Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
U.K. heavyweights OHHMS recently visited Small Pond Studios in Brighton where they recorded a live, in-studio performance. The band chose the song “The Hanged Man” from their current debut album ‘The Fool‘, out now from Holy Roar Records.
Vocalist Paul Weller commented on the choice and experience itself, saying:
“When Small Pond Studios invited us down to Brighton to film a live take of one of our songs, it was a no-brainer for us to opt for The Hanged Man,” vocalist Paul Waller tells Metal Hammer. “It’s usually the best received song when we play live and also our personal favorite to play as it varies between being utterly complex and difficult to execute one minute, then oddly one of the easiest songs we have to perform in the whole set the next. It’s a strange beast indeed.
“Lyrically, it’s an observational piece about the ongoing right-wing slant of the current bulk of tabloid newspapers in England, and how this has been a subtle and not-so-subtle tactic utilized by them for years to push forward their dubious political agendas. In fact, in the middle of the song I sing a headline from The Sun in full. It’s the horrific collection of lies they printed on the front page the day after the Hillsborough disaster back in 1989.
“The power that newspapers still have over the general populace is massive, and the responsibility is huge, yet time and time again I walk past the newsstand and read scandalous trash headlines. It’s a heartbreaker that this is allowed to go on. A total heartbreaker.”
OHHMS “The Fool” is available at Holy Roar Records and Bandcamp
