Battle-Tested: On Who Saves the Hero's ? New Single "HEARTBEAT" and the Journey It Took to Get Them There

Who Saves The Hero “HEARTBEAT” single art

The fate of one's band future can change within the blink of an eye. This " is true for many acts in the scene, who wish to have a career in the music industry. One minute one can have the perfect band, the next, one's left with a possible choice of having to pick up the pieces of starting over again. Even before the pandemic hit, it's often a tricky business to find committed band members who are dedicated, much less committed to making this a career-long decision for the rest of their lives. Weighing out these options is sometimes difficult, especially now more than ever. Pop-punk band, Who Saves The Hero? knows the reality of this story all too well, and have the battle scars to prove the journey in their latest single, "HEARTBEAT." 

Though this strays a bit off the beaten path from their last single "Days," it is a welcomed instrumental change. With beautiful denuded guitar strings that play effortlessly off of their signature high-octane pop-punk energies, this is the same Who Saves The Hero? we have all come to love, just with a different pop-punk attitude for the new year. UK band Who Saves The Hero? joins us to talk about "HEARTBEAT" and what their musical careers have been like since the beginning of their journey.   

How did Who Saves The Hero begin? What was the scene like when you were starting to put this all together? 

The band was originally formed in 2007 under the name Twice My Size. After a year of gigging and so many member changes, we decided the band was no longer sustainable under that name, so in 2014 we re-branded under the name Who Saves The Hero?.

Who Saves The Hero?

In the early days of the band the scene was thriving in the UK and our hometown, but as the years went by the scene started to disappear slowly. Nowadays I think the music industry is the best it’s been in a long time, most definitely the pop-punk scene. I think we have Travis Barker to thank for this with all the projects he working with at the moment. I think people are a lot more open-minded about music now and will give all genres a chance.    

What are your music influences? How did you integrate them into "HEARTBEAT?" 

I was very lucky to be introduced to pop-punk/ punk rock at a young age by my cousin who got me into bands such as The Offspring, NOFX, early Blink 182, and many more from there I when on to discover so many more band in the pop-punk/punk rock scene.

I also grew up with a lot of country music and country-rock. For example, The Eagles, which I love, I have my parents to thank for this. So with “HEARTBEAT”, I wanted to show both influences in this song.

My influences are Blink 182, Angels And Airwaves, Owl City, Transit, Jon Bellion, The Eagles, but I like so many artists and bands for different reasons that influence me. 

What was the writing and recording process like for this? I know when we last spoke, you had released "Days," which had these super-catchy throwback guitar lines, infectious punk vocals, and punchy drums. Listening to "Heartbeat," This feels a bit more denuded but still tunes into those infectious pop-punk energies we loved about your last single. Is that fair to say about this track? 

I actually wrote “HEARTBEAT” a few years back and, when I was writing this track I wanted to combine two genres I really liked together to try and create some different links you don’t see happen often in pop-punk. The recording process for this track was I demoed in my studio at home, so I knew what kind of guitar tones I wanted before going to record it with producer Todd Campbell from the band Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons. 

What is "Heatbeat" about? Where are you coming from lyrically with this? 

“HEARTBEAT” is written about the struggles of being a part of something. For example, a band and it all going really well at one point and a little thing like a member leaving can destroy everything overnight. It also says that if you could go back in time, you know now what to change to prevent these situations from happening.

Does your past work still affect what you make creatively at all? Or do you feel you can confidently start fresh at times without looking back at it?

I definitely think I can start fresh and not look back, being with new music and song ideas. If anything goes wrong within life, I think I’ve been through so much with the band and the music industry that it’s made me strong and aware of something happening before it happens if that makes sense. I guess experience has helped so much with this. All the good and bad experiences I’ve had help me write songs, everything I write about is all real-life events.

Do you worry at times about people boxing you into a genre at all? 

 I do actually worry about this a lot, I think that’s why I’ve written a song like “HEARTBEAT” to show the diversity in my writing. The tracks I’ve been working on lately for future releases definitely show the diversity and are very different. But I will always be Punk Rock at heart.

Are there any passion projects you still want to do this year? 

This year I want to show the world who Who Saves The Hero? are and my ability as a songwriter. I also want to work with as many bands and artists as I can and I can’t wait to start touring again.