Introducing Interview: O Hell

After years spent touring and recording music in alternative bands around the UK, Lucy Sheehan is venturing into fresh sonic territory under their new moniker O Hell. Influenced by a love of eclectic, brooding soundscapes and aspirations for pure self-autonomy, their debut single ‘Down’ is an “exercise in refusing compromise” brimming with Sheehan’s distinctive vocals and jagged electronics.

We caught up with O Hell to talk about what inspired their new sound, the context behind the accompanying video for ‘Down’ and the music that initially inspired the project…

Hello Lucy! We’re big fans of your new single ‘Down’. You said you were inspired by the sounds of early 00s albums by Mark Lanegan, PJ Harvey & Radiohead when you started your new project O Hell. What is it about these artists that helped you to shape your sound?

I’d been thinking of doing an electronic project for a few years, because the idea of stripping writing back to a beat and a melody really appealed – that’s mostly what I care about in a song anyway – but I couldn’t really see my way into it sonically; how to get the things I love about sound, the kind of looseness and grit you get from humans playing and singing together, into it. I couldn’t hear what it would sound like.

I think when I heard ‘Methamphetamine Blues’ by Mark Lanegan and ‘My Beautiful Leah’ by PJ Harvey, where the arrangements are kind of as loose around the drum machines as they would be with a band, it felt like a way in. I also just hadn’t heard voices like PJ and Lanegan’s, two people with the most fucking raw, real voices on the planet, singing in that context before.

At the same time I got really inspired by Christine & the Queens’ recent EP, La Vita Nuova. it’s all bass, pads, doubled vocals and harmonies – no filling, just the strength of the beat and melody. That sound really informed how I wrote for a long time.

Talk to us about your debut single ‘Down’. What inspired the lyrics, how did you put the track together?

I wrote ‘Down’ a couple of years ago, it was the first song I wrote for the project and it came out almost fully formed, start to finish, in one session on my computer. I kind of thought, I’m gonna kick this around the studio ’til it sounds like something I want to release. Which is what I did basically, I kicked it around with a bunch of mates – all brilliant musicians, engineers and producers – until it was everything I wanted.

Lyrically, ‘Down’ is a reminder for me that as bad as things get, I’m still going where I want to, even if it feels like I’m running with a broken leg. In that sense it’s a song for me. That’s something I really care about for this project, that the music is totally for me first. I love collaborating and I love being in a band and moving something forward together in a big evolving mass, where everyone get’s to go “that’s awesome” or “that’s awful kill it,” that’s exciting. But this is about not questioning what comes out and letting the music be what it is, I want to be a bit punk about it and be like “that’s what came up today, take it or leave it.”

That’s a great way to approach things. Talk me through the concept behind the accompanying video for ‘Down’ which were shot by Avacado Baby.

I wanted to veer between bare monochrome and total excess, between that feeling of disengaging, of slipping into yourself and looking less and less at the world and that ecstatic adoration for life and survival. ‘Down’ is about experiencing both and trying to hold on to the latter. The video had to echo that I think.

Are you planning to play any O Hell live shows in the future?

Yes, but I want them to be an experience, sonically and visually. I want the project to inhabit a particular reality for as long as possible – so, don’t expect to see it down the pub basically!

I’ve got an amazing crew of mates – brilliant musicians and artists – who are helping me create the live spectacle. Very lucky to be surrounded by such talented folk.

Finally, are there any bands or artists who you recommend we listen to?

I am one of those terrible people that will get into one album and not surface for two months – I’ve never been one for the New Music Friday thing sadly. I wish I was.

At the moment I’m circling The Breeders album Title TK, PJ Harvey’s Stories from the City, a really cool band called KLAMP, St Vincent, Mark Lanegan (listen to ‘Lexington Slow Down’), Megan Thee Stallion, John Frusciante’s Niandras Lades and this sick band called Demonstrations who are from Brighton. I listen to their song ‘Evening Run’ most days, the bassist has worked absolute magic all over it and I am hoping she’ll join me on stage one day. I also live with Annie from CLT DRP, so I’ve also been privy to their new stuff which is incredible, I can’t describe how exciting it is, there’s nothing else like it.

Thanks to Lucy for answering our questions. Watch the video for ‘Down’ below.

Follow O Hell on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Five Favourites: SUEP

Led by SuepLord (Porridge Radio, Garden Centre, The GN Band) and Brain Wastefield (UK top model), London based SUEP are now a fully formed band with the addition of GN (The GN Band, Joanna Gruesome, The Tubs), Freakin’ Deacon (PC World, Garden Centre), and T-Mr.9 (Head of Pastoral Care). Interweaving jangly hooks with a whirring, psychedelic haze, the band recently released their debut single ‘Domesticated Dream‘. Oozing a vibrant, quirky energy, a joyous clatter of percussion swirls alongside uptempo electro-driven melodies and sweeping, honey-sweet vocals. A perfectly eclectic scintillating soundscape.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate SUEP’s new single, we caught up with Sueplord to ask about her “Five Favourites” – five songs that she loves the most. Check out their choices below and scroll down to watch the unique new video for ‘Domesticated Dream’.

The Flirts – ‘Passion’
I only heard this song kind of recently, my friend Liam put it on in one of our YouTube sessions that me and my housemates often did during lockdown. It’s just so good and I reckon it’s quite theatrical, I really want to sing and act out all the words and dance along every time I hear it. I just looked up that The Flirts were formed by Bobby Orlando who worked with Divine and the Pet Shop Boys who I also love. I’ve been playing this song every time I DJ at the moment, and when I was on Green Man radio this summer I accidentally put on the extended mix which is just under 10 mins long but no one complained, that’s why I know it’s a good ‘un. There are a few performance videos of the song on YouTube and they are all amazing. I have definitely tried to use the song as a kind of exercise video by dancing along to their moves in my living room.

The Umlauts – ‘Boiler Suits and Combat Boots’
Ahh man I love the Umlauts so much, this is the first song of theirs I heard. It doesn’t have a video but it’s just such a great vibe and tune that I think I can get away with it. Porridge Radio played with them at two Library shows in Ashton and Widnes last month and there weren’t many people there and in Widnes it was a matinee performance, but they rocked it so hard, they sounded so large and full and it was literally impossible for me not to dance. I’ve listened to this song so much that when the synth solo came in I was singing along… They are stand up people as well. I can’t wait to hear their next single and the album. They are on Prah Recordings that are putting out some incredible stuff at the moment.

Jona Lewie – ‘I Think I’ll Get My Hair Cut’
Ok, this song is the song that I wish SUEP had written. But my man Jona wrote it. Jona Lewie is such a huge inspiration to me and Josh from SUEP. All of his songs have incredible hooks with a twinge of humour, which is exactly the genre I love, and I think it’s definitely a genre. One that Paul McCartney also fits into. I love that throughout the song he’s trying to be more attractive and popular and he’s concluded that to do that, he needs a haircut, but at the end of the song he realises he’s trying too hard and actually his hair is great. We’ve all been there. The synth riff that comes in goes straight to my heart every time I hear it, and I’ve heard this song a lot, I know all the words. By writing this I have concluded that SUEP should maybe cover this song. Keep your ears to the ground.

Becky Hill, David Guetta – ‘Remember’
Something a little different. I cannot contain how much I love this song. I have listened to it maybe a million times. The video is fine, don’t let it distract you from the lyrics:

“It’s only when I’m lying in bed on my own
And I wake up and I don’t see your name on my phone
It’s in the moments where I think that I’m better alone
That’s when I remember, that’s when I remember
Every time I walk past your house in the rain
And I tell myself that you were the biggest mistake
And just when I think I’m finally doing okay
That’s when I remember, that’s when I remember’

It gets me so deep every time. And it’s a huge club classic slam dunk. The amount of times I’ve been driving and yelling every word. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry with some kind of joyous sad tears. Nice one as well to Becky Hill, her voice is smash hits good. And David Guetta, all I can say is thank you. I’d just like to shout out to another song I would have put on this playlist that the rest of the band would have probably hated: Avicii – ‘Wake Me Up’ (definitely a song I wish I had written).

Alessi Brothers – ‘Seabird’
Damn, when this song drops and the vocals come in! The way the vocals are produced as well, they are so loud but so perfect. Normally I like vocals a bit buried, but this song has just got it. The lyrics are so beautiful and also is that a drum machine??? Also mega fade out vibes. It has it all.

Massive thanks to Sueplord for sharing their Five Favourites! Watch the video for ‘Domesticated Dream’ here:

‘Domesticated Dream’ is out now. It was recorded with producer Matthew Green (Sniffany & The Nits, The Tubs, etc.) at
SuepLord’s old house, which was once a youth centre in Surrey Quays, with the old sports hall being made into a makeshift studio where SUEP laid down a mini album worth of songs in two days, and later mixed by Mike
O’Malley (caroline, Girl Ray).

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Track Of The Day: Bad Idea – ‘Crash’

A hazy, melodic musing on the familiar feeling of burning out, Leeds-based band Bad Idea have shared their latest single ‘Crash’. Released via Leeds label Come Play With Me, the track meshes the band’s shoegaze and dream pop sensibilities with relatable lyrics to create a swirling distraction from the overwhelming desire to crash out of your many commitments.

Formed in 2016 on a drunken night out dancing to Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’, Bad Idea’s Sarah Sefton and Daniel Johnson chose the band’s name after entering into a new creative project and a new romantic relationship together simultaneously. They put aside their concerns about how this might affect their musical dynamics and enlisted the help of new bandmates Charlie Peacock and Liam Lambert in 2019 to flesh out their sounds. On new single ‘Crash’, the band embrace the idea of “putting yourself in front of a slow moving car, or acquiring a minor injury of some sort to get out of your commitments, because you’re too tired and want to go home” with atmospheric flair.

“It’s a sad song about exhaustion and anxiety, but also camaraderie,” vocalist Sarah explains further. “It describes an anxiety that I share with most of my colleagues and friends..the song mirrors this feeling in the music with slow, drifting and overlapping vocals and sudden hard choruses.”

Listen to ‘Crash’ below.

 

Follow Bad Idea on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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WATCH: DEBBY FRIDAY – ‘FOCUS’

Inspired by her decision to fully embrace her creativity and push her talents to the limit, Nigeria-born, Vancouver-based audio-visual artist DEBBY FRIDAY has shared her latest single ‘FOCUS’. Full of jagged electronics and sultry, commanding vocals, the track is accompanied by a striking set of visuals featuring and co-directed by Friday and Ryan Ermacora.

“I wrote this song in 2019, when I first started thinking about writing an album and the possibility of pursuing my creative passions as my career was making itself known to me,” Friday explains about ‘FOCUS’. “I kept debating with myself, ‘do I want this? or do I not want this?’ It’s a heavy question. The video also speaks to this. The whole process was like undergoing some sort of fire baptism. It was difficult and chaotic and supernatural. I felt like I was the mountain, cracking open and spilling forth.”

Cauterizing her conflicting thoughts with impressive flair, Friday’s efforts have resulted in a distinctive sound and aesthetic. She elaborates on how the accompanying video was created: “Getting the logistics of everything together was the most stressful part. It’s not everyday that you have to figure out how to make an avalanche and take fire bullwhip cracking lessons. Thankfully, I had a really supportive crew the whole way through. It took a lot but I feel like this song and video marks a turning point for me that I can’t exactly name yet.”

Watch the video for ‘FOCUS’ below.

Follow DEBBY FRIDAY on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo credit: Laura Baldwinson

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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