West Hartford is a town known for its music programs, Hall’s jazz band, Conards annual musical, and many other skilled school groups. Outside of school however, the music scene is still bursting with students pursuing private choirs, orchestras, and bands. One group in particular, Hatchet Hill, (formerly known as Counter Offer) has been recently preparing to break into the local rock and metal scene with bands like In Honor Of, and Currents.

Hatchet Hill was started in 2012 by drummer Max Holsbeke with some of his friends, including the only remaining original member Noam Perov. After cycling through band members for a while the band, “Counter Offer” at the time, settled on the lineup of Max on drums, and Noam playing lead guitar with Ethan McCarty on guitar as well . In need of a singer, Max sent out a school wide email asking if anyone would like to audition, and I decided to give it a try. On the day of the audition I realize I’m in no way prepared and over a extremely uneventful hour it was decided I wasn’t the right fit for the band.

Now a year would pass, with more singers auditioned, new songs written, and their bass player at the time decided to leave. This was around the time I got the text asking if I played bass and having a background in guitar I figured I’d give it a shot. After weeks of practicing our first show comes around and last minute we get a call, Ethan can’t make it. I decided to play guitar at this show and soon after Ethan decided he didn’t have the time for a band and a job so he left Counter Offer and that’s where our new era begins.

In the living room of Max’s house the next week I’m on Instagram between songs and I see that a new follower has “singer” in his bio. So on a whim I message him and after a short conversation we decide that he’ll come to the next rehearsal. For whatever reason auditioning Dan was quick and easy. There was a chemistry, like our brains all thought of music the same way and it was clearly something unique. So now that the history is complete we can talk about the process a song goes through to become a song.

At its core, a song is a riff, or a lick, or a melody. It’s this collection of notes that’s brought up at rehearsal and reviewed by the other guys. Then for the next few hours a chorus is decided, a verse is written, and the question of “solos?” is answered. One of our latest songs, “Far From The Truth” started with a riff Max wrote. After digesting it for some time we found that the original guitar part fit best as an intro and then we came up with a verse, chorus, bridge, and lots of harmonies. After a song is complete we’ll record the instrumental and email it to each member so we can practice on our own time and write lyrics. Finally, after a week or two, and dozens of hours, we have a song from what was once just an idea. Initiation comes at the next show, when we bring it out of the practice space and onto the stage to see the reaction of those watching. One of the best feelings in the world is playing a song you’ve worked on and seeing the crowd jumping along, and smiling. Smiling because of something you wrote and worked so hard on and I think that’s why we write. We write because it’s self expression, and it’s a way to reach hundreds of people by doing what you love and playing as a group disconnects you from the world for a while which sometimes is what you need.

Some people ask if there’s conflicts like all the stories they hear of The Misfits, and Metallica during St.Anger, but in reality the band’s very democratic. We vote on lyrics and riffs and set lists and most recently a name change from Counter Offer to Hatchet Hill. One of the nice things is that outside of the band we’re all friends so conflicts are handled much better since we know how to compromise.

After playing many local shows at venues like The Space, and the ATC with bands that have played concerts as big as Vans Warped Tour, we’ve decided that they’re ready to enter the studio. Throughout the month of January we’ll be recording, mixing, and producing our first EP as well as sending demos to various record labels. We also aim to start playing shows at the popular Webster Theater in Hartford beginning around February of 2018, around the same time our EP will be released on CD and online. “I think we’re on the right track,” said Max as we discussed our plans for the future. With the rise of other local metal bands like Currents and I Honor Of “I think we’ll catch the wave, we just need to play our cards right.” I respond, dreaming of the day where all the work we put in will finally pay off as it’s begun to already.

Hatchet Hill preforming at The Space, 2017.