Reinventing The Hellfreaks, a talk with Shakey Sue

The Hellfreaks is a Hungarian band that has been described as a crossbreed between Madball and Paramore. Even though that description is actually rather fitting, this wasn’t always the case. The band started out as a psychobilly band, releasing two albums before breaking up. Some months later, the band reformed with a new line-up and a new sound. I recently spoke to singer Shakey Sue about their latest record God On The Run, and more.

Q: I really don’t want to talk about corona but I guess I’ll have to. Did corona ruin any of your plans?

We released our new record early February. After that we had some shows with two longer weekends in Germany. At least we were able to do that so were lucky. One week later everything was closed. Corona ruins the plans of every musician. The entire spring season is gone, there is no festival season. But the fall will be different too because all the gigs and tours were postponed to that season. So for us that means that we have one show in our hometown this year and that’s it. And next year we still feel the effect, especially with festivals because they try to copy their line-up to next year. So gig-wise it’s a huge disaster.

Q: Do you think we will return to a normal situation quite soon? 

You have to keep in mind that all the clubs that had to cancel shows will think twice before they take a band in the future because they have to fill the club every evening to be able to stay alive. They will not take the risk for newer bands. I think the time will stand still for bands for the next year and a half, that’s how I see it.

Q: Are you rescheduling any of your plans?

We were planning to go to the UK before the end of the year. In 2021 the UK will require an artist visa and for us it that will cost us more than a thousand pounds next to all the normal travel costs. So we wanted to make sure we could go this year otherwise it would be way too complicated for us. And we have a huge fan base in the UK: we get a request every week when we are coming. But yeah, these plans are gone.

Q: I think not many people know much about the Hungarian punk scene. Can you tell me something about that?

Hungary is not that big: the main life takes place in Budapest, the capital. In Budapest there are lot of great bands and musicians. But we never had clubs that are specialized in subcultures. In Germany there are clubs for metal music or punk music but we never had this. So that makes it difficult to really create a scene. On the other side, there is no divide between punk and metal-heads because people listen to both kinds of music. Our main issue is right now, and maybe this is because of the political situation, maybe not, many of the smaller clubs have to close. So there are big bands but no band on earth starts as a really big band. You need to have these places where you can build up something. And these places have been closing in the last two, three years.

Q: And that’s linked to the political situation in Hungary?

I wouldn’t say that directly, but as far as I can see it, the reasons why these clubs had to close were not very clear. No one would ever say that these clubs had to close because of politics but these clubs had a lot of shows and were always full.

Q: After your first two records, you came back with a new line-up and a new sound. Did you consider to change the name and just start a new band?

Sure, I considered it. When you are in a band there are two sides. Of course, there’s the music. But the work behind the music is as equally important: the management, the promotion, the booking. I did that from day one. I took part in writing the songs but I did the full management on my own for four years. After we broke up we got an invitation for the Ink ‘n’ Iron festival in California. I think they didn’t knew we broke up. I was like, fuck, we worked our ass of for this! All these years I never thought this could happen and now that it is, the band isn’t even alive. Our drummer said this was the chance of a lifetime and we should just do it. So we did it with a new mindset. We changed everything that was a problem before and that was the best decision of my life. That email gave my band back. I thought about changing the name of the band but this band was always my baby.

Q: I listened to your third record Astoria again recently and I’ve noticed a change in your voice in God On The Run. It sounds heavier and deeper.

When we recorded Astoria I started going to a vocal coach and she is really specialized in rock music. So through a lot of practice my voice changed a lot. I learned a lot of new techniques and I learned from my mistakes. And two or three years ago I had the luck that I could build my pantry into a vocal booth that is soundproof. So I want to and can go and scream in the middle of the night. And that is super helpful.

It was also my goal to get better. After Astoria we got a new drummer (Bela Budai) and guitar player (Jozsef Takacs). And they are so good musicians! So I was very motivated to get better. There were moments when I was sitting on the floor, literally crying, that I have no talent, that I wasn’t getting any better and that I was the shame of the band. But that helped me, because I didn’t give up.

Q: So the new guys helped shape the sound of God on the Run?

The thing is that they knew each other before: the drummer and the guitar player played in a quite big band before this. These are the very best musicians the band has ever had. Super educated, super talented. But when it comes to songwriting our bass player (Gabor Domjan) does all the writing. Not just the bass, but drums and guitar parts as well. Of course everybody has their input to add their spice to the soup. And this turned out to be the perfect strategy for God On The Run.

Q: God On The Run is far more metal than Astoria. Did Gabor just decided to write more metal?

Gabor joined our band in 2015, to play the festival in the US. So we played the festival and did a tour and we came back we didn’t want to wait long with a new album. We wanted a new album within six months and we had to reinvent ourselves. We knew we didn’t want to do psychobilly anymore but we weren’t clear on which direction we wanted to go. So Astoria was only the first step in our new direction. We wrote God On The Run without any time pressure. We worked on it for two years.

Q: I recently saw an Instagram live post where you called out some radio host how made a sexist remark. I think I never saw you say something like that.

I think that’s true. To sum up what happened, I listened to some part of an American radio show and they talked about the new record. They said good things about the record but at the end one of them said something like that I would slowly be getting too old for this. I was pissed off! That was not just a personal thing, it was against all women in music. That is something you would never say about a man. I also felt very attacked that women should only play music as long as they look young. It’s not about how women look, it should be about what they do.

Q: I thought it was cool to call him out like that.

It was also very hard because it was a very honest opinion. And when you are being that honest, you feel a bit naked. So I was afraid but I felt it was the right thing to do. But luckily, I got a lot of support. It was amazing. I got tons of messages and inspirational messages from girls who talked about their situation and this issue. So I’m happy I did this.

The Hellfreaks’ newest album, God On The Run, was released in February of this year. You can stream it, and their other music, from the Spotify page.