The vast territory encompassed by the United States, or USA for short, is vast not only geographically, but also in its understanding and practice of genres from both Metal and Rock.
In fact, it is common knowledge that many of the genres revered today originated in those lands, such as Tampa Death Metal, Bay Area Thrash Metal with the renowned ‘Big 4’ as its main standard-bearer, the much-maligned and almost cursed Californian Nü Metal, Seattle Grunge, and of course, Southern Rock and Stoner.
In February 20th, as part of the Spanish tour of the English band Satan, the American band Hellgrimm joined them, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to interview the Texas power trio, who embodied many characteristics of genuinely American styles, reminding me of bands that have since disappeared.
So, without much delay I contacted them, and by the hand of Erica Missey, drums and voices and Jerry Connor, writer and guitarist, this is what they told me.
Kat: First of all, thank you very much for accepting my invitation to answer a few questions for my VALENCIA’N’METAL AROUND THE WORLD website. Let’s start. According to the information I’ve been able to find, Hellgrimm was formed in 2018, but it had existed since 2004 under the name of Monkeysoop. There were musical differences between them? Has Hellgrimm any members from the old lineup in?
Erica Missey: Yes, Hellgrimm and Monkeysoop have both been Jerry and I from the beginning. We originally formed Monkeysoop as a Progressive Instrumental group – non-vocal music with multiple time signature changes, tempo changes, exotic scales, and lots of guitar shreddery. At that time, I played bass and we had different drummers over the years.
Around 2009, I made the decision to switch to playing drums: we took a few months off from playing live, I bought a drum kit and practiced like hell, and we reimmerged with a different bassist. Shortly afterward, we also started playing guitar and drums for the Punk Rock puppet band of “Three Little Pigs” fame, Green Jelly, and that had a big impact on our sound. In working with Green Jelly, I found that I can and enjoy singing while playing instruments, haha!
Monkeysoop started going in the direction of comedy Punk and Metal and most of our new songs had vocals. During the recording of our last Monkeysoop album, Where the Truth Lies, we realized our song structure and sound was changing and becoming distinctively more vocal oriented with a Harder Rock/Stoner/Blues sound. At that point we decided to rename the band Hellgrimm, ironically the name of a song on our first Monkeysoop album.
We still have Monkeysoop music online but we’re happy currently performing and recording as Hellgrimm.
K.: So it was a completely natural evolution. Hellgrimm is from San Antonio, Texas, in the southern United States. I’ve always wanted to know if, in your opinion, there are differences between the north and the south in the way rock and metal are understood, or if it depends on the individual?
Jerry Connor: We have found out that different regions of the world, not only the North and South, have different pockets of music that’s popular. I can only answer for myself – my writing is a blend of all of my musical influences and sounds that I hear going about my day. Growing up, I remember hearing my neighbor playing basketball and trying to write a song to match the beat of the ball hitting the pavement.
K.: Oh, that’s cool! haha. Let’s see, one of the genres that is very specific to southern regions in the USA, is Southern Metal, and sometimes seems that only those come from those regions can understand it. What do you think about it?
Jerry C.: The first time I heard Pantera I was blown away by how Heavy they sounded. I was amazed by the sound of Dimebag’s guitar. I grew up listening to a lot of Southern Metal bands from Texas like Watchtower, Rigor Mortis, Deadhorse, Juggernaut… the bands you listen to are definitely going to rub off on you.
K.: Yes, that’s right. Hellgrimm defines itself as Stoner Rock. But as I mentioned in my review of your last concert in Valencia, I noticed certain Southern Metal influences in your music—a genre you know very well, but more specifically from more contemporary bands like Hellyeah and Damageplan. Do you agree?
Jerry C.: When we started Hellgrimm, we were gearing it towards more Stoner Rock, Doom Metal, Blues Rock… we were trying to write music that was a little more accessible to audiences than the prog instrumental that we did as Monkeysoop. As time went on, we drifted away from trying to write for a specific genre and over the past few albums, I think we’ve found our own musical identity.
K.: I understand. In your opinion, do you think there are similarities between Southern Metal and Stoner Rock, even though they come from opposite regions, or are they different?
Jerry C.: I feel that some of the heavy riffs can be played in both southern metal and stoner rock. To me, southern metal is a lot more aggressive than stoner rock, which is more laid back.
K.: Thanks for that clarification, I think I understand it better now.
So, Erica, at the beginning of the interview you said that you started playing drums around 2009, and that’s why you sing and play drums in Hellgrimm. But still, which of the two skills manifested itself first?
Erica M.: I’ve been singing along with the car stereo since I was a kid. I’ve always had songs in my head and I’ve always been singing along (sometimes out loud, much to the chagrin of my teachers), and I was usually tapping out a beat on whatever was handy. I’ve always liked to draw as well, so in between pencil strokes, I’d tap out drum beats, haha! Once I was old enough to drive, I sang even more during my work commutes! In 2002, once I met Jerry, I got very focused on playing music and bought my first bass, followed by my first drum kit in 2009.
K.: I see. And do you find it easy to juggle both roles simultaneously?
Erica M.: These days, yes. But it’s taken years of practice to get here. I find it’s easier for me to drum and sing than it is to play bass and sing. When I play the bass, my voice has a tendency to follow the bassline, which in our music hardly ever matches up. With practice, I can play bass and sing, but I’m happy these days that I get to wail from behind the safety of my drum kit!
K.: It is very interesting, I never thought in this possibility when I listen a bass-singer player. And if you had to left one of the them in the future, which would it be?
Erica M.: I will play drums and sing until I can’t anymore. If a drummer comes along at some point that we jell with, then we’ll see.
K.: Well, let’s hope that never happens. But even so, it’s not very common to find a musician in the Metal/Rock scene who, in addition to playing drums, is also the lead vocalist. In your opinion, what do you think this happens?
Erica M.: In our case, necessity. We got tired of fighting for drummers that were busy with three or four or five musical projects. It’s easier for us to consistently handle guitar, drums, and vocals and have a few bassists that play shows when it’s easiest for them. We try not to take any one bassist away from their families and their jobs too much. Jerry and I are self-employed and we can tour and record more than our bandmates most of the time.
K.: It is a very good reason. Let’s talk about your discography now. Hellgrimm has released five studio albums, the latest being ‘Sacrifice’ in 2024. What themes do you usually write about in Hellgrimm? How do you organize yourselves during the songwriting process? Do you divide the tasks among yourselves or do you all work together?
Erica M.: As you can find in our biography taken from www.hellgrimm.com: “Hellgrimm is a power trio forged in 2018 that delves into the darkness of demons and death, with stories based in fiction and fact, conjuring spells of destruction and salvation. Their rhythmic melodies are punctuated by haunting solos and a piercing voice that sheds light on the darkest situations.”
Jerry writes the music and lyrics, mostly about life experiences and topics from movies and documentries that intrigue us both. Once he has the music and lyrics established, we get in the practice room and hammer out the songs and I help edit the songs a bit and we both write the vocal melodies.
From there, we show the bassists what we’d like for them to play. They play the songs the way that we show them, but they each throw a bit of their unique styles on the tracks when we play live!
Jerry and I typically handle recording all the instruments and vocals ourselves, but we ocassionally have our other bandmates and guest musicians record spots on our albums. On Resurrection, Hellgrimm bassist Johnnie Kay does bass and backing vocals on several songs.
Our latest album Sacrifice was released on February 13, 2026, online and CD. It’s gotten good reviews and we’re getting good feedback from people at the shows. “Murder on My Mind,” “Reign of Terror,” “Embrace,” and “Dog Trash Must Die” are the tracks from the new album that we’re playing live and we’re loving these songs (and the audience is also, from what we can tell)!
Hellgrimm 2026 (photo from their official Facebook)
K.: It is very important to musicians to know the audience thoughts. Last February, you toured with Satan in Spain. Tell me, how was the experience? Would you like to return to Spain?
Erica M.: Our four-show run in Spain was amazing!! We can’t say enough good things about your country! Everywhere we went there were so many magical buildings, sculptures, landscapes, city streets, restaurants – a feast for the senses! By far the easiest, smoothest tour across the pond we’ve done yet, we’re still basking in good memories a month later! We loved supporting NWOBHM rockers Satan, they were one of the coolest bands we’ve worked with! Kike, Montse, Luis, and the crew with the Manguales Extreme Metal Union and the guys in Satan were the nicest people, they went out of their way to make us comfortable and appreciated and helped us on stage and off. It was a dream experience and yes, we would love to return to Spain!
K.: That’s good to hear! I hope it happens soon. And finally, what are Hellgrimm’s current plans? Any confirmed dates, summer festivals, new material…?
Erica M.: We always have material to record. Jerry is an extremely prolific writer and he’s always about two albums ahead of our most recent release, he’s always ready to jump back into the recording studio! Jerry and I are also finishing up a musical based on a book called “Gideon’s Journey,” written by Paul Enemark. This has been in progress for a couple of years and we’re excited about nearing the finish line with it. We also have a few shows in the works now and some tours cooking but we can’t say anything just yet. Once we have dates locked in, we’ll post it on www.hellgrimm.com and on all our socials.
K.: Excellent news. We’ll be keeping an eye on it. Many thanks to Jerry and to you, Erica. If you’d like to add anything else, go ahead!
Erica M.: Thank you soooo much for the interview! We hope you have a great Spring and keep Rockin’! If you’d like to follow Hellgrimm, www.hellgrimm.com has links to everything and our music is available on most download and streaming platforms! Cheers! Nos vemos pronto!
K.: Thanks to you too!.
HELLGRIMM en RRSS
https://www.facebook.com/Hellgrimmband/
https://www.instagram.com/hellgrimm_band
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/artist/1VQjly9KGnrwIEpiiLq6LA
Official Site