Nothing Major with Hellcats

In anticipation of the next instalment of #NothingMajor we chat to Hellcats guitarist; Warwick Rautenbach discussing Oppikoppi, the next volumes of A Coffin Full of Hellcat and working with The Ts&Cs.

How was Oppikoppi? Was it your first time playing the event?

Oppi was a trip man- it was really surreal. It was our first time playing the fest but we had a great slot on the Friday night so everyone was still full of beans (and a lot of other stuff from the look of it). It’s the most people we’ve ever played to and everyone was into the music and having a jol, which we totally fed off. It’s a beautiful thing to see so many people rocking out to the songs you and your best friend made in your sweaty band room. That was pretty fucking rad, but a big highlight for us was driving into Oppi and hearing our music coming out of an open boot in Mordor with 10 kids losing there shit and moshing in the middle of their camp site. That fuckin blew us away.

Allessandro had a finger injury earlier this year. WTF happened and what was it like having Max Schomburg be the unofficial third member of the band for a couple of gigs?

He fell and he’s pretty much fucked his finger up permanently. It sounds dramatic, but he’ll never play guitar the same again, and apart from being a great drummer, he’s an amazing guitarist, which is kak. Anyway, as he says in his fucking stubborn way “I can still play drums, so fuck it”. Having Max was great, he’s a firecracker that one. We had a few killer shows with him and he really held his own. Great drummer with such an amazing energy – he’s at the start of an awesome career. He’s our home boy for life.

When the band started you recorded eight tracks in the space of two weeks. Was it more of the same for your latest EP A Coffin Full of Hellcats Volume 2?

We wrote eight tracks in two weeks. We had no songs, and then 2 weeks later, we had 8 songs, and then we played Arcade Empire as our first gig ever. That’s how the band started. Most of our music since then gets recorded with 1 shitty mic in our band room and we record the songs as soon as we write them and put them on our Soundcloud page, as is. On the coffin Full of Hellcats’ (Vol 1 and 2)EP’s you’re speaking of, we’ve chosen our favourites of all our songs and put them on the EP’s. For the next 2 volumes of A Coffin Full of Hellcats, we want to put on tracks that no-ones ever heard.

What are some of pros and cons of your DIY Lo-FI recording process and will you ever consider recording in any other way?

We do have a really ‘give no fucks’ approach to recording our music. We believe that music should be as honest as possible, fuck ups and all. We try not do anything on our recorded stuff that we can’t do live. That being said, we do have Levon Lock at Big House studios producing these EP’s and he does put a lot of work into his craft and makes it all sound like it was performed by two insolent little shits, but engineered by a grown up.

Your music video for “Sunlight 1973” was equal parts cute and rock and roll featuring kittens exploring the aftermath of what looks rough night. Tell us about the concept behind the video and when we can expect the next video?

When Jana&Koos creative collab approached us with the concept for the video, this was their sell : “what are the most loved things on the internet? Boobs and kittens. Lets make a Hellcats video about it”. Simple but effective. We’ll probably do our next video when someone comes up with another concept as genius as Boobs and Kittens.

You’re working on a track with The Ts & Cs for #NothingMajor. Can you tell us anything about this track and what is it like working with The Ts & Cs?

Its been fucking great working with the lads, they’re a bunch of excellent humans. The track came really naturally actually. We had planned to all meet up and just talk about what we were going to do, before we actually wrote any music. We did talk for a bit but then as it happens with 6 musicians in a room with beer and whiskey, we picked up our instruments and jammed out some shit, and we wrote a song. It was easy. The song is a perfect fucking mixture of The Ts & Cs and Hellcats, neither of the bands compromised on their own unique sound and the final product is something we’re all super stoked with. The bad-assery is strong with this one.

What can be expected of your performance at #NothingMajor?

I never know how to answer that question because not much planning goes into our sets. We feed of the crowd and the venue and the general energy of the day. We do always have the most fun though, because we genuinely enjoy playing rock n roll, so if that’s something people respond to, I guess you can expect a good fucking time.

Will you ever get tired of the reviews of your live performances that read “most powerful performance on the line-up despite being only a two-piece band”?

No, we’ll never tire of that. Because we’re a two piece band that sounds and acts like a twenty-fucking-piece band of caged animals on ephedrine.