Here's something really cool- you all know FOD aka Flag of Democracy. They were, and are, the first wave hardcore band from Philly that smashed out a TON of songs that sprinted at 400 mph.
Well, Dave of F.O.D. has a newish band called HellCo. And get this, they play hardcore that sprints at 450mph. Dave pulled in Mike and Josh from Rest Etiquette with the intention of forming something new that also still kicked out the windows. This band is fast, funny, and the riffs slash! But… the new band also gets a little arty here and little weird there. It's an evolution that stays true to Dave's hardcore roots without being derivative.
AND! they have their debut LP coming out on Philly's own SRA records. The band's self-titled LP is in stock now and is ready to ship! It frikkin' rocks!
You can pick it up right here! Also, the band is playing at Century Bar in Philly this Saturday and on June 9 they are throwing a record release party!
But meanwhile, you can hear the brand new single, "Self Pity Party," below AND you can read a short interview with Dave!
What lead to the formation of Hellco? Well, FOD has always been playing and making records , and we will always be around, but we only play out a few times a year and do an album every few years. I know I totally need to play and create music to stay sane and I just really enjoy playing out so I got additional thing going. I wanted to get better at writing songs so I just threw myself into it-with the recording tools and everything today I can just come up with a cool riff and demo it in like an hour-it's nuts! But until I could demo these songs they'd just keep repeating in my head nonstop so they have to get out!
Meanwhile all this pandemic stuff happened and we lost a bunch of people and there were no gigs. Now I'm just realizing if you like being a musician you might as well put out and play as much music as you can while we're still around because you never know! Meanwhile if you're not around anymore your album still is..
Are there any overarching themes or messages you'd like Hellco to convey?Well, Delco is short for Delaware County where I grew up and we practice there and our drummer lives there so we're just having some fun there. It's not bad there at all-- people that are super real and completely unpretentious and you can't really offend them! But there's something real punk about it .It's like all these run-down suburbs with all these weird businesses and hamburger stands everywhere still. I totally love it!
But then we had the other idea where it could be a sort of company like Public Image used to talk about or maybe like a Devo thing where we subvert all these different corporate logos and slogans and stuff.
Our songs are mostly about annoying situations or frustrations everyone has. Big and small. I'm really mostly interested in the music itself but I guess you do need words! I try to use a lot of humor with our songs because the truth is just too awful. There are also a lot of intentionally bad rhymes-I hope people no I'm messing around. Otherwise they might think I'm just completely stupid!
Dave, you have been cranking out the jams for 40+ years- what is fueling the fire these days? I'm just trying to make up for long periods of musical inactivity! It's just so great to be able to get together and jam and all of a sudden a couple of good songs pop up off the top of our heads! And everything we ever play now is recorded on a little chip so we don't forget. Constant music is just something that I always need to have in my life.
Why did you choose Mike and Josh for the band? I met Mikey about 5 years ago when at a meat puppets show. And then when I was posting around that I was looking for a guitarist and drummer he was there right away. We had a rough time finding a drummer. Josh and Mikey had been friends for a real long time and played together in other bands. Eventually Josh had more time free up so he could play with us. I think we started around November 2021?
It's great playing in the band with young guys they just turned 30 and I'm 58! They're super available I responsible, plus at that age you're still so into playing music without being completely annoyed by every other aspect of life. Plus musicians my age well, you know….
a lot of punkers that make music for decades tend to make softer, gentler music as they go on. You are still fast and loud! Why do you think you are inspired by speed and power in 2023?I don't know --quieter or gentle music always gets me more nervous and agitated! It just doesn't feel right to me, it seems lazy. The one thing I'm trying to do is to get into more slower stuff and various tempos. I tried to make every song different-at this point you totally need as much variety and innovation as possible in music and a lot of bands just don't do it much at all. But the other thing with a new musical idea is you have to pound people over the head with it- or me anyway !
What can we expect from Hellco?We're looking to play out of town and everywhere we can! Join our Instagrams Facebook's and bandcamps and tell us where to play! We are already writing songs for the next record and just having a blast! It's just tons of fun starting everything from scratch and really excited to see what happens next!