Former DELAIN, EPICA And AFTER FOREVER Members Release HANGOVER HERO Debut; Video Trailer Available

November 13, 2011, 13 years ago

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Dutch rockers HANGOVER HERO - featuring Ronald Landa (ex-DELAIN), Ad Sluijter (ex-EPICA), Andre Borgman (ex-AFTER FOREVER) and Mats van der Valk (AUTUMN) - released their debut album on November 11th. Check out the teaser trailer below:

Following is the band's official bio:

Pure. Honest. Accessible. Uncomplicated. Feelgood. ROCK! In capitals! Plug, play, rock the place. That is Hangover Hero, the new Dutch sensation that has its roots in the metal scene, but opted to trade the doom and gloom for a good ol’ American rock sound.

The driving force behind Hangover Hero is guitar player and front man Ronald Landa, formerly of Delain. His band mates all come from similar female fronted rock bands. Former Epica axeman Ad Sluijter joined Landa quickly, along with former After Forever drummer Andre Borgman. Mats van der Valk (Autumn) completed the foursome and handles bass duties.

“We all just love honest, riff heavy, guitar driven rock music and we had discussed forming a band earlier, when our respective bands played together on festivals and such. It’s a small world, you continually bump into each other in backstage area’s around the world. But it was all of our other bands that actually kept us from doing something else”, says Landa. Back in 2009 he quit Delain, to pursue his other musical ambitions. By that time Sluijter also had become available and things moved quickly.

Armed with a batch of songs the then still nameless foursome headed to Germany, to record a demo with producer and longtime friend Sascha Paeth at the infamous Gate Studio. Paeth is known for his work in the metal world and originally the idea was to have him function as an objective bystander to bounce ideas off. In the end he became so involved in the project, he is now the unofficial fifth member of the band. In fact, he’s the one that gave Hangover Hero its name. “Before entering the studio, we kinda had a rough night at the hotel bar”, laughs Landa. “The next morning we all were all extremely hung over, yet we worked our asses off as we were dedicated to record the best versions possible of our songs. Sascha kept making fun of us and did not stop calling us his ‘Hangover Heroes’. At that point, we did not think much of it, but on the ay home it seemed to stick. Especially the contradiction between the hangover and the heroes was something we liked. In the end we felt a singular term would be even more powerful, so we settled for Hangover Hero.”

The steady rocking debut album will see the light of day in the fall of 2011. Musically the album will land right in between the two demo songs that hit the internet; Play In A Band and Mr. Perfect. “Those two tracks are the extremes in our catalog thus far”, states Landa. “Play In A Band is by far our most poppy song, whereas we don’t get any darker than on Mr. Perfect. The rest of our repertoire is characterized by a tough, optimistic, feel-good rock sound. Not the kind of music one would expect from a Dutch band, but it is music we love and are passionate about. There are way too few rock songs that cheer you up when you’re feeling down, that are optimistic and energizing. Our album will be a soundtrack to many a road trip. One hand on the wheel, one foot on the gas and the other hand turns up the volume to eleven. You’ll be there before you know it.”

Hangover Hero will showcase the new material during a one-off gig in Utrecht, The Netherlands in May. Directly after the gig, the band will head back to the Gate Studio to finish the recording of their yet untitled debut, which fill be finished over the summer. Around that time the band plans on hitting the road. “We all have seen the biggest stages and the largest crowds around the globe. Yet nothing beats the feeling of being in a tiny, sweaty club, playing to win over new fans. So we are definitely looking forward to ‘starting over’ in a way and win over the crowds with an exciting evening of rousing ROCK!”

Go to the official Hangover Hero website here and check them out on Facebook


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