{"id":1242,"date":"2017-09-04T14:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-helpless\/"},"modified":"2018-03-21T22:51:50","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T22:51:50","slug":"interview-helpless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-helpless\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview:\u00a0Helpless"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

It can be tough to stand out in metal when every band seems to be on a mission to be the heaviest, the fastest and most technical in their playing field, so when we find a band who just want to play the nastiest music possible for their own twisted desires, we pay attention. And Plymouth trio Helpless<\/b> are just that band, whose debut full-length \u2018Debt\u2019<\/i> is a nihilistic hybrid of grindcore, sludge and doom that treads the line between adrenaline and fear.<\/p>\n

Naturally, we had to find out more about the creators of this visceral work of darkness, so we sat down with drummer Russell \u201cRusty\u201d Cleave to ask about the band\u2019s origins, musical principles and lyrical inspirations. \u201cDan [Couch, guitar\/vocals] and Steve [Waldron, bass] were in a grindcore band called Godsick based in Plymouth, and I just knew Dan from being around him, playing in local bands,\u201d<\/i> Rusty says, explaining how the three-piece came to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I played guitar in another band [the hugely overlooked Brotherhood of the Lake], he contacted me asking if I knew any drummers. Now because I\u2019m also a drummer I said \u2018I\u2019d love to have a go, but I don\u2019t just wanna play grindcore, I\u2019d like to try something more interesting than just blasts,\u2019\u201d<\/i> Rusty elaborates. \u201cSo, I went and had a practice with them and it worked perfectly. Then they ditched the old band name they had, and all the songs they\u2019d written up to that point and we started fresh.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

With this fresh start, they began to develop a sound which promised to be more interesting than \u2018just blasts.\u2019 \u201cWe\u2019re all into stuff like Converge and Gaza and The Secret, so we wanted to have some slower and more atmospheric parts bits, so it\u2019s not just fast playing all the way,\u201d<\/i> Rusty explains.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/FN4qpJqgL90<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have some atmospheric intros and outros because it just makes it more interesting. If it\u2019s just full on then it stops and you listen to too much of that kind of music, it all merges into one then every album you listen to becomes kind of similar, so you become desensitised to it. Then there\u2019s no impact anymore because you\u2019re just used to it.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

However \u2018Debt\u2019<\/i> is an album that listeners would struggle to get used to, which fits Helpless\u2019<\/b> motive as songwriters perfectly. Dan Couch\u2019s use of discordant notes can be heard throughout this album, from the main rhythm of \u2018Worth\u2019<\/i> through to the dirgey \u2018Denied Sale\u2019<\/i>, the guitar work abandons any discernable melody in favour of thick walls of abrasion. \u201cThere are a lot of conversations where we\u2019ll say \u2018that part doesn\u2019t sound horrible enough,\u2019\u201d<\/i> Rusty explains. \u201cIf there\u2019s a bit in a song that drops out, we\u2019ll find ourselves saying \u2018now that we\u2019ve written that bit, the bit before needs to have something more\u2019, so there\u2019s a lot of changing and tweaking.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cDan\u2019s got that [\u2018horrible\u2019 vibe] on lockdown really, he\u2019s quite a minor guitar player in that sense. If anything sounds too major or straight up, he will stick some note in there that doesn\u2019t work, but does work if you know what I mean. If the riff is heavy enough but sounds too basic, we\u2019ll add some discordant chord to make it darker or nastier.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Beyond drumming, Rusty\u2019s role in Helpless<\/b> expands into more creative elements, namely his directing of all the bands\u2019 music videos. The slickly-shot video for lead single \u2018Ceremony of Innocence\u2019<\/i> allowed him to present a visual representation of the song\u2019s bleak mystique. \u201cThe lyrics are loosely based on this dystopian sci-fi 1984 kind of feel, where the Government are in control, don\u2019t even bother trying to fight it, it\u2019s happening, just go with it. Without being too corny, it\u2019s kind of a helpless situation,\u201d<\/i> Rusty explains. \u201cDan reads a lot of that dystopian literature, so he writes about a lot of it. It\u2019s perfect really, it\u2019s like we\u2019re writing a soundtrack to those images, that grimy picture is what we\u2019re trying to get across.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/v2npZZRMnOI<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought to have this Cold War spy, and he\u2019s going to have this little bit of information on a disk or a computer ship and he\u2019s going to give it to someone somewhere, but you don\u2019t know who it is or what they\u2019re going to do with the information,\u201d<\/i> Rusty explains. \u201cI just thought to leave it completely open ended. Is he working for the Government or is he trying to help the people outside, or trap them?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Ultimately for Rusty, being able to play drums in a creative band again is the most rewarding part about playing in Helpless<\/b>. \u201cI had a great time in Brotherhood of the Lake, where I played guitar, and that went on for ten years,\u201d<\/i> he explains. \u201cThat was cool, and in that time I got a lot of the basic songwriting stuff out of my system, but after that I thought \u2018it would be great to play drums\u2019, since I hadn\u2019t played for years in a band, so I really wanted to give it a go.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also been nice to not have the pressure of writing the material for guitar, which has made being in this band a lot more fun, which is weird for a band that sounds like we do, but it is.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2018Debt\u2019<\/i> by Helpless<\/b> is released on 8th September on Holy Roar Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Helpless<\/b> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Andy Davidson (@AndyrfDavidson<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It can be tough to stand out in metal when every band seems to be on a mission to be the heaviest, the fastest and most technical in their playing field, so when we find a band who just want to play the nastiest music possible for their own twisted desires, we pay attention. 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