Full Album show of Nov 12, 2020
Album: Carry On Carrying On

Artist's Biography HAVOC51 BIOGRAPHY

Band members From Warrington, England, we find classic rock trio HAVOC51 who have a fabulous new ten track CD out now called “Carry On Carrying On” which runs in at just over fortyty minutes long and is the band’s latest release. Havoc51are: Steve Nixon – guitars and lead vocals, Antony Nixon – bass and backing vocals, and drummer Paul Smith.

As a kid guitarist and singer Steve Nixon had neighbours who had just got one of those record players that came in a suitcase and some 45’s. As soon as he heard the rawness of the tracks from Quo, Purple, Sabbath, and Zeppelin, the young musician knew that’s what he wanted to do. "I was spoiled with genius everywhere and burned through turntables learning it," he says.

Drummer Paul Smith's route was a little different. He grew up listening to anything from Adam and the Ants to The Who and Zeppelin. Always wanting to try drums he studied local bands as well as his heroes at the big festivals in the eighties and nineties. Paul then got his first chance at the age of eighteen buying his first drum kit, joined his first band and was gigging at nineteen and has built up a fantastic reputation since then.

Bassist Antony Nixon comes from a very musical family, so it was inevitable that he would play an instrument. Going from piano to guitar but never settled. On hearing 'Hysteria' by Muse he was hooked on bass and knew that was where his passion lies.

Paul brings his influence from the Bonham’s and Moon’s of this world and this just blends in to what we do completely," he explains to me. Antony is very much into Chris Wolstenholme from Muse, and you can hear that clearly when the bass is prominent. "When he dug deeper into the bass you can hear touches of John Paul Jones in “Serenity” and “No Way”. Who knows the next album may have some Flea stylings or from something influenced the mighty Stu Hamm."

All the guys in the band work very very hard and they are all family men so that takes a lot of their time up. "One thing that binds us is we are all massive Rugby League fans. Coming from Warrington it’s embedded in you from an early age, playing and watching. Antony progressed to the team’s academy. We have been very lucky in that we have built a relationship with the club and we were the first band to play live on the pitch to 15,000 two years ago. We still play there a couple of times a year for their beer festivals etc..," he smiles.

BAND BIOGRAPHY
Havoc51 came to fruition five years ago with Antony and Steve along with a different drummer who was the son of a friend. They did small shows throughout the UK but never really pushed things. The turning point was when the band entered the 'Hard Rock Live' competition and came second by one point in three hundred. That gave the lads the belief and confidence that the way they play and the strength of their song writing were good enough for the bigger stage and they then decided to push this as far as possible. "Sadly, that meant losing our original drummer and Paul has stepped in perfectly and we’re sounding fuller and tighter than ever," says Nixon.

The live shows are going really well for the chaps. "When we’re 'self-sufficient' which is when we turn up with our sound and our lighting etc., we invested in giving a great experience when you come to see us. Having said that we’ve concentrated on the smaller festivals this Summer and that’s a different experience entirely. It gives us focus on how to make the best use of our time slot and push ourselves to build our fan base. They can be a lot more fun when you have more space to go crazy and relax into it. We want to gain experience on these bigger stages and hone our craft. It’s an upward spiral to us, We do better, audiences react better, we feed off that and they feed off us," he explains to me. 'Carry On, Carrying On”, was recorded in the 'Vaults' studio Warrington between Christmas last year and April this year. It was produced and engineered by a guy called Mike Pilat who is not only a wizard behind the desk but an exceptional musician on drums, guitar, bass and vocally.

The band wanted something quite heavy sounding but still conveying subtlety of the musicianship. "We loved the stuff he’s recorded and his live sound with 'Herod' is immense," says Nixon. "He’s brought out things in us musically and vocally that we didn’t think we had in us and has contributed to the arrangement on a couple of tracks." The band's main focus is to get the word out regarding the album, and to enjoy the festivals this Summer. "we hoped put together a small UK based tour for the Autumn and re-group at the end of the year to plan our direction. We have a lot of music written and it maybe we will get that down in the Winter. The band have taken the opportunity of lockdown top record three videos from the new album. “Hiding In the shadows” & “Sunrise” are already out with a third on to be released in December. Obviously, we want to do much more in the next year and we will be speaking to our contacts to do a lot more shows and bigger shows in 2021. The album has been picked up by a few European radio stations, particularly in France and Spain so we’d love to expand and convert more 'havocaholics' on the continent

HIGHLIGHTS
• Hard Rock Finalists
• Headlined the Blood Bikes Festival in Manchester
• Played to 15,000 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
• Played dozens of pubs/clubs/beer festivals
• Booked to tour the Great British Food Festivals – 6 venues throughout the UK
• Headlined the West Houghton Summer Rock Festival
• Picked up by Real XS Radio as a “Future Classic” band
• Headlined the “Make some noise” Festival for Global radio
• Played Phabstock on Llandudno beach
• Headlined/played several local festivals Recorded 50% of “Bourbon Ramblings
• “Charmsfest” festival 3 years running • “Glazefest” festival 2 years running and booked for 2021
• Released Bourbon Ramblings
• Headlines one of the Wigan Live” festivals
• “Glaston-bury BURY” Festival 2 years running
• Lone Wolf MCC rally Staffs 2 years running
• Hybrids MCC Summer Rally Sept 2020

About the Album:

Havoc51's first album "Bourbon Ramblings" (2018) was played on over 90 radio stations across the globe and saw them appear in magazines across the US, UK & Canada. The folllow up "Carry On Carrying On" 2020 is a 10 track album following in the same style of classic rock with great riffs, to more subtle tracks. Each one is an ear worm and is seeing the band build on what they've done before.