I am driving my car when I receive a call from Jonny from Hell City Glamours. I pull over and tell him how much I enjoyed their show at The Manning Bar in Sydney last month. “Why thank you,” he responds. He’s probably heard this many times before, but the truth is the show was brilliant and they are one of the hottest acts around.
The band comprises of Oscar McBlack (vocals and guitar), Mo Mayhem (guitar), Robbie Potts (drums) and Jonny (bass). The boys hail from the Northern Beaches, although Jonny is a Melbournian and the most recent member. They now reside in the inner city area and hold day jobs, working on the band after-hours. Their influences include the likes of the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Judas Priest. I ask Jonny is he is going to the Judas Priest concert this month. “No I’m not. The other guys are but I’m more into the blues.” The band is a mixture of rock, metal, blues and, as their MySpace page attests, “absolutely anything and everything that encompasses good time rock n roll”.
Noting their look is very Gun’s n Roses meets The Black Crowes, Jonny tells me, “Yeah, I really like those bands. I guess we do look a bit like them.” But is the look just for the band or an everyday thing? “This is a look that we have every day. Even if we weren’t in the band, we’d dress like this…we like this style, this is who we are.”
The band has recently released their debut self-titled album, laden with meaty tracks. “We put a lot of effort into the songs, tried hard not to make them boring or sound like fillers. A great deal of thought went into the songs.” Courtesy of their different influences, the sound is something familiar, yet unique. “We like many different styles, so that all gets mixed up and some tracks sound a bit more rock whereas others a bit more bluesy. We don’t have major differences. Sometimes have the occasional tiff, but that doesn’t last.”
The boys did shows last month in support of the album, incorporating Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. They are a part of The Badlands festival in Sydney next weekend, yet are concentrating on breaking into the US market. If it happens, great news. If not, life goes on. Jonny is realistic about how fickle the business can be. “If we break into the US market that would be great. But we’ve been doing this for a while and know that it may not happen…we’ll just keep on playing, that’s all we can do.”
Conveniently enough, Jonny is the band’s management and PR company. He tells me all the avenues he’s taken towards recognition, as well his push to get radio play. Aside from the touring, the next step will be making a music video, most likely for the songs Josephine or One Night Only.
Hell City Glamours are pretty boys, so naturally the subject of groupies would come up. In this case however, all members are happy in their monogamous relationships. I throw in perhaps that’s where they’ve been going wrong – a little couch casting may help their careers. Jonny lets out a laugh. “Perhaps that’s where we’ve been going wrong. I’m sure it could help!”
Hell City Glamours’ self-titled album is out now. The boys play The Badlands Festival at Manning Bar, Sydney University, on Sunday 21 September and Trackside in Canberra on Saturday 22 November.
