HITS formed 10 years ago in Brisbane as a trio, with Richards filling the role of both guitarist and lead singer. Guitarist Tamara Bell joined shortly after the band’s run of shows; when Richards broke his arm a couple of years later, The Butcher Birds’ Stacey Coleman was invited to join. Having started out playing songs Richards had taken with him from the Aampirellas – the band from which Richards been kicked out of –HITS gradually developed its set, eventually releasing Living With You Is Killing Me on Mere Noise Records in 2009.
By the time HITS embarked on its European tour, they’d already written half of the songs that would appear on the band’s second album, the Rob Younger-produced Hikikomori. Like the first HITS album, the songs on Hikikomori provided a disturbing insight into the psychological and chemical turmoil of the band’s lead singer. “A lot of it’s pretty close to home,” Richards says. “And a lot of it is extreme finger pointing at myself. Cathartic is probably the best way to describe it and getting rid of my frustrations with myself. I yell at people at the pub about how pissed off I am about stuff, and get it out of my system. I’d probably be in gaol if I didn’t get the opportunity to yell at people,” he laughs.
Richards’ intense presence and self-flagellating lyrics form a critical element in both HITS’ live show and its recorded output. “All the lyrics mean something personal to me – even the dumb ones have a secret twist to them that only I know,” Richards says. Even the title of HITS’ second album, Hikikomori – which translates roughly as acute social withdrawal – provides a clue to Richards’ preferred state of existence. “I spend a lot of time on my own, locked in the house,” Richards says. “And that’s why there’s the picture of the tank underwater on the cover of the album – that’s a bit like me.”
Another critical ingredient in HITS’ potent rock’n’roll attack comes in the form of the group’s guitarists, Tamara Bell and Stacey Coleman. The fact the group has two female guitarists – a statistical irregularity in the rock’n’roll world – occasionally brings issues of sexism and gender politics in rock’n’roll to the surface. “To me, they’re just guitar players, and they’re doing a job as well as any bloke, and probably better,” Richards says. “I see other people treating them differently occasionally, like soundmen, but then they eat their own shit when they start playing. Or other bands, until Tamara eats their head off when she goes into a lead break. But the thing I like most is the backing vocals which, with [drummer] Gregor as well gives the vocals different layers. That takes the sting out of what I’m saying, or adds to it. And it gives the vocals a much wider range.”
For Hikikomori, HITS employed the services of Radio Birdman and New Christs singer Rob Younger as producer. Younger, whose production credits include Died Pretty, Lime Spiders, Toys Went Beserk, Hard Ons and Screaming Tribesmen, had met the band while touring with the New Christs and asked to produce HITS’ new record. “Rob was great to work with,” Richards says. “He didn’t tell us what to do, but when he did have ideas about what we should do, he knew exactly what he wanted. He’s a real workaholic – he’d be listening to the songs when he got up in the morning and last thing at night. He’s a real music nut as well – he’d come back with an album after being to a record store and say ‘This is the fifth copy of this record that I’ve got’. I’d hate to see what his house is like” Richards laughs.
Rock’n’roll history is littered with examples of bands that have burnt bright and burnt out, coming to a premature and tragic end through chemical and alcoholic misadventure, warring egos or straight out fatigue. Given the intensity with which HITS approaches its music, Richards recognises the risks of HITS’ modus operandi. “I think we’ve hit the wall a few times, and we’ve bounced off it,” Richards says. “To stay friends with people and keep doing this is quite hard – that’s why a lot of bands only survive for a couple of years, because the joy goes out of it.
For Richards, maintaining a creative atmosphere is the best antidote to intra-band dramas. “When things aren’t going well with us – and there have been times when substance abuse has been a problem, mental health has been a problem, physical health has been a problem, people have babies, work has been too full on – we don’t break up, we just stop doing it until people want to play again,” Richards says. “It’s got to be a creative process – you just don’t want to play the same old shit all the time. So if you’re being creative, that’s where the joy is.”
BY PATRICK EMERY
