Amongst the
constant barrage of arty London, flash in the pan style bands, stand HMLTD.
Perhaps it is the extremely polarising nature of HMLTD that makes them seem so
genuine. A London based six piece channelling the spirit of a rabid and
deranged Adam Ant crossed with the feral attitude of Johnny Rotten. Despite
only being together for a year the band have caused quite a buzz all over the
country. Refusing to compromise on any small point of artistic integrity has
caused the bands live shows to become quite an infamous event. The band also
still remain shrouded in mystery, only four songs are available online with
each song seeming to breakout of the boundaries of musical genre, ranging from
glam to post punk to dubstep.
The band’s
first singles (‘Stained’ and ‘Is This What You Wanted?’) were released
simultaneously and couldn’t sound more different but at the same time still fit
the band’s zany and eccentric style. HMLTD are more than a band, they prefer to
think of themselves as an art project similar to the ideologies of a young
Velvet Underground and you can see what they mean, they’re music videos are
quite a spectacle. The music video to ‘Stained’ is quite a gory traumatising
experience of blood, guts and general strange things going on and the video for
the new single ‘To the Door’, features some strange neo cowboy epic with a lot
of blood and ghosts.
The future
looks bright for HMLTD, boasting appearances this summer at Live at Leeds, End
of The Road and The Great Escape festivals. It truly looks like they’re a band
that are managing to surface within the bland, boring and unoriginal music that
a lot of London bands seem to be churning out recently. With bands like Fat
White Family, Savages and Girl Band bringing back the spirit of punk over the
last few years, it looks like HMLTD might be the band to change the norm and
throw a huge splash of red paint on the UK music scene.
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