About us

Neo-Noir dream rock band formed in 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Although most commonly associated with surf, H.E.H.F. music has varied on each release including such styles as psychedelic rock, dream rock, and surf rock. In 2017 they have cultivated their tone into what they coined as neo-noir dream rock. Their unique sound is extremely dynamic full of explosive modulations, dark tones, visceral beats and complex melodic guitar overtones topped off with soft retro vocal melodies. The band is most commonly referenced as something you would hear on a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack, with Mazzy Star like vocals on dreamy Pink Floyd like musical tones.

Members

Members are skateboard legend Tony Alva (former member of G.F.P. “General Fucking Principle” and Skoundrelz) on bass. Matthew Rainwater (former member of T.S.O.L. True Sounds of Liberty, The Strays, and Death on Wednesday) on drums. Vulcho Bonev (from Los Lavas, and formerly in Little Brothers Disease) on guitar and Rachel Anne Rainwater (solo songwriter and artist) on Vocals.

The Story

Behind every band there is a story, a starting point, an idea that bloomed passion into motion and created the beginning for that band. For us the story began and evolved as it grew, creating many different starting points and we metamorphosed into what we have become today.
The very beginning of the move toward HEHF began in May of 2011 when Ray Barbee called Matthew Rainwater to play with himself and Tony Alva for a group of events for Vans. They played a set of instrumental improve tunes, building and creating while they played in what was called the “chicken noodle soup project” eventually landing them a gig at the red carpet event called MusiCares.
Ray became very busy with travel and month long trips and was unable to play as frequently, so Tony and Matthew looked to continue playing with a guitar player that was as experimental and diverse as Barbee. Matthew brought in Vulcho Bonev, a very diverters and eclectic guitar player with his own sound, whom he had known since 1997 when they met living in Lake Tahoe. Tony, Matt and Vulcho met up to play and see how the chemistry was and it worked perfectly. In January of 2012 Matthew, Vulcho and Tony started playing and writing together as in instrumental three piece. They started writing new material using their improve ideas to create full length instrumental pieces. These became a full instrumental set they put together and rehearsed over the next year as they kept experimenting and growing.
As they grew, Matthew brought in a name to the guys to call it “His Eyes Have Fangs”. The name was something his 5 year old daughter, Shekinah, had stated in her car seat while playing a game where she would say things she would see out the car window driving down the street. She saw a motorcycle cop wearing a visor helmet and exclaimed, “look daddy! His eyes have fangs!” He wrote it down and wanted to use it immediately as a band name. The guys were all in for the name, and so the new project became “His Eyes Have Fangs” and so the band was born.
The band rehearsed in Vulcanic Studioz, which is Vulcho’s recording studio, and started recording all of their instrumental pieces while practicing to focus in on curating their sound and coming up with new material.
In December of 2012 Tony asked the band record a acoustic song to be featured on a video for his White Lotus acoustic guitar coming out with Fender in January of 2013. Over the last year that they had been toying with the idea of bringing on a female on vocals and so Tony and Matthew asked Rachel Anne Rainwater, solo artist, to come in a write and sing during the recording session for the acoustic song. Rachel began piecing together lyrics and melodies live in the studio, and by the end of the recording session she had became apart of the band. The song was cut for the video without the vocals but the song called “Surf en the Dark” became the starting point for what was to come. The band released the acoustic version of the song in December 2013 on their bandcamp to be followed by a self titled EP in the year to come.
Over the next year the band started playing out at events for Vans, and local pubs, and began working on their DIY self titled EP recording of 4 songs for a 7″ vinyl. The idea was for the entire album to be put together by the members of the band. The music itself was to be recorded, mixed and mastered by Vulcho in his studio, and all of the artwork and packaging design was to be done by Rachel Anne, who is also a fashion designer and graphic artist. Some outside help came from Corey Kieser and Tim Grey with some producing and help mixing in the final stages of the mix and mastering.
In June of 2014, after a night session working on an electric version of Surf en the Dark, Rachel Anne was leaving the studio and was hit by a hit-and-run drunk driver, that left her in a fight for her life. The accident left her virtually unable to walk for almost 6 months. Her accident put the band into a immediate holding pattern with the recording and shows, awaiting her recovery. It took months for her to be at a place where she could play any new shows with the band and finish the vocals on the recordings. After a long recovery for her and for the band they were able to start playing out again. In December of 2015 their fist show back was at the opening of the Vans Korea flagship store in Seoul South Korea with a couple of shows there back to back. The first shows back were a giant success and then quickly followed up by the long awaited EP album in July of 2015. It was much anticipated at this point and became just the beginning for the band.
Quickly after the release of the EP in the summer of 2015 the band was signed by Astro Lizard records to put out a full length LP and began working on “Blue 4 U”. The album was to be recorded onto 2″ tape, and after some difficulty with Astro Lizards 2″ the recording was moved back to Vulcanic Studioz to finish recording it to 2″ tape by Jarrett and Brent from Astro Lizard in Vulcanic Studioz space.
The songs on the LP are a blend of material written as a four piece throughout 2016. Two songs, “ Haunted” and “Let it Die” were written in the studio sessions, then “Medal” from the first set from 2015 was added, as well as song “Into the Sun” from Rachel’s solo work in 2005 that the band put through the HEHF “blender.” The album is full of explosive modulations and dynamic dark tones, with visceral beats, and complex rhythms layered with soft bold melodies and poetic lyrics. It’s set to come out on July 16th of 2017 on Astro Lizard Records with several single releases and video releases before the full album release.
The band is already working on new material for the next full length album. Stay tuned to keep in the loop.