Review Fix chats with Band of Hearts’ Gareth Hughes (guitars, vocals, keyboards), who discusses the band’s origin and more.
Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?
Gareth Hughes: Tom and I both grew up in Perth, Australia. The two of us actually met playing in extreme metal bands in the mid-2000s. At the time, the Perth metal scene was booming with endless new bands and venues. Tom later managed a tech-metal band called Under the Influence, which I played bass in. In 2010, Tom and I were involved in a short-lived hard rock band called Mr Sinister. By this point though, we were both already starting to think about leaving Perth.
In 2011, Tom moved to Switzerland to pursue new opportunities. Similarly, I moved to the UK in 2012 to pursue a career as a professional musician in London. I don’t think either of us quite anticipated the magnitude of the decisions we’d made at the time. As such, the following years were challenging for both of us as we started lives in new countries. However, we remained in touch and discussed the possibilities of future musical projects together.
It wasn’t until 2018 that we were finally able to form Band of Hearts, which in essence, is the realisation of a musical vision over a decade in the making.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Hughes: Coming from band backgrounds, the core ideas for most of our songs come from the jam room. Living in different countries means we don’t get to do this too often, but when we do get together it’s usually a very creative period.
Typically the two of us will jam (drums and guitar) and record anything that seems like a cool idea on my old Zoom recorder. Sometimes we might come up with vocal melodies there and then too. We’ll then go away and develop things separately. Often it will start with me doing an instrumental demo with a rough structure. From there, Tom will suggest arrangement changes and start to develop vocal melodies and lyrics. Then it’s a back and forth process until we feel we’ve got a demo we’re happy with.
With ‘I Stand Alone’ and our previous single, ‘Broken Wings’, we were fortunate enough to record at an amazing studio in Goldau, Switzerland, 2 Inch Records. It may sound cheesy, but there is something magical about being in a great studio and with a great engineer – it is an environment conducive to musical creativity at the highest level. Even though we went into the studio with solid demos, there were moments of inspiration that never would have happened if we’d gone down the route of remote/home studio production.
Review Fix: What inspires you?
Hughes: We’re both quite driven, motivated people as individuals. In general, we’re inspired by people who are willing to go outside the box, are dedicated to their craft (whatever that may be) and achieve great things.
Musically, we’re inspired by artists who were not only great musicians, but also great songwriters. Artists such as Phil Collins, Mr. Mister, Go West, Toto, Journey and Richard Marx all sit on a very high pedestal for us.
As children of the late 80s, there’s no question that general childhood/adolescent nostalgia is also a big influence. Nostalgia is such a hot commodity these days, but we try not to let it define us. It’s a hard balance to find, but ultimately we aim to create our own unique musical future.
Review Fix: What does music mean to you?
Hughes: It’s difficult to answer this question without getting into deep existential discussion! I think it’s safe to say for both of us that music is a primary driving force in our lives. Music in one of life’s joys, whether listening to, performing or creating it. No matter how much you try to analyse music, there is something so intangible that it’s beauty can never truly be understood, only experienced. Music is endless.
Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?
Hughes: Adult-pop musically inspired by the genre’s 1980s-1990s heyday, with the hi-fidelity sheen of pop modern production.
Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?
Hughes: For the time being, we are a studio project. At some stage we would love to perform live, but logistically it would be a challenge and involve potentially hiring other band members.
If we were to perform live, I envision something Toto or Journey-esque: a real band all playing their parts, but still with a certain freedom to improvise and develop.
Review Fix: What inspired your latest single?
Hughes: ‘I Stand Alone’ was inspired by many of the empowering cinematic rock anthems of the 1980s. Musically, artists such as Toto, Journey, Don Henley and Richard Marx – artists who could juxtapose hard rock intensity against layered synthesized sounds and RnB elements – were a huge influence.
Lyrically, the song is inspired by being in a mental state of flow, often called ‘The Zone’. This is an elusive state that many of us experience only fleetingly, yet in these moments we feel so completely engaged in the activity being performed that we seemingly go beyond perceived limitations to achieve the extraordinary. When we experience this state ourselves or witness it in others it can be immensely empowering.
Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2020?
Hughes: ‘I Stand Alone’ is released on September 25 with the official music video following on September 26. This is our second single and our primary goal is to continue to grow listeners/followers for Band of Hearts. We are hoping to build on the momentum created by our first single, ‘Broken Wings’.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Hughes: 2020 marks Band of Hearts’ debut in the music world and it has been a huge learning curve for both of us. It’s been a long journey and we’re extremely proud of the music we’ve released so far. With 2021 dawning, we’re both now chomping at the bit to get back into the studio (which is currently proving difficult given the global situation). We’re very excited to be working on new music and are planning several to release several singles in 2021.
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?
Hughes: For anyone that’s interested they can check Band of Hearts out at the following places:
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ly68QYchmOfpOKVUvxaIc?si=F6-agClwRsqQskmTn2KpRg
Apple Music – https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/band-of-hearts/1516378726
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ2U0zy1_QqMD4e4_IslAYQ
Intagram – http://instagram.com/bandofheartsmusic
Facebook – http://facebook.com/bandofheartsmusic
Leave a Reply