HEADLINES

V-HAJD “Good Luck in Hell”

October 01, 2019
"Good Luck in Hell" - The new single of V-HAJD, the band of ex-guitarist Harry Wilkens of German Speed Metal institution Destruction. A first taste of their full-length album, released in late 2019. 

Teutonic swing metal? Make your own drawers? Why not! Groovy monsters in mid-tempo are the specialty of V-HAJD from the tri-border region of Germany, France and Switzerland. Boundlessness is written on the flag of the 5 band members around the former Destruction guitarist Harry Wilkens and they start right from the beginning with surprising independence. Their new single "Good Luck in Hell" drags forward with neat riffs and playful melodies as well as deft tempo changes and a modern, driving drumbeat - but still lands somewhere between Judas Priest and Vicious Rumours, so its base is in the classical Heavy Metal. Which is underlined by the expressive singer Derek Rock, who skilfully stages his vocals. Very professional, dry, but not too sterile produced - you can really  be curious, what is still stuck in the quiver for the upcoming full- length output.  


All the band members have an experienced background in earlier Bands (Destruction, Violent Changes, Menace, Eyehatefish, Frantic on March). Music to them is a way of expressing themselves and new topics of their everyday life have a big influence in their lyrics and concept. From the beginning, is taken care to satisfy their own musical needs and to develop and implement stand-alone songs with hit character. The guitarists’ different way of harmonic playing is a characteristic trademark of V-HAJD. Bass and drums take over the rhythm section in a classical manner. Lyrically the band takes a critical reference to the everyday human madness and deals with the struggle for individuality and authenticity against foreign domination and oppression. 


The name of the band, V-HAJD, is crooked in the mouth before recognizing the wordplay with the members' initial letters and  the English word "we hate". The international troupe from south- western Europe is collecting songs for their new album.  Boundless, that's the motto. The band wants to cover musical broadest possible spectra, they allow themselves some trips in the songs and give them a certain groove - yet you end up in classic Heavy Metal. Intention or simply as the lowest common denominator? "Our roots are clearly in classic heavy metal," notes bass player Alex Scherz, but adds, "However, we put great emphasis on artistic independence and freedom." Some of our songs have a clear swing and jazz influence, genres that we love to hear.", says Alex. "We try to remove the blinders as much as possible and are happy to think outside the box. Perhaps that is also because we come from the tri-border region of Germany, France, Switzerland. It is not uncommon for us to travel in one day in all three countries without worrying about it. That is why we also characterize our music as "Borderless Metal" - for us these limits do not exist. We all have our musical home, but there is no reason for us not to leave home and go on trips to other stylistic realms. Ultimately, it's about looking in the mirror and coming to the realization that with V-HAJD we are making exactly the music that we all like.", bassist Alex sums up the essence of the band. 

V-HAJD do the do-it-yourself thing, like self-publishing, promotion and carrying the amps in the rusty transporter at the weekend, and all that. "We have a few years of experience and love our freedom, so we sit rather in the rusty transporter than in the golden cage, if something is not completely right for us, we prefer to let it be before we bend, and this freedom allows us to take responsibility for what we do and in the end we organize everything ourselves; from recordings to the booking to the promo. Of course, not everything is always going well and according to plan, but if we make mistakes, we can learn from it and do not have to fret about others who have taken us a lot of money, without doing anything for us." 


Asked for more extensive plans, he answers with pinpoint accuracy: "We continue to work on developing our own style with varied songs, playing passionate shows and having as much fun as possible with our fans." Alex laughs, looks into the Sun and drink his Guinness. Satisfaction can be that easy.
Though the band was featured in recently released Lifoti's September 2019 issue 09, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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