Last August, Los Hombres Del Diablo released their debut EP The High Hound Blues. The six-song release prominently showcases the band’s interest in groove-heavy stoner rock and bluesy rock’n’roll – recalling the heavier end of ‘60s blues-rock with a harder edge gleaned from the ‘90s Palm Desert scene. Yet, in spite of evidence the Sydneysiders have engorged themselves on the likes of Sabbath, Cream, Kyuss and Monster Magnet, they’re not hell-bent on resembling these artists.
“All of that sort of style – stoner, heavy-blues, fuzz rock – is all the stuff we love,” says drummer Nathan Millett. “But we don’t sit down and go ‘Right, let’s write a song that sounds like Fu Manchu.’ I think from what people have listened to over the years, and stylistically what they like, it does come out in the writing. The writing is a collaborative process as well. There’s not one person that says, ‘Right, this is the guitar riff so the bass riff has to sound like this, the drumming has to go like this.’ It’s a process that we all contribute to.”
In a typical instance of Melbourne elitism, we tend to regard our stoner rock scene as the strongest in the country. Perhaps it’s not an unfair reckoning, but Millett fills us in on what’s happening north of the border.
“There’s another band in Sydney called Arrowhead,” he says, “who are a good band within this style that we’re doing. There’s a couple of younger bands too, like Aver who just released an album, and Comacozer. There’s also a couple of Canberra bands, like Witchskull and Looking Glass, who we’re good friends with. It’s not as strong as Melbourne, but there’s bands here doing it. I know all the bands here like going to Melbourne when they get the opportunity.”
Since they last played in Melbourne, Los Hombres have undergone a significant lineup change. In late January, Michele Madden stepped down as the band’s lead vocalist and has since been replaced by Luke Enright. Fortunately, the change-over didn’t upset the band’s creative drive, and they’ve got a stack of new material to share with punters who get to AC/DC Lane early this Sunday.
“We had a lot of new songs written,” Millett says, “so when Luke started we focused on those with him and let him do his vocal spin on it – let him write his own lyrics and everything. Though, for live performances, we have performed some songs we did with Michele.”
Having changed vocalists and penned a bunch of fresh material, Los Hombres are eager to produce a follow-up to The High Hound Blues. Thus, along with the CherryRock gig, the band are heading into Reservoir’s Goatsound Studios this weekend to work with Blood Duster’s Jason PC Fuller. “We’re doing a split 7” with that band from Canberra, Witchskull,” Millett says. “After that we’re looking to release a full length later this year, if all goes well.”
Given the band’s penchant for muscular, groove-driven rock, their studio approach is appropriately no-nonsense. “With our last recording, we really tried to capture that live performance element,” Millett says. “I hate going to see bands live and then you purchase the album and it sounds nothing like the live performance – it’s way over-produced. We really make an effort to keep it raw, so what you hear on the CD is hopefully pretty close to what you’re going to hear if you come to see us play live. It’s quite basic, the processes we go through with recording. It’s basically set up and play. We love the live element and I don’t want us to get too far away from that in the recording process. I like to keep that energy there.”
Outside of Los Hombres, the band’s five members all work full time jobs. But even though playing rock’n’roll is more or less a hobby, over the last 12 months, Los Hombres have scored support slots with the likes of Conan, The Datsuns and King Parrot. CherryRock is another impressive feat to add to the CV, but Millett refrains from making any overly ambitious future predictions.
“Because we all work full time, there’s only so much you can do,” he says. “Most of us have kids too. But this is our creative outlet. We don’t play team sports or anything like that. This is our thing that we do each week. Within those restrictions we push as much as we can.
“We definitely appreciate the opportunity to come down for CherryRock. I’ve actually never seen Warped play, so I’m really keen for them. Obviously Red Fang and a lot of the other bands – I haven’t seen Clowns yet either, so it’s a great opportunity. To play with some of these bands will be great.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
