HELLBOUND
Q1. For readers who might not be familiar with you, would you please provide some background on the band—where you’re from, when you formed, etc.?
Hey I’m Jonnie I sing in Hellbound a hardcore band hailing from sunny Glasgow, Scotland and we are part of the Northern Unrest team.
We started this band during the lockdowns somewhere in 2021 I think, I’m kinda the wee bro in the group having age gaps of 3-9 years with the guys and the vibe when this started out was definitely “let’s make your first band” and “let’s do whatever you want” so that’s what we did (sorta).
Q2. Who are some of the band’s primary influences?
Starting out it was a lot of me sending h8000 and 90s eurocore riffs to Owen who was writing old ny style for Despize and I like to think we landed somewhere in the middle on that first demo. After that we kinda cracked our heads together and found common ground on bands like the almighty Integrity, Liar, Ringworm, In Cold Blood, Lesprite du Clan, Ascension, Cold as Life, Before Christ, Counterweight, Indecision.
Production wise we all really align with that dark sound that you find on old school metallic records like the Slayer demos and the countless 90s Euro bands that tried to replicate that style.
Q3. What got you into hardcore?
My big brother played in a few bands starting in 2015 I think and being that I already liked heavy music and was an angry wee guy I fitted right in.
The first few bands my brother put me on to were the metallic classics like Congress, Kickback and Merauder, locally speaking Revolve and Splitknuckle’s Reduced to Ash EP and Ignorance Breeds were constantly being rinsed topped to bottom and got me hooked on metallic hardcore in particular.
Q4. Do you feel like Scottish hardcore, or maybe UK hardcore more generally, is being slept on by the world at large? From here on the other side of the Atlantic in the US, it does seem that way.
I don’t agree at all to be honest, you’ve got so many bands from the UK doing cool stuff such as Mourning and Last Wishes seeming to be away in a different continent every other month and all my boys just got back from Asia.
The UK conglomerate has such good ties to the whole world it seems right now and I think it’s at an all time high, so if your radar isn’t going off I’d say it needs some calibrating hahah.
Q5. Who are some of the great bands on the scene we should be paying attention to?
For the island I’ll just rattle of a list of some of the cool hc going ons:
Impunity
Splitknuckle
Mourning
Ts Warspite
Fate
Last Wishes
Dominate
Dynamite
Malignant Methods
Stiff Meds
Bodyweb [editor’s note: see the hyperlink for my interview with Louis from the band]
Sheffield hardcore
Brighton hardcore
Quality Control
Locally speaking we got:
Test of Patience
Bleaks
Warnin’ Shot
Nothin’ but Enemies
Demonstration of Power
Despize
And lastly but not least Gehazi who I wanna give an intro to just because; they’re a current Glasgow hardcore band formed of old ghc members that I think give a good reflection as to what our scene is sonically/historically
Q6. What are some of your touring highlights and/or most memorable shows you’ve been a part of?
Our record release was a Raw Brigade headline sold out show with a secret Story So Far set which was jokes, we played Concrete Culture in London and the vibes were so good that it made the two weeks written off work after cuz I got so ill on the bus back worth it hahah.
Q7. Is there one song you would point to that would be “quintessential Hellbound”?
If I could mash "Victory Eternal" and "False Glory" into one it would be that but I’ll just go for those two together.
Q8. What does the band have for plans on the horizon—touring, new music, etc.?
We’ve got a Alive and Well Fest in Stockholm next month then we get back and do a short run with the legendary Whispers of BK Thailand who are a personal favourite of mine, then Northern Unfest Round 2 which I’m still scratching my head at that I’m gonna get to see Division of Mind a 20 minute walk from my house, then a short Euro run with the NU team then Outbreak.