Self-described as ‘self-help’ music, HEXX are an amalgamation of all things cathartic and chaotic. They blur the lines between death, grind and power-violence to create a sonic bulldozer-esque sound that is unrivalled. Consisting of members from acts such as Total Defeat and Wound Culture, their line-up is a distinct array of Perth’s finest hardcore and grind hardline elites.
Members Adam (vocals), Paul (bass) and Sean (guitar) were keen to join us for a chat about what makes the band tick, ahead of their performance at ALT//FEST on Saturday, March 20.
HEXX have been pretty silent recently, but rumour has it that you have a bunch of new material coming out soon. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
S: We have a new EP coming out soon and we are working on a new 12-inch, but we are still writing it. So a bit more nothingness for a while.
P: I think we are five or six songs deep so far with the 12”?
S: We are planning on releasing it ourselves. Just like a quick tape. We've been sitting on those songs for a while now, like over a year. So it's time to get them out and move onto some new shit.
P: We were originally thinking of doing an album in the first place, but COVID-19 and everything came around - so we couldn't jam or do anything. Unless we went back to it (lockdown), we just thought let’s record these six (songs) and work on an album from there and now everything has gone back to normal.
I know you guys are major fans of Bolt Thrower and their influence, amongst a whole slew of other artists, on your music. Will these new releases continue that trend or go down another path?
S: Yeah definitely; Bolt Thrower are fucking sick. More 90's death metal vibes will be coming out on the new shit, but it's still going to have the noise element and is still going to be slapping.
A: Definitely throwing bolts was a main influence. I think I threw a bolt twice when in the recording process. Only one of them worked out to be usable, but it was still worth the experience.
S: All that Mammoth Grinder-type stuff we've been really into, so the new record should come out pretty heavy.
You guys managed to link up with Shitgrinder and released a split together on Televised Suicide. How did that partnership come about?
S: We've known Eddie and those dudes for a while now and always wanted to try and work with them since their SHACKLΣS stuff, but they weren't ready for that whole thing. So Eddie said let’s do something with Shitgrinder.
P: I think they were still working on their album at that time; the one that's just come out. Basically we played a show with one of their other bands (Mosquito), Shitgrinder was playing as well and Eddie ran up to us and said "…do you wanna do a split?" and we were like ‘fuck yeah’.
A: That Mosquito demo was the loosest demo that has come out in the last little bit. I can't believe they dropped like 18 songs like that... and that's it.
S: SCAG is pretty sick (another Eddie project).
A: Yeah SCAG is pretty sick. All that fresh stuff is coming from Brisbane at the moment. I mean everywhere has fresh shit coming out, but Brisbane seems to be doing the heaviest shit.
P: Everyone is just down to do some nasty shit and have a good time.
You all have played in a lot of prominent bands within the scene. How have your individual styles played a part in writing tracks and performing?
P: A lot of it starts with your rifts actually Sean. He will come in with some riffs, then him and Brady are the main sort of songwriters and Adam writes all the lyrics. I help out with all the arrangements. So when it comes to arrangement, we all kind of throw the ideas around. But in terms of the riffs themselves, it's Sean.
S: Brady is the easiest drummer to work with. He can like just sit there and be like, ‘…hey, can you play something like this’ and then he's like ‘…I got that’ and just be on fucking point.
P: Brady comes from a progressive background, so he's very precise. He just manages to do that juxtaposition between really progressive and tight. On point, but still aggressive and ferocious. Very hard-hitting but still has a very measured cadence - if you know what I mean. There is more finesse in his drumming than a lot of people give him credit for. He's got the driving engine behind everything. As a bass player, he is the best drummer I've ever played along to as he's just right there. Just an all round top bloke.
S: And the most sober on stage as well.
What was your start within the hardcore/punk scene?
A: It was the YMCA (Headquarters in Leederville) for me, well Mandurah to the YMCA.
S: There was a little bit of a scene in Mandurah; lots of house shows and shit.
A: When I think about the Mandurah shows, I kinda think everyone at the shows where in the band. But then when you think about the YMCA shows, it's basically exactly the same thing.
S: There were also a lot of house shows down Bunbury ways as well.
A: There seemed like there was a small little cluster of dudes that all loved listening to heavy music at the same time. I don't even really know how we even managed to come about each other. We weren't even at the same school or age group or anything. Possibly (YMCA) headquarters or something.
P: When Rhys just started People Problem, I met him through some people jamming up the street. One day I met him at a house show, when we decided to play in someone's backyard on a Monday night. The neighbours loved that. Basically I met him and he introduced me to everyone else and invited us to play a house show and that is pretty much how I met everyone. I had been dying to find a scene like that for years after playing for no one. Then out of nowhere their is this awesome scene of power violence and hardcore bands with people a couple years younger then me and I was like ‘…Yeah i'm jumping on this’.
A: Yeah, I'll ride this groovy train.
Adam, how did the idea of combining all those pedals with your vocals come about?
A: I guess just experimenting when we where all living in houses around the same area. Just listening to a bunch of music at the time and fucking around with stuff. It gave us all a bunch of weird ideas and that was something that stemmed out of it. Just playing heavy music with a bunch of stuff that was originally intending to be confusing as fuck and then, I suppose, got more refined after jamming and became more of an idea that worked out. We just all decided we could make something out of this. I guess now it's meant to represent the chaotic feeling throughout the whole thing.
Any last words?
S: Come to the front and check it out. We're a lovely band.
P: Were just a couple of fun loving blokes. I dunno; just bring yourself.
ALT//FEST is on Saturday, March 20 at Badlands Bar. Tickets available now here.