have six tracks on it and an enhanced section with two videos. One of them is a live action set up with us acting in a story that reveals a little bit about each of us. The other video is purely animation by a chap called Michael White who is a friend of ours. It’s Manga-ish images drawn and scanned in. Kind of like a sophisticated version of South Park.
Dan F: At the beginning of July we’ve got our big album launch, the pinnacle of which is that we’ve hired out the Rescue Rooms and we’re going to have a launch shindig as the official release of the album. We’ll also put on a few other bands that we haven’t decided yet. We’ll definitely do some kind of deal where you get cheaper entry if you wear a cape or a monocle or some other item of Victoriana.