Singled Out: Hillhaven's Gaps

Hillhaven, the new band featuring current and former members of Ice Nine Kills and From Ashes To New, recently released their new single "Gaps", and to celebrate we asked Chris Kelly (ex-Ice Nine Kills) to tell us about the song. Here is the story:

This is the song that started Hillhaven, but it wasn't supposed to be. At the time I was playing for another band and had written it with the intent of it being that band's next single. I had spent two or three days with the singer, putting everything together and, not only was the song completely written but we had a final recording. Disappointingly at the time, there wound up being some internal politics that resulted in my decision to leave the band, but I was so proud of that song. I had never done a track top to bottom like that before; I was always just the instrumental guy. Putting this track together had given me this insane confidence boost, just as a songwriter, that I wasn't willing to let it go - so I kept it.

Shortly after my exit from the other band, I was talking with Maty [Madiro; drums]. At the time I was writing with his band, From Ashes To New, for their album "Blackout". Without giving really any context, I sent him the song and asked him if he thought it was something worth pushing. His response was something to the effect of "If you're gonna do something with this and you need a drummer, I'm in". That was it. That was the lightbulb. Problem was, the song had another singer on it and I had no clue who else I was gonna find to lend their voice to it. I also didn't want to bring anyone in and have them start trying to change a million things, so I threw a shot in the dark. I re-did all the vocals myself and printed it down as a new version of the song.

To say I was insecure about having my voice front-and-center, would be a massive understatement. Without telling anyone it was me on the song, I began sending both versions to people I trusted. Musicians, producers, but most importantly - casual listeners. If the song resonated with them, I'd be onto something. The files were simply named "Singer 1" and "Singer 2" and I asked everyone to listen to both versions and tell me which voice they preferred. To my surprise, nearly everyone (including Maty, thankfully) preferred my voice. This opened everything up. We could now put something together with guys we trusted. Real players; pros - and it happened surprisingly quickly. We had a confirmed lineup within a few months and I had a body of work written within the next year.

Lyrically, "Gaps" is definitely one of the more hopeful tracks we've got. It's written from the perspective of an expecting father, simply navigating all of the anticipation, excitement and fear of the unknown that, as any parent will tell you, all swirl together as one emotion when you've got a kid on the way. It's about realizing that you're no longer the protagonist in this story and about how immensely exciting that is. Fitting that a song about something new, exciting and a little bit scary became the catalyst to something new, exciting and a little bit scary.

[Note: Apart from Chris, the band also features From Ashes To New's Jimmy Bennett and Maty Madiro, Ice Nine Kills's Ricky Armellino, along with Jaime GoWell.]

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the band here

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