The Hellset Orchestra

It had been years since I'd stepped foot in Magnet Studios. I foolishly thought I'd put that dark, musty chapter behind me. But fate sent me there again, only this time I looked slightly more out of place than when I used to shuffle around in tent size jeans and t-shirts that took away what little femininity I had. Fate was other wise known as LeftLion Editor Jared and the reason for taking a blast from the past was so that I could listen to the music of the Hellset Orchestra, who were rehearsing there.

I'd been told a little about the band; there were string instruments, maybe woodwind and there were eight members. I must admit, having been in a few orchestras, I had visions of a group of youths murdering the sanctity of orchestral instruments. But I should learn to be less judgmental. I would be more than pleasantly surprised.

"People don't expect to see eight people sitting on a stage." Amy, the Cellist, tells me. "So I think visually it works, and then they just hear this sound that come out and that makes people stand back."

It certainly does that, but I was standing anyway. The music is strange, but in an intriguing rather than a Michael Jackson way, I would say it's unique and innovative. The band includes the aforementioned cello, two violins, a sampler, an organ, a bass, obligatory drums and a clarinet. I'm no big fan of indie music and I will make this known now, but Hellset Orchestra had my feet tapping. To put it bluntly, I thought they were great. `But strings have been used in rock music before' I hear you cry. And yes quite often, to the most extreme in Metallica's `S&M'. But the Hellset Orchestra do it differently; the strings, the clarinet, the sampler, the organ are all vital parts in the cocktail that makes their music so deep.

"The plan initially was for the three of us, me, Dan and Adam, just to be the band and then if other people could make the gig or the practise then that'd be great. But we've moved on a bit and now we can't do anything without one another." Mike, vocalist and organist, appears to be the front man. When I first sat down to the task of interviewing seven of the eight members I was instructed to "Talk to Mike and we'll chip in."

The eight of them seem to have met mainly through university with a few having been found through relationships and at the studios. Mike thinks the band has become "like a little gang" and says that they wouldn't advertise for any more instruments, it would have to be people they knew.

Being an octuplet puts a strain on the running of the band, and Mike admits "it becomes a bit hectic to get people around", but from the music they produce it appears to be worth it. When it comes to writing material; Adam, their talented drummer, told me "what we usually do is Mike or Dan will come up with a melody and a bass line, give me a CD copy and I'll put down the beats to it and then," suddenly the madness ensues and coherence appears lost "is it you who scores all the music, Dan?"

But understandably, writing for eight people is a challenge, especially if you can only play a fraction of the instruments involved. Dan answers his band mate's queries about the rudiments of Hellset Orchestra "We write the songs, work out the parts roughly, because we don't play the violin or cello we don't know if we're writing ridiculous parts. So we score it, give it out to the violin and cello and they rationalise it, work it out, and it all comes together beautifully."

"It's not forced upon people like `this is what you've got to play'" reassures Mike, suddenly conscious of appearing like the controlling members "It's kind of like a guide. Because it's very easy to work out parts on the keyboard or the computer, but what's really easy to play by hand or on a keyboard is ridiculously difficult on the instruments."

I ask them whether they prefer being in orchestras or in the band, Dan (a violinist) offers a democratic response "Other bands I've been in have been very collaborative and then obviously in an orchestra you're given music by somebody completely different. But in this, It's somewhere in between. It's a nice balance."

Witnessing their practise session, it was plain to see that each person was totally engrossed and consumed by the music they were playing. It's always nice to see musicians so entwined with their craft.

"It started off as something fun to do." explains Mike, "Then when we started all doing shitty office jobs, it kinda made you realise that you've got to try and do as much creative stuff as you can'. It was an antidote to doing a boring job."

For a relatively new Nottingham band (before Cabaret they've only ever performed live once) Hellset Orchestra sound professional. The music is tight and well rehearsed and evidently a lot of practice has gone into making it work together. Although they may sound together now, it seems that all was not that rehearsed for their first live performance:

"The week before the gig we weren't sure if we were going to do it with everyone" Mike tells me "we didn't know if everyone was comfortable with the parts. But we just decided to go for it. That's when it really all came together. It was quite a weird gig, we didn't really expect lots of people coming, and then it all came together musically and it sounded really good. It just clicked and that set the ball rolling."

The band firmly believe that their number one priority is to "not get up our own arses" and that a mighty fine principle to hold. Plans for the future include two gigs (April 15th at Cabaret and May 21st at Junktion 7) a possibly three track EP ready for sale at the May gig and there is an idea of a summer tour; but the band members see the short term goals as the ones to focus on.

In short, Hellset Orchestra are a bunch of thoroughly pleasant people who were lovely to chat to, even if interviewing seven people was a little bit like flailing and eventually sinking at the deep end because it's the day of school swimming where you have to wear your pyjamas and fetch rubber bricks from the bottom of the pool...anyway. Their music is fantastic, played very professionally and with a certain finesse that one wouldn't expect from eight musicians playing entirely different instruments from different genres. I think if given the chance, the Hellset Orchestra will go a long way. Good luck to them!