Attracting a fan base is a bonus
Henry Havoc
We catch up with Henry Havoc while he's working on his new song.
Streetlamp: Tell us about your background? Where do you come from, how did you get into music…
Henry Havoc: I come from an amazingly talented family with a mandolin and oboe playing father and my mother being an acclaimed French-horn and trumpet player, who also moonlighted as a backing vocalist for Maria Callas! Haha! No, my gran was a pretty good opera singer, and my mom taught herself to play piano, so there was always music and singing in the house. My dad had a collection of Neil Diamond and Bee Gees LP's (amongst some Eric Burdon and German Marching band music), which enchanted me over weekends when my dad would play the old LP's. Nothing compares to the warmth of Neil Diamond's voice streaming through the needle of a turntable!
S: To those who have yet to hear your music, how would you describe your sound?
H: At this stage I’d call my sound pop-rock. I'm still experimenting with sounds and musical influences. I doubt if I will ever settle to a specific sound or genre. I love all forms of music and tend to work a specific influence or style of music into each song, depending on the emotion I hope to create. Music, to me, is very emotional, so if you are able to give someone goose bumps or draw a tear by combining certain chords and melodies with specific instruments that stirs up the emotion – you’re doing something right!
S: Who are your main musical influences?
H: With the emphasis on “main”, I’d say Neil Diamond, The Bee Gees, Depeche Mode, U2, Def Leppard, Roxette, Queen and more recently, Nataniël. Except for Nataniël, these are the bands that I grew up with and that I still draw energy from when I’m feeling down. (Or up!) They are also my teachers when I’m out of new ideas for a new song, or when I’m struggling with a line that “just doesn’t sound right”. I’ve added Nataniël because of the musical genius he is. His music is very “full” and complete. The (mostly) acoustic sounds and instruments he uses in his productions create depth and bring dimension to his music. Adding to this his brilliant vocal ability (and that of his backing vocalists) – the sounds are perfectly blended to drive you to tears, let alone give you goose bumps!
S: Do you write your own songs ?
H: Songwriting is something my wife and I both enjoy tremendously. Between the two of us, we’re sitting on eight songs in various stages of completion. My wife creates the most beautiful imagery with words (Will We Be Here) whereas I seem to write more about my perception of things and my own life experiences (Stone Cold). The composing side usually takes place in my head during the early morning hours. I would walk around with lyrics in my mind for a day or two, and gradually a melody would form around it and finally fall into place three in the moring.
S: What is your music about? Is there an underlying message?
H: Not really planned, no. I do feel strongly about our society being too self absorbed and ignorant, though. I love passionate people, who do what they do because the love it so much! We’ve become so materialistic – everyone trying to fit into the little boxes society (and themselves) created for them. It must be so sad to get to the end of your life without having spent most of your time doing something that really made you happy – that created joy in your life! I guess these thoughts will pop up somewhere in my music!
S: How do you write music? Do the words come first or the music?
H: It never really happens in the same order. Sometimes I just become aware of a melody playing somewhere, and when I listen closely, I realize it’s in my head! Sometimes it sounds so familiar – as if I’ve known the song all my life! Do you get pills for that? But mostly, the lyrics and melodies are paired later, and not really as a planned unit.
S: If you could collaborate with any musical artist, who would it be?
H: Internationally, I’d love to do a collaboration with U2. I can see it in lights: “Henry Havoc & U2 – One Night Only” and It’ll be a night the world would never forget…! Locally, I’d love to do a show with Nataniël. Man – I’d have to do serious voice training before stepping on stage with him!
S: If you could perform anywhere in the world, where would it be?
H: The Albert. I think that a standing ovation in the Royal Albert Hall must be the ultimate natural high!
S: Where is your favourite place to play music (venue)?
H: I don’t have a favourite yet, because I haven’t really started performing my own songs publicly. My friends and I had a standing gig for more than a year at our family-owned coffee shop. The girls were really talented – and beautiful on top of that, so it didn’t take that much of me to just fill the silences with a couple of my favourite tunes! Oh, how I miss those days…
S: Do you play any cover songs when you perform? If so, which ones?
H: Refer to previous question. We did mostly covers of whatever fitted our style and sound, and what got the energy flowing. I loved doing some big band classics, like Kick In The Head (Dean Martin) and Elvis Presley’s Fever. To this day I honestly believe that Luanne will one day be able to enter heaven purely based on her performance of Sarah McLachlan’s Angel!
S: What do you do to pay the bills, or does your music earn you enough?
H: Haha! No, that’s a dream still in it’s infant stages of fulfillment – but it will come. At the moment we’re still involved in the family business, with a couple of projects of our own running on the side. We mostly build stuff. And we see to it that stuff gets built. "You mess with me, you mess with my family!" ;)
S: What's your outlook on the record industry today?
H: The record industry is in a “reset” mode at the moment. They have created an industry in which they (the big labels) reigned supreme. They controlled who was to become famous and who the next flavour of the month would be. The music fans had to consume whatever the labels dished up for them. The fans was snowed under with all the commercial crap that the labels conjured, and lost their love and respect for real music and real artists. They became bored with all the same old stuff they heard over and over and over again. Then came the Internet – and file sharing. Now they could share all the crap with each other, hoping to find a couple of good songs in between. That didn’t exactly help the struggling artists, to say the least. Then came some “artists” and took old hits and remade them – selling it to the youth of today as new songs – riding on the back of the old great artists, who came before them – who actually had the talent to write real songs. And somewhere along the line – the public decided to stop paying for music – to rather just steal it! Read my article about paying for music here.
S: What are the biggest obstacles for upcoming bands or artists?
H: That depends greatly on what it is the artist wants to achieve with his/her music. If it is to get signed with a label and become famous, it is one thing. His challenge then would be to be seen by as many people as possible, and to come up with a sound and image that would appeal to the masses. Mine is different. My challenge is to be true to myself and create my own style. Meredith Brooks calls it “finding your authentic voice”. It is a musical journey of self-discovery with your ultimate goal to become all you can be while remaining true to yourself and your own unique sound. If you attract a fan base consisting of people really enjoying what you’re doing – that’s a blessing and a bonus!
S: What inspires you?
H: Mostly anything, but it is usually events that stir up emotions that tend to trigger the creative juices to start flowing for me. Gee – I sound like such a girl!
S: What music do you listen to?
H: Mostly anything, really. Except for “angry” music, like death metal and other forms of distorted human frustration and anger that are channeled into noisy concoctions of musical chaos. These bands try so hard to look and act evil and angry that it becomes a freak show!
S: The best album you ever bought?
H: Had to be Paula Abdul’s “Shut Up and Dance” which I found available on CD on an American website. My tape version of the album was played until it would play no more, so I was extremely happy to find the album on the Internet! I waited 6 months for it to get here, as it was stolen twice by our friends at the Post Office!
S: "You'll know you've made it when..."
H: I have released my first album and more than a hundred people (I don’t personally know) actually pay money for it – and enjoy it!
S: "It'll be time to pack up the gear for good when..."
H: …I’m finally dead. And declared dead by a registered medical practitioner.
S: "I'll never forget the first time I..."
H: …finally committed myself to my dream of making music. Damn – it was such a victory to have finally convinced myself that it was indeed possible – even for me!
S: What are your plans for the future?
H: To create music – and lots of it. I love to work with different sounds and styles – experimenting as I go along. If anybody likes what I’m doing, and it brings joy to their lives – I’ll feel very blessed indeed.
S: Can you give us a good cocktail recipe?
H: Yup. You take two tots Kahlúa – chuck it in a glass. Now add milk and ice. Mmmm…
S: Is there any other info you would like to share with Streetlamp fans?
H: Please tell all your friends about the website! We’re doing our best to promote up-and-coming artists and we still have a lot up our sleeves! Watch this space!
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