Interview with Black House Hill: ‘The title speaks to every one of us’

Hard rock band from Uddevalla, Sweden, Black House Hill have released a new single ‘Drag Me Down’ today (27 May 2022) from their upcoming third album Fame and Misfortune, due out around July.

The band comprises Alex (vocals and guitar), Erik (bass), William (drums) and Nils (guitar). ‘Our name comes from my dad’s home, it’s a big black house on the hill,’ Alex said. Nils chips in: ‘It’s not a scary house but his dad is obsessed with horror movies!’

”Drag Me Down’ is about conquering your fears and demons and the pressure from other people who don’t want you to succeed,’ William said. ‘It tells a story of becoming stronger and succeeding in the end anyway, if you just set your mind to it. It’s kind of a slow and heavy song, very driven by the drums and bass. It also features an organ which makes it feels like a timeless classic in some ways, kind of like ‘Perfect Strangers’ by Deep Purple.’

They describe their upcoming third album as ‘a very broad rock album, it contains some old school, some modern, and everything in between’: ‘We have some slow and groovy songs and we have some fast and heavy songs,’ William said. ‘The lyrics are written from personal experiences, there are songs for everyone.’

Their bold riffs, double bass drums and rumbling bass have created a special kind of melodic hard rock, drawing on their inspirations from the 70’s and 80’s and showing us that hard rock is far from dead. Earlier this month, they released their single ‘Trial & Error’, one of two tracks they have released from the upcoming album. It has a 70’s glam rock feel mashed up with some harder rock and extremely hooky shredding, courtesy of Nils: ‘My shredding, it was a couple of ideas that me and Alex tossed around,’ he said. ‘It was a very natural progression, we were a couple of songs into writing for the record, Alex wrote that riff.’ Alex nods: ‘It was inspired by Tank (an English heavy metal band, he’s wearing their t-shirt on our Zoom), I like old school sounds like them. I was sitting here on the couch and tried to play something fast and melodic.’ I ask them what the riff is. ‘That riff is Ab, D, Db and then a pentatonic lick in A,’ Nils said.

‘It’s the fight between these two things, about keeping on trying’

‘Trial & Error’ is essentially a song about hope: ‘I wrote the lyrics, to me, it’s about trying and sometimes you don’t succeed,’ Alex said. ‘It’s the fight between these two things, about keeping on trying.’ Nils jumps in: ‘William came up with the title, it was so catchy!’ William laughs: ‘We couldn’t get the song right for ages, so it seemed like a good name!’

Fame and Misfortune, their third album, is fully-written, recorded and mixed, according to William. The album title is a very personal one: ‘We always had a bit of bad luck,’ Nils said. ‘It seemed suitable for us (laughs). Before William joined, we had loads of drummers that quit. We have good timing right now, our luck is turning. The title speaks to every one of us.’

‘Down To The River’, which they released earlier this year, will also feature on the album. It has such a classic rock, Greta Van Fleet vibe that I wrongly assumed it was a cover when I first heard it and when I tell them that, they’re delighted. The guitars and chuggy bass line keep up the pace alongside some high-octane drumming from William and equally energetic vocals from Alex: ‘Nils came up with the riff, that “bo do do”. It’s about my ex-girlfriend,’ Alex said laughing. ‘It’s about how she treated me, I felt I was stabbed in the back. It’s about how I felt, I felt stupid but now I have a new girl and this song!’ Nils jumps in: ‘It was the first track we wrote for the record,’ he said. ‘COVID hit and we thought “What the fuck do we do now?” We wrote it in an hour.’ William nods: ‘I remember Nils playing that riff, it was *chef’s kiss*. We usually open with it, it gets people jumping.’

‘I wanted to channel some Marty Friedman, I’d been listening to a lot of Megadeth’

The plan is to release a further two singles before the album comes out in the summer, according to Erik: ‘We have decided which ones but don’t want to say which ones yet,’ he said. ‘With the last album, we said everything beforehand, this time, we want to wait.’

Alex is the primary lyricist in the band, although they write the melodies together: ‘Often when we record stuff, we record everything at mine but the drums,’ Nils said. ‘Alex might have four different sets of lyrics to a song and ask what we like best. With my solo in ‘Trial & Error’, I wanted to channel some Marty Friedman, I’d been listening to a lot of Megadeth. The flat five of that key, I target that a lot, bending from that to the fifth.’ I say that I like the inherent darkness in the melody and Nils grins: ‘That’s exactly what we wanted, it needed a bit of darkness in it.’

Some tracks take on a life of their own, according to Nils: ‘The last song we finished was ‘Look Away’,’ he said. ‘We had all the guitar parts but when I wrote the riffs, it wasn’t what I was aiming for (laughs), we wanted to do more of an 80’s thing with the riff but it turned out heavy!’

Musically, they all bring an eclectic mix of influences to the band: ‘I’m the one guy who really doesn’t listen to a lot of 70’s and 80’s rock, I prefer metal, it’s heavier and faster,’ William laughed. ‘I love Avatar (a Swedish heavy metal band, he has a poster behind him on our Zoom) and AC/DC.’ Alex weighs in: ‘I would have to say AC/DC and Thin Lizzie,’ he said. Nils cites Kiss, AC/DC and Van Halen. Erik has a surprising confession: ‘I never listened to rock music my whole life,’ he said. ‘When I was 11-12, I saw a picture of Metallica from 1985 and I thought it was the heaviest thing (laughs). I love Pantera as well.’

‘I dream about getting onstage with a big crowd and being happy’

Black House Hill released their debut album First Fear in 2018, followed by their second album, Release The Bullet, in 2019. ‘Rock N Roll Dream’ on Release The Bullet has an infectious garage rock feel – think big fuzzy riffs – and it turns out that it was inspired by Swedish garage rockers The Hellacopters: ‘I got the inspiration from their song ‘I’m In The Band’, Alex said. ‘I dream about getting onstage with a big crowd and being happy, it came from that.’ It’s a song that is very popular live, according to Erik: ‘Those songs that our fans know, they really know. When they all sing together, it’s like a drug when you’re onstage,’ he said. ‘It’s like your brain disappears, the adrenaline is flowing – it’s better than sex!’ Alex is laughing: ‘I feel onstage that I’m the most present,’ he said. ‘I’m not thinking about bills I have to pay or other things like that. It’s a relief not to think about those things.’ Erik interjects: ‘We play very loud, we’re the band the sound guys don’t give a shit about (laughs) as we’re so loud!’ Nils agrees: ‘Yeah, we’re quite bad with gear, the less things the better, really.’ William shakes his head: ‘I’m the opposite, I want ALL the gear,’ he tells me. Nils is laughing: ‘He does, he brings all the drums!’ William grins: ‘And I bring ALL of the cymbals!’

Their height can also be a challenge onstage: ‘We’ve played really small stages and Nils is sooo tall,’ Erik said. Nils interjects: ‘We played this one show in Ukraine as part of our tour in 2021 and Alex had to play on a table (laughs) and I’m tall, I’m 1m 93, so I kept banging my head on the ceiling!’ 

Their dream line up would be a brilliant mash up of their influences: ‘Deep Purple, mark 1,’ said Nils. ‘They are amazing musicians and I’ve always looked up to them, they improvise a lot.’ Alex is thinking: ‘Lemmy (the lead singer in Motörhead) was a cool legend,’ he said. Erik is looking deep in thought; ‘It’s a very tough decision! Maybe Pantera, for their crazy shows and those crazy tour moments.’ William has decided: ‘It’s really hard but my gut says Avatar.’ Erik is looking delighted: ‘That’s a great line up!’

Their Ukraine tour has been one of their favourites to date, according to William: ‘So far our best and one of our happier moments are from a night of our Ukraine tour when we did a completely sold out show in Kherson, the place was packed and there were people stage diving and crowd surfing and more!’

(Photo from left to right: William, Nils, Erik and Alex.) 

https://open.spotify.com/track/3ADI4bhWLv6EnpRICcX2qv?si=c7630bb9960a4f95