New Hellfire Club Glasgow
If you are a musician in Glasgow right now, then you will most certainly have crossed paths with New Hellfire Club, one way or another. And if you haven't yet, then their upcoming NHC HUB venue will be a great opportunity to introduce yourself. But more about that later. Recently, we asked the guys (and girl) behind it all to shed some light on why they do all of this great work.
EVO4: It seems there's a bit of a backlash against the establishment - or to put it a bit better, there's an increase in interest in doing things a bit differently. We, at Evo, have noticed there seems to be an increase in the community around independent promoters right now - what's your thoughts?
I think the backlash that seems to be happening right now has been building for quite some time, there's only so long an industry like the one we find ourselves in can operate the way it has, on such a one sided basis with the artist increasingly getting the short end of the shaft, with 'shaft' being quite the suitable word here! I think the community spirit goes kind of hand in hand with the whole backlash idea, we hope to foster that feeling and keep it going, although we are desperately trying to steer clear of the whole 'cliquey' feel that has been festering in some corners of the local scene. we want to include everyone in our wee musical revolution, not just a chosen few, no-one should feel excluded.
Jamie Mcdermid
I personally think it's right that there is a backlash against the establishment. For one the medium we listen to music and the ways that people pay or don't pay for it has changed, it's only right the way gigs are run, the venues they're held in are a bit different. I think as well a lot of people have had their eyes opened to things like pay to play and know that it isn't the way to play gigs. Music is an ever evolving thing, whether it be in the way it's made or the sounds that people go for. With that in mind for me there shouldn't really be an establishment per se, because the things that go with the music should evolve too, to meet the needs of all involved. Anthony Jenkins
I think that would be a fairly accurate statement to make, though we have a very long way to go before things will have been really fixed. Sadly, I think there's still too much clique-y-ness among promoters, even the good guys. We need a city-wide dialogue between all of Glasgow's music promoters from the big venues to the pissant bars, so we can work together - rather than competing - to change this city for good music-wise and especially where the business aspect of promotion is concerned. Ultimately, in choosing this life for ourselves we are taking on a duty to the historic Glasgow music scene and that duty is to both preserve and improve it for years to come. Slowly I think that is starting to happen more and we're finally starting to weed out the pay-to-play sharks amid the dolphins. Just need the performers and moreso the punters to follow suit. John McKellar
EVO4: How did Hellfire come about? There must be a reason behind the name...
There was a secret society called the Hellfire Club in I think the 1700s. I have no idea why Jamie named the organisation after that group but with the rebranding to NHC MUSIC not standing for anything in particular I doubt that matters a whole lot. John McKellar
Ha! I actually don't remember now, if you believe that! I probably thought it was just some cool, random name for a club one night and quickly jotted it down somewhere, possibly after a few beers to many, and then when I started the page it was suddenly the first name that jumped into my head. It could very easily have been any number of strange monikers! I do remember loving the whole 'Do what though wilt, as long as it harms no other' slogan of the original Hellfire Club, there's some words to live by right there! Jamie Mcdermid
EVO4: What's your thoughts on the music scene in Scotland? It's changed a lot since we were doing stuff a decade ago, most venues are still there but the people running them have all moved on.
I think people like ourselves and Mainy from It's a XXXX Thing among others are about two-thirds of the way through a salvage-job of sorts. For a good number of years pay-to-play scam artists, con-men and an elite of guys that wanted their own bands and those of their clique to succeed and pull in crowds with no regard to the actual evolution and protection of the scene brought the music scene in this city to its knees and with the exponential number of new bands that crop up at all times it's important to manage the scene properly and ensure that as many talented bands make something of their music as possible. I feel that it's important that talent - rather than guys a promoter just happens to be mates with - is pushed and slowly but surely I think we're progressing with a gradual paradigm shift that will see that happen. Crucially though, we need to somehow get punters interested in local music again and by and large that will prove most difficult I believe. John McKellar
It's still quite a vibrant scene but it just seems to have gone a bit stagnant over the past few years. A large portion of the gigs I go to, to review or just to support an act we know on the page, are mostly half full at best, and at worst we have the dreaded 'bands playing to bands' scenario. There doesn't seem to be the same magic that there used to be when I was younger, when everyone loved going out to see new bands and had all the ticket stubs from old gigs stuck up on the back of their door (or was that just me? I was a strange kid!). Maybe i'm just romanticising my youth a bit, people have a tendency to do that sometimes, but I just feel that the whole local scene, and beyond, is a bit tired now. A little bit stale. Most people would rather listen to music they are told to listen to in the comfy confines of their own warm homes, through shitty little speakers on laptops and tablets, rather than venture out into the rain and pay a fiver to risk a band they may not like. On the other hand they may be the best damn band you ever heard in your life, and you may have one of the best damn nights of your life. We want people to take that chance again, we want to get people back out into the rain and looking for new things to love and new stories to tell about 'that awesome band i saw that night that ended up massive'. Jamie Mcdermid
EVO4: Do you find that artists come to you, or do you go looking for artists to feature?
A bit of both to be honest. At the moment we get daily emails to both the page and my own personal email address, with links to bands pages and music, we seem to have snowballed a bit in the past few months in popularity, but at the start we had to go looking for bands ourselves, which was actually quite an enjoyable experience as I found a few treasures in those early months of searching, bands who I still love and follow via the page today. A day spent looking for new music can never be a bad day! Jamie Mcdermid
Personally, I'm always looking out for new bands and artists. I want to hear as much music as I can and be as informed as I can about what's out there. I've been with Hellfire the least amount of time but have still found there are bands that have approached me about featuring something they're doing once they've seen that I'm part of Hellfire. Once a band understands what we're about they tend to then go away and tell other bands/artists they know about us. Which is exactly what we want. It might sound a little naive but I genuinely get excited about the prospect of hearing something new, because it might be the next band I'm going to love, which then might become the next band the person reading the review you've done is going to love. Kirsty Fraser
I think for NHC MUSIC overall it's a split just about down the middle. i find that with the podcast I need to do a bit more of the chasing but I attribute that to both the infancy of the show and my inexperience in this field. It's picking up for both entities every day though! John McKellar
EVO4: The HUB is an amazing concept. Where did that come from and how do you see it growing? Do you think the eventual location will affect the impact of the HUB?
I think the NHC MUSIC Social HUB will change the game permanently in Glasgow regardless of the exact location. It may not be straight away, or in the first year of its existence but this is a true revolutionary idea straight from the mind of Mr McDermid. In terms of where it came from, again you would need to ask him. As far as how I see it growing, I think it'll be ground zero for people actually giving a shit about underground or unsigned music again. Initially it'll be a used book store, coffee shop, we'll be doing the podcast there live with a small audience every week (and I have big plans for that!), we'll be stocking and selling only unsigned and indie music and any cash made from the sale of said will go straight back to the artist. I see a full-blown record label coming out of that eventually. I also see us promoting more than just music in the future. Local authors, artists, etc. John McKellar
The HUB was always on the edge of my mind when I initially set up the page. At that time (a couple of years ago now) I had set up the page part time, as kind of a promotion hobby. I was at the asre end of a band back then, a band in it's dying days, and knew the frustration myself of not being able to get your name out there as much as you wanted to, and thinking that if only more people got to HEAR your music, then you might actually start to get somewhere as a band. Where could we advertise our gigs, sell our merch to pay for the studio, share our music that we had worked so hard on? Spamming other peoples pages online can only get you so far. The HUB idea then came to mind, a place dedicated to not only helping new bands get heard by new ears, but also a place that helped them self-fund by selling their stuff completely free(to them), a place where they could hang out and network, sell tickets, advertise gigs, organise tours, a one stop shop for the independent musician. That's why keeping ourselves non-profit was quite important as well, this was never about the money for us, so it could never be allowed to be about the money once it got bigger. Every penny of profit we make will go right back into helping musicians, that is our word. The location at the beginning I don't think will make much of a difference to it's popularity, the idea is already so popular and we aren't even open yet! As for the future...who knows? A HUB in every major city would be nice. (Then obviously a hollowed out volcano and world domination) Jamie Mcdermid
EVO4: Do you have a particular genre that the hellfire prefers to promote?
No. NHC MUSIC promotes any and all genres of music. As for the podcast, we feature anything and everything. Just had a gospel rap song on the show for the first time a couple of week's ago. There's probab;y more metal and hardcore on the listings than anything else because of the sheer volume of those bands and acts in Glasgow just now. It seems to be a thriving scene comparatively, whereas both punk and true alternative rock are dead in the water. John McKellar
Everyone has their personal likes but when it comes to actually promoting bands through Hellfire, anything and everything goes. It's one of the reasons I wanted to get involved. There are certain genres that I, personally, would do my homework on before reviewing because they may not be the genres I'm as knowledgeable on. But like the guys have said, anything and everything is up for debate. Kirsty Fraser
EVO4: Do you feel the established organisations can offer as much these days as they used to? eg radio 1 scotland website used to promote unsigned bands back in 2001 etc
In reference to established organisations offering help to bands - I think they can still offer something for bands. I think there's still a thrill for bands/people to hear their music on mediums such as mainstream radio and the mainstream magazines etc will still get some people to pay attention to bands in a way that they never did before. I would say that their influence is waning, because of the growth of blogs and podcasting (for example). But, the traditional sources still exist... so there is, for me, still a market for them and therefore they can still be useful to a band. That said I wouldn't put all of my hopes in one of these if I was a in a band, purely because there are so many different avenues now. Anthony Jenkins
I think what they can offer has changed massively but it's still very appealing to bands and artists, even if it isn't as lucrative. There are still people doing great things for unsigned and independent music - like Jim Gellatly. The majority of bands would still very much want someone like him to feature their music on his shows or in his columns even if the prize for doing so isn't what it would have been a decade ago - selling a few more copies of their self-funded EP or getting a couple more people to turn out for their next live show is now, most likely, the prize. It might not be much but it's a step in the right direction and I think bands still appreciate the support. Kirsty Fraser
We've been talking with NHC for a while now, and we have to wholly admire the way they have been so quick to respond to everything we've ever asked of them. And that goes for each member of their team. Whether we've forwarded them an artist to review, or just a simple question, they've been totally on the ball. These guys really care about bands, music and artists. If you know them, say hi from us again, and if you don't, introduce yourself.
Thanks to Anthony, Jamie, John and Kirsty for taking the time out to talk to us.
Tweet
