Houses We Die In
From left to right:Jake, Matt G, Matt B, and on the drums is Juan
Houses We Die In is a five-piece metalcore band from Austin Texas, consisting of three homies named Matt, Jake, and Juan. Matt G on vocals, Matt B and Matt T on guitars, Jake on bass, and Juan on drums. HWDI has an infectious heavy riffy sound that is sure to make you want to rip the drywall out of the nearest wall, in the best way possible. If you could capture the sound of one of those “rage rooms”, you know the ones where they give you a baseball bat and tell you to go to town on tvs, dishes, and any other random objects. In their words “we’re 2000s-inspired metalcore with a heavy focus on making our live shows as fun and energetic as possible. If you like riffs, panic chords, and screaming over melodic shit then it's for you.”
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HWDI was started in the way that all great bands are started, as a bit.
“It kind of started as a joke to see how many Matts we could get in one band, but once we realized we had some really cool ideas around what we wanted to do musically we decided to take it seriously and make it a real thing. We brought Juan on board as the drummer and Jake joined on bass shortly after that.”
And take it seriously they did, exploding into the scene with heavy riffs, screaming vocals, and tracks that express emotion in its purest form. With a goal of playing as many shows as possible and sharing the “Houses We Die In Experience” with as many people across Texas as possible, they are certainly succeeding, introducing their sound into the scene and bringing people who maybe haven’t heard this sound before.
Personally, I was never into real screamy heavy music, that was until I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Houses We Die In live. That show changed my entire point of view on this type of music and it opened my eyes to a whole new genre and sound of music that I had never dived into before. The heartache and pain that these songs express while being able to make you want to throw your friend across the pit is amazing. In their words their music is
“...very personal and hopefully relatable, dealing with themes like loss, grief, depression/anxiety, and addiction among other things.”
I feel as if it acts as almost a therapy session for people in the crowd, the shows are a place for people to feel like the things they are going through are felt by other people. While HWDI is putting on an exciting and thrilling show, they're also allowing people to get a weight off their chest and leave all of their emotions off the pit floor and just be taken over by the riffs. The people in the crowd leave the show feeling a little better about their feelings, having sweated out their worries in the pit.
Recently, HWDI put out a seven song EP titled “ Faces of the Suffering”. Which starts with a very melodic and soft opening and then immediately jumps into heavy roaring sounds and doesn’t ever slow down from there. My favourite track of the EP is “restricted veins”.
HWDI is for fans of: Poison the Well, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, and Misery Signals as well as early Parkway Drive, Unearth, Underoath
When asked what the future looks like for the band, they said
“...we have a lot of shows coming up around central Texas and we’re already writing more music and planning some exciting things for this summer.”
And when asked where they see the sound of the band going
“We’re already really excited about the new stuff we’ve been working on. It definitely sticks to much of the same style but IMO is a bit more melodic, focused, and cohesive.”
I always try and get a glimpse into other cities scenes when I interview these bands that live in different cities, because I love learning about the community of places that I visit frequently, and when i asked HWDI about the ATX scene, this is what they had to say
“There are a lot of cool things happening in the Austin scene (and Texas in general) right now. Lots of great bands as well as independent promoters, venues, artists, photographers, etc. that are doing so much to support the local scene and each other. A few things we’d love to see more of: mixed-genre shows, DIY venues, and local zines.”
“A few Austin-based bands/promoters/etc. we want to shout out (in no particular order): Votive, Virtue, Purifier, The High Cost of Playing God, Never Rest, Mothman, Current Comfort, Oshera, Palefade, Glassing, Banged Out, God Shell, Rose Ceremony, DSGNS, The Vinous, Bad Kids Presents, Disaster Booking, Kyle Rotta”
Go check out all of those mentioned, if they’re worthy of a shout they’re definitely worthy of a look into!
As for HWDI, please go check out “Faces of the Suffering” and go to the next show you can catch, even if it’s not a genre you listened to a lot, or even at all, go. It may open your ears to a whole new world of music like it did for me. You can keep up with everything at www.houseswediein.com and on Instagram and Twitter at @houseswedieintx
Thanks for reading, be kind and look out for each other!
Writing and photos by: Burger - @burgerphoto22
