Mark Tavender | Photography by Wayne Bordoli Photography
At last, HMRC are taking a stand against injustice. But it’s not what you think.
There’s a vibrant live music scene in North Shields and the surrounding area; we’re spoilt for choice. All types of genres are catered for whether it’s folk, electronica, or post-punk and once in a while a band comes along which stops you dead in your tracks.
I first saw HMRC supporting a favourite local band of mine, TV Death, at Zerox, Newcastle. I always try to make sure I get to a gig early to see all the support acts and HMRC are precisely the reason why. I had checked them out in advance, as I usually do, and their music hit the right spot. Not bad, I thought. And the name of the band was decidedly quirky.
But as soon as they came on stage to a lolloping, menacing bassline, I was hooked and have been ever since.
So when I was given a chance to chat to them about an article for this magazine I was never going to turn it down. I met with their lead singer and guitarist at the Engine Room in North Shields to discuss how they came about and what inspires them to write and make music.
HMRC are a four piece band from Newcastle, a refreshingly straightforward line up of Lloyd Holmes (lyricist and vocals), Arian Starfield (guitar), Joseph O’Neill (bass) and Duncan Arnold (drums). They formed as a band at the start of 2022 but all knew or knew of each other well before then.
Lloyd and Duncan have been friends since they were kids and always wanted to start a band but other than the occasional jam together at parties, things never really got off the ground. Arian and Joe also knew each other having worked together in a bar.
They all moved in the same circles and soon Lloyd and Arian became friends too, so much so that Lloyd ended up moving in with Arian. ‘It was a bit of an emergency situation,’ says Lloyd. ‘I had nowhere to stay.’ But it meant that Lloyd could pester Arian, a professional musician who moved to Newcastle from The Netherlands, to start a band with him and Duncan.
Lloyd had always written lyrics since he was a young teenager and starting a band had always been something he had wanted to do. Arian finally relented and the stars were gradually aligning. Arian managed to persuade Joe to join and in January 2022, the band came into being.
‘Once every couple of weeks we’d get together and have a jam,’ Arian recalls. ‘After a couple of productive sessions, we already had at least three original songs to play with.’ They decided fairly quickly that they would not do cover versions and soon their band identity was forming.
They all have different musical influences and backgrounds which provides them with a melting pot of musical inspiration that combines together well into their own distinct sound. No doubt some will be able to spot their favourite music genre influences but the fact is HMRC are difficult to pigeon-hole.
‘We’ve never made a creative decision based on what anyone else has done’ says Arian.
‘I find it a massive compliment that people struggle to describe our sound,’ adds Lloyd. ‘But it’s not a very marketable feature to have.’
Nevertheless, the band are not viewing what they’re doing as a money making commercial venture. They want to stick to their principles. This approach makes them feel more relaxed about things and they feel they don’t have to compromise what they are about and what message they want to get across.
I ask them about the band name.
‘I was reading about a band called Easy Life who were sued by Easy Jet and I could not understand why Easy Jet would take offence. So we went one better and named our band after a government department.’ explains Arian.
‘There’s nothing more punk than being sued by the government!’ beams Lloyd.
Their approach to launching the band was pretty unconventional too; they released an EP after only one gig with no marketing. ‘We just wanted people to know what we’re about and tell them ‘this is our mission statement,’ says Lloyd.
Arian points out that they are quickly forming their own identity and sound. ‘We’ve all brought maybe two or three of our own personal influences to the band and tried to balance them to form our own style.’
I comment that whilst their music is superb, it’s also their lyrics that stand out – and we’re not talking love songs. They are not afraid to address hard-to-discuss serious subjects such as immigration, wars, prisons and domestic violence. It might not be what everyone wants to hear in a song but music can act as an important voice in highlighting social issues that affect us all.
‘When I was starting this band, I thought there was a shocking lack of that,’ says Lloyd.
Their song ‘Boots On The Ground’ for example is a commentary on the Ukraine/Russia war and the West’s reaction or lack of reaction to it. ‘Port Clarence,’ on the other hand, is a tune about issues closer to home and the lyrics resonate right from the start;
‘The smog obstructs my breathing
My safety is suddenly in doubt
Tata all done leaving
There’s too much down and out’
I ask about how they write their songs. Does Lloyd write the lyrics and then hand them over to the rest of the band to put the music to them? ‘It’s not even that,’ says Lloyd. ‘The rest of the band will come up with something and I will be standing in the room and I’ll either start improvising on the spot or I’ll have a bank of poems which aren’t musically structured and it goes from there.’
‘The whole thing is built on compromise,’ adds Arian.
Performing their material live is another thing altogether. I tell them that when I first saw the band I was slightly intimidated by Lloyd’s high energy on stage. But Lloyd acknowledges that he does not necessarily find performing in front of an audience an easy thing to do. The band are learning quickly which of their tracks help them get into the zone in the right way to drive the rest of their performance. They think about their set-list very carefully, balancing the order of the songs with Lloyd’s delivery of the lyrics. They both acknowledge that Duncan (drums) and Joe (bass) are an integral part to this, providing the hooks on which to hang the rest of the song.
HMRC are refreshingly honest and are evolving into something that seems to have been missing from the music scene for some time. They are not concerned about performance pieces or packaging or writing love songs about failed relationships. Their music is intelligent and thought-provoking, fuelled by a collective frustration with the state of the world and drawing inspiration from the UK’s current social and political climate.
So, the next time you hear HMRC, forget about tax returns. Think of a band using music as a weapon, a megaphone to challenge the status quo and make us think. In a world that often feels overwhelming, HMRC offer a cathartic release, a chance to mosh and confront our anxieties with a healthy dose of rebellion and dark humour.
Check them out here;
http://www.youtube.com/@HMRC-theband
