Hellions On Ten Years Of ‘Opera Oblivia’

Sydney’s genre-defying rock titans, HELLIONS, are celebrating the tenth anniversary of their ARIA-nominated, career-defining album, Opera Oblivia, with a massive Australian tour kicking off this week. Opera Oblivia is the album that smashed expectations, redefined the boundaries of Australian heavy music, and delivered a phenomenal #4 debut on the ARIA Charts. Declared a “genre great” by the wider music community for its sheer theatricality and ambition, Opera Oblivia cemented HELLIONS’s reputation for innovation and audacious song writing. From the explosive, anthemic hooks of Quality of Life and Thresher to the intricate, dramatic beauty of its theatrical movements, this record is a modern classic. Drummer Anthony Caruso talks to Hi Fi Way about the anniversary milestone and tour.

Ten years of your debut album, you’ve got to be excited about that, and be wondering, where’s that time gone?
It’s, surreal, hey. It feels like it just came out of nowhere. A couple of friends last year were sort of like, oh, you know, the record’s almost ten years old now. We’re like, no way. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. It really doesn’t, yeah.

Was that partly the trigger to get everybody back together, knowing that this year would be that milestone, and that you really need to be doing something to commemorate the occasion?
Yeah, pretty much. We were chatting and thought, you know, maybe it’d be nice to tour that record again. Those were some of the best times of our lives and careers back then, so the idea of revisiting it was really appealing. I gave Matt a call, he said he was interested, and originally it was only meant to be this tour. But then it developed into new music, and everything has just kind of snowballed from there, which is really exciting. The vibe is really positive with everyone, everyone’s super stoked and keen to get back into it. I’m actually about to head down to Melbourne to start rehearsals.

Has that energy, particularly with rehearsals and practices, felt like picking up from where you left off?
In a way, yeah, it’s almost like muscle memory. We did a few shows in December to shake the cobwebs off, and in the lead‑up we had a handful of rehearsals. I think at that very first one we all looked at each other like, oh, this doesn’t feel as bad as we thought it would. And after playing a couple of songs, it honestly felt like we’d never left. If anything, it felt like we were playing better than before, maybe because we’re a bit older now, a little more sensible.

When you reflect on the milestone, what does it mean to you now when you take it all in and think about the journey to date?
It means the world to all of us. The biggest thing we’ve been reflecting on as a group is the connection we built with the people who connected with our music, especially through this record. This was the one that really put us on the map, the moment people outside our local scene started to know who we were. Looking back on the bond this album created, and on where we were then versus where we are now, is pretty wild. It’s been ten years, so we’ve grown up a lot, and our fans have grown up alongside us. That’s the biggest trip, seeing the same names and faces at the shows in December and thinking, I can’t believe you’re still here with us. It’s crazy, humbling, and very cool.

Do you ever think, oh, why did we stop? Or if you had your time over, would you do things any differently?
I don’t… in a way, yes. I think the break was necessary for us to reignite things. We’d put so much pressure on ourselves after Opera Oblivia, going into Rue, and then everything that happened beyond that. We were in a pressure cooker, touring constantly, feeling like we had to live up to a certain creative and performance standard. The break gave us space to step away, figure ourselves out a bit more, and now coming back to it, I think we’re mentally much more mature and healthier.

Do you have a newfound appreciation, not to say you didn’t before, but a sense that you missed it a lot, and now that you’ve got this moment again, you want to make the most of it?
You miss it every day when you’re not doing it. For the first six months or so, you’re like, oh, this is really nice, just having time to do your own thing. But after that, you start thinking, I wouldn’t mind hopping on a plane again, or even just getting into a rehearsal room with the boys. We’ve all known each other since we were kids, so you miss your brothers as well. We all stayed in touch, Dre and I lived about one hundred metres from each other for years, so we were always hanging out. Josh and I weren’t far either. Matt moved away for a bit, so we lost touch there, but having everyone back together now has been really nice. And for this tour, we’ve got the same crew we had on the old tours. It feels like the family’s come back together, and we’re bringing our new families with us.

When you go back to when the album came out, were there any moments or particular events that stood out as memorable?
The Unified shows we played, those festivals, were always really special to us. It felt like our whole community was in one place, and those moments really stand out. The Rue tour was another big one; those shows were incredibly meaningful, and it was also Matt’s last tour with us before he left. Reflecting on how we felt then versus how we feel now, after everything that’s happened in between, has been important. We’ll talk more about the behind‑the‑scenes side of it all when the time’s right, but for now we’re focused on rebuilding and strengthening our connections with each other.

Are you looking to play the album start to end, or do you mix up the order?
The plan at the moment is to play it in order, but we’ll see what happens once we get to rehearsal tomorrow. There might be one or two songs that we shift toward the end of the set and take out of the original sequence. We’re also planning to include some of our other songs, so we’ll work out how to pair everything together. Rehearsal starts, so I’ll have a clearer idea after that.

Are some of these songs on that album going to take a bit of rehearsing to nail live, because they might not necessarily have been played much even back in the day?
I don’t think so. In terms of physical fitness, for me anyway, yeah, absolutely. A Bad Way is definitely a bit of a workout. But overall, I’m feeling pretty comfortable. We’ve already got a couple of shows under our belt from December, and the vibe was really good. I felt like we all played really well, everyone seemed relaxed, and like I said before, it was almost muscle memory. Going into those shows, I was freaking out a little, thinking, man, can I even play these songs anymore? But I was pleasantly surprised by how well everyone did.

For new fans who have jumped on board and discovered you guys for the first time, are there any plans to perhaps put this out on vinyl, or a CD re‑release?
We are working on maybe doing a live aspect of it, in some way. Like, I can’t really say, that’s kind of a work in progress, but yeah, I think we might be looking at filming one of these shows, and maybe, yeah, if everything lines up, maybe we’ll put out a live record to celebrate it in that way. That’d be cool. At the moment, no plans for a special ten‑year vinyl or anything like that, but we’ve got plans to make sure we celebrate it as best we can.

I know you hinted at new music, that’s got to be exciting. Is it still early days there, and is the plan to build towards an album, or do you just take it moment by moment, enjoy the tour, and then see what the energy’s like once the tour’s finished?
A little bit of both, I think. Everyone’s over the moon to get some new music out. We’ve got a new song coming out just before the tour starts. We’d all love to do another album. That’s definitely the goal. What the timeline looks like for that, I’m not too sure at the moment, but yeah, it’s definitely something we’ll be doing at some point. We’re sitting on, like, over twenty demos that are ready to go, so there’s material there, just got to get in and record it and figure out what we like the most.

Is the plan to keep going, keep touring, and maybe have another go overseas? Do you have any longer‑term plans, or is it just take it as it comes?
I think take it as it comes. We’re kind of just going to see what happens from here, how the new song’s received and definitely more touring is on the cards. See what happens overseas. We’ll probably do it a little bit different and look after ourselves a little bit more as far as scheduling and stuff goes, but we want to go and really get back into it. I think that’s the goal at the moment.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Hellions on the following dates, tickets HERE…