It's a new year so we welcome back the next instalment of our unsigned band feature, Upcoming Talent. This time we have punk rock band sprinkled with a pinch of melodic darkness, A Living Hell! We caught up with singer/guitarist Jason to tell us all about themselves...
Scene Point Blank: Hello to A Living Hell...thank you so much for joining us. Please start off by introducing yourselves, telling us where you are from and how A Living Hell came about. Starting off with where or how you came up with your band name.
A Living Hell: Hi, we are A Living Hell from St. Louis, Missouri. My name is Jason and I play guitar and sing in the band. Mike also plays guitar and we have Alicia on bass and Matt on drums. I came up with the band name because I heard the saying “You make my life a living hell” in a movie somewhere and I thought it would make a cool band name.
Scene Point Blank: How would you describe your sound and what influences A Living Hell musically and lyrically?
A Living Hell: Well, that’s a good question. Our sound is definitely a punk rock sound, sprinkled with some pop melodies and some metal influences. Lyrically most of the songs are about horror stories that I made up. Some of which are based off of certain movies, but others are completely just made up.
Scene Point Blank: What kind of horror inspires you as a band, e.g. supernatural/paranormal/true stories/gore/monsters/the living dead or the undead? Do you find you draw from movies more or personal spooky experiences?
A Living Hell: We totally like all aspects of horror. But as the lyricist I tend to lean more toward paranormal and gore. Movies about demonic possession and movies about serial killers are a lot of inspiration for me.
Scene Point Blank: Have you or anyone you know had a supernatural or paranormal experience?
A Living Hell: That’s a great question that I wish I had a great answer for haha. Sadly I don’t.
Scene Point Blank: Do you have a favourite horror character or franchise? If so who or what are they?
A Living Hell: Favorite horror character… Well, my favorite horror film is The Exorcist, but as for a favorite character, I’d have to say Ghostface from Scream.
Scene {Point Blank: You hail from St. Louis, Missouri. What is the scene like over there for bands like yourself?
A Living Hell: It’s decent. Not too many bands sound like us in our area. But, lately there have been more and more punk bands that are coming out.
Scene Point Blank: When it comes to playing gigs is there much opportunity to put on many shows in your hometown or do you find yourselves travelling out of town a lot?
A Living Hell: There are a bunch of cool clubs in STL. A lot of DIY clubs. It’s pretty easy to get on a show. But we sometimes travel around to areas out of town that aren’t too far.
Scene Point Blank: When and where was your very first live show and how did it go?
A Living Hell: We played at this venue called Red Flag in our town. I think it was the fall or winter of 2020. It went okay, I feel, considering it was our first show. You know, you always hear horror stories of band’s first gigs, but it was actually pretty good.
Scene Point Blank: What can we expect from A Living Hell live show now?
A Living Hell: I feel like now we are all pretty settled in. We feel way more comfortable. We always have a joking banter [between] ourselves and the audience. We don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Scene Point Blank: If you could play a gig with any band (past or present) who would it be and why?
A Living Hell: Personally I’d love to play with my favourite band, Alkaline Trio. And if Tony Sly was still alive, playing with the band No Use For A Name would've been amazing.
Scene Point Blank: Do you have any funny/gross backstage stories to tell when you've been out on the road?
A Living Hell: On our first out of town gig our drummer, Matt, and guitarist, Mike, thought it was so hilarious to prank our bass player, Alicia and myself with spraying fart spray in our van before we got in it. It smelled horrendous. But it was pretty funny.
Scene Point Blank: To those people out there that are unfamiliar with A Living Hell, now is the time to talk about all your recordings. So can you give us the low down on all of your current recordings please?
A Living Hell: Well, we have I think seven songs recorded. They are all just singles. We don’t have an album yet or an EP. I feel like this day and age singles are the way to go. Just releasing a single every couple of months rather than a whole album all at once is more beneficial. We recorded the songs at a studio called Encapsulated Studio which is here in St. Louis. I remember recording the first song we ever recorded and I was so extremely nervous because I wasn't used to singing in front of strangers and, of course, that stranger happened to be Dan Marsala of Story of the Year! He recorded our first two singles. So I just drank a bunch of beer and got through it, haha.
Scene Point Blank: What do you consider the benefits of being a DIY band?
A Living Hell: I think doing it all yourself gives you a sense of satisfaction you wouldn't get if someone just handed you everything you need. Working hard and making things happen for yourself is really rewarding.
Scene Point Blank: What do you all do to make a living outside of music?
A Living Hell: Mike works for the prestigious company Boeing. Matt is a truck driver, Alicia works with computers, and I am just a good old fashioned milk man. Yes they still exist, haha.
Scene Point Blank: What do you consider to be A Living Hell’s greatest achievement to date?
A Living Hell: We got the opportunity to do battle of the bands and we were chosen to play Point Fest which is a festival our local rock station puts on every year. It was so fun going through that process and playing that festival. We met a ton of new people and bands. We also got our song “Spark Of Life” played on the radio and that was so amazing hearing our song on the radio.
Scene Point Blank: What is next for A Living Hell?
A Living Hell: We have a ton of shows coming up in the next few months. Our plan is to keep playing shows and gaining new fans. Maybe going in and recording a couple more singles this year as well. You can find us on all the streaming sites (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) we are also on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Just search “A Living Hell St Louis” and you’ll find us.
Scene Point Blank: Thank you again for taking part in this feature it has been a pleasure. Please use this space to mention anything else about yourselves you think will be beneficial to your band and any other bands, friends, family, neighbours, pets or any venues you think deserve a shout out!
A Living Hell: Thank you for having us. We really appreciate anyone who takes an interest in our band. We are just super grateful to be able to do what we are doing and we will continue to do so for as long as possible. We wanna thank all the people who support us. That’s what makes it fun for us to do this. Thanks again.
