Hella (band)

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Cover art for Hella's debut full length on 5RC Records.

Hella is a musical duo from Sacramento, California. They play a technical, Nintendo-influenced blend of math rock, noise rock and avant-garde. The primary members of the band are Spencer Seim on electric guitar and Zach Hill on drums (although both are multi-instrumentalists). In 2005, the band expanded their live band by adding Dan Elkan on vocals, rhythm guitar, and synth and Jonathan Hischke on bass guitar. In 2006 Dan Elkan and Jonathan Hischke left the group. The new line-up includes the additions of Josh Hill, Carson McWhirter (of The Advantage) and Aaron Ross.

1 History
2 Side-projects
3 Discography
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] History

As high school students Spencer Seim and Zach Hill were both members of the NorCal band Legs on Earth. The band achieved some moderate local success, becoming renowned for their wild live shows and Primus-esque sound. In February 2001 when Legs on Earth broke up, Zach and Spencer decided they wanted to continue playing together and pursue a less mainstream sound. According to Zach, they didn't always intend to remain a duo, though: "[We] had intentions to start a band that was like... Kinda like what we were doing with just the two of us, but with more people. But, we couldn't find the other people so we decided to do it just with the two of us."^[1] Their name is simply a reference to the slang word "hella" that is common throughout Northern California and has no deeper meaning.^[2]

Hella's earliest recording was the self-released Leather Diamond EP, hand-assembled in a nondescript cardboard sleeve and sold at some of their first shows. On March 19, 2002 they debuted proper with the full-length Hold Your Horse Is LP on 5 Rue Christine Records (a subsidiary of Olympia, Washington based Kill Rock Stars Records). On these recordings the band forged their classic sound, playing minimally arranged, abrasive instrumentals that still retain an idiosyncratic sense of melody. The Falam Dynasty 7" was also released this year.

2003 saw Hella begin to deviate from the basic framework in the studio, although their live sound remained largely unchanged. Released on June 17 of that year, Hella's Bitches Ain't Shit But Good People EP (originally a vinyl only release) featured many firsts for the band. An earlier recorded (Leather Diamond) version of a song from their first LP, Republic Of Rough And Ready, became their first widely released song to feature vocals (provided by friend of the band, Dan Elkan). A version of 1-800-Ghost-Dance with vocals by Elkan was available as a downloadable mp3 on the band's website in late 2002/early 2003. The Bitches EP also found Hella using bass guitar, synthesizer, and drum machine for the first time. Total Bugs Bunny On Wild Bass, also an EP, was released on August 26th and featured the overt use of synth, sampler, and drum machine and an apparent influence from 8-bit video game music, first hinted at on the opening track of Hold Your Horse Is, The D. Elkan. Hella rounded out the year with a split live 2xLP with San Francisco, California based Dilute.

Hella released their second full-length LP in 2004, The Devil Isn't Red. A denser album than Hold Your Horse Is, in many ways it was a synthesis of their earlier sound with some of the sounds they had played in the studio the previous year. Other releases for the year included a split 7" (w/ fourtet) and a limited edition, Japan-only release of the 3 song Acoustics EP.

For their 2005 release, Hella again experimented with their sound in the studio. Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard, released through Suicide Squeeze Records, is a double-solo album, with Zach and Spencer each recording a whole disc's worth of material independent of each other. Zach's disc, Church Gone Wild, is a caustic, almost impenetrable 56 minute noise piece, with Zach doing all the vocals and instruments, save for a few guest appearances; while Spencer's disc, Chirpin Hard, again experiments with the fusion of 8-bit Nintendo music with punk tenacity and math rock technicality. Hella also expanded their live band to a quartet in 2005, adding Dan Elkan on vocals, rhythm guitar, and synth and Jonathan Hischke on bass guitar in order to render songs from Total Bugs Bunny, and Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard live, in most cases for the first time. This line-up toured the US in support of Outhud in Spring, System of a Down/The Mars Volta, Les Claypool, and Dillinger Escape Plan in the fall as well as numerous headling dates in the U.S. as well as visits to Japan, Spain and the UK.

A DVD/CD EP release titled Concentration Face/Homeboy was released on November 8, 2005 on 5RC Records.^[3]

As of 2006, Hella consists of Spencer Seim, Zach Hill, Hill's cousin Josh, Spencer's Advantage bandmate Carson McWhirter and Aaron Ross. They are working on their upcoming 2007 release, entitled "There's No 666 In Outerspace", on Ipecac Recordings. [4]

[edit] Side-projects

In addition to their work in Hella, Spencer and Zach have also recorded with a number of side-projects. Spencer plays drums in NES theme music cover band called The Advantage (a reference to the NES Advantage controller), notable for using only guitar, bass guitar, and drums to replicate the 8-bit programmed music of the games. Zach has recorded albums with Tough Guy Fantasy/Arctic Boys, Flössin, Crime In Choir, Nervous Cop, Zach Hill And The Holy Smokes (the release of which was accompanied by a 138 page book written and illustrated by Hill), as well as playing drums for Chino Moreno's band Team Sleep, The Ladies, Kenseth Thibideau and Marty Anderson's band Howard Hello and Jeordie White and Chris Goss's band Goon Moon. More recently Zach Hill has teamed up with Mick Barr from Octis/Orthrelm and together have released the LP 'Shred Earthship' on 5 Rue Christine.