Interview: Every Hell
"Dave Larkin made me a pedal last year. . . called the Piss Crotter. Which is a reverse of my favourite saxophonist, of modern times, Chris Potter. And. . . basically I could go into the studio and have a really heavy sound. So that's how it started. I just got really, really into writing and writing whole tunes."
A new band of old hands, inspired by a Jamie Lenman email, Every Hell made a lot of friends at ArcTanGent 2024. Jody Dunstan witnessed their “fun and energetic” performance before catching up with Will Gardner and Toby Stewart for an utterly breathless, fun and energetic conversation!
E&D: Tell me about the band, how did you come to fruition?
Will: Well, we were in a band already called Skin Failure and then things [happened], Every Hell was starting and we had a tricky time with our guitarists and then we went separate ways, and then Toby was meant to be standing in, and then we were like, oh this is super easy and he’s amazing and just gets it, and they were like, hey Toby do you want to be…?
E&D: Did it Just click?
Will: Yeah, it just clicked. because I wrote quite a few of the tunes ages ago and the band weirdly was started by Jamie Lenman. Yeah, Jamie emailed me and Mark and said, he’s like, “Hey dudes, I’ve been writing some crazy riffs and I really wanted to get in a room with you guys, Will’s going to play crazy saxophone and then I’m going to sing to scream the whole time and Mark’s going to play drums real good.”
E&D: I like your Jamie impression!
Will: It’s not bad, (Jamie, I’m sorry but also that’s how you sound). And then we had one rehearsal, we had absolute blast, and then he was too busy to do it and then Mark and I were like, okay let’s get Andrew, and then we got Evelyn involved for a bit and then like I said, that didn’t work out, but like she’s still great and everything, but then we got Toby and we were like, oh, well this is it, this is what it’s meant to be. It’s a fun and magic combination. Yeah, classic case.
Toby: I’m just like, yeah, I hope you’re right for one gig. Oh, it’s just for the one. Okay, one more gig. Okay, one more. I’ll just be in the band.
Will: Yeah, it’s been great.
E&D: How does that process work then when you’re recording and putting things together, and is it collaborative?
Will: Yeah, it’s very like, the more especially recently, it’s been quite different. Like recently Andrew’s been the main Chief Beef. That guy has a riff, the shirt, he’s just churned some of it out. He has been really churned recently; it’s been so cool. So, he’s been Chief Riff Beef and then Toby’s been going like, oh cool, that’s really nice, sweet. I guess I’ll just go YEAH! over the top of it and then I’m like, well sick dude, I’ll go, YEAH, do the saxophone. And yeah, it’s like stuff, I just wish we had more time at the moment.
I think that’s the main thing and just because we’ve been rehearsing in between Bristol and Brighton and Guildford and having sort of, you know, getting ready for this, writing the tunes, writing riffs. And I think if we could write an album if we had three days, you know, I just think it would be like smash it.
E&D: I guess there’s a lot to be said for just being in the same space, hanging out at a bit, getting to know each other?
Toby: It’s very easy, surprisingly easy. It’s only like I’d never met Andrew before that first practice we did together. That was the first time I met him. I was really worried about it being like, it’s going to be like hard to find my place, to nail what I’ve made, it was just so easy.
Trust is a huge thing about it too, like it’s like a really big part of like our sound and just like knowing that if someone’s starting with a thing, Mark’s then going to pretty much immediately come up with the right drum part.
E&D: So, it’s quite organic?
Toby: Definitely, yeah.
Will: And then Toby and I, with our bits on the top of it, especially with the most recent stuff, it’s going to click. And then you just have that time to have a play around. And like, there’s still lots of bits and a few bits and some of the songs are a bit more jammy. And that’s really awesome.
E&D: Do you think that I’ll add a dimension when you go back into record?
Will: Yeah, definitely.
E&D: So, I read somewhere that you record live and on tape?
Toby: Yeah. Was that a… a forced hand by Pete Miles! Yeah. You are doing it today. You are doing it live! You’ve only really got two chances for yourself. We’d be like, “Oh, I’m not sure about that.” No, it was great. That was it. Well done, guys!
Will: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was great. It was like a real awesome challenge recording for Toby. Yeah. Because like I said, it’s like, you know, you’ve got a finite number of chances to get that song done. So, if you fuck up, then that’s it. That’s the take. That’s the way it is now!
Yeah, that’s it. You’ve got to accept to learn. Yeah. To love those imperfections.
Will: The only overdubs we really did were saxophone, because I couldn’t physically do both. Like for some of the songs, there’s a few bits where they overlap, there’s like two little bits of overdubbed vocals where we cut the tape and put in a little extra bit of vocals in.
E&D: and stick back with Sellotape?
Will: Yes! Literally using razor blades and you know, but I think there’s an energy in the recordings that like really comes across. But it’s tricky though as well, because there’s so much music out there at the moment. It’s like, oh, they did it too. Oh, OK, fine!
E&D: There’s something nice about not being perfect though, isn’t there?
Will: Yes. This music shouldn’t be perfect in areas like precise. I think it definitely works for some stuff, like Meshuggah for example, where it’s got like clinical and pristine and like in time to the atom. You know what I’m saying? And it is fucking amazing. But then stuff like us, like a bit more punky hardcore. Yeah, rock and roll. They’re like, fuck it man.
Toby: We’re human beings, we fuck up. It’s kind of cool.
E&D: Yeah. It’s about capturing the energy, right?
Toby: 100%. I felt like when we were tracking together the EP tracks, there was like a real intensity. Like there was so fun and so like.
E&D: I do wonder if, because you are on tape, you’re like, well we’ve got to get this right. If you’re going with the same kind of energy, right?
Will: Yeah, yeah. Intent. That’s it man.
Toby: It’s like with you, if you multi-track stuff, you know and you like take after take after take after. You end up getting in your head a little bit. It can be like really detrimental I think to it. So, if you’re all going in and playing live together, there is that sense of just like we’ve got to do this. So, you really concentrate hard on it and get some amazing results out of it. And you’re feeding off the energy of everyone. You know, you can definitely hear that. And that’s the kind of thing you can’t create any other way. You want to do it.
E&D: Exactly. So you mentioned the sax. Is that just Jamie’s idea?
Will: Well, I’d been writing a lot of the music. Our very, very good friend Dave Larkin made me a pedal last year, two years ago, called the Piss Crotter. Which is a reverse of my favourite saxophonist of modern times, Chris Potter. So, he switched it around as Piss Crotter. And it had like, basically I could go into the studio and have a really heavy sound. So that’s how it started. I just got really, really into writing and writing whole tunes. So, I wrote ‘Freaking Out’ in like 2021. Pretty much in its entirety apart from like the end section. And it’s become a real big part of it is that I’ll sit and write loads of, when I’m in the moods, like write whole riffs and whole choruses and whole bits and chord sequences, like all of that on sax. And then bring it to these guys.
Toby: Then he comes to us and he’s like, “Play this on guitar.” I’m like, “No.” Basically you can’t do that. It’s just not like the guitar.
Will: I do ask. I do literally say like, is that possible? And quite often it’s like, nine times out of ten, it’s like, fuck yeah. We can do that. It’s just that one that you brought to me. Yeah. Should we do that? We did it if it was humanly possible. Yeah. If we change the key, will it make it easier? Yeah, maybe. Let’s do it. Okay. That’s a whole different conversation to me. Working it out.
Left to right: Toby Stewart, Will Gardner and Jody Dunstan. Photo: Magda Campagne
E&D: Is there anything outside music that inspires you?
Will: Big time for me, like books, lots. I’m a reader, Dude. I’ve been reading lots of books recently. And just read this really brutal book called The Wager. I inhaled that in like three weeks. It’s like about a stupid expedition by the British to try and destroy a Spanish treasure ship off the coast of Patagonia in like the 1700s. And I’ve taken that idea about being shipwrecked. And then I’m writing a song about what it’s like sometimes being me and family and friends and people are like, you’ve got to get a proper job. Like working in an office, you don’t have enough money.
E&D: Do more capitalism!?
Will: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically, you know, this struggling artist thing isn’t working for you and all of that. And kind of merging those two worlds; there’s kind of stories about a ship battling against crazy waves and winds in the sea. That’s really interesting. So, I’ve always done a lot of that. I’ve read a really great novel, especially fiction, I find like it’s always just drives my mind into these crazy places. So yeah, a lot of books for me, like film not as much.
Toby: I guess really I weirdly find video games [inspiring] for our other bands, Skin Failure, like playing Bloodborne a lot. Really felt like every time I played it.
Will: He says a lot, he means a lot. It makes you sad most of the time, doesn’t it?
Toby: It makes me very sad. Incredibly fucking angry. You know, like finish playing out and be like, I want to write some fucking evil music. It’s kind of weird how video games do that.
E&D: So, what’s coming next?
Will: We’ve got Castle Fest in Luton, not to be confused with Castle Fest, which is a medieval festival. One of them is a large pub/venue. The other one is a giant castle, and everyone is in medieval costumes! Misery Loves Company [festival] next, and then we’re not allowed to say where, but we’ve got a very, very cool London show on Halloween, which is the EP Launch Party. A very well-known London venue. That’s going to be super, super, super cool. We’ve got a very, very cool friends’ band playing with us as well. The EP’s out on Halloween as well. The single just came out on Tuesday. ‘Bad cop’. We’re going to go and write. . No more singles. That’s your lot! That’s your life. Oh, and we’ve got a live session coming out later this year as well.
E&D: So, any bands you want to give a shout out to, anyone we should be listening to, anyone we should check out of the weekend?
Will: 100% Peach. Are Sans Froid playing? Yeah! God Alone are sick. Delta sleep. You’ll know Delta sleep. You’ll know Delta Sleep, of course. Everyone knows Delta Sleep. Host Body. Trying to think of who else. Just so many minds. Yeah, Squid Pisser. Yeah. I tried to go and see them in California when I was out there and then got too scared because San Francisco is really scary.
E&D: Yeah, you turned the wrong way down the street. Yeah err no!
Will: The band we were just talking about Unpeople. Yeah, we were here so we couldn’t see them. We were going to go watch Urne Yeah. Oh, I mean, tonight is Red Fang. I have to do Red Fang, so we’re amazing. And, yeah. . . come on. . . Classic, awesome, stonery, Mastadon-y vibe?
Toby: Baroness?
Will: Yeah, that’s it! I’m going to go hang out and be insulted by John Beasley backstage again. I’ve seen him at like three festivals before with the old band Black Peaks. We sat and got really, really drunk with them. I introduced myself twice, like two weeks in a row to John Beasley. And the second time I was like, “Hey man, it’s Will from the festival.” He was kind of was like, “Dude, I fucking know. Will.” And I was like, “Oh, you’re so dry and American.” He’s like, “Yeah Will. I remember you, Will. We’ll have a drink later. Don’t worry.” And I was like, “Okay, sorry. Sorry.” Suddenly become very British. Yeah, so he’s like, “Don’t fucking apologize.” And I was like, “Oh, God. Sorry.” So yeah, maybe see those guys today.
E&D: Thanks so much guys, great to meet you.
Every Hell‘s EP, Vertebrate, is released on October 31 2024 and can pre-ordered on Bandcamp HERE
