FOR3ST HILLS are here to rock out! They’re experimenting with some awesome stuff and we love it! Let’s see what they have to say!
First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
FOR3ST HILLS was originally named Forest Hills. We were named after the town our frontman, Zero, grew up in, which is located in New York City. We altered the name spelling to FOR3ST HILLS to show up more readily in search engine results, as searches for “Forest Hills” would always yield results for the town and it’s businesses before our band.
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
Each of us have been creating music for decades. Jack, our drummer, is originally a classically trained pianist. Jack has an extensive background in music, from worship drumming, to playing in punk bands, to drumming for hip hop artists and composing scores for film.
Zero, our frontman, is a self-taught musician who began writing songs around 12 years of age. Zero has experience in many areas of music including being in metal bands, to being a solo pop artist, to working with prog-rock and grunge bands, to composing rock music as a solo artist.
Each of us has had a lot of experience in many different forms, which has naturally helped our band create its own unique sound.
How would you describe your sound?
In general, we refer to our band as a rock band. However, we don’t limit our band to one genre or one type of sound. We love to experiment and try new things. Many of our songs are more metal, some are more pop, some are grunge, punk, and so on. Our versatility is part of what makes FOR3ST HILLS so unique.
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
Our band does not have any specific influences or inspirations. We create original music, so purposefully drawing from any specific artists wouldn’t make sense with that goal in mind. We do recognize that many of our fans enjoy bands that fall into the alt-rock and metal genres, such as My Chemical Romance, KoRn, System Of A Down, Linkin Park, Paramore, and so on, so we believe our overall sound probably falls into a similar vein as these artists.
What’s the last song you listened to?
My Hero by Foo Fighters – we watched the video where Taylor Hawkins’ kid played drums for it Live with the band. It was amazing to listen to.
What’s your source for hearing new music?
We’ll often discover new music through playlists or recommendations on the streaming platforms we listen to music through. Sometimes our fans will recommend a band or a song to us, and we always appreciate that!
Who is your dream producer?
We produce our own music and wouldn’t have it any other way. All of our recording, mixing and mastering is done by ourselves. We get to choose how our music sounds and the way it’s mixed, which works well for us. We’ve tried working with various producers in the past, but we know what we want better than anyone else, so in the end we’ve always opted to use our own masters for our final product.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Any artist who has integrity and is a decent human being is someone we’d consider collaborating with. Because of the versatility in our own music, we don’t have any preference for the genre of music our potential collaborative partner comes from. If you can do what you do well, and the vibes are right, we’re down.
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it?
Music has always been in our hearts and it’s something each of us has pursued since we were young kids – long before either of us knew each other. Music is a way to connect with yourself and with the world. It brings communities together and reminds you that you’re not alone.
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together?
Zero writes all the songs for our band, and music-wise he does everything in our band aside from the drums. Zero will write a song and record his composition, then send off the file to Jack. Jack will then write drums to it, we’ll both listen and talk about what is and isn’t working with the song, and make changes from there.
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you?
Community is super important to us. We actually message every single fan who follows us on Instagram – and we try to message on other social media platforms as well. The best way to connect with us on a deeper level beyond the surface is to join our REB3L Nation, a community that is hosted through our website FOR3STHILLS.com.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5U6os1QzFAjL4TgryAm1x5?si=jVeDlCMhTU6yaOaa3u450Q
Instagram: FOR3ST HILLS (@for3sthills) • Instagram photos and videos
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/for3sthills/drive
Band Website: https://for3sthills.com/
EPK: https://for3sthills.com/epk
REB3L Nation: https://for3sthills.com/reb3l-nation
What’s next for you?
FOR3ST HILLS is currently recording our third album, and building out our band’s tour bus. Once our tour bus is finished we will be on the road and touring the US, Canada, Mexico, and the rest of the world.
Anything else you’d like to add or let us know about?
FOR3ST HILLS is always working on something new. Our band is mental-health oriented and we advocate for a different charity each month by donating 50% of the profits from our hand-painted t-shirts. Despite being a smaller sized band, we still have such a large community of fans who have a passion for helping others and promoting the positive messages our band stands for. We are very thankful for everyone who supports what we do, and can’t wait to share more in the near future.
Bio:
FOR3ST HILLS is an independent rock band formed by Zero Surico and Jack Burton in September of 2018. FOR3ST HILLS was originally known as Forest Hills. Our name was changed to FOR3ST HILLS in March of 2021.
