| Heaven's Basement | |
|---|---|
Heaven's Basement. |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Hard rock Heavy metal Punk Rock Glam Metal |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | Red Bull Records |
| Associated acts | Hurricane Party, Roadstar |
| Website | heavensbasement.com |
| Members | |
| Sid Glover Chris Rivers Rob Ellershaw Aaron Buchanan |
|
| Past members | |
| Jonny Rocker Richie Hevanz Rob Randell |
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Heaven's Basement are a British hard rock and heavy metal band formed in 2008 and Signed with Red Bull Records.
Contents |
Heaven's Basement are a hard rock band from the UK that are renowned for their heavy touring schedule and extreme energy live shows. They first performed live in Kettering at The Sawyers venue in April 2008 after a few months of being locked away in a studio writing songs. Since then Heaven's Basement have toured Europe with the likes of Papa Roach, Buckcherry, Bon Jovi, Theory of a Deadman, Shinedown, Blind Melon, Hardcore Superstar, Tesla, Madina Lake, D-A-D, Thunder, Black Stone Cherry, Halestorm, D' espairsray as well as playing at many festivals such as Bloodstock Open Air, Hard Rock Hell and Sonisphere festivals.[1] Heaven's Basement have also worked with multi-platinum selling U.S producer Bob Marlette in the studio.
The band's first break came in May 2008 when their first demo got into the hands of Bon Jovi through a radio DJ, they were invited to open for Bon Jovi on the Manchester show of their tour at the City of Manchester stadium to an audience of around 50,000. Later that summer the band released their own self titled E.P. which was recorded at Sandhills studio in Liverpool. The rest of the summer was spent with the band playing small clubs and pubs all across the UK to build their fanbase. In November 2008 Heaven's Basement were invited as main support to Thunder on their UK tour which helped rapidly build their fanbase. They ended 2008 with a UK headline tour with support from fellow upcoming band Wired Desire.
After seriously impressing on the Thunder UK tour Heaven's Basement started 2009 with the main support slot to Thunder on their European tour in Feb/March which included dates in Belgium, Holland, Germany and Switzerland.
The rest of the year was mainly spend on the road with Heaven's Basement touring alongside Hardcore Superstar (UK dates), Black Stone Cherry (9 dates in the UK and Holland), Papa Roach (Holland), Tesla (5 Germany dates), D.A.D (16 Germany dates), Shinedown (3 UK dates), Buckcherry (7 UK dates), D'espairsray (UK dates)
Heaven's Basement also completed a 23 date UK headline tour in April/May as well as headline dates in Italy, Finland, Estonia, and Spain. In August 2009 Heaven's Basement headlined the Jagar Stage at the UK's first Sonisphere festival at Knebworth park; other festivals included Metalways in Zaragonza, Spain and the Bologna Rock festival in Italy. Guitarist Sid Glover would later remark, "if we didn't play well enough on them Europe dates, not enough people would buy t-shirts and we wouldn't be able to afford the petrol to get to the next gig, so every single gig had to be amazing." During the band's July tour with Tesla in Germany, they broke down in Hamburg and ended up being stuck there for five days.
In early September 2009, Heaven's Basement announced on their MySpace page that their bassist, Rob Randell, had left due to personal reasons.[1] As the band had many gigs lined up for the month after this, Johnny Rocker took on bass duties for some of the shows. The band held auditions for a new bass player, and it was announced late in October (also via their MySpace page) that Rob Ellershaw was to take over.[2] Rob had supported Heaven's Basement in his previous band 'Whitefire' for a number of shows in 2008.
From 6 October 2009 to 14 October 2009, Heaven's Basement appeared live alongside Papa Roach [3] and Madina Lake during Papa Roach's Metamorphosis tour of the United Kingdom. Performances took place in Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield. Drummer Chris Rivers impressed Papa Roach fans nationwide by throwing his sticks over 30 ft. into the air mid-song, then catching them without missing a note. Guitarist Sid Glover's ability to solo behind his neck (usually during the song 'Reign on my Parade') also helped Heaven's Basement to establish themselves, according to both Metal Hammer and Kerrang! magazines, as one of the best live bands in Britain. They returned to the UK for a full headlining tour in December 2009, with Dear Superstar and New Device supporting. They also appeared as co-headliners with the Eureka Machines at Rockit '09, Rugby, alongside local act Audio Narcotix.
During 2009 muti Platinum selling U.S producer Bob Marlette (Ozzy, Tracey Chapmen, Shinedown, Saliva, Black Stone Cherry, Alice Cooper) expressed his interest in working with the band to produce some songs, he travelled to the UK for two sessions with Heaven's Basement at Monow Valley studio's. Two of the songs recorded were added to the band's E.P ('Can't let go' and 'Misunderstood' replacing 'Saint Routine' and 'Fear of getting off'). Another five or six songs have been recorded with Marlette. 'The Long Goodbye' was released in early 2010 over the band's MySpace, and the others are yet to be released.
The band announced a UK tour for February and March 2010, skipping London, but performing in Leicester, Hatfield, Brighton, Bolton, Peterborough, Wakefield, Bristol, Nottingham, Cheltenham, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Oxford, with Dear Superstar and The Crave supporting. [5]
In February 2010, just two weeks before the UK headline tour, the band announced that lead singer Richie Heavanz was leaving the band. On the band's official website, Heavanz left this message for fans:
"After 18 months of amazing highs and amazing experiences, I feel that the lifestyle and constant touring has taken its toll and it's time for me to move on to different pastures. In short, guys, I'm afraid I will be stepping down as the lead singer of Heaven's Basement. I want to thank everyone who has supported me through this amazing time in my life. I also want to thank my brothers in HB for their understanding and friendship. I would like to thank all the fans of Heaven's Basement for all their love and support over the last two years. You've all made my life a brighter place!
"I wish the guys all the luck in the world for their future. Love ya!!"
Just as Richie Heavanz left Heaven's Basement, the band were also confirmed as main support to Theory of a Deadman across Europe throughout March and April. Heaven's Basement called upon friend Johnny Fallen (from UK based band theFALLEN www.myspace.com/thefallenyork) to sing temporarily whilst they searched for a new front man.
Heaven's Basement appeared at a number of high profile festivals through the summer of 2010 including Sonisphere at Knebworth park on the Bohemia stage (headlined by Rammstein) and the Swedish Sonisphere pre party with The Cult. They also appeared at the first Getaway Festival in Sweden alongside Deftones and Airbourne.
Guitarist Johnny Rocker broke his finger whilst playing football in July 2010 a few hours before the band we're due to go stage opening for Papa Roach, the band decided to carry on and play the show as a four piece, the rest of the summer headline and festival dates were performed as a four piece.
Heaven's Basement released a statement in August 2010 over their MySpace, Facebook and mailing list informing everyone that they will be spending the rest of 2010 mainly off the road working on brand new material whilst seeking the new full time singer.
On Thursday 17 February 2011 Heaven's Basement released a statement that Aaron Buchanan would be taking over on lead vocals, and that rhythm guitarist and long time band member Johnny Rocker would be leaving to pursue a more behind-the-scenes career in music. Heaven's Basement stated that they would now, for the foreseeable future, be a four piece.
On the same day, a new song 'Unbreakable' was released which was also revealed to be the title of the band's second EP. Unbreakable is due to be on sale at all upcoming shows on a UK co-headline tour with Jettblack.
The Unbreakable E.P was released on May 5th at the band's first show of the UK headline tour, and later released on Itunes. Following a very successful UK tour Heaven's Basement were offered an Acoustic slot at Download Festival and Sonisphere festival as well as a main stage slot at High Voltage festival in London alongside the likes of Judas Priest, Dream Theatre and Slash. They prepare for these acoustic dates with a warm up show in The World's End pub, London. Heaven's Basement made a statement with these shows that they weren't going to be a 'soft' acoustic band, and that fans could expect an equally energetic performance from their acoustic shows as they could from normal gigs. This proved to be majorly beneficial for the band, as they broke records in attracting huge numbers of people to the acoustic stage at Download festival.
In October 2011, Heaven's Basement went to L.A. for a month to record material that will hopefully go towards their debut album.
On November 10th Heaven's Basement announced they'd signed a deal with Red Bull Records. 'Paper Plague', a new song recorded on the LA recorded session was released as a free download as well as three new shows announced for December. Sheffield, Manchester and London - all free entry shows.