HC: It's HE-lios. A lot of people say it the other way, and I don't bother to correct them. I find it kind of funny.
Seconds: When you took on the name, was that part of the idea?
HC: NO. When I took on that name, I was 18 and it sounded good for a band I was making that never happened. From there I met up with Damon [Edge] and joined Chrome. So we decided to use different names for ourselves than our born ones, so the name stuck.
Seconds: So when did you start touring? I don't remember Chrome ever touring.
HC: You're right. Chrome never toured the states. I started touring in 1986 or something. It wasn't the greatest because I booked myself and it didn't go to well. The first real tour with my band I did last year.
SECONDS: Would you say technology was one of the reasons why you didn't tour? When I listen to records like Half Machine Lip Moves or Alien Soundtracks, I had a hard time thinking of a band in the late 70's taking that on the road.
HC: That was one of the main considerations. We did do a few live shows then but it was more around the time of Blood On The Moon. That album was actually easier to do live than Alien Soundtracks. It was more of a live sound.
SECONDS: So would you say you've finally gotten your sound so you can do it live?
HC: Yeah. I would like to use more effects and stuff tahn I take, but I still can do a full set ow.
SECONDS: Is that a guitar synthesizer you're using?
HC: Yeah, but I still have a regular guitar set up that has an average fuzztone/wah-wah pedal, chorus thing and some electro-harmonics that you can't get any more.
SECONDS: So are you recording a new album right now?
HC: No. I'm finishing writing it, then we're going to do another tour over the summer. Lately, I've also been in the studio producing this new band called Fyre. This year I'm starting to get calls to produce, which is something I've been wanting to do.
SECONDS: So would you say people are finally recognizing you as your own person or are you still considered the former guitar player for Chrome?
HC: More and more people are starting to acknowledge my own thing, now more so than connectine me with Chrome. It's now about 50/50.
SECONDS: Does it bother you? I thought Chrome blew after you left.
HC: A little. The reason why Chrome sounded so different after I left is because I wrote a lot of the material. It became a different band after I left. I also did a lot of the vocals. When I left I took my sound with me.
SECONDS: What always got me was when people used as much technology as you do and they end up making happy, space-time new age music. Your stuff rocks.
HC: They get too mellow. I listen to the Butthole Surfers and I think they do a lot of the same things. The thing is there's not really a genre for us. I think what I'm doing is what metal should have done. The problem with most metal is it tries too much to sound like every other metal band. When you hear the term heavy metal, you can pretty much know what it's going to sound like. I'm trying to stay unpredictable. I remember seeing early Black Sabbath when they started out and thought they were great. Now I don't want to hear all these bands that sound just like them.
SECONDS: If anything, I think the band that sounds closest to you was the original Hawkwind, when Lemmy played bass for them.
HC: Yeah. I remember having Space Ritual and playing it a lot. I thought it was a little mellow for me but still it struck me as one of the things I wanted to do.
SECONDS: I was thinking more about the time they did "Silver Machine."
HC: Yeah right! You know we were supposed to open for them? If I didn't have my tour booked, I would have done that.
SECONDS: Did you know that Lemmy played with them in :A?
HC: Oh really! Wow! That would have been great! To be in the same club as Lemmy would've meant that the club had been packed. Oh, well. I'd have liked to have done that. You see we call real rock "meat & potatoes." So I can't conceive of doing that spacey stuff without the meat and potatoes. Separately, they're both too generic for me.
SECONDS: Are there any guitar players you listen to today and like what they do?
HC: Off and on I like what Steve Albini and Paul from the Butts do. Adrian Belew is great. What he does on guitar blows my mind. Robert Fripp and Steve Vai also. I just wonder why they don't influence more guitar players. You go out there and you just don't hear that much tripped-out guitar anymore. There's nobody who's really innovative and different in the big time. Adrian Belew sells a few records and that's about it.
