ELECTRIC PYTHON

“We just want to write and play cool music and have fun doing it.”

“The ride is always the point.”

“The band really makes the song. Everybody takes it to the next level.”

“Listening and locking into each other really makes the madness move in the right direction.”

“When you start taking yourself too seriously, you become a caricature of yourself and lose the plot.”

“The hardest thing about writing music is coming up with your own voice.”

“You have to resist your ego and venture out into uncharted territory creatively.”

“Whatever can musically convey emotion, that is what should be played.”

“I really hope that it inspires people to make music.”

“Do not be like anyone else. Take the lonely road.”

“Have the balls to be different.”

“You are not here to please anyone.”

“Big battles bring big victories.”

In this interview by Fok ‘bs‘, Jeff Hime and Todd Farrell Jr. from the American Heavy Rock’n’Roll band Electric Python discuss the philosophy behind ‘Speed Demon‘, the band’s passion for loud amplifiers, twin guitar harmonies and unforgettable riffs, as well as the balance between tradition and originality.
‘Speed Demon‘ never apologizes for being loud, fast and fun.
In an era where many bands try to reinvent rock, do you think there is something rebellious about simply embracing what made it great in the first place?
Jeff: “Rebellion, is all about freedom to make what you want. I think that appeals to a lot of people in anything. I want to be different, but I’m also guilty of ripping off my influences.”
Todd: “We never really set out to reinvent anything, but at the same time there aren’t a ton of bands that sound like us. We just want to write and play cool music and have fun doing it, and maybe the simplicity of that mission is the appeal. I’ve played in a LOT of bands (still do, honestly), and this is by far the most fun band I’ve been a part of.”
Your songs feel like they belong on a late-night highway as much as on a club stage.
When you’re writing, do you imagine a destination, or is the ride itself always the point?
Todd: “Jeff writes all the lyrics, so I can’t speak to that. But musically, a lot of times it’s just the ride. We’ll bash away and try to come up with something that’s a quick two-minute banger, and it ends up being a longer epic type song because that’s where it naturally ended up.”
Jeff: “The Ride is always the point! No matter if you are headed to a party, drug deal or robbing a bank the anticipation of the destination sets the mood of the Ride.”
Electric Python captures the spirit of classic heavy rock without sounding trapped in the past.
Where do you personally draw the line between honoring tradition and repeating it?
Jeff: “I try not to repeat concepts and riffs that have already been done. I think the hardest thing about writing music is coming up with your own voice. You have to resist your ego and venture out into uncharted territory creatively. Listeners are going to love it or hate it. The most important thing is to be true to yourself. Then, hope you nail it.”
Todd: “It isn’t really a conversation we have. When we’re writing, it usually starts with a riff that one of us came up with and we build on it. We all listen to a lot of different music, both in and outside the boundaries of ‘metal’ or ‘hard rock’, so it all sort of leaks into what we do. We recently wrote a song that has a very Motorhead feel, but then the bridge has this sort of Swedish death metal meets Blue Oyster Cult thing going on, but none of it really sounds like any of those bands. That’s the beauty of music, it’s always constantly evolving and building upon itself, but everything that existed before still exists.”
There is a sense of controlled chaos throughout ‘Speed Demon‘.
How do you keep the music sounding dangerous without letting it become messy?
Jeff: “One of the most important things is to listen to each other. Listening and locking into each other really makes the madness move in the right direction.”
Todd: “We tracked the record live, which has a lot to do with the pacing. We didn’t record to a click track, just sort of roll tape and see what happens, so it sounds a lot like what we sound like on stage. We overdubbed the vocals and guitar solos, but otherwise what you’re hearing is what we played in the room together. So there is a bit of ebb and flow with tempo, but in a way that sort of follows the natural feeling in the song.”
The album mixes horror movie imagery, humor and pure rock’n’roll attitude.
Do you think heavy music sometimes forgets that it can be entertaining without sacrificing its credibility?
Todd: “I think there are a lot of bands, especially in heavy music, who take themselves very seriously. That can be a good thing to an extent, but sometimes it takes away from the whole point. I’m a big fan of a lot of the more extreme corners of metal – black and death metal etc, but even for bands like that, the ones who are memorable to me are the ones that are clearly having fun with it. When you start taking yourself too seriously, you kind of become a caricature of yourself and lose the plot.”
Jeff: “I think that the last thing they want to do is lose their audience. People might expect a band to bring certain things to the table and they don’t want to delude the magic formula. I think they just want to stay in their lane. You have to stick with what works.”
Twin guitars have always been one of heavy rock’s greatest weapons.
Was there a particular moment during the recording of Speed Demon when you realized the interaction between the two guitars had become one of the album’s defining strengths?
Jeff: “I’m a sucker for Guitarmonies. I am always trying to stick it in wherever I can. It really enhances and elevates a melody. Twin guitars just makes any song better.”
Todd: “That’s something that came pretty naturally, or at least did when I joined the band. I’d start doing silly harmonies on the existing songs in rehearsals just because I thought it was fun, and when we started writing the material for ‘Speed Demon’, it just sort of happened naturally. My favorite band of all time is Iron Maiden, and Jeff is a giant Priest fan, so of course that’s going to leak into these kinds of songs.”
Your music feels built for people who still love loud amplifiers and crowded clubs.
If someone asked you to explain the appeal of heavy rock’n’roll without mentioning guitars, how would you describe it?
Jeff: “Those are literally my favorite things! I would say it effects you in the same way hearing a loud engine rev at a car race. Or going to a sporting event surrounded by other fans of your team and they are winning.”
Todd: “You’re a wizard standing on a mountainside during a thunderstorm. You raise your staff into the air and lightning strikes the vast plains before you. The earth shakes, and from the trembling ground rises the head of a giant python. 100 feet long, the python makes a bowing motion to your presence. You climb on its back, and ride towards the horizon. That’s heavy rock and roll.”
Nashville is known around the world for country music, yet it also hides a vibrant rock scene.
Has creating heavy music in that environment influenced Electric Python in ways that people outside the city might never notice?
Todd: “One of the first things Jeff said when explaining what he wanted Electric Python to be was that he wanted it to be heavy metal with hooks. Genres aside, Nashville is a songwriter town, and that includes even the weirdos like us. Bingham and I both spent the majority of our music careers playing in Americana or alt-country adjacent bands, very song-driven environments, and I think all of our collective experience and the osmosis effect of being surrounded by great songwriters dips into the Electric Python thing.”
Jeff: “We played with a country band once. It was great. The audience ate it up. People don’t just listen to one style of music in Nashville. In fact, a lot of people that make country music don’t listen to it. I would venture to say a large part of them don’t like it. It’s just a job to them.”
Many of your songs move forward with relentless momentum, but every great record also needs breathing space.
How do you decide when a riff should keep charging ahead and when it should leave room for tension to build?
Jeff: “The last thing I want to do is bore people. If I think we are dragging it out, I will change it up. People’s attention span is short. Especially, if they don’t know your music. I want to keep it interesting and moving.”
Todd: “Music is all about creating emotion through sound. Achieving that can have many faces. Sometimes it’s a blast beat, sometimes it’s a slow half-time groove, sometimes it’s thrashy, and sometimes it’s nothing. Same goes for melody vs dissonance, etc. Whatever can musically convey that emotion, that’s what should be played. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but that’s my answer.”
If ‘Speed Demon‘ were adapted into a cult movie, which song would make the perfect opening scene, and what would the audience see during those first few minutes?
Jeff: “I was reading a book about the Hell’s Angels. They would traffic drugs and whatever else to fund their way of life and their motorcycle chapters. They were relentlessly loyal to their chapter, because they all shared a love of riding motorcycles. They took amphetamines to ride all night. It was all about the love of riding motorcycles. Here again it’s all about the ride and that feeling you get out on the road. I just tried to capture that. The opening scene would be a shot of someone riding on a never-ending road. The ambiguity of what’s waiting for you.”
Todd: “I’d like to believe our video for ‘Last Chance’ is the opening scene.”
Every band eventually writes one song that surprises even its own members.
Was there a track on ‘Speed Demon‘ that evolved into something completely different from what you originally imagined?
Jeff: “I would say that every song on the album surprised me in that way because of how the others interpreted and added to the song. The band really makes the song. All the little extra nuances that everybody injects really makes the song far better than I imagined. I can come in with a skeleton and the other guys really shape and make it a great song. They take it to the next level. That’s why I try to be hyper sensitive to what they are doing and get out of the way.”
Todd: “‘No Way Out’ started very differently than it ended up. We woodshedded that one a LOT in order to get the arrangement right, but I’m really glad we put the work in, because it’s one of my favorites on the record.”
Imagine someone discovers Electric Python twenty years from now, without knowing anything about today’s music scene.
What do you hope they would immediately recognize as timeless rather than nostalgic?
Jeff: “I really hope that it inspires people to make music. When I started to play music, I had a lot of amazing musicians that made me want to play guitar. There’s several guitarist out there who have never met me that had a big impact on me and how I play. They don’t know me, but they inspired me. Ideally, I want people to like it as well. HAHA”
Todd: “I just hope they’d dig it. Getting to concerned about how your art is perceived is a slippery slope, so I can’t hope for anything other than for them to think it sounds cool.”
Rock’n’roll has always celebrated freedom, but every band also develops its own unwritten rules.
What is one rule inside Electric Python that has nothing to do with music, yet says everything about who you are as a band?
Jeff: “Don’t be like anyone else. Take the lonely road. Have the balls to be different. No tolerance for people that want to destroy your vision. You’re not here to please anyone. Big Battles bring Big Victories!”
‘Speed Demon‘ proves that Electric Python are not interested in reinventing heavy rock for the sake of novelty.
Instead, they embrace everything that has always made the genre exciting:
powerful riffs, memorable hooks, roaring twin guitars and an honest sense of freedom.
As Jeff Hime and Todd Farrell Jr. make clear throughout this conversation, authenticity is far more important than trends, and the best songs are born when musicians trust their instincts, enjoy the ride and never lose sight of why they started playing in the first place.
For Electric Python, rock’n’roll is not about looking back.
It is about keeping the engine running and the road wide open.
by Fok ‘bs‘