Hardcore metal outfit H.O.U.N.D.S have just passed ten thousand streams for the recent remaster of debut single ‘Beast’. For a small band from the Isle of Wight, that’s pretty impressive. You’d be forgiven for assuming that kind of success would go to their heads, but that conjecture was put to bed with the caption for their celebratory Instagram post; ‘it’s not our bag… we ain’t braggers’. A few days before the remaster dropped, we caught up with frontman and advocate for the cassette tape resurgence, Ash Hoy, for what was intended to be a 20 minute fact finding phone call. Three hours, copious amounts of tea, and several cigarettes later; we thought we had ourselves an impromptu interview; “That kinda goes with the whole H.O.U.N.D.S thing really. I do an unexpected interview and it ends with a corrupted file, so that’s always good to know”. Luckily, he sees the funny side of it, even joking about writing a song in honour of the corruption.
Following on from the snippet of our conversation that was featured on FREAK recently, we dive into how it’s almost unheard of nowadays to physically release a single. It’s simply a lot easier to release digitally, saving the CDs or vinyl for an album. For H.O.U.N.D.S however, slight sentimentality drove their decision as ‘Beast’ was the first single to be released since making the transition from Dead Town Nothing after their hiatus. Milestones appear to be the motive for physical releases moving forward; “I think we would definitely release that [album] physically as another milestone; our first album [as H.O.U.N.D.S] but also our first since the Dead Town Nothing album [‘Consequences’ - 2015]”.
Thanks to a spectacular relationship with their label, Kingside Records, the band were given full artistic licence for the remaster; dictating not only what the release looked like, but what would go into it. Aside from pressing onto studio instead of mono vinyl, H.O.U.N.D.S went full old school by including an explicit version alongside a radio edit for both CD and vinyl iterations. As we talk about the phenomenon of playing swear words backwards to avoid that second of silence, another train of thought sparks up; “We should’ve put the ‘Parental Advisory: Explicit Content’ sticker on it!”. Certainly food for thought there as and when an album comes into fruition.
The nostalgia that’s been bred soon takes a turn further into the retro as we get onto the subject of the cassette tape. Could we see a H.O.U.N.D.S cassette on the horizon? If Ash had his way, maybe. “I just think they’re fucking cool!” he beams as he leads us down Memory Lane, reminiscing about the elder millennial’s Friday night ritual of renting cassettes, VHS tapes, and video game cartridges from Blockbuster. But then, Ash blind-sides us the only way a rampantly creative mind does; “Who would’ve thought that mini-discs would’ve been retro? Fuck cassette, let’s go for mini-disc!”. Time will tell how far down the rabbit hole H.O.U.N.D.S will get taken, but should anyone want to join Ash’s WI meetings about cassettes, or how ‘Alien’ is better on VHS due to the grainy quality, we’ll link his socials at the end.
With the single now released and providing sustenance for the self-sufficient hype organism which surrounds H.O.U.N.D.S, we finally address the elephant in the room; the pandemic’s impact on the band. At the date of publication, they haven’t played a single show as H.O.U.N.D.S. While some jumped at the chance to return to the live arena during the period of lax restrictions in September of last year, they held off. The previous evolution of themselves, Dead Town Nothing, came with the reputation of having physically relentless live shows where almost anything could happen. Knowing a portion of that is bound to precede them, the prospect of placing any sort of limitations on that would have made it feel, in Ash’s words “like a tea party, or a fucking wake”.
Inconvenient as the pandemic’s been, it’s served the band well. Pouring their energies into behind the scenes machinations, H.O.U.N.D.S have managed to build a solid and fiercely loyal fanbase through an incredible social media presence. While making conscious efforts to respond to every comment or message that comes through, and ensuring the regular Instagram Live sessions feel more like a night down the boozer than your typical band/fan interaction have given them a decent amount of exposure, and it’s also allowed them to connect with their fans in a much more personal way. “It’s a difficult time for everyone at the moment, so for the fans to stream our music or buy our merch, or even just jump in on a [Instagram] Live with us is a massive deal and we appreciate every ounce of support. At this point, as ‘ugh, really’ as this will sound, they’re a lot more than fans, we’ve built some great personal friendships there. All we want now is to be able to give them the live shows they deserve”, Ash tells us and it’s obvious there’s no sense of obligation whatsoever. When the time comes for band and fanbase to collide, the passion the two entities have for each other will hang thick in the air.
With social restrictions set to be eradicated in mid-June, that all-important first live show could be impending. When asked to describe what a H.O.U.N.D.S live experience could entail, Ash had this to say; “What you can expect: energy, a really good atmosphere, and it’ll just be like having a party at your mate’s house, coupled with some aggressive music”. Pulling from the wealth of experience picked up from Dead Town Nothing, we were told stories of how crowd members would go for each other before the band played a single note, the penchant Ash has for climbing speaker stacks or hanging from ceilings during sets, and how he visited the gents after a show to discover blood spattered up a mirror [a photo of this was used as imagery in a Dead Town Nothing album]. The anticipation becomes palpable as Ash tells us; “We’re not static, we get into it because we love doing it. That passion comes through in the live performance which makes it look like a violent show”, the love he has for playing live radiates through the phone.
Watching the metamorphosis from ‘normal bloke’ to ‘master of ceremonies’ that Ash moved through after fronting Dead Town Nothing is a sight to behold, even through YouTube. Talking about where it comes from, Ash tells us nothing we don’t already know; “We feed off our audience. If our crowd is really going for it, then that pushes us to take it to the next level”. How much of that ‘master of ceremonies’ is real and how much is simulation? After short contemplation, Ash estimates it to be an even split, for him at least, before adding; “Let’s not pretend that anything any metal band does on stage is a true projection of themselves. I’ve always deemed metal shows as a piece of theatre,” he continues, drawing comparisons between bands and NFL players taking people out left, right, and centre on the field as both require the elicitation of our most base behaviours with an amplification here and there. Let’s be honest, as fans of metal, we crave that spectacle. If we don’t leave a show with some ache, pain, or feeling of being dragged through a hedge backwards, we’re not satisfied. This expectation isn’t new to Ash as he holds himself to that high standard with the band’s mantra for live shows; “If we’re in pain, we’ve done it right”.
The nuances of the creative mind come into play again as we talk about the hype around H.O.U.N.D.S. As the frontman, there’s an undue expectation for Ash to fully buy in. Yet the trepidation this red Power Ranger has about band related events firmly holds him back from diving head first into self-adulation. “Even with ‘Beast’ it’s happening [the feeling of doubt]. It doesn’t matter that everyone’s heard the song before, we’re still like “fuck fuck fuck!.” So how does he deal with that panic? After a perfectly placed ‘Shaun of the Dead’ reference, the camaraderie within H.O.U.N.D.S comes out as Ash talks about group messages becoming not too dissimilar to support group meetings. In the end; “the self-doubt or lack of confidence just reminds us we’re human and that helps us in terms of knowing we’re not running away with ourselves”.
As time winds on, Dead Town Nothing is an intermittent conversational point. For some, a connection to the past or exposure of another facet of themselves would be a sore subject. “Dead Town Nothing is the foundation of what we are now and we want that to be part of our existence”; it’s this inclusion which not only made their transition so special but serves as a reminder of where they came from and what they achieved during that period. After taking advice from those who’d helped other bands in the same position, the transformation from Dead Town Nothing to H.O.U.N.D.S happened in real time across social media, culminating in a post that simultaneously closed one chapter and opened another. “Creating that atmosphere helped us as well as the fans to get excited for the next chapter”, Ash comments before crediting that time capsule for giving H.O.U.N.D.S the drive it has now.
The music world has recently been dominated by veteran performers eluding to the death of rock and metal. It would be fair to say Ash had some thoughts; “It’s disrespectful to the bands and fans that are still passionate about it. In the grander scheme of things, it’s disrespectful to the genre as it’s opened a lot of doors for people, including those who are making those comments. The hunger which drove them before is no longer there, breeding complacency.” A big believer in the cultivation of metal, Ash makes a passionately emboldened statement about how those who came before should change their tack; “You should be encouraging people to keep working at it and work hard because they might end up doing well. Embrace the up and comers instead of shooting them down.” At the end of a declaration we wish we could post in its entirety, he has a little advice for fellow musicians; “Grass roots are massively important and you should never shoot that down. Thank the promoter who gave you your first show. Thank the venue or booking agent who gave you the first support slot with a much bigger band. It’s not hard.”
Not wanting to leave things on such a heavy tone, we gave Ash some reprieve by asking him to participate in FREAK tradition; talking about band shirts. “The first one I got was a Cradle of Filth t-shirt with a picture of a half naked nun on the front, then on the back in massive white writing was ‘Jesus Is A Cunt’”. A laugh ripples as he tells us about wearing it to school and being asked to leave without even making it into a classroom. In telling us about his favourite band shirt, he reminds us that those in bands can sometimes be the biggest fans of their genre. An ode to his favourite band Ghost, Ash hasn’t even worn this particular garment; “It’s a limited edition that I picked up from a concert. It’s white and the artwork is this sketched portrait kinda thing… far too nice to wear”. We’ve all been there.
“The first gig I went to was One Minute Silence at the Portsmouth Pyramids Centre”, now purely indulging our curiosity about the other thing we all bond over; live music. “At the time, that was me going to a heavy show”. It takes a little while to remember that first heavy show but, again for our curiosity, it was The Black Dahlia Murder. Before the question is even finished, Ash tells us his favourite show was Ghost at the Zenith Arena in Paris. “One of the best live bands I’ve seen, hands down”.
“It’s still quite strange that we came back, released songs, and got signed during a pandemic,” Ash muses about the band’s successes. Sometimes, it sounds as though he’s talking about something outside of himself. Ashley Hoy, the man who failed his Music GCSE and has a day job in pathology, seems to be a completely different person to Ash, frontman of a hardcore metal band, the irony. However, it’s that groundedness and mentality of “We’re just five blokes who like to have a beer, and we make a load of noise because we’re angry” which makes them so endearing.
From talking to Ash, it’s easy to see why H.O.U.N.D.S’ fanbase is so loyal: there’s no bullshit. In fact, being hyped up makes these lads uncomfortable. “There will always be someone better than me, but I’m grateful that I have the ability to do what I do”, that statement alone encompasses everything that H.O.U.N.D.S is; five lads from the Isle Of Wight who don’t claim to be the masters at what they do, but do it because they love it. That passion is embodied in everything they do, and to be a fly on the wall at that first show would certainly be something. We here at FREAK can’t wait to see how this new chapter unfolds.
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