Hacktivist (band)

History

Hacktivist began in 2011 after Timfy James' departure from metalcore band Heart of a Coward. James claims that the formation of Hacktivist was a "fluke", with no intention of developing such a style, but the group was born when his friend J Hurley, a local rapper with little history in the metal scene, began recording vocals over some of James' demos. After the demos became very popular online, James decided to recruit a full lineup, hiring Richard Hawking on drums, Josh Gurner (ex-Sacred Mother Tongue) on bass and Ben Marvin (James's former bandmate in Heart Of A Coward) as a second vocalist. The band began work on an EP in 2012 and debut single "Unlike Us" reached No. 2 in the Amazon UK metal chart within 48 hours. Despite being released independently on 12 November 2012, the band's self-titled EP proved popular in the metal media with Metal Hammer in particular giving the band significant coverage and considerable airplay on BBC Radio 1.

Tim and Ben both provided vocals on the Districts track "Callous Vessels" in 2012, which Tim also produced.

After the release of the Hacktivist EP, the band set out touring to promote it. This included supporting slots for acts such as Enter Shikari and Korn and performances in European festivals such as Sonisphere Festival, Download Festival and Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in summer 2013. In April 2013 the group released a new song "Elevate", with an accompanying video, for free download and this was followed up in August with a cover of "Niggas In Paris" (originally by Jay-Z and Kanye West). A video for "Niggas In Paris" was filmed during their set at Download Festival 2013. They also performed a live session for BBC Radio 1 at Maida Vale Studios.

The band headed out on a UK headline tour throughout winter 2013, supported by The Algorithm. A re-release of their debut EP with 4 bonus tracks was released on 11 November 2013.

They have shown support for hacking collective Anonymous, They also support "whistleblowers" Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning whom they reference in the song "Cold Shoulders".

On 4 August 2014 Hacktivist released the single "False Idols", as well as a music video. Lots of references to activism (especially hacktivist collective Anonymous) are made throughout the video. Within hours the song had reached number 1 on the iTunes Metal chart. This release was followed on 12 November by "Deceive and Defy" (also accompanied by a video), featuring Charlie Holmes of Heart in Hand on vocals. Hacktivist then toured the UK from November to December, supported by Dead Harts and the One Hundred. Marvin and Hurley also contributed guest vocals for the Australian metalcore band In Hearts Wake for the song "Erase" from their album Skydancer, released in May 2015.

Following the release of the single "Buszy" on 17 January 2016, their debut studio album Outside the Box was released on 4 March 2016.

Hacktivist were announced as part of the line-up for Slam Dunk Festival 2016 on 11 February 2016.

On 20 January 2017 it was announced that Hacktivist and Ben Marvin have parted ways due to Ben's family commitments.

Musical style

Hacktivist's music is a blend of several different styles. They are noted for using 8 string guitars and 6 string basses both tuned down to Drop E to achieve an extremely low tuned, distorted and dark sound, as well as ambient passages and a "wall of sound" production style. Their vocals are primarily rapped, although they also make use of conventional singing and occasional harsh vocals. They write their lyrics collectively, focusing on political subjects such as anarchism, conspiracy theories, government corruption, anti-gun violence, unity against oppression and other social and economic issues.

The band's music has been described as rap metal and grime, as fusing djent and nu metal, or more generally as adding rapping to djent. They have also been said to use elements of groove metal. Their guitar compositions have been described as reminiscent of both Meshuggah and nu metal bands such as Limp Bizkit and Korn.

Members

Discography

Videography