Helvis

There are two very different bands that have used "hell" and "Elvis" in their names -- one American, the other British. Based in Youngstown, OH, America's Hellvis is a Midwestern hard rock/heavy metal band with a very Southern-influenced sound and a fondness for redneck stereotypes. But England's Helvis -- the band profiled in this bio -- is a ferocious, skullcrushing alternative metal outfit with a strong punk influence. Both bands pronounce their names the same way, but they spell them differently; the U.K.'s Helvis uses only one l, while the USA's Hellvis uses two. And the American band is four years older; American Hellvis was formed in 1995, whereas British Helvis got together in Nottingham, England in 1999 and started circulating demo CDs in the early 2000s. In British alt metal circles, Helvis has earned a reputation for being harsh, unforgiving, and mercilessly heavy -- and that reputation is well-deserved. Helvis' nasty, totally in-your-face metal/punk assault incorporates a variety of influences, which range from <a href="spotify:artist:5M52tdBnJaKSvOpJGz8mfZ">Black Sabbath</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1DFr97A9HnbV3SKTJFu62M">Motörhead</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:5fwaejlOHVBAw1KhIPPaQe">Venom</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1IQ2e1buppatiN1bxUVkrk">Slayer</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3UqRgrDIQ208yNGiWKRMNt">Napalm Death</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6JW8wliOEwaDZ231ZY7cf4">Sepultura</a>. The Los Angeles punk band <a href="spotify:artist:5Mhs3Eu8lU6sRCtRYsmABV">Black Flag</a> is another influence on Helvis, who have had some lineup changes along the way. Early members of the band included lead singer Daz Rivett, lead singer Dorian Walters (who was Rivett's replacement), guitarist Matt Grundy, and drummer Chris Billam, all of whom left in either 1999 or 2000. When Helvis recorded Reverence the Sacrifice in 2001, the lineup consisted of Bloody Kev on lead vocals, Steve Watson on guitar, Chris Marygold on guitar and background vocals, Kevin Stapleton on bass, and Kevan Frost on drums. Helvis members', past and present, belonged to other British bands in their pre-Helvis days. Bloody Kev was with at least three bands before Helvis (Hard to Swallow, Dead Inside and 666 Dead), while Watson is an ex-member of <a href="spotify:artist:5Qfqa9FeOchAWt6kfuvZbY">Iron Monkey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7bXsAsoUGJlM4VVB9xOmn2">Consumed</a> as well as <a href="spotify:artist:4lnihhIhtpWLpirF5zWDXZ">Cerebral Fix</a>. Frost is also a former member of <a href="spotify:artist:4lnihhIhtpWLpirF5zWDXZ">Cerebral Fix</a>; the other bands on his resume include the <a href="spotify:artist:18YrNiGuaS0l5F9OfQocdy">Varukers</a> and Hard to Swallow. And Stapleton was with the band Lysis. In 2003, Watson left Helvis to form his own band, Goat Throne. Helvis' releases have included the EP Genocider (released on the Weird label), a self-released demo EP titled Six Minutes of Shame (which was recorded in 2000), and the 2001 demo Helvis for Her Pleasure. It was also in late 2001 that Helvis recorded their first full-length album, Reverence the Sacrifice, which came out on Loudspeaker Records in the U.K. in 2002 before being released on the Philadelphia-based Abstract Sounds label in the United States in 2003. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi