Himalayas find their feet with sophomore album ‘Bad Star’.

L-R: Louis Heaps, Joe Williams, Mike Griffiths, James Goulbourn. Image: Andy Ford.

Himalayas are Joe Williams (guitar and lead vocals), Mike Griffiths (guitar and backing vocals), Louis Heaps (bass) and James Goulbourn (drums). Formed in Cardiff in 2015, they achieved their first success with the 2017 single “Thank God I’m Not You”, leading to prestigious festival and support slots, a record deal with their current label Nettwerk and a collaboration with AC/DC’s Brian Johnson on 2024’s “V.O.V.” Their second album, Bad Star, is released this month.

While their 2023 debut, From Hell to Here, was written over the course of six years, Bad Star has been a much more concise process, helped by the confidence that experience brings. “Album one, everything's really fresh, everything feels like the first time, so you're a bit trepidatious. We had a huge amount of time to ponder and be like, ‘Oh, what if we do this, what if we do that?’” says Williams. “Whereas with this, we were quite confident, we wrote songs fairly quickly, and then we chose and deliberated on songs pretty quickly as well. So, that was a lot easier this time, and because of that, all of us are a little more self-assured in the record that we've made.”

Williams and Griffiths are the main songwriters, but they work separately at first, giving them the freedom to explore their ideas – “We don't really dictate to each other, that's the beauty of our writing process”. When they come together as a band, the songs begin to gel. “Mike’s got such a certain tone, and Joe’s got such a certain tone as well with his guitar. So when you put Joe’s vocals on Mike’s demos, it sounds like a Himalayas song; if you put Mike’s lead guitar sound over Joe’s demo, it sounds like a Himalayas song,” Goulbourn explains. “When it comes down to the final [version], it’s got a bit of everyone on it, which I think is really cool.”

I think we were finding our feet in a sense, because we were mid-genre: there were hints of indie from when we were younger, and then hints of rock. With this album, we wanted to be firmly in rock
— Williams

Decisions on the track list and the choice of singles are made democratically, which can be a problem for a four-piece. “It's hard to have a definitive answer unless it's three-to-one. More often than not, we're two-all on quite a lot of decisions,” says Williams. They often look to their management or label for a casting vote, and on Bad Star they also benefited from the input of producer Pete Hutchings. “He was great from the moment we first met him on Zoom. We spoke to quite a lot of producers at the time that we were deciding who we'd work with. You’d have a half-an-hour call, talking about influences, and really quick questions. But with Pete, I think it was almost two hours just speaking about the music we like, records we like, but also just pure rubbish. So we knew that he was going to be a good difference-maker, he was going to bring something new ... and he was going to be able to referee as well.”

The four singles released from Bad Star – “Afterlife”, “Nothing Higher”, “Hung Up” and “Cave Paintings” – have ensured plenty of airplay for the band. But this time round, their selection was dictated less by commercial appeal, as Williams explains. “We were able to explore a little more and do songs that aren't radio-friendly necessarily, but that we hope are still melodic enough for people to sing along to. Having the ability to do that on this record has been a joy, really. Album one, I think we were finding our feet in a sense, because we were mid-genre: there were hints of indie from when we were younger, and then hints of rock. With this album, we wanted to be firmly in rock.”

Image: Andy Ford.

“We wanted to make a big rock record, but we also wanted to have songs on there that show that we're a little bit more than that,” Goulbourn adds. A prime example is the album track “Heavy Weather”. “The keys in that song, the melodies, are almost Beatles-esque. And then Mike's guitar solo is straight out of 80s Miami Vice. There's so much dynamic in that song to show what we are capable of.” An old song that they hadn’t managed to get into shape for their debut album, it was only included in the first set of demos for Bad Star as an afterthought. “Mike and Joe are always saying, ‘Oh, I'll write a better song’, but it always seems to me like, ‘Yeah, but you don't have to, because these songs that we didn't use are still amazing, and they shouldn't be disregarded’,” argues Goulbourn. For Williams, coming back to a song after a break allows him to see it more clearly. “You invest so much time on a project, you are so immersed in it, that by the end there’s some songs you've lost complete perspective on.”  Even so, at one point it looked as if they would never crack “Heavy Weather”. “We spent a whole day with Pete, and we just couldn't work it out,” Goulbourn remembers. “We were sat there for ages, Joe was on the piano, Pete was on the piano, everybody got tired, everybody got a bit annoyed. When we came in the next day, we were fully expecting to walk away from it, and then I don't know what happened – I think Joe started singing something, Mike picked up a guitar and was like, ‘Why don't we just do a riff in this part, instead of the piano?’ And then it sparked something.”

Album opener “Beneath the Barrel” is another track that showcases the band’s growing confidence. Williams explains that, like many of the songs on Bad Star, the initial demo (written by Griffiths) started to take a different shape with the input of other band members. “James came in and really added something extra that took it to the next level – that impact of when it comes in, and when that groove hits.” Having opened From Hell to Here with its hard-hitting title track, they wanted to do something a little different for album number two. “We wanted to build a lot of suspense, the impending sense of doom in that intro,” says Goulbourn. “It was very Massive Attack-inspired. It still surprises me now when it kicks in – it’s so loud! I keep forgetting I’ve got to turn my headphones down.”

Himalayas will tour the UK in May and June. Their reputation as a compelling live act has led to festival appearances with some of their favourite artists, such as Prophets of Rage and Queens of the Stone Age, while Williams and Goulbourn agree that opening for Foo Fighters on home territory at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium last summer was a career highlight. “The Foo Fighters show was stupidly good,” says Goulbourn. From what Williams describes as the once-in-a-lifetime experience of being side-stage during Iggy Pop’s performance at Mad Cool in 2019 to supporting Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics in packed arenas, the thrill of performing alongside their heroes will never get old. “It’s those moments that feel huge to me, and they always will.”

Bad Star is released 25th April.

Author: Rachel Goodyear