Heaven’s Basement are one of the UK’s hardest working hard rock bands. Having been on the road extensively for the past two years (including clocking up over 170 shows in 2013), they find themselves currently in the middle of their first UK tour for sometime, which included a stop off at Takedown Festival 2014 in Southampton. Our very own Lisa was able to catch up with their drummer Chris Rivers.
This is Lisa Fox for Rock Sins and I am with Chris Rivers from Heaven’s Basement. Hi.
How are you doing?
I am very well. How are you?
Yeah, great, it is good to be here today. We know most bands we know from touring over the last few years, so it is a bit of a reunion really, because we have been out of the UK quite a lot over the last two years, so there is a good vibe today and there are lots of people around.
Are you going to see any bands play today?
I have not really had a chance to watch anyone, sit down and watch properly, we have kind of been floating around a bit, but my goal today when we are through is to find a shower, we are on tour at the moment, so I didn’t manage to find one yesterday, so I definitely need one today. I was walking around a University earlier just like finding random corridors.
[Laughter].
Eventually I found like a big communal shower kind of area and I got in that. I feel alright now.
You feel all nice and clean now?
Yeah, I do yeah.
So how has the tour been going?
Amazing, this is our third day. Nottingham was sold out, Norwich the night before was literally on the verge of sell out. It started really well, tomorrow has also sold out. A lot of the dates are sold out, so it is really good. The whole deal of the tour is great, with Glamour of the Kill, and The Dirty Youth from Wales, they sound really good. It is going to be a fun six weeks.
What is the plan after the UK tour?
We have four or five days off to do some washing and…
[Laughter]. Get showered again?
Yeah, then go to America for a month, we are going to do what is called a ‘Month of Mild’ throughout May in the States, which are all these festivals dotted round, so it is like Rock on the Range, Rock Fest, then we come back to Europe in June, we are doing Sweden Rock and a couple of other festivals that we are working on. And then after that we are probably going to be back in the States again for maybe a two month tour at some point and then probably the European tour either as a support or, we will have to wait and see.
So what festivals are you doing this summer in the UK?
We are not sure yet.
Oh?
We are hoping on at least one. It is probably certainly not going to be Download, because we have done like Download for the last three years. So probably in the next few weeks we will have some news or something.
I saw you at Download, you did two shows at Download didn’t you, the acoustic and then the main stage.
Yeah, we actually managed to blag that for the last three years.
Oh really.
Well is started three years ago, Andy Copping gave us a slot on the acoustic stage, and the following two years we played more acoustically, it is good fun you know, acoustic sets are something different and we have never done before and we really enjoyed doing them.
It was interesting seeing you guys at Black Veil Brides actually, because I thought you guys actually blew them out the water, and it was good to see the younger crowd getting to experience Heaven’s Basement. Did you get much of a response from that?
Amazing response yeah, because a lot of the people at that tour was literally like their first rock show, probably aged from thirteen to eighteen was probably the average age and we always love supportive fans, as our goal is to go on and steal the whole fan base and take away is always a good challenge for us and is always good fun, their fans are so loyal and passionate about them, if we can then take a handful, like we have done, then they spread the word for us and stuff and it is great.
And any plans for a new album?
Yeah, it is in the back of our mind now that you know we started to think that maybe some time next year, whether it be the start of the year or the end of the year, we are not sure yet. We are just getting ideas together at the moment and we need to see how much more Filthy Empire has got in it, in terms of touring. Our single is doing really well in the US and it is looking really promising, so that might give us a few more months over there in terms of like longevity of the album. So we are kind of taking it month by month, but yeah, probably next year at some point.
I am really glad you decided to release the single ‘Can’t Let Go’, because that is my favourite song on the album.
That is quite an old school song that, we actually recorded the first version like in 2009.
Oh gosh, was that with the old vocalist?
Yeah, it was one of the last songs we added to the album as well, that and Executioner’s Day, because they were old school, basic songs, you know, they will always be part of our lives so they deserve like a place on the album, so we made it that way.
I think its fair to say Heavens Basement are a very hard working band.
Yeah, literally the last two years, since the tour of this album started, it is like turning in to the worst time, I had boils last week, very rarely know what day it is.
Is it getting a little bit Spinal Tap?
It is yeah, very much.
So what, if you were going to like make a film about Heaven’s Basement, what do you think it would be?
Wow, what do you mean, like one that has been out? I am not going to say like The Dirt or something like that.
That is not out yet.
That is cliché isn’t it. Probably Spinal Tap.
Spinal Tap but then moving in to The Dirt as time goes on maybe?
Yeah possibly. It is a bit more stupid than Spinal Tap though.
Finally any last thoughts for the fans or anything you would like to say?
Yeah, as we always say, you know, thank you always for supporting Heaven’s Basement and we have been through so many up’s and down’s over the last five years and it is great to always come back to the UK and see the same people that we have seen five years ago at our first lot of gigs and also all the new people that are coming on board. It feels like we have got a great, loyal fan base. We still find a small fan base in the big picture, you know we are not playing stadiums, we are playing clubs. We have a strong fan base that we are proud of.
Thank you very much for your time.
Heaven’s Basement’s critically acclaimed début album Filthy Empire is out now via Red Bull Records. As stated above the band are currently in the middle of a UK headline tour, with support from Glamour Of The Kill and The Dirty Youth. The remaining tour dates are as follows:
Heaven’s Basement w/ Glamour Of The Kill & The Dirty Youth Remaining March 2014 UK Tour Dates
18th – Newcastle – Newcastle Uni Union
19th – Glasgow – Cathouse
20th – Belfast – Voodoo
21st – Dublin – Voodoo Lounge
22nd – Manchester – Academy 2
24th – Chester – The Forum
25th – Bristol – The Fleece
27th – London – Electric Ballroom
28th – Plymouth – White Rabbit
29th – Birmingham – Academy 2
30th – Brighton – The Haunt
