Watch Hellcats debut music video “Black Wolf”
With filthy and uninhibited energy, Hellcats have torn through the underground scene. Stripped down and bare knuckled – a two piece rock ‘n roll phenomena. The duo started their career in August 2014, and went on to play their first show at the famed Arcade Empire in Pretoria. They had one song when they were asked to play their first gig, a dilemma that only fuelled the fire. They wrote eight tracks in two weeks, and made it just in time to stun the crowd with their driving riffs, wailing vocals, and unrestrained force.
Hellcats are a Johannesburg based band and consist of Alessandro Benigno on drums and vocals, and Warwick Rautenbach on guitar. Their sound is unashamed and raw, which is clear when listening to the tracks on their Soundcloud page.
“We’ve recorded shit loads, but it’s all been with a mic in the middle of a room and the recordings are pretty lo-fi and dirty. We like to get our music down as soon as we make it and put it out there immediately. We want our rock ‘n roll to be heard in its natural state.”
However, their sound is evolving. Producers have stepped in and lashed at the beast that propels them. Not as a means to tame it, but as a means to arouse it. On deciding to make their first music video, Hellcats wanted to capture their live energy on film. A young and talented director (Mark Strydom from Spitfire Films) had seen them live a few times and insisted on giving them a go. The video was shot at Kitchener’s in Johannesburg on a cold winter’s morning. “We basically just spent the day playing rock ‘n roll while people tore into each other. It was a trip.”
The video in itself is a trip. The shots mainly consist of close ups with a lot of quick cuts between Alessandro and Warwick, drums and guitar, half-open doors and spray painted halls, strangers on couches and strangers on the floor – finding a way to fend the fever, lost in its prime, hands tearing at clothes, fingers seething through hair, and tongues tied to a twisted riff. Between Alessandro’s howls, it becomes apparent that this primal get-together isn’t so uncommon after all. It’s every weekend of a predator’s life. It’s a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. And God forbid you hear “Black Wolf” live without a lover close by, you might just find yourself caressing the walls of a bathroom stall.
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