Getting to Know… Heathen Hearts | Interview 🎤

In the 304^th Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from Finnish metallic hardcore band, Heathen Hearts.  

“Our music is driven by authentic fury and aggression yet haas melodies in between.” Awesome, 🎙 Heathen Hearts! In response to our first question, the band from band Kotka, Finland expounds, “Song structures and arrangements are rather simple but very ‘in your face’ kind of way, and that is what we are aiming for both, on records and in live shows.” Heathen Hearts is comprised of 🎙 Antti (vocals), 🎙 Jere Orre (guitars /backing vocals), 🎙 Lauri (guitars /backing vocals), 🎙 Juhana (bass), and 🎙 Ville (drums). Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on the Finnish collective: their genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. Orre answers our burning questions. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Heathen Hearts: Interview No. 304!

For those who may not be familiar with Heathen Hearts, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 Hi, and thanks for having us. Heathen Hearts is a metallic hardcore band from Kotka, Finland. Our music is driven by authentic fury and aggression yet has melodies in between. We’re not necessarily creating something new for metal or hardcore, but all the songs are written in a genuine way that makes us excited. Song structures and arrangements are rather simple but very “in your face” kind of way, and that is what we are aiming for both, on records and in live shows. After one EP and a couple of live shows, so far, the feedback has exceeded our expectations and we are not going to stop anytime soon.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Heathen Hearts form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

🎤 Heathen Hearts was formed in the fall of 2021, so we’ve been playing only one year together. The backstory is that we were supposed to play a Turbonegro cover gig with this line-up back in 2020 but obviously because of COVID that didn’t happen. After some time had passed it was our drummer, Ville, who suggested that we could start playing some kind of mixture of metal and hardcore, and here we are one year later.  In the very beginning, when we were only a WhatsApp group, I think there were no specific goals or visions but as soon as we started to write and rehearse together, everybody got so excited about what we were creating and pretty soon came to a mutual agreement that we will push this band with a full force in as professional manner as possible.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 We all have played in different lineups since our teens, and everybody has had their ups and downs in music which gave us a pretty good overall picture on how we wanna push this band. Of course, the goals in the bigger picture would be releasing (good) music and touring constantly and finding the right partners to help us achieve that. We did things well with the first release, but also learned a lot regarding budgeting, setting up the schedules and how to promote. We will be more ready with everything on the next release, which in my opinion will wipe the floor with the first one.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 Well my interest in music started with Michael Jackson in the 90s when I was a kid, and my interest in playing guitar started with Iron Maiden, both of which I still listen to to this day. I don’t necessarily see any band or artist affecting or influencing directly how I write music, and nowadays I listen to everything from radio pop to hardcore punk to black metal, but maybe the bands that blend metal into hardcore like Terror, Obey the brave, Comeback kid, The Ghost inside, for example, are quite influential, each in their own way.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 We’ve had only a couple of shows behind us and a few more coming up this fall so not many stories to tell yet. Hopefully, we can get back to this in a bit!

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤  For a recorded song it would be 🎵 “Ichor”, the opening track from our first EP. “Ichor” had the first few riffs I wrote for this band, the first music video I have ever made in my life, and the opening track of our first release. We got so excited about that song when writing and arranging so there are quite enough reasons why it has a special place in my heart. But my ultimate favorites at the moment are songs for the next EP which we are already playing live, the first- and the last song on our setlist.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

🎤 Not very interesting though but I can have surprisingly strong feelings from music. Whether it is goosebumps or exceptional feelings of joy and happiness to sometimes even shedding a couple of tears.

Closing out, what is Heathen Hearts currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 We are constantly writing new material, we have enough songs for preproduction and then choose the best for the next EP to start the actual recording this fall / early winter. Also, a full-length album is in the plans later on, and we are currently booking and planning a few mini tours across Finland for next year to promote the next release. Hopefully, we can also do a few shows outside of Finland soon.

Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.

🎤 Thank you very much, this was a pleasure!

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Getting to Know… Heathen Hearts: Interview No. 304 [📷: Brent Faulkner, Darkmoon_Art, Heathen Hearts, Lauri Sillanpää, luis2500gx, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, OpenClipart-Vectors]