Hellions Might Not Know What They Are But They Know What They're Doing

Indefinable Sydney four-piece Hellions are set to release their fourth LP, Rue, and one listen is all it takes to conclude that they have produced an absolute cracker. If you dig frivolous, meaningless pop music, or you only like a genre or two, it might be best to avoid this record. However, if your mind is open and you appreciate bands that regularly step outside the bounds of classification and create music with real depth, meaning and diversity, Rue is absolutely for you. Skinsman Anthony Caruso, speaking from his home in Sydney, is well aware that their theatrical, genre-smashing music and weighty lyrical content may not be for everyone.

“Yeah, there’s plenty going on, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, musically,” Caruso admits, “and then lyrically there’s some pretty serious themes. We didn’t go into writing the record with this overall theme, it just sort of accidentally came together during the process.

“We just wanted to not let people down, but at the same time stick to our guns and be stoked with what we’ve created. So it’s a little bit of a grey area, we want people to be into it but we also don’t want to write music just for the sake of people liking it, if that makes sense? The end goal though is for people to like it,” he laughs.

The record is unlikely to be classified as a full-blown concept record, however there is a strong theme running through the lyrics and imagery of the album, and the former cut nice and deep. Caruso is happy to give listeners an overview of the messages and meanings contained within the grooves of Rue. “It’s kind of broken down to sides,” he begins. “The philosophical side of human beings and the humanitarianism. Humans, there’s kind of two sides to all of us, inside of us and also what we see and what we hear. We’re so exposed to pretty much everyone’s thinking at all times these days, with social media and stuff.

“So it all came from that, it’s kind of a reflection of the multi-faceted nature of us as humans.”

Lyrically and musically, it’s hard to pin the band down, as far as genre is concerned. It’s not really punk, it’s not metal, it’s not hardcore. Caruso agrees, however one thing he is certain of is that, despite the unclassifiable nature of their sound, after spending some time searching they have fully settled on their musical direction and they know exactly what they’re doing and where they’re heading.

“Yeah, again it’s a bit of a mixed bag. When we started out, we never really had the intention of being a hardcore band or a metalcore band. Our first record felt like a bit of a demo to us, just putting something down. The second record, we were like, ‘Ok, I think we’re heading in the right direction, but we’re still not really quite there.’ The last record we were like, ‘Fuck yeah, I think we’ve got it!’, and then when we started on this one it became, ‘Oh no, no we haven’t!’” he laughs again.

“But now, I really do think we’ve nailed it, it’s been a real natural progression to get where we are now. The thing is though, we always want to be challenging ourselves musically, we want to be putting ourselves in better positions as writers.

“So as far as a genre is concerned, maybe it’s more of a 'rock thing'. If we’re going to go for a very broad term, 'with pop influences', I don’t know. Maybe we just have to come up with a specific name for what our music is.”

All that said, there are two specific bands that Caruso cites that are of great influence over Hellions’ songwriting, and it all makes sense when you consider the theatrical nature of their sound. “Bands like Queen and My Chemical Romance, they are two bands that we really look up to.”

At the time of writing, aside from a couple of festival engagements, no official tour dates have been announced, but February to June in 2019 has been earmarked for a full-blown national tour in support of Rue, so watch this space.