The Big H



Hellanbach, whom some members of the British music press nicknamed 'Halen-bach', formed in Newcastle in 1979 and were one of many New Wave of British Heavy Metal acts to find themselves a home with the North East of England-based label Neat Records. The band obtained some enthusiastic followers in their region of the country and stood out as having one of the most technically gifted guitarists of the movement in Davey Patton, who was compared by most of the British press to Eddie Van Halen. The band released two full length LPs on Neat: now hear this (1983) and the big h (1984), both releases feature the distinct raw production the label became renouned for. Despite their local following and some kudos from the press regarding Patton's technical ability, the band were heavily criticised for writing music too similar to van halen and failed to make the lasting mark on the NWOBHM music scene that many of their peers achieved. Other contributing factors to the band's failure to make a bigger impact undoubtedly included being pulled out of potentially influential support slots by their label, who wanted to rush out their second album at the time, and alleged poor distribution as well as the London-centric bias of the majority of rock media at the time. The band originally consisted of James Brash (vocals), Davey Patton (guitars), Kev Charlton (bass), and Steve 'Feathertouch' Walker (later replaced by Barry 'Cornelius' Hopper-drums). The entirety of Hellanbach's work has been collected in a two-disc anthology release called The Big H: Hellanbach Anthology. Never officially disbanded, the members have been active in other spheres,but the prospect of a reunion looks bleak due to one member currently serving 25 years in a Chinese prison for piracy. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.