Wisconsin-based hard rock band, Haliwel is gearing up to take over 2016. Since 2014, they have released their albums on their own and pride themselves on the DIY approach they use. In December 2015, they released 2014’s follow up “Pandemic” which has a slightly different sound, but still maintains their original sound. Enjoy this week’s Indie Band of the Week, Haliwel!
Who are you and what is your role in the band?
My name is Shawn Streeter and I am the guitar player and backing vocalist for Haliwel.
My name is Max Neal and I play the drums.
I am Ryan Seney and I play bass and do backing vocals.
I am Jake Smith and I play guitar.
I am Dax Roberts and I’m the vocalist.
How did the band get started?
SS – After college, I decided to try to make music into a career, so I moved to Madison and attend a school for music production, which is where I met Jake and Ryan.
MN – They put an ad up on Craigslist and I responded to that. It was the last ad I was going to respond to since I had met with a lot of weirdos before them. Well, Shawn and Ryan are still weird too, but just a little less.
DR – I also found these guys through Craigslist, but in the casual encounters section. [Laughs]
Who are your influences and how do they play a role in your sound?
SS – The two influences that probably make the most impact on our sound are mine and Max’s. I am a huge Mark Tremonti fan, so that really contributes to our guitar sound and songwriting.
MN – My favorite drummer is Danny Carey, but I feel like he is doing calculus and I’m just doing basic adding and subtracting. He at least makes me aspire to do some things that might be a stretch for me, especially on the new album “Pandemic.”
SS – I’d like to say that we sound like a mix between Alter Bridge and Tool, but those are way too big of shoes to fill [Laughs]
MN – Also, growing up I really got into Mark Reznicek’s drumming on the Toadies “Rubberneck” album. He has such great parts in that album that fit the music perfectly. That has always been my goal: to serve the song. Not to over play and show off, but to make each song work together on its own.
DR – Maynard James Keenan, Jonathan Davis, and Jesse Hasek (10 Years). I believe they all influenced me to find my own sound and be creative with melodies against a unique sound of music.
What has been your most meaningful experience being in this band so far?
MN – Probably opening for Framing Hanley at Q&Z near Wausau. That was our biggest crowd so far. They ROARED when we walked on stage. That was pretty crazy. They didn’t know who we were or our songs, but it was an awesome opportunity and that is a really cool, unusual venue, which keeps growing.
JS – Mine is either the Framing Hanley show or our record release party. I don’t know if I could choose.
DR – My most meaningful moment, is the accomplishment of the CD. The guys poured all they have into it and I was honored to add my pieces to finish the creation of Pandemic.
SS – The band itself is the greatest experience I can think of. We do everything ourselves, and I mean that pretty literally. We write, record, produce, mix, and master our albums in the studio Ryan, Jake, and myself built called Burn United Records. We do all our own custom artwork, built our own website, print our own t-shirts, and even cut and glue together our own Digipaks. We are pretty committed to the Do It Yourself approach until we find an investor or label deal that benefits us fairly. Since we do all that stuff ourselves, the rewards are so much sweeter. We have great pride in each aspect of the band. Even just selling a CD or a t-shirt means so much more when you made them with your own hands.
Favorite memory from a show you’ve played or a place you’ve travelled?
SS – A few days after our recent record release show, hands down. The day of the show everything went by too fast to really take in. After everything calmed down, we realized how many people actually showed up, how well our merch table did, and how great the crowd reaction was to our new music. We were able to sit down and watch some footage of the first performances of the new material and were blown away. We use in-ear-monitors, so hearing the crowd isn’t always the easiest thing to do, so when we watched the video and heard all the people, most of which were hearing the material for the first time, singing the songs back at us. Wow. It just gave us goosebumps.
JS – Same here.
RS – My favorite memory has to be each time that I see someone in the crowd singing the words to our songs. I can still picture each person and I don’t think those images will ever leave my mind.
MN – Probably the Framing Hanley show because we had to go up the night before in order to do a radio interview and on air performance the next day. It was like being in a real traveling band for a little while. The main thing with that is all the down time: driving, waiting for a place to open, waiting for the venue to let the bands in. You’ve got to occupy yourself somehow, not spend money, and not kill everyone else in the band!
DR – Mine is definitely the reaction the crowd had the first time I brought out my lighted “war” drum that we use for our closing song. A close second is when our friend came on the road with us and brought some nasty candy from overseas for us all to try, there are some pretty funny videos floating around of us trying the candy. I’m not sure why, but that moment is a good one for me.
What do you hope to accomplish with your music?
RS – I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be the biggest band in the world. Really, I would just like to get our music heard by the masses and do everything we can to make a career out of playing music
MN – For me it is to open some bigger show for touring bands, maybe Summerfest or Taste of Madison. I feel like we can help shows become better events by having a night of similar music.
JS – I’d like to make Haliwel a full time position and tour the world.
SS – I hope to be able to do it as a financially viable career and then build a company based of the network we’ve built to help other bands do the same.
Something about you that no one knows?
RS – I don’t think everyone knows this but a few might. When Shawn first asked me to join Haliwel and play bass I said no. I started playing guitar and at the time wanted to continue playing guitar (I wasn’t very good).. After a few weeks, I borrowed a bass from Shawn and started messing around. Now here I sit playing bass in Haliwel and couldn’t be happier.
DR – No one knows that I like to paint.
SS – I was born in Texas, but had to relocate. My father used to be a government paid sniper that would go from town to town to slim down their deer populations. About a month after I was born we were relocated. I found out just recently that it was because one of his shots struck a tank of some kind, which started a large fire that killed 13 people. He bought me my first guitar with his last paycheck from the government…actually, none of that is true, except that my dad bought me my first guitar. [Laughs]
JS – I used to be 6 feet tall, then I shrunk. A lot.
MN – I murdered a man in 1998 and buried the body and didn’t tell a soul. Also one time I spilled a soda-pop in a parking lot and didn’t clean it up afterwards!
What is next for the band?
SS – Nothing specific. We will just continue to promote our material with our DIY ambitions until we find the investor or label that wants to back our ridiculous work ethic. Once we find that, look out!
DR – I think the band is moving in a direction that will make a big impact on the local scene, national scene and eventually overseas.
MN – Hopefully some bigger gigs and spreading the word, so thanks for talking to us! Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll record for a while. It is an awesome experience, but we need some time to write 10+ songs.
Anything else you want to add?
SS – Not really, I don’t usually do Math for fun.
DR – I would like to add that I couldn’t have asked to be a part of a better band, than this one. The men of Haliwel are beyond friends, they’re family.
