From The Bedroom to Download – Hill Valley High

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Hill Valley High: From Bedroom to Download

@Download/Ian Taylor

Hill Valley High: From Bedroom to Download

by Bella Todd, Jun 16, 2011

For Bedroom Jam finalists Hill Valley High, playing the Red Bull stage at last weekend’s Download Festival was the crest of a wave that’s seen the punk pop six-piece break Brazil and reduce the drummer from ‘90s alt-rockers Jesus Jones to tears (well, he is their manager). Guitarist Joe Mason tells Bella Todd why facing the festival's zombies and hardcore fans was a new kind of challenge for Telford’s finest.

How nervous were you for Download on a scale of ‘whatever’ to crapping-your-pants?
We’ve done a few other big gigs. But for Download the nerves really kicked in, because it’s one of the UK’s biggest festivals. Our bassist Scott was fine, being the big man, and then two minutes before we went on stage it kicked and he was nearly sick.

What did it feel like up there?
A lot more people came in as soon as we started playing, which was great, and we gained quite a few new fans. Afterwards we got back to our dressing room and it hit home: ‘We just played Download!’ It was a different kind of scene for us. Everywhere we went there were people dressed as zombies. It was amazing to see Avenged Sevenfold, who are one of my favourite bands, and we watched a bit of The Darkness and Pendulum. Bring Me The Horizon’s set blew us away the most. Ollie Sykes is just an amazing frontman. Despite it being a complete contrast to the music we play, there was loads we took from their performance.

How did you end up being managed by one third of Jesus Jones?
It was really strange. We were recording with this guy in London. The recordings were rubbish, really poor. But the guy bumped into Jerry [De Borg, Jesus Jones guitarist] at a party, passed on the recording to Tony [Arthy, latterday Jesus Jones drummer], and they took us onboard. One of our really old cheesy songs made Tony cry. It was called Walking in the Sand. He still gets his tissues out from time to time.

It must be useful having all that second-hand experience on your side. Do they give good advice?
Jerry doesn’t get too involved, he just sits there and tells us to make sure we pack enough guitar strings. Tony works really hard for us. He’s got us some really big support slots and he’s like a second dad to our singer Phil. He always says, ‘When it’s work time, work, and when it’s playtime, go mental. Lose your shit’. He goes more mental than any of us, except when his missus is there. Jesus Jones are going on a reunion tour in Japan soon. We asked if we could go with them but they said, ‘No, we want to be on our own!’’

@Download/Ian Taylor

What’s this about you being big in Brazil?
They do love the English and American bands over there, and for some reason we ended up with a big enough fanbase to get asked over on a nine-date tour back in 2009. You’ve got to be careful, though. The women in Brazil all look older than they are – either that or they turn out not to be women. Our singer kept going, 'She’s gorgeous,’ and our tour promoter was like, ‘Yeah, she’s also a man’.

According to MySpace, you’re available to hire – as musicians, we presume, not as sex slaves. How much to hire you?
We like to play private birthday parties and things. We usually charge about £500. The strangest surprise gig we’ve ever played was after a show got cancelled in Brazil. These fans had travelled for about 16 hours with their mums to see us, so we invited them to eat with us at this restaurant. There were a couple of guys playing acoustic guitar in a corner, so we asked if we could play a few songs and ended up getting a standing ovation from all the diners.

'It was a different kind of scene for us – everywhere we went there were people dressed as zombies'

So you go down well with a bunch of Brazilian mums, and at Download. That’s quite a musical gap you’re straddling there. Is catchiness the core ingredient?
We always say when we write something new, if we can’t remember it ourselves a week later then it’s not catchy enough. We always have that chorus that people can sing along too.

You’ve mentioned in the past that Busted fans are just as likely to enjoy your music as Blink 182 fans are. That comment alone would be enough to get bottles of piss chucked at you at some festivals…
We were a bit scared of that happening at Download! Some of our friends were saying, ‘You're going to get bottled!’ But we went down well. I think we’ve got past that McFly stage now. We get compared to You Me At Six and Set Your Goals. There’s still that small element of cheese. But I'm most proud when people come up to us and say they like a key change or a rhythm, because it shows we’re not just a three-chord pop band.

Is there a connection between your band and McFly, other than the fact you’re all clearly fans of Back To The Future?
We know James Bourne from Busted, and he knows the McFly boys, and we all tend to share some fans. Yeah, our singer decided to name us after the school in Back To The Future and now we’re now stuck with it. Oh well. We like it because people remember it, even if they do call us Sweet Valley High.

There were only three of Busted. Why do there need to be six of you?
It’s a bit of a pain having to have two cars, but we’ve got lots of four-part harmonies that people really pick up on. A lot of the other Bedroom Jam bands were complimenting us on our harmonies.

What’s next to get excited about?
Bed. A proper night’s sleep! Then I think we’ll really pull in the crowd at the Underage Festival, because that’s a lot more poppy. It’s going to be a busy summer.