To make music is to have a responsibility, and that responsibility comes in many different forms. Creating an environment where the listener realises they aren’t alone in their feelings. Speaking up on issues and anxieties that aren’t usually offered a portrayal in this art form. Creating something that speaks for those who have never had a voice, who have never had someone speak up for what their life is like.
HourHouse don’t just represent one of these sentiments. They represent them all and then some.
“HourHouse is the band that we personally were always waiting for when we were growing up,” vocalist Milly admits. “Our sound as a band is one that is [our younger selves] asking, ‘If only there was someone out there who was not scared to do it’. We want to be the voice for the hopeless and the voiceless who are having to live through so much and see it on their doorstep every single day. Everything we write is a diary of everything we have been through. We do this because we owe it to ourselves to do this.”
Though the band only came to life in 2020, the members have a longstanding relationship with each other thanks to their upbringing in New Orleans. Finding each other through various mediums of expression – music, movies and skateboarding – they also all experienced the same life struggles in the Deep South. Knowing that dodgy dealings and criminal activities were occurring on the same street that you would ride your bike down. Having to look over your shoulder at every turn because you never know who may be on your tail. Of feeling like there is no escape from the hardships and heartbreaks of just about scraping by. Even to this day, Milly admits that he will still check all his mirrors every time he gets in his car, just because he never knows who or what could be behind him. These are the things that, despite the harshness, unite communities for better or worse. These are the things that formed the basis of what HourHouse would represent.
Until he received a call from guitarist and vocalist Nick ‘Neeco’ Trahan asking if he wanted to be a part of a rap metal project with no limits, Milly had been focusing solely on his rap career. Though given the opportunity to incorporate his bars with raw and relentless nu-metal destruction, he couldn’t resist. Serving as a chance to bring all of their various passions to a head and present the lives they had led in a way nobody else had before, they knew immediately they were onto something special.
“We wanted to be able to tell our life story more than anything,” Milly nods, proud of being able to make that a reality. “We wanted to be able to use our lyrics as poetry to present true life. That is what our main aim was. We’ve all gone through the same things, and we were all with each other while going through those things, so we know what it’s like.”
“Back in the day, I remember listening to bands like Linkin Park, P.O.D. and Chevelle. Bands that were all realistic with their lyrics, in a sense that it felt like the pen was bleeding on the page when you heard them. That’s why we wanted to be on the side of metal that can speak on the things that everybody is afraid to speak on.”
And the way the band have pulled it together, with their debut full-length ‘GOLD TOOTH GURU’, out now via UNFD, is unlike anything else you have ever heard. Part heist movie soundtrack, part gangster-rap opus and part nu-metalcore bludgeoning, it is as dramatic, devastating and decadent as alternative music gets. Expressing all of the most raw and honest things that they have seen growing up in the rough and delivering it with poise, power and passion, it is a record that feels absolutely massive in scope and stature. Providing a warts-and-all commentary on class divide, generational expectations and how it feels to have wrongdoing be a part of your daily life, it is an album that doesn’t hide from the reality of what is happening in neighbourhoods worldwide right now.
And, in so many ways, that is another reason the band wanted to create something so visceral. To be the band that took a stand for those who get left behind. To fill the space that was left by those before them and fly the flag for a new generation that needs to know that they aren’t the only ones surrounded by these events.
“I have had countless people say they never felt a band has really seen them like we do,” Milly states. “So many people love what we do because they relate so much. You don’t have to just be somebody from the hood or in a rough place, though. Our music is for everybody and anybody who is going through something. It can even boil down to the fear of not being good enough and not being able to accomplish what you want to.”
“We try to be that blanket that can help cover up those things and realise that you can still do whatever you want despite them. You can become the person you want to become even if everybody around you is against you. If we got here and we are from the very bottom of the United States, then you can do it, too. It takes a little bit of faith in yourself.”
With such a huge statement so early in their journey, you can only imagine what HourHouse has for their next trick. Whatever the future may hold, some things will always be at the forefront. Be the band that they never had. Lead the charge for a whole new wave of heaviness. Show the world that anything is possible if you put your heart and soul into it.
“We feel like we can be the band that sparks the wildfire,” Milly concludes. “The support we have received solidifies that nothing can stop us. We aren’t scared to talk about these things because when we were going through it, we had nobody. HourHouse is the band that was always bound to happen because of that. Now, there is no place to go but up.”
‘GOLD TOOTH GURU’ is out now via UNFD.
