www.facebook.com/Htwentyseven
Sounds like: Rock
From: Wisconsin
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? Who thought of the name "H27" and is there any meaning behind it?
We all had different musical influences and experiences prior to coming together as a band. From gospel and R&B to Heavy Metal. It is one of the reasons H27 has such a unique sound.
H27’s origins start back in early 2008 when the guys in the original lineup were all working at a hospital in different departments. We became friends and eventually decided to get together to jam after discovering that we all played. It only took one practice to spawn original material. We decided to go in the direction of writing our own music. Our original bass player quit in 2010 and we (the writing core of the band) continued to write music. Fast forward to 2017, when Ken joined the band and solidified the lineup. We went into the studio and recorded our EP – “Verboten” and the album “The Road to Nowhere” and they were released in 2018. We feel that they document where we were at that time. We continued to hone our sound and grew as song writers and musicians after those releases. With current 2022 release “Dark Skies Filled with Lies”, we truly feel that you hear what H27’s sound has developed into.
When we decided that we need a name for our band, we all come up with ideas. We put a list together and ended up choosing H27. It was one of Schack’s suggestions. H27 was the room number for the post mortem suite at the hospital we were working at the time. It was part of Schack’s job responsibilities to move bodies in and out of H27. It had ring to him from hearing the room number over the radio. Also, we usually bumped into each other in the corridor where H27 was located.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
We hope that people with connect with it both musically and lyrically. That our music conveys a message to them or strikes an emotion. We do tackle some serious topics, but also have some just for fun type tunes. Most importantly we hope they enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoy creating and playing it.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
We have a unique sound. We strive to be ourselves and not to sound like other bands. H27 has a hard rock backbone flavored with other influences. It is guitar driven and contains relatable lyrics. Lyrically, we cover serious topics along with some more humorous lyrics. We have diversity within our sound and no one song sounds the same.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
That is a hard question. If this has no realistic limits, we would have to say Metallica, Godsmack and Shinedown. There so many bands that touring with would be a dream come true and having to choose just three doesn’t do justice to the other artists that we love and have influenced us.
5. How has Covid affected what you do?
Covid has effect H27 quite a bit. Between lockdowns and members contracting it, the machine that is H27 shut down way more than we would have liked. Live shows stopped. It definitely slowed down the release our new album. It just released on April 29, 2022. We originally planned on a 2021 release, but we believe the album is stronger because it took more time to make it.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Rock?
We believe Rock is alive and well. When it is broken down into sub-genres, it seems to water it down. Even though we prefer a heavier spectrum music, the rock genre as a whole seems to be strong. In spite of the fact that Rock is not the most popular genre presently, it is here to stay and is continually getting stronger.
7. What’s the current music scene like locally there in Wisconsin?
In our area it is great for cover bands, but less than desirable for original bands. It is not due to lack of talent and great original music. We have had the pleasure of seeing and playing with awesome local bands. It appeared that the original music scene was gaining more traction prior to the 2020 covid outbreak and hopefully now it will continue to grow.
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
Although we believe the most important thing is to get the music out there for people to hear, it is a shame that artists are paid only fractions of pennies in royalties from streaming services. The only way to truly make money is with merch and touring.
9. What's next for H27?
We plan to start playing out to support our new album. We also plan on reaching out to grow our fanbase via the internet. We plan making videos for music from the new album. We also started hinting to ourselves about making another album, but that will be a bit further down the road.
10. Any shoutouts?
Obviously, we would like to thank our families. Huge shoutout to our producer/engineer Ryan Kutz. Eric Labrosse – owner of Cherry Pit Studios. Joel Wanasek, who mastered all our releases. Bob & Liz from Dream River Photography.
