interview with Hot Hell RooM
What´s the name of your band? Hot Hell RooM
How was the band formed? Alan (Bass): The band was founded in September 2003 in Paris.
Can you tell about your band?
Ludovic (Drums) : Hot Hell RooM is a french rock band. The band was found in 2003 by
Alan (Bass), Loic (Vocals & Guitars) and Stone (the first drummer) .
Alan : Ludovic arrived early 2010, Initially, the group was a trio until the arrival of ShazyBob (Guitar) in September 2012 and Sébastien Lucionni (second Guitar) integrated the band in November 2013. The trio became a quintet.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?
Ludovic : We all live in France near Paris.
Hot Hell RooM is : Loic Malassagne (vocals), Alan Raoul (bass guitar), ShazyBob and Sébastien Luccioni (guitars) and Ludovic Rouix (drums)
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? Alan : To write good music, record albums, make concerts and have a good time trying to share our music with our public. Like many rock bands!
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Alan : It's always difficult to describe our music when you are involved, but I think it is a mix of rock (any style) and metal, we like to define our music as heavy rock with lots of melodies...
Where was your first gig?
Alan: With our new line up in 2013, it was at the Covent Garden (Near Paris).
Ludovic : Yeah, first gigs together ! also great, a very good rock concert !
Where was the latest gig?
Ludovic : It was at Montreuil on a festival in France, good time !
Alan : Yes, at the Music Guest Festival, a great time with very good bands!
Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? Alan : At the beginning (before 2010), it was only Loic and me who wrote music. Now everybody writes and brings these ideas. Loic always wrote the lyrics.
Who has the best since of humor in the band?
Ludovic : Me of course !
Alan : We’re all a little crazy in this band and we like to laugh!
What's good/bad with the band?
Alan : What's good is the good times with all the guys of the band creating music.
The bad stuff : All the good times are too short !
Why did you pick that particular style? Alan : Our style was created naturally, after playing in different styles of Heavy Metal music with other bands in the past , I wanted (I speak for myself) to return to music near the roots of bands I loved in my youth years.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Alan : Our own material ! Maybe we’ll record some covers later, but this is not what we prefer to do.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?
Alan : Yes, we recorded several albums ...
Lies Box (Ep Demo 3 Tracks ) – 2005, Hot Hell Room (Album demo) -2009, Kali Yuga Bonfire (Official First album) (2013).
We will record a new album early 2015.
Do you have any clips on YouTube?
Ludovic : Yeah ! You can see on our You tube official channel at :
https://www.youtube.com/user/HotHellRooM/videos
There are clips, live and others videos of the band !
At what age did you start playing?
Alan : I started making music at the age of 14 with a tennis racket like guitar (laugh). I started seriously playing music around the age of 19-20 years.
Ludovic : I was 6 years old ! My parents wanted I play an instrument, they wanted piano but I decided to play drums! And I have the last word !
How old were you guys when you first stood on stage?
Alan : I was 20 with my first band, I have forgotten the name (laugh) and only had three months of bass of practice, a disaster... (Laugh).
Ludovic : It was in 1996 ! With my first band too called Total Agony, we played Metallica, Megadeth songs and our first own song !
What year was the band started? Alan : 2003, September exactly, but Loic and I play together since 1998.
Best/worst gig you've played?
Ludovic : I think for me, the best gig was at Alforville ! Actually no bad gigs for me, good times on all gigs played with Hot Hell RooM.
Alan : As Ludo, I would say the gig in Alfortville and the Music Guest Festival. I hope us to do more shows soon !
What places will you be playing in the imidate future? Ludovic : We’ll play in Eragny in France, at Coven Garden place.
Where have you played from then till now? Ludovic : We have played only in France actually, but we hope to play anywhere in France and start playing in Europe ! And in my dreams outside of Europe ! ANYWHERE !
Alan : This is my dream too, Playing anywhere in Europe, and USA (one day , this is a kid’s dream !)
Is it always the same songs live?
Alan : There are songs we play regularly live like : Humanity Will Never Change, World Of Kali, At The Junkies Bedside and other songs….But we always vary the set list with old titles or new titles not yet recorded for the moment.
Ludovic : I think it is very cool to change the set list with one or more songs ! We have always motivation to play all our songs !
Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? Alan : We study all opportunities to tour, by the way we are looking for an gigs’organiser.
What are the plans for the rest of the year? Ludovic : We are recording our second album ! It will release in 2015 ! And perhaps play a lot of concerts !
Where do you usually play? Alan : For the time we played in clubs and concert halls in our area. We would play anywhere, even outside our borders.
How do you get psyched up for a gig?
Ludovic : I’m on fire ! So excited, many energy so I want to play !
Alan :I can't stand still before going on stage. I'm so exited to play !!!
What are your goals with your music? Alan : The same as when started the band : writing good music, recording albums, performing concerts and having a good time when we share our music with our public. And find a distribution or a label to release our records.
When did you decide to go all in for the music? Alan : For my part, I know I want to make music since I was 15 years old. Music is a passion !
What are your sources of inspiration? Alan: Many things inspire us: what surrounds us, and we use our imagination and creativity.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? Alan : This is a difficult question. For my part, I am passionate about music and I like to buy albums. But things are not the same since 20 years. Downloading has a good side to discover groups easily. The problem is that the new discs are expensive, and people prefer downloading the albums. I do not judge,it is a fact.
What would be your dreams for the band?
Ludovic : It would be wicked to make a big tour anywhere ! Play many many concerts and albums !
Alan : Yes ! Many many concerts and albums... Having a good time playing our music.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to?
Ludovic : All the band listen to different genres and bands, I listen to rock, metal, progressive music, pop, jazz, blues, many genres and bands. Love: Queen, Pain Of Salvation, Mötley Crue and Steel panthers, Cactus for example…
Alan : I like and I listen to a lot of different style of music like : rock, metal, pop, blues, jazz, classical music, progressive rock, world music and many other stuff ! For example : The Beatles , King’s X, Black Sabbath, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Tears For Fears, Pantera, Paco de Lucia, Thin Lizzy, Marillion, Tool... And many many more other stuffs, the list would be too long !!!
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Alan : A bad sound engineer (laughs !)
Have you been part of any other projects?
Ludovic : Actually, I have my own project Voices Of Lies (Metal Prog).
Alan : We almost all parallel projects, Loic (Invading Chapel "Gothic Rock"), Seb (Onirik Illusion "Gothic Métal") . I have one or two side project , but my main goal is Hot Hell RooM for the moment.
Have you been in any other bands?
Ludovic : Oh yes ! Many projects ! Anthemon, Evolvent recently!
Alan : Yes, I have been in lots of bands in the past : Coldown, 7th Nemesis, Evolvent (With Ludovic) and I recently played with Invading Chapel (the side project of Loic our singer ) on several concerts.
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Alan: We all work to pay the bills.
How often do you rehearse? Alan: Once a week together .
Where do you rehearse? Alan: In a studio near Paris and sometimes unplugged in my house…
Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Alan: Hard question, I think "Humanity will never change" and "Undergo" but it changes all the time (laugh) i like each one.
What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Alan : Music is a passion above all !
Do you have any webpages?
Ludovic: Yes these are the links :
http://hothellroom.host22.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/HotHellRooM/videos
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hot-Hell-RooM/202249509831550?ref=bookmarks
Describe your show, visually and musically Alan: Not easy to explain, you have to see us live to know ! (Laugh)
What advice would you like to give other bands? Alan: I have read an interview a few years ago of Michael Shenker telling that good music was the one coming from the heart. This has marked me at this time. You have to stay passionate and keep faith !
What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Alan: Be closer to the public, but often the stages are too small ! (Laugh)
How would you describe your sound in one sentence Alan: Heavy Rock' n Roll and Melodic !
What is your favorite crappy instrument? Alan : All instruments are beautiful, It depends the way we play it!
Whats your Pre-show ritual? Alan: For my part, I warm up my hands to be ready for going on stage. Sometimes i like drinking one beer before the show. It's different for each member in the group...
Do you have anything to add?
Alan : No, just thank you for your attention!
Ludovic : Thank you, can you see on gigs ! Perhaps!
