Here Lies the Hero
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Here Lies the Hero

Houston, Texas, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | SELF

Houston, Texas, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 2010
Band Rock Post-metal

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"Here Lies The Hero TALKS TO Nataliezworld"

Since late 2010, Here Lies the Hero has become a single cohesive force driven towards their aspirations. The band has teamed up with friends in the industry such as Ex-In Fear and Faith Guitarist and Revolt Music MGMT owner, Davey Owens, as well as, Producers Bryan David and Joel Casey Jones to reach these goals. Currently, Here Lies the Hero have dedicated their time to songwriting and performance, playing shows in familiar areas of the southern United States. The band just recently relocated to Los Angeles, California and have confidently rebuilt themselves into something new. With a new powerful line up the band plans to be performing in no time. Bassist James Tuppen and guitarist Jaxon Moore talk about their debut EP and future plans.



1. Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Here Lies The Hero, and how long the band has been together.

My name is James and I play bass/scream in the band. The band has been together for about 4 years. Three including me.

2. Can I get a backstory on the band/ band biography?

The band including me came together after the previous drummer found me in music school at Midland College in Midland, Texas. I hadn't been in a band for three years since my last one in Singapore, South-east Asia. I wanted in right away when I heard their first EP, "Tide to Sky" and fell in love with the talent and direction of the band. I applied all my knowledge and experience to the band to try and build it with Jaxon and Chaney into what we all knew it could be. We started playing several local shows around Midland/Odessa, Texas and then all over Texas, and then the South-west. After catching the attention of our current endorsers, management, and other industry professionals, I think we felt that we had outgrown West Texas. We recorded "Carpathia" and felt the energy of the very music we poured our broken hearts into (personal difficulties that we faced simultaneously), which pushed us further and further into our careers. With all of that behind us, we felt that we owed it to ourselves to venture into the heart of the music scene in the United States. A ballsy move, but so far we feel it's perfectly justified.

3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?

The band is based out of Los Angeles now. We have yet to encounter our music scene, but we hear that there's a lot of "standing around" at shows. That's fine. As for local bands, we haven't come across any just yet!

4. How did you guys come up with your band name?

I believe it was a previous band member that had come up with it when the band started. I honestly have no idea. We believe in making a difference with our music, or saving a life. So, maybe it had something to do with that. The "hero" lies within the music, as Chaney puts it.

5. What bands have influenced your band and its sound?

There are a lot of bands that influence us individually that then influence the band's sound. Overall I'd say it's be Saosin, The Devil Wears Prada, My Chemical Romance, Underoath, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Periphery, Of Mice & Men, August Burns Red, etc. It's a massive mix.

6. Are you guys signed to a label or unsigned? Which way do you prefer your band to be? Do you hope to eventually get signed?

We're unsigned. I think if a band is smart, and have a reliable manager, that they can benefit from a label. When starting out, I think it's best to gain the experience on your own and learn from others' mistakes. If you have a good and honest manager that has been through the ropes to help council the band, it helps tremendously. Labels DO have a lot of marketing, networking, and distribution resources that independent bands don't have to back themselves, such as funding or pull in the industry. Towards the plateau of a great music career a band could perhaps stand on its feet after the contracts are up if they choose, but hey, building and maintaining good standing relationships are a must. In all honesty, I hope to be signed because I have the confidence in Here Lies the Hero to be something great in this industry.

7. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?

So far the band has really connected with the story of a metaphorical ship in a storm at sea. This nautical theme is a perfect way for us to tie in what we experience in our lives that fuel the emotion in our music. Really we'll just stay true to raw emotion and what we are experiencing at the time. This is an escape for us and we go through the exact same shit that everyone else does. We want people to know that. We want people to know that shit gets fucked up sometimes, but that there is always a way through it. There are always five guys that are just as fucked up as they are.

8. Who produced Carpathia and what was it like working wi - Nataliezworld


"Here Lies The Hero TALKS TO Nataliezworld"

Since late 2010, Here Lies the Hero has become a single cohesive force driven towards their aspirations. The band has teamed up with friends in the industry such as Ex-In Fear and Faith Guitarist and Revolt Music MGMT owner, Davey Owens, as well as, Producers Bryan David and Joel Casey Jones to reach these goals. Currently, Here Lies the Hero have dedicated their time to songwriting and performance, playing shows in familiar areas of the southern United States. The band just recently relocated to Los Angeles, California and have confidently rebuilt themselves into something new. With a new powerful line up the band plans to be performing in no time. Bassist James Tuppen and guitarist Jaxon Moore talk about their debut EP and future plans.



1. Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Here Lies The Hero, and how long the band has been together.

My name is James and I play bass/scream in the band. The band has been together for about 4 years. Three including me.

2. Can I get a backstory on the band/ band biography?

The band including me came together after the previous drummer found me in music school at Midland College in Midland, Texas. I hadn't been in a band for three years since my last one in Singapore, South-east Asia. I wanted in right away when I heard their first EP, "Tide to Sky" and fell in love with the talent and direction of the band. I applied all my knowledge and experience to the band to try and build it with Jaxon and Chaney into what we all knew it could be. We started playing several local shows around Midland/Odessa, Texas and then all over Texas, and then the South-west. After catching the attention of our current endorsers, management, and other industry professionals, I think we felt that we had outgrown West Texas. We recorded "Carpathia" and felt the energy of the very music we poured our broken hearts into (personal difficulties that we faced simultaneously), which pushed us further and further into our careers. With all of that behind us, we felt that we owed it to ourselves to venture into the heart of the music scene in the United States. A ballsy move, but so far we feel it's perfectly justified.

3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?

The band is based out of Los Angeles now. We have yet to encounter our music scene, but we hear that there's a lot of "standing around" at shows. That's fine. As for local bands, we haven't come across any just yet!

4. How did you guys come up with your band name?

I believe it was a previous band member that had come up with it when the band started. I honestly have no idea. We believe in making a difference with our music, or saving a life. So, maybe it had something to do with that. The "hero" lies within the music, as Chaney puts it.

5. What bands have influenced your band and its sound?

There are a lot of bands that influence us individually that then influence the band's sound. Overall I'd say it's be Saosin, The Devil Wears Prada, My Chemical Romance, Underoath, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Periphery, Of Mice & Men, August Burns Red, etc. It's a massive mix.

6. Are you guys signed to a label or unsigned? Which way do you prefer your band to be? Do you hope to eventually get signed?

We're unsigned. I think if a band is smart, and have a reliable manager, that they can benefit from a label. When starting out, I think it's best to gain the experience on your own and learn from others' mistakes. If you have a good and honest manager that has been through the ropes to help council the band, it helps tremendously. Labels DO have a lot of marketing, networking, and distribution resources that independent bands don't have to back themselves, such as funding or pull in the industry. Towards the plateau of a great music career a band could perhaps stand on its feet after the contracts are up if they choose, but hey, building and maintaining good standing relationships are a must. In all honesty, I hope to be signed because I have the confidence in Here Lies the Hero to be something great in this industry.

7. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?

So far the band has really connected with the story of a metaphorical ship in a storm at sea. This nautical theme is a perfect way for us to tie in what we experience in our lives that fuel the emotion in our music. Really we'll just stay true to raw emotion and what we are experiencing at the time. This is an escape for us and we go through the exact same shit that everyone else does. We want people to know that. We want people to know that shit gets fucked up sometimes, but that there is always a way through it. There are always five guys that are just as fucked up as they are.

8. Who produced Carpathia and what was it like working wi - Nataliezworld


""Tide to Sky" Album Review."

Astute readers will recall that I recently featured Here Lies the Hero in my Battle of the Bands series. Conveniently enough, they’ve just released their debut EP, Tide to Sky. Even more conveniently, it’s a bad-ass exercise in how to write and execute a good post-hardcore release these days. Though not without its share of blemishes and inconsistencies, Tide to Sky is an Iron Chef-worthy taste of good things to come from the Texan quintet.

The first track “In Sickness & In Health” is standard post-hardcore fare, kicking off the EP with an energetic if not predictable start, but the slow-building bridge really shines. Vocalist Aaron Chaney introspects, underscored by a markedly Tool-influenced guitar line courtesy of Jaxon Moore, before the bridge absolutely blows up in a flourish of high-pitched vocals and noodly guitar— this time courtesy of Keaton Giacobbe. Though it’s rather noticeable here, the two complement each other nicely throughout the entirety of Tide to Sky.

The following tracks, “Sirens” and “Keys,” showcase the clean vocals of Chaney and Moore to a much greater degree. With delay-ridden guitars and rumbling bass in full force (though don’t ignore the nimble pedal work of drummer Dylan Koen), the chorus to “Sirens” is deviously catchy; it’s the kind of chorus that can carry a whole track by itself, but the groove section at the midway point of the song holds its own too. “Keys” opens up with some spotty vocal work and sketchy double-tracking, but the instrumentation is top notch, especially the guitar work, the warbling tremolo and the shrieking delay. And the single-line refrain, “I know there’s God in me; he lives in all of us,” is some brand of miraculous church-approved witchcraft, because I don’t think even the most religiously fervent session of Sunday School has gotten me to sing something like that so emphatically.

The final two tracks return to the punky post-hardcore of the first. Both pack a diverse punch, oscillating between thick riffage and atmosphere, straight-up metal and genre-bending antics, harsh and heart. “I’ll Forget Your Face If You’ll Forget Mine” is a real stand-out track, traversing a lot of musical territory in just over five minutes: guitar solos, throat-stripping and floor-punching heaviness, gang vocals—they even pull the trigger on a breakdown. It’s a real post-hardcore odyssey, and a fitting end to Tide to Sky.

Taking a step back and putting Tide to Sky in perspective, Here Lies the Hero aren’t breaking a lot of new ground, nor is their EP immaculately recorded; Cheney’s vocals could use some work, and some song sections feel a little stale. But they’re an unsigned band that have managed to put out an EP infinitely more listenable than the slurry of tired clichés that a lot of well-funded national bands have slopped onto my plate this year. If you want to hear an honest and entertaining take on post-hardcore, Here Lies the Hero won’t disappoint.

--Zach Roth

- Decoy Music (www.decoymusic.com)


""Tide to Sky" Album Review."

Astute readers will recall that I recently featured Here Lies the Hero in my Battle of the Bands series. Conveniently enough, they’ve just released their debut EP, Tide to Sky. Even more conveniently, it’s a bad-ass exercise in how to write and execute a good post-hardcore release these days. Though not without its share of blemishes and inconsistencies, Tide to Sky is an Iron Chef-worthy taste of good things to come from the Texan quintet.

The first track “In Sickness & In Health” is standard post-hardcore fare, kicking off the EP with an energetic if not predictable start, but the slow-building bridge really shines. Vocalist Aaron Chaney introspects, underscored by a markedly Tool-influenced guitar line courtesy of Jaxon Moore, before the bridge absolutely blows up in a flourish of high-pitched vocals and noodly guitar— this time courtesy of Keaton Giacobbe. Though it’s rather noticeable here, the two complement each other nicely throughout the entirety of Tide to Sky.

The following tracks, “Sirens” and “Keys,” showcase the clean vocals of Chaney and Moore to a much greater degree. With delay-ridden guitars and rumbling bass in full force (though don’t ignore the nimble pedal work of drummer Dylan Koen), the chorus to “Sirens” is deviously catchy; it’s the kind of chorus that can carry a whole track by itself, but the groove section at the midway point of the song holds its own too. “Keys” opens up with some spotty vocal work and sketchy double-tracking, but the instrumentation is top notch, especially the guitar work, the warbling tremolo and the shrieking delay. And the single-line refrain, “I know there’s God in me; he lives in all of us,” is some brand of miraculous church-approved witchcraft, because I don’t think even the most religiously fervent session of Sunday School has gotten me to sing something like that so emphatically.

The final two tracks return to the punky post-hardcore of the first. Both pack a diverse punch, oscillating between thick riffage and atmosphere, straight-up metal and genre-bending antics, harsh and heart. “I’ll Forget Your Face If You’ll Forget Mine” is a real stand-out track, traversing a lot of musical territory in just over five minutes: guitar solos, throat-stripping and floor-punching heaviness, gang vocals—they even pull the trigger on a breakdown. It’s a real post-hardcore odyssey, and a fitting end to Tide to Sky.

Taking a step back and putting Tide to Sky in perspective, Here Lies the Hero aren’t breaking a lot of new ground, nor is their EP immaculately recorded; Cheney’s vocals could use some work, and some song sections feel a little stale. But they’re an unsigned band that have managed to put out an EP infinitely more listenable than the slurry of tired clichés that a lot of well-funded national bands have slopped onto my plate this year. If you want to hear an honest and entertaining take on post-hardcore, Here Lies the Hero won’t disappoint.

--Zach Roth

- Decoy Music (www.decoymusic.com)


"This is not your average local band"

BY NATHANIEL MILLER
It was supposed to be just another show at The Pine Box in Midland.

“We were playing our last song, and we had an extended ending,” Aaron Chaney, 19, said, “It was where everything stops, and then goes back into it.”

Unfortunately, everything didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to. As Chaney was crouching lower to the stage, waiting for the moment where everything exploded, guitarist Keaton Giacobbe, 19, jumped up and swung his guitar behind him.

“I just threw it back,” Giacobbe said.

Before anyone knew what happened, Chaney had a deep gash in his forehead and was bleeding profusely on the stage. Despite the blood, Chaney didn’t want to be “that band,” and the group finished the set. It took nine stitches later that night at the emergency room to patch him up, and he is left with a Harry Potteresque scar.

“We earned so much respect that night,” Giacobbe said.

Chaney and Giacobbe, along with guitarist Jaxon Moore, 17, bassist Dustin Cernoch, 18, and drummer Dylan Koen, 19, form the Odessa band ‘Here Lies the Hero,’ a Post-Hardcore group who’s music is fast, loud and unapologetic.

“We love playing our music,” Moore said. “We want to reach out and impact in a positive way and get noticed.”

The band first came together when Moore and Chaney meet in the Permian high school choir. “I had just been in school for two weeks after moving from Madison, Ala., and asked anyone who looked like they where in a band if they were, and that’s how I met Jaxon.”

Their passion for music led them to a few jam sessions, which then led to playing with multiple people. Moore said a tryout would basically be bring someone up, jam a bit and then see if they work out.

After more lineup changes than a modern-era Guns N Roses, the boys finally found the right pieces to their band. Cernoch, who was also in the choir at the time, was approached by Chaney and asked if he would like to join the band.

“I waited about a year before I finally asked him,” Chaney said.

Drummer Koen was found at Mid-Cities Community Church. While playing guitar there, Chaney saw Koen auditioning for drums and immediately called Moore to talk about him. He used one word to describe what he saw: “sick.”

Giacobbe came to the group when Chaney was staying with a friend and met Giacobbe through connections. After hearing him play, he knew he would be a perfect fit.

The group has now been together for about 18 months and rehearsals take place in Moore’s attic, which he describes as a converted music studio. Like all musicians, each member brings a certain quality and influence to their instrument.

Moore learned to play guitar when he was 12 from his father’s guitarist. Moore’s father is the drummer for The Electric Gypsies, a West Texas band. Koen, at the urging of his brother, joined the drum line in high school when his brother was a drum major. Koen easily surpassed those who had been playing longer than him.

“I was getting better than most of the people older than me, and soon I joined the Jazz ensemble,” Koen said.

Chaney and Giacobble are both self-taught musicians. Chaney learned to train his voice through singing along with bands such as Taking Back Sunday and Linkin Park and picking out melodies on a guitar. Giacobbe got his first guitar on his 14th birthday and taught himself how to play, despite having no musical background.

As the band continues to practice, they have noticed a change in the music they produce. They describe their early stuff as fast and hard, but they’ve noticed their sound has taken a different turn as they’ve gotten more comfortable with each other. For example, Moore and Giacobbe have begun to use sweep picking while they play.

“We take our influences and use them differently,” Giacobbe said.

The band’s sound can be closely described as that of Saosin or Underoath, but one band member has an unusual source of inspiration when it comes to writing music.

“I like country,” Giacobbe said, “and death metal.”

“He’s the odd man out,” Chaney said.
- The Odessa American


Discography

Tide to Sky - EP
Singles: "Sirens"

Carpathia - EP
Singles: "Leviathan"

"Dream Killers" - Single

Adrift - EP

Infinite Light // Dark Divides - Debut Album

Photos

Bio

Here Lies the Hero, have begun 2018 strong after recording their debut album entitled, infinite light // dark divides at The Cottage with renowned producer, and guitarist of Saosin, Beau Burchell. "With this new album, we were finally able to realize the sound that we have been striving for from the beginning. I have never been so happy with the music that we’ve made as a band. I can’t wait for fans to see how it translates in our live performances! I think that’s where we really shine.” says Moore.

Here Lies the Hero have since begun playing shows all over. The band spent months recording a record they felt would do themselves justice. Pre-production started two years ago to hone in on, and sort, what would make the cut to bounce back and forth with Beau. It was a rigorous process that was continuously interrupted with touring the United States and sporadic shows up and down the west coast, as well. "We've done a lot as a band in the past year and a half," says Tuppen. “With encouragement and hard work from Beau, and a great management team with Ambiguous Music, there's no reason to not get out there and kill it."

Their new album, infinite light // dark divides, out 12/21.

Band Members