Hell Is for Heroes are an English

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

band from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Founder members Will McGonagle and Joe Birch (previously of

Symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...

) were joined by James Findlay, Tom O'Donoghue and later Justin Schlosberg. The band played their formative shows in West London throughout 2001. After two independently released singles, Hell Is for Heroes released their debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

in February 2003 on

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. '' The Neon Handshake'' was produced and recorded in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

at Sound City Studios and mixed in

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

at Tonteknik by Pelle Henricsson and Eskil Lövström. The band's A&R was managed by Duncan Illing. The band and their A&R left EMI in 2004. The band released its second album '' Transmit Disrupt'' independently, before signing a deal with

Burning Heart Records Burning Heart Records is an independent record label formed in 1993 in Fagersta, Sweden, and currently based in Örebro. It has a close affiliation with Californian label Epitaph Records, who own the rights to distribute Burning Heart's output ...

, who subsequently re-released it in 2006. Their final self-titled album was released through Golf Records in 2007. Their debut album was voted the 58th best British rock album ever, by the readers of ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' magazine in the 19 February 2005 issue. In October 2008, the band announced its indefinite hiatus. On 26 June 2012, it was announced that they are reforming to play three shows alongside Hundred Reasons and

Cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

in November. In 2018 the band toured the U.K. as part of The Neon Handshake's 15th anniversary, and once again announced their return to touring in 2021.

Band line-up

*Justin Schlosberg –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*William McGonagle –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

*Tom O'Donoghue – guitar *James Findlay –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Joe Birch –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

History

Early days

Will McGonagle and Joe Birch were previously in the British band

. Their final release was in 1999 and, by the end of 2000, due to personal and musical differences, and problems with their

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, they had split up. Before long they joined up with their former school friends, James Findlay and Tom O'Donoghue, to form what would become with Hell is for Heroes, but they still lacked a lead singer. Justin Schlosberg was recruited through mutual friends. In January 2001, they had performed their first gig at The Half Moon in

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

, London. In March that year they toured as support for Sunna, along with

Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro are a Scottish Rock music, rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, composed of Simon Neil (lead vocals, guitar) and twin brothers James Johnston (Scottish musician), James (bass, backing vocals) and Ben Johnston (Scottish musician), Be ...

, and at the end of that tour they had recruited a loyal fan base which meant the band caught the attention of major record labels. In July 2001, they signed with

. It took all that year before Hell Is for Heroes released their debut single on Superior Quality Recordings. It was a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

, featuring two songs that would later appear on their debut album, "Sick/Happy" and "Cut Down". The band next released "You Drove Me To It" with the

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

"Things Fall Apart" and "Kill the Silence" in January 2002. That year saw the release of two more singles, "I Can Climb Mountains" and "Nightvision". The latter track included "Folded Paper Figures" on the B-side, which became popular with their fanbase, and was later re-recorded and used on their second album.

''The Neon Handshake''

'' The Neon Handshake'' was issued in February 2003, and gained a positive reviews from the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. It peaked at No. 16 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. Hell is for Heroes' videos appeared regularly on major music television channels, and the band continued to tour across the UK keeping up their reputation as one of the premier live bands of the day. One performance of that time at The Astoria in London was filmed, and shown by

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

. In early 2003, "You Drove Me To It", which had been re-mastered for the album version was re-released as a single. Shortly after the release of the album, the band went on tour with Feeder for five dates of their UK tour. Hell Is for Heroes' live appearances included the Carling Weekend Reading and Leeds Festival on the

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

stage. However, in 2004, changes within EMI saw

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

, which owned the rights to Hell Is for Heroes closed down, and another subsidiary subsequently decide to part company with the band.

''Transmit Disrupt''

In May 2004, the band recorded their second album with the

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, Captains of Industry. The first single release was "One of Us", which did not enjoy their previous major label's promotion efforts. "Models for the Programme" was then followed by "Kamichi" before the album's release. '' Transmit Disrupt'' flopped at No. 89 in the UK

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. In September 2005, Hell Is for Heroes signed with

. ''Transmit Disrupt'' was re-released, and "Models for the Programme" was given a new video. In February 2006, the band announced on their website that they had "come out of hibernation", and "New Song" appeared on the band's website. This was followed by a tour and, in July, "Eject Eject Eject", was available for free download on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

''Hell Is For Heroes'' and Break Up

In February 2007, Hell is for Heroes began their UK,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an tour. "You've Got Hopes" was placed on the band's Myspace page. In April the band released the track listing of their new album on their official site. In June the band's third, eponymous album was released on Golf Records. Reviews and interviews in ''Kerrang!'' brought the album to a wider audience and the band embarked upon a sponsored tour throughout June, playing the Barfly venues in the UK. On 25 October 2007, Hell Is for Heroes stated:

Our forthcoming hop around the UK will be our last full length stint on the road before the reunion tour in 2037. We're up for spending more time at home working on other projects and potentially a fourth album if we can beat our last effort. Plus we reckon 7 years in the van is a fair stretch by any standards.

The band were forced to cancel three dates at the end of the 2007 tour due to illness. In October 2008, the band announced their final UK tour, with their final concert on 12 December 2008 at the Glasgow Barfly.

Recent Events

In June 2012, the band announced that they will be supporting Hundred Reasons at their upcoming 10th Anniversary shows, playing ''The Neon Handshake'' in full along with other songs from their back catalogue. Guitarist Will McGonagle commented on the upcoming shows, "We’ve been friends with Hundred Reasons for over 10 years, so when they suggested playing our first records together it sounded like fun. We are really proud of all the music we’ve made together and look forward to getting together to smash out The Neon Handshake. The early 2000s were exciting times for British rock music. It was a special time for our bands, who toured together and forged strong friendships. Who knows, maybe one day there’ll be a Shatterproof/Transmit Disrupt show too.". In August 2017, the band announced that they would be going on a headline tour in February 2018 playing The Neon Handshake in full to celebrate that record's 15th anniversary. On 27 March 2018 it was announced that Hell is for Heroes would appear at Download festival. They are due to appear on Friday 8 June on the 2nd stage. Second on the bill. In 2021 the band announced a 9-date UK tour alongside Hundred Reasons, scheduled to take place in February and March 2022. It was later rescheduled to February and March 2023. In December 2022 they released their latest single 'I Should Never Have Been Here in the First Place' which is taken from the bands new 7" released via Big Scary Monsters.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

DVDs

*''Live at the Sheffield Leadmill'' (Dir: Oli Cole) (2004)

References

External links

hellisforheroes.co.uk – Formerly iccm.2ya.com fansiteHell Is for Heroes on MySpaceHIFH Profile on Drowned in Sound
by Chris Andrade fo
''kMNR''...Music News Weekly"''Transmit Disrupt''" Review at Drowned in Sound
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hell Is For Heroes (Band) English rock music groups British post-hardcore musical groups Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Burning Heart Records artists Big Scary Monsters Recording Company artists Golf Records artists 2000 establishments in England