by Kenneth Morton

The first time I saw House Of Heroes was at The Troubadour, opening a show for Avenged Sevenfold, oddly enough. Even though House Of Heroes were playing catchy pop songs to a metal crowd, many in the audience could appreciate the cool tunes and professionalism the band exuded onstage. Recently these guys have been on the road with MXPX and Relient K, bands which more than match their own infectious style of melodic rock and roll. Say No More is the latest from House Of Heroes, and judging from their dynamic compositions, we’ll be hearing a ton more from this wildly talented trio of musicians in the future. Here is an interview we recently conducted with vocalist and guitarist Tim Skipper.

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in House Of Heroes, and how long the band has been together.
I'm Tim Skipper. I play guitar and sing in the band. We've been playing together now for about 7 years.

Where is the band from and what is the music scene like there?
We are from Columbus, Ohio. The music scene there is kinda weird but kinda awesome at the same time. For a long time in the mid to late 90's Columbus was going to be the next "Seattle" or whatever. The next break out city with all these bands that would revolutionize rock music. Unfortunately that never happened. But every band in Columbus has their own thing and it's really cool because the good bands don't really sound like anything you've ever heard before. They make their music without really trying to cater to anyone. There are a lot of great studios and local record labels that work really hard and are filled with really great, creative people.

Where did you come up with the name House Of Heroes?
It was just a stream of consciousness thing that our drummer, Colin Rigsby came up with. We had 3 different names that we came up with and when we voted on them House of Heroes won. Nothing too exciting.

Say No More is actually a re-release of an earlier album. How did this re-release come about and what made you decide not to record a new record this time around?
Well the first time we put the record out, we didn't have management or a lot of touring history and parts of the label were in disarray. But we chose to put it out anyway just to get it out. In hindsight we should've pushed the release back. But you live and you learn. We all still believed in the record so we decided to put it out again but it didn't get in store like we hoped it would, so in hindsight there, it would've been awesome to do a new record. But that just gives us more time to write and perfect the new songs and hopefully we'll start the new record soon! I'm so stoked for it. It's going to be off the proverbial hook.

Does the album title Say No More have any story behind it?
One of the new songs on Say No More is called, You are the Judas of the Cheerleading Squad. The first version of that song that we recorded for a comp had a breakdown where we said, "say no more" over and over. So, we went with that for the title of the record. I personally wanted to call it "Japan, Japan, Please Like our Band!!!" And we may use that in the future with a white cover and a red dot in the middle, like the flag. Who knows?!

Mercedes Baby is actually an older song. Do you still enjoy playing this one, and where is the metal guitar ending that was in the first version?
Haha!!! Highwire Daze!! Ya'll been representing for a long time. I love it! Yeah, we just decided to do away with the super long intro and outro. BUT, we still do the metal outro live with even more metal goodness than was in the original. That's the best part man!!!

What is a Serial Sleeper?
A serial killer who sleep walks and only kills when they're sleeping so they don't actually remember it the next day.... haha. Joking of course, but that would be cool, huh? In the context of the song we say, "Serial sleepers slay with words unsaid." That basically means if you can change someone's life for the better, like if someone you love is doing something that you know is destroying them and you have the power to speak into their life and love them and encourage them to get help and you don't do it, you're more or less "killing" them. You're sleeping through that time and avoiding a difficult conversation that could potentially help someone, even save their life in a way.

Tell me about the idea behind the song You Are The Judas Of The Cheerleading Squad.
We just thought that would be a cool and catchy name for a song. It has absolutely nothing to do with the lyrics or the actual song. I love the way that song came together though. We wrote it twice and it's just got a really cool flow to it in my opinion. Especially live.

Do you consider House Of Heroes a Christian band and how influential is Christianity on your music?
As far as I'm concerned we are Christian people who believe what the bible says to be true and try our best to live our lives accordingly. So yeah, if you base your entire life on this belief it's going to influence everything that you do, including writing and performing music. So I'd say it's very influential but at the same time, we respect everyone right where they are in their lives and we hope that they can do that same thing for us. Judge our band based on the music and not the beliefs that we share. It's not my job to change someone's beliefs. Just to try to love people where they're at the way that Jesus loved people. Christianity isn't really a popular idea right now, and rightly so if you look at what some fanatical people are doing in the name of Christ. This frustrates me more than anything because I just don't see the Jesus that I know in their actions. But as far as the "Christian Band" tag, we don't really care. If you want to call us that, fine. If you want to call us a rock and roll band whose members happen to believe in Jesus, that's fine too. We're just gonna do what we do the way we feel we should and respect people and bands for where they're coming from. Hopefully that will be reciprocated back to us.

How close are you guys to recording new material?
We're inching closer and closer although I think it may be a little ways off still. As soon as we get a break from touring we're gonna really start writing like crazy. Right now, we've just been emailing ideas back and forth and writing lots of parts but no full songs have materialized just yet. I've got the creative itch though man... I've got it BAD!!!

You guys once opened for Avenged Sevenfold at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. What was that experience like, considering you’re nothing like A7X.
That was pretty surreal and weird. Not because of A7X, just because it was our first time on the west coast and first time in Hollywood. So we were doing the whole touristy thing and marveling at all the bands that had played at this legendary venue. The show was sold out and we rocked it the best we could. Afterwards everyone was like, "Man, that is a huge success that you didn't get booed off stage in front of a bunch of hardcore and metal kids!!!" I think the show was A7X, Atreyu, Vaux, the Rise, and us. So it was weird but not as weird as opening a show for Ted Nugent!!!

What was it like touring with Relient K and MXPX? Any road horror stories you could share?
Dream come true right there! MXPX was the first rock show any of us ever saw when we were young, so they were our first "love" so to speak. And Relient K are some of our best friends in the world. Ohio bands gotta stick together. It took a few days to get used to playing for that many people on that big of a stage, but once we did, it was the greatest thing EVER!!! No horror stories from that tour really. Everyone was so nice and cool to us the whole time.

Tell me a little about Uprising Fest that you will be appearing at?
I don't know much about it. All I know is that a great dude is putting it together and there are going to be some killer bands and artists there. I'm stoked for it.

If House Of Heroes was invited to appear on a Tribute To Madonna album, what song would you do by the material girl and why?
Oh man, that's a great question! Colin would be able to answer this better than I would. He's all about that pop stuff, especially from the 80's. The song that's coming to me now is that This Used To Be My Playground... song from the League of Their Own movie. I saw that movie when I was really young and that song was stuck in my head for a freakin week!!! Plus I had a mad crush on Geena Davis after seeing it. Weird, right? A 9 or 10-year-old kid crushing on Geena Davis...

Do you have any messages for people reading this interview who might be into checking out your music?
YES!!! STAY ALIVE!!! WE WILL FIND YOU!!! and also... don't take no wooden nickels!!

House Of Heroes is A.J. Babcock (bass, vocals), Colin Rigsby (drums, vocals), and Tim Skipper (vocals, guitar). Their album Say No More is now available from Mono vs. Stereo Records.

House Of Heroes Links

House Of Heroes: Their Official Home Page!
Mono Vs. Stereo Records: The Record Label for House Of Heroes!
House Of Heroes on Myspace: Their Official Myspace Page!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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