Back in 2005 guitarist/bassist Vince van der Walt (South Africa) met vocalist Gideon
Kretschmer (UK) as they were both signed to Musketeer Records with their bands,
while drummer Wayne de Bruyn (South Africa) was actively performing in the same
scene as them which led to their connection. 15 years later in 2020 Vince and Wayne
were writing at the studio and looking for the perfect voice for their music, they
shared their music with Gideon, and HeadFury was born. Wasting no time, the trio
released their debut EP “A New World” in November 2020 receiving positive feedback,
airplay, and media coverage. They started writing their follow-up EP “Rebirth” in
2021, releasing 3 singles off it “Glimmer”, “LIARS” and “Hideaway feat. Nicola
Mcleod”. “Rebirth” was out on the 20th of May 2022 via HopePunk Records and it’s
simply a banger with lots of mixed sound and influences that I totally recommend you
check out but for now, let’s get to know HeadFury better.
• First of all, the chemistry between the three of you is obvious in your music,
what was the spark that made you decide to work together?
It all started back in early 2020 when Vince and Wayne (longtime friends and jamming
partners in South Africa) sent a demo for a new song (which would become “Phantom
Lover” from our debut) to Gideon, an old friend from the mid 2000’s South African
rock scene, who was living in Germany at the time (and already involved in a number
of other/solo projects). He loved the music and quickly wrote melodies and lyrics and
laid down a demo in his studio. This demo was the initial magic that told us we had
some real chemistry and needed to explore it further. Luckily Vince had already
written a bunch of other songs on guitar – so we started collaborating remotely via
WhatsApp, sharing ideas and writing and recording the songs that would become our
debut.
• While listening to “Rebirth” I noticed a huge mix of various genres from groove
to grunge, hard rock, heavy metal, and sometimes even nu-metal. Can you tell
us more about your main influences?
We’re 90’s and early 2000 rock kids so our influences draw strongly from this
golden era of rock and metal. Everything from early trash/metal (Slayer,
Metallica, Pantera) to the grunge kings (Alice in Chains, STP, Soundgarden,
Silverchair etc) to American hard-rock, nu-metal and emo of the 2000’s (Korn,
Deftones, Three days grace, Sevendust, Tool, Breaking Benjamin) through to more
modern influences (Architects, BMTH, Thrice, Sleep Token,Everytime I Die,
Karnivool etc). Too many influences to mention!
We’ve actually put together a Spotify Playlist (HeadFury Favs) which will give
you all our old and recent fav’s in one place, go check it out!
• You released your debut EP “A New World” in the middle of a world pandemic,
how did your writing and recording process go through these tough times? Did
the lockdown work in your favor?
Lockdown definitely helped as we had a bit more time to get creative, but we’ve
been living in different countries since we started so have always had a remote
collaboration model, which has worked quite well so far.
Songwriting usually starts with Vince laying down some riffs, then jamming it with
Wayne to shape further and record a rough music demo. This is then sent to
Gideon (now living in the UK) who writes the melodies and lyrics and records
vocals and other elements in his studio.
The actual final recording process is usually split between a few studios in South
Africa and the UK, notably The Laundry Room in SA (with legendary local engineer
Johan Heyns) and Gideon’s HopePunk Studios in the UK. Our mastering is usually
done by Kelsey Mastering in the UK (highly recommended!)
• Your collaboration with singer/songwriter Nicola Mcleod in “Hideaway” was an
amazing choice, what made you choose Nicola for this song? And how did the
whole creative process go from writing to recording “Hideaway” with her?
Yeah, Nicola really brought massively exciting new energy to the song and anyone who
has heard her amazing voice will agree she is a world-class talent set for really big
things.
We were fans of some of her recent solo releases (go check out “Changing” and
“Cinnamon Girl”) and had been thinking of doing a female vocal collab for some time.
So Vince took a chance and reached out to her – luckily she was immediately
interested. She’s also a big rock/ emo fan, and the song we had in mind had a real
early Paramore vibe to it, which is the perfect fit for her voice.
We wrote and demo’d the song first (with Gideon singing the female parts as guide),
sent it to her, shared some notes and ideas back and forth and when she was ready
she tracked her parts at The Laundry Room in a quick magical session. This one was
also fully mixed by our good friend Johan Heyns, and we think he did an absolutely
epic job bringing the song to life.
• How do you describe the sound of your new EP “Rebirth”? and what are the
main concepts behind its lyrics and music?
We would describe our new EP as a refreshing sonic feast of rampant riffs,
heavenly hooks, massive melodies and electric emotion that will please all your
audio urges It shows the evolution of our sound over the last 2 years and we
think it gives something for everyone. From our signature heavy and emo-driven
melodic rock/alternative metal in opener “Nameless”, “Liars” and title track
“Rebirth”, to slower-paced grungy hard rock in “Medicate”, all the way through to
catchy emo pop/rock anthems “Glimmer” and “Hideaway”.
Lyrically we try to deal with deeper topics and our personal experiences coping
with life – from depression, anxiety, death and loss of loved ones, love and
relationships, societal pressures and injustices. We always aim for it to be an
honest expression of personal emotion and thought, and hopefully the lyrics help
people connect and relate with the songs beyond just the music.
• With two Eps released so far, what’s the song that you would recommend for
someone who wants to get into your music?
If you like it heavy and hard – go give “PaleFace” or “Rebirth” a spin. If you like it
a bit softer and emotional – “Glimmer” or “Hideaway” is your jam.
• Do you have any touring plans to support the release of “Rebirth”?
We’ve been talking about this for a long time and really keen to get together for
some shows hopefully in the near future. Given that we live in different parts of
the world means our band is a bit like a “long-distance relationship” and
therefore stilly primarily a songwriting and recording collaboration. This means
we’re first focusing on creating a collection of really awesome tunes that
connects with people and organically builds some momentum and demand, which
will then hopefully lead to opportunities to come together for the right shows/
festivals – either in SA/ UK/ Europe.
But we’re super keen and ready, so hopefully in the next few months you can see
us on a stage somewhere.
• What are your future plans for HeadFury? Give us something exclusive.
Nothing too exclusive unfortunately – Our immediate plan is to promote our new
EP and get it to as many new ears as we can, while continuing to write and record
more cool tunes. And as mentioned, hopefully a few live shows are in the cards
for the future – if you book us we will come!
Thanks for your time guys, looking forward to more chats and awesome releases.
