INTERVIEW: Paul Waller – OHHMS

Since the release of 2017’s tarot inspired debut album The Fool, Kent based metal magicians OHHMS have gone from strength to strength, impressing critics and dazzling fans with their melting pot sound and captivating, energetic live performances. While most bands would take time to regroup and hammer out a follow up, the five piece have already written another full length record in next to no time. We decided to quiz frontman Paul Waller about all things new album, new band members and new tour plans.

It’s only been around a year since OHHMS released your last album, The Fool. A lot of acts would rest on their laurels a bit; what’s the story with Exist taking shape so soon after the last record?

Paul: It’s all my fault. I begged the guys to scrap the touring plans that we had and asked them to concentrate on writing three or four new songs in order for us to complete the album. We already had the 23 minute long Subjects in the bag which takes up the whole of side one. The rest came pretty quickly once we got going. I had bags full of lyrics all on this one subject that I had to get out. Sometimes you have a fire burning in you and that was my fire. I needed to get these words out as soon as possible. Luckily the guys had my back and knocked it out of the park with the music.

Exist seems to be focused on animal conservation/liberation and similar ideas – is this something OHHMS as a band are passionate about? 

Paul: It really is, yes. One of the best moments to come from this was just last week our new guitarist Stuart [Day] let me know that he has become a vegetarian. He said it felt wrong to go back to eating meat after playing these songs. What a legend! But yes, you are quite right, the album has a concept and that concept is hung squarely on the animal rights movement which has gained so much momentum in the last few years.

Would you say your sound on the new record is a natural progression from how OHHMS were sounding on The Fool, or are you actively trying to mix things up with Exist?

Paul: Completely, yeah. We have finally written a long song that I am utterly content with. It’s taken four years for us to get there which I thought may never happen and then I look at Subjects and Firearms as the two songs that really pinpoint where this band is headed. It’s got the best of what people know as OHHMS and then these other flavours creeping in which naturally just occurred in the practice room with the washes of art rock, a chunk of prog here and a slab of hardcore there. It’s a real melting pot.

It’s the first record with Stuart as part of the fold – what does he bring to the OHHMS collective as a musician and as a teammate?

Paul: When Daniel [Sargent] left, Stu simply fit in as a straight replacement. His playing is technically more proficient and he uses a different set up but what was odd was that Stu simply wanted to replicate what Dan did. We put a stop to that that straight away. He is an inventive, clever and tight player, why not use that? I honestly can’t wait to start writing songs based around his ideas.

You’re out on tour with BOSS KELOID in October – between you the two bands have released some of the more left-field British metal albums of the last few years. Was it a conscious choice to tour with them for that reason? How did the tour come about?

Paul: I simply asked our management team to reach out. I really enjoyed their new album, I love that they are trying to do something more out there than most things that get lumped with the stoner tag, in fact I’d like them to be even more out there, I listen to new music on a daily basis but that one stuck with me for an age. I’m pretty lucky I guess that I get to pick bands that can play with us. How cool is that?

Speaking of the tour, have you already got a set-list in mind? Will you be playing some new material from Exist? How have people been reacting to it live?

Paul: We have already started playing the new songs live. We pretty much decide on the day what the set list will be and we never play anything to please anyone but ourselves, so I reckon it’s probably safe to say you’d be getting 50/50 new and old on this upcoming tour. So far reactions have been a cross between fanatical positivity to utter bemusement. Opening a set with an unreleased 23 minute song may appear foolhardy to most but we think it’s pretty cool, we only get one chance to do this and we have to do it in a way where it satisfies us or else what’s the point? But I totally get why you might think we are completely up our own arses when you’re five drinks deep as a punter at a mid afternoon festival set and you just want to have fun and a dance. We ain’t that band.

You’re working on the release with Holy Roar Records again – do you feel that Holy Roar are OHHMS ‘Home’ label now? How did working with them on Exist get put into motion?

Paul: Holy Roar will always be OHHMS’ home label just like SST is BLACK FLAG’s and SUB POP is NIRVANA’s. And how did we get Exist on Holy Roar? Well, we recorded it on the quiet and when it was done we sent them a copy and they said it was the best thing that they thought we had done. We are very much on the same page.

Even in the diverse UK metal underground, on some bills OHHMS seem to be the ‘odd one out’ but in a good way. Do you ever feel like this is the case? 

Paul: To be honest I don’t know where we fit. We just keep writing music that turns us on and if promoters want to keep booking us then that’s awesome. If they didn’t then we would simply stop playing in the live setting. Now we have a fair size of any audience we play in front of at least having heard of us and it presents to us an interesting dynamic. I’m always surprised and humbled when people sing along. That’s proper cool and happens now no matter who we play with.

OHHMS are such a dynamic, energetic live band, do you find this a difficult thing to translate onto your recordings? Do you think you can ever fully capture that live energy on record? 

Paul: You know what, I’ve never thought of that. I guess we do approach both differently. I see playing live as a punk experience, it’s raw and based within a split second approach, we have to adapt at the drop of a hat. Yet in the studio I like to have things planned out and if not then I will experiment until I am fully satisfied. I wouldn’t want that to change but yeah, they are two separate things for us.

You’ve also been working on the Different Times podcast – can you tell us a bit more about what it’s about and how it came to be?

Paul: I have been a journalist all through OHHMS and before that as well, I just love music of all kinds, and love writing and talking about it. But as OHHMS gets more successful and takes up more of my time, it’s harder to find the time to put into journalism.

So when Dan left the band we still wanted to hang out so once a week he comes around to my place and we record our conversation. We usually look for a magazine each to chat about and then go at it for an hour or two. It means I get to stay in the journalism loop, hang out with my buddy and do OHHMS all at the same time.

I’m so fortunate to have all this going on and for it all to be relatively successful, the Different Times Podcast has really hit the ground running and even though I am a crappy podcaster and so unprofessional it’s almost comical, I am having the best time interviewing bands and chatting with Daniel each week.

The tour with BOSS KELOID aside, what’s on the horizon for OHHMS? Any more live shows in the pipeline? Are you already working on new music?

Paul: So much you wouldn’t believe it. Whenever a band has a release coming out if you haven’t got a full schedule then you are doing it wrong. We have massive plans a foot plus the usual shows and festivals and bits and bobs to think about. Today I just got the first draft back from our new video for Shambles. It’s beautiful, a gorgeous work of art. Bands have no money and always put together shitty videos, we really lucked out finding Craig Murray. The guy found the essence of the song and took it to a whole new level. I can’t wait for people to see it. It’s so good. It doesn’t look shitty at all. Imagine that.

Exist is out now via Holy Roar Records. OHHMS are featured in the latest digital issue of Distorted Sound. Grab a copy here. 

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