DJ Interviews: Havoc 51

 Hey there guys DJ Dizzy here & I had the honor of interviewing a band who call themselves Havoc 51 as we sat down & spoke on their music career.

How'd you get started in music?

As a kid guitarist and singer Steve Nixon had neighbours who had just got one of those record players that came in a suitcase and some 45’s. As soon as he heard the rawness of the tracks from Quo, Purple, Sabbath, and Zeppelin, he knew that’s what he wanted to do. "I was spoiled at that time with genius everywhere and burned through turntables learning it"

 

Drummer Paul Smith's route was a little different. He grew up listening to anything from Adam and the Ants to The Who and Zeppelin. Always wanting to try drums he studied local bands as well as his heroes at the big festivals in the eighties and nineties. Paul then got his first chance at the age of eighteen buying his first drum kit, joined his first band and was gigging at nineteen and has built up a fantastic reputation since then.

 

Bassist Antony Nixon comes from a very musical family, so it was inevitable that he would play an instrument. Going from piano to guitar but never settled. On hearing 'Hysteria' by Muse he was hooked on bass and knew that was where his passion lies.

 

Who are your inspirations or influences?

Steve "I grew up with the traditional British long haired guitar wizards, Iommi, Page, Blackmore etc who all had great tone and crafted solos. Then I heard "Surfing with the alien" by Satch and for me that album changes everything we all knew about guitar playing and heavily influences not just my playing but the writing".

Antony "I'm very much into Chris Wolstenholme from Muse", and you can hear that clearly when the bass is prominent. "When he dug deeper into the bass you can hear touches of John Paul Jones in “Serenity” and “No Way”. Who knows the next album may have some Flea stylings or from something influenced the mighty Stu Hamm." 

Paul brings his influence from the Bonham’s and Moon’s of this world and this just blends in to what the band do. A lot of the frills and subtle technicalities come from the likes of Dennis Chambers and Mitch Mitchell.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

Pack it in and sell your gear. Simple. That way anyone who's really really determined that a musicians life is for them will think "up your's" and prove you wrong.

The other thing is this. If you're going to go into the music business, remember it's two words and treat both those words with equal effort and respect.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

We're not your typical modern rock band. Just about everything we do is based on the traditional classic rock routes. To expand on that we're riff and melody based rather than drop tunings, and we see being a band that's abotu fun, good times with your friends and life experiences. We took a consious decision not to be on a dark stage wearing black. We keep everything moving and colourful and put a show on. Think about it from a common sence point of view. If we're in all black, no matter what light shines on us it reflects black. white reflects any colour. Going against that has a psycological influence on those watching it. 

We have a Dad and Son in the band. that gives us a unique chemistry and vocal match that not many bands have.

We're not a "Devil shags your Granny" band either. Rather than sing about flesh and death and disease were more "Kneel me up in a garden hammock and cover me in salad cream, tell me I'm bad and spank my ass with a Sunday magazine".

Any new gigs or albums in the future

Gigs are thin on the ground at the minute in the UK. We we're lucky to do a biker festival in September and it was great to blow the dust off, get the chance to work and to try a coupel of tracks from our new album. 2021 will be bette rthough and we're looking to appear wherever we can.

Our new album "Carry On, Carrying On" is scheduled to come on 23rd November. It's more commercial than the first album and features 10 new ear worms that we are soooo proud of. Our last album got us played on over 90 radio stations worldwide so we're looking to build on that and get ourselves notices with this album. It's just fantastic.

Special thanks to them for doing this interview & I wish them luck in their music. So until then I'll catch you on The Flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!