Häxan is a three-piece bringing their classic-tinged modern hard rock out of the UK, with Jess Hartley (drums), Sam Bolderson (vocals/guitar), and Harriet Wadeson (bass). Shortly after their debut full-length, White Noise, was released, I had a chance to speak with Jess about the record, the music videos and the drive behind Häxan. Check it out below. 

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I want to dig right into White Noise, you guys are awesome and this is a killer new record, and it’s also your debut full-length. It’s still kind of strange times to be releasing an album in, so my question is, how has it been working through this social-distanced remote type of situation while still trying to put yourselves out there as an up and coming band? 

Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely very weird times, trying to come up with a plan of how we’re going to do this. But we had planned the release for this year, and obviously this happened at the beginning of the year, and we did have a discussion of whether we should carry on or postpone it, but we didn’t really want to postpone it because we didn’t really know how long that would be for. You know what I mean? We could be in the same position this time next year, no one really knows. And fans have been waiting for it for a long time, especially since it’s our first full-length album, it’s been a long time coming, and a long time in the making. So we thought it was only fair that since it was all recorded and it was all ready to go, that we get it out there. It’s definitely been weird, trying to promote something without being able to play a show. But luckily for us, we do have a lot of loyal and amazing fans, and they’ve jumped on board with it, and all the amazing publications printing reviews for us have helped get it out to people that perhaps didn’t know who we were. So it’s come up better than we hoped or thought it would, and we’re eternally grateful for that, we cannot wait to get back out there and promote it in the good old-fashioned way. 

Definitely, and it seems like you guys have a solid following that’s just growing every day because people are getting to know you through this album, which is awesome. 

Yeah, it’s mad, definitely every day we’re getting new messages from new people, and it’s wonderful and it’s quite overwhelming at times, that people are jumping on board as much as they are, but like I said, we’re so grateful, and can’t thank everyone enough for all the kind comments and things they have to say about it. 

Well, you guys are a really talented band, so I’m not surprised.

Thank you so much, that means a lot.

Of course! So, did you already have some tracks in the works – you were already in the middle of working on White Noise when this whole pandemic lockdown situation happened, right?

Yeah, we were almost done. We started recording the last track in February, and we went into lockdown here at the end of March, and by that time, we had it all done except for some vocals, so we did actually have to make a makeshift vocal booth at home, and just kind of smash out the last vocals then get them sent to our engineer, Todd Campbell, who did a great job of seamlessly fitting them into the tracks. So we were lucky we were able to find a microphone we kind of had laying around, and get them out.

You know what, you do whatever you can do, especially in these times. 

Exactly. Yeah, we can’t wait indefinitely for the sake of a couple of vocals right now, we’re getting this done, we’re doing it. *laughs*

Exactly, so I mean, aside from the whole lockdown situation, White Noise is self-released, you guys did it as an independent band, so I’m curious what that process was like – the recording, the writing, doing it all on your own?

I mean, we wrote the songs over a couple of years, the last song was recorded in February and we didn’t even finish the lyrics until about five minutes before we went into the studio. But the songs were essentially finished before we went in, and then we recorded them track-by-track, and we were all involved in every process in the writing and recording, being there with each other, encouraging each other, and coming up with new things when we’re there recording. But yeah, being independent, self-released, we like doing everything, we’re quite a self-sufficient band, and we love doing all these things ourselves, even down to sending the emails and all the admin that comes with it. We love it, we love every part of being in a band and we’re a very close band, we all get along, which definitely helps. 

Definitely, you need that. 

Yeah, when you spend 10-15 hours in a van together sometimes, you’ve got to get along, haven’t you?

So the band formed around 2016-17, but you were actually not with the original lineup, Jess, you came in a little after that?

Yeah, I’ve only been in the band for a little over a year now. 

Häxan as a band had the EP Breaking Down The Walls, but White Noise would actually be your first time recording with the band. But you were playing live gigs, so from live to studio, do you feel like you, with the band, have kind of grown in terms of your music and your connection with one another?

To some degree, I think. We were really lucky in that when they asked me to join the band, our first gig together, Harriet and I had never played together, it was very last minute that I was asked to play the gig, and we jumped onstage and took the gig, it was just something special, we all just kind of clicked musically and it just kind of worked. So I think we always had a natural thing together when it comes to playing. But definitely, with the album, writing together and being in studio for the first time, really listening to what each other’s doing, definitely helped us come together more as a band, and click even more. We are a three-piece, so as a drummer, I think it’s really important to click with the bass. Being in a three-piece, there’s nowhere to hide, you know what I mean? Everything you’re doing is very much on display for everyone. So we’ve definitely grown more as a band through the album process. 

I understand what you’re saying, that’s part of that whole “Power Trio” kind of concept is that you don’t have dual guitars, or any extra stuff going on, each of the three of you stands out on your own there. 

If one thing’s off, it’s much easier to notice. You haven’t got another guitar to hide it, for sure *laughs*. 

But you guys seem to do pretty well with that though, like you said, you had a good connection right from the start, and it comes through – in the album, in the music videos, anything I’ve seen of live footage…

Sure, we’re very lucky that we do have that, it doesn’t happen very often, and we’re very grateful for it and we thrive on it. We love recording, but I wouldn’t say we’re a studio band, the atmosphere and the energy of live where we kind of thrive off each other, which also helps the connection and the click to grow and progress and become even more solid. 

That’s so important. And about the music videos, you guys had the video for the track “Nine Lives”, that’s the one we’ve all seen most recently, and I heard that that one has a bit of story behind it – you guys actually had some trouble with the law when it came to getting your music video together, that’s pretty rock ’n’ roll to me. *laughs*

*laughs* Yeah, that was an interesting day. We spent hours running in and out of a warehouse, because we had to park a distance away, and we had three vans’ worth of stuff. We’re all quite small, we’re not the tallest or biggest of people, we’re hauling heavy gear, working for about five or six hours carrying stuff, setting everything up. And the second we go to hit record, literally the second, three policemen turned up and were like, “You’re not having an illegal rave”. And we’re like, “We’re not, you’re correct. That’s not what we’re doing”. But because of the lockdown and whatever, they weren’t very happy with us being there, even though we weren’t being loud because obviously it’s a music video, so it’s essentially miming. We were definitely not having an illegal rave, like some members of the public had reported that we were doing, because they saw us carrying all the equipment. By this point, it was about 7 o’clock in the evening, and we spent another two hours or so trying to convince authorities above them to let us do it, let us film. And eventually they gave us a forty-five minute window to film the whole music video. So we had to quickly smash out as much as we could, and luckily, we were all very happy with the end product. But it could’ve gone the other way, and we would have been absolutely devastated. So I’m very proud of the end product. 

Oh man, yeah, I can’t even imagine if you had to just go home and abandon the whole thing after all that.

That was the thing, we had spent so much time on it, we were tired already just from carrying everything. If we had gone out just to immediately take this down, and spend the next few hours packing it in the cars, and then figured out what we were going to do next…you know what I mean? We had spent a few weeks planning it, finding the location and getting all of the things that we needed for it. I wouldn’t have minded if when we got there, they said no, but it was the fact that we literally set everything up and it was the second we were going to hit record *laughs*. But luckily, everything was fine. 

Yeah, it eventually went well, cool results, and you have a story to go along with it on top of that.

Exactly, it’s all memories, right?

Exactly, good little rock ’n’ roll experience there.

*laughs*

So going back a little further, to the first single, “Skeletons”, talk to me about the making of the music video for that one?

That was a really fun day, Harriet came up with this idea, she was like, I kind of like this idea of just nicely dressed people dancing with skeletons, they’re all dancing together and then they suddenly turn into skeletons. And me and Sam were like, that’s great, let’s do it. So she told us this idea, and about a week later, we were like, let’s meet at this church, and we managed to get some people, at least three or four in steampunk attire to be our extras. So yeah, we filmed that, actually, on a Tuesday and we released the video on Saturday, so we like very quick turnarounds. *laughs* It’s kind of what we do, apparently. But yeah, that was a lot of fun, and we were in this really cool church, kind of Gothic-looking, exactly what we wanted. So it was Harriet’s good idea that we made happen.

That’s awesome. I want to also ask you a little more about your pre-Häxan days, Jess, and your background as a musician, what you did before you joined the band?

I mean, I’ve been playing drums since I was about twelve, I think, and the whole reason I actually even started playing was, when I was probably about eleven or twelve, my dad said to me, “You remind me of Animal from the Muppets, you should play drums”. And that was genuinely the reason I started playing drums, but I didn’t really get into it until I got into Aerosmith, and all of a sudden, I was like, “This is what I really want to do”. So I played in lots of bands in my teens, and I did music in college for a bit, and then I was in a couple bands in my early 20’s, but it wasn’t until I met the Häxan girls that it was kind of…I mean, it was always something I really wanted to do, but I was like this is the one now, finally. I finally found where I belong. 

Oh, that’s awesome! It kind of just clicked for you with that. 

Yeah, sure, like I said I’ve always played in bands for the last fourteen, fifteen years, and we always had a great time, it’s always been great. But Häxan’s definitely the one where, like you say, it just clicked for me. 

So, these days, you mentioned Aerosmith being a big influence for you, so is classic rock more of your vibe – the thing we would find on your playlist if we were to take a look?

Probably, it’s definitely got more of my heart, and like I said, the thing that got me into a lot of music, but I like a lot of modern bands. I’m really into Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, I think they’re amazing. And Halestorm, that goes without saying. I’ve got a big array of music, I think if you went in my Spotify, you’d probably be surprised at some of the things on there. But in my heart, definitely, it’s classic rock and Aerosmith. And I was very much into the 80’s scene, so like Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, and that sort of bands. And they still have a special place, but yeah, classic rock is my thing. 

And you know what, you can hear that kind of classic rock influence in Häxan as well, you guys are very modern and very original, but you can tell that you guys probably all had a special place in your heart for that classic music as well.

Sure. But, I think that’s the really interesting thing, we do bring quite different influences. Like Harriet, for instance, she’s more into the heavier side of it, like Slayer and Metallica and Megadeth, those sorts of bands. Sam’s definitely more rooted in classic rock, she loves Led Zeppelin, Suzi Quatro, and those sorts. And I just have sort of an eclectic. But yeah, we never really, when it comes to writing songs, it’s not so much a case of, “Okay, well we all like this band or this song, let’s try and sound like that”, we kind of just play what feels good, what feels right, and I think we’re very much motivated by what each other’s doing. So if Harriet plays something cool on bass, or Sam’s got a cool vocal line, I try to complement that and play with it. That’s more what influences our writing, I guess, each other. 

That’s awesome. So I just want to close things off with, what can we expect from Häxan in the future?

Well, fingers crossed, we’ll get back to some kind of normal and we can gig to our hearts’ content, because we are missing it so much. So fingers crossed for next year, we can get to promoting this album as we should be, playing it live, and it will be mostly songs we’ve never even played on a stage. So it would be really nice to do that. So yeah, we’re just going to be playing this album as much as we possibly can and getting it out to as many people as we possibly can. 

Well, I look forward to hopefully seeing you guys on the road sometime – if not later this year, then hopefully sometime in 2021.

Yeah, fingers crossed, we would absolutely love that. Thank you so much for chatting with me, it’s been really great. 

Awesome, thank you so much, you’re awesome and you girls are rockin’ it out there! Good luck with everything.

Thanks so much, Chelsea, really appreciate it. 

Find White Noise and more on Häxan at: http://www.haxan.co.uk.