MPF2025 FIRST TIMER SPOTLIGHT: HELLE
If there’s one thing that seems to draw people back to Manchester Punk Festival, even in its tenth year, it’d probably be the variety. One of the enduring wonderful things about the festival is that in the space of half an hour, you can go from watching straight-ahead pop-punk in the Union to bouncing around to hardcore by a Peruvian punk band that flew in and played Zombie Shack.
If you think I’ve made that up, just check a previous year’s programme.
Anyway, one of the best examples of this phenomenon this year is the band Helle, who I caught up with recently.
Who The Helle Are They?
Helle are one of the newer bands entering MPF this year, having only formed in 2021 via a group of like-minded students at university in Leeds. After gigging early on in 2021, the addition of drummer Ethan Aldwinkle in 2022 completed the circle, and they’ve largely been ascending ever since.
Already popular in their home town of Leeds (continually selling out a now-infamous Halloween gig at an independent Leeds venue, Oporto), Helle look to channel their rage at the injustices of the world into their music to reach a wider audience.
Riot Grrls For A New Age
Frequently political, lead singer Elsie also tells me that the band are particularly inspired by the Riot Grrl movement of the early 90s (if you want to feel old, listen to a band you like now telling you their influences are bands you liked when you grew up(!)). As Elsie says: “With Riot Grrl, it felt like, for the first time, it was like feminism was more about talking about the taboo subjects that weren’t like polite for young ladies to be discussing. Our next release “Pornography” is two chords, screaming, moaning, shouting the whole way through about how women can own their own sexuality…and that, for me, is one of the biggest songs that was inspired by this whole punk movement. We’ve evolved in our own way, but without Riot Grrl, I wouldn’t be doing this.”
They’re unapologetically feminist punk, and it comes through in the sheer bite of their songs and lyrics – possibly their most famous track ‘Scream’ (recently heard on Radio 1, of all places) is a great example. Everything from their look to their sound is in-your-face, and when you have this much talent, why not? It also seems to be a strike against the occasional insularity of the punk scene, too; Elsie talks openly about not fitting in at certain gigs in certain scenes, and it does feel as though they’ve found their feet largely by punching their way through the brick walls that are often set up to keep female talent and female bands down.
That’s not likely to be a problem at MPF, of course, and that’s probably why Helle sound so excited about playing there.
Grounded In Reality
Elsie is at pains to point out the variety of their subject matter though, saying that ‘while we do have songs that scream at the patriarchy and so on, some of our songs are about how politics is mostly just full of bollocks, and sometimes we just like being silly, too!’
The best example of this is new single “Hyper Bitch”, which she takes me through as follows: “It’s upbeat, it’s very fun. It’s about when a girl just can’t keep your name out of her mouth, and it drives you insane because you don’t want to stoop to her level; and just be a bitch back because she’s been a bitch to you. But sometimes it just drives you insane. It’s really, really fun. There’s bits of 13 Going On 30, She’s All That, and 10 Things I Hate About You in there, so…”
There’s a wry smile to my follow-up question about whether it was influenced by real-life events. Draw your own conclusions, kids.
Helle Of A Future?
More than anything, though, all that spills out of Helle during our chat is energy. They’re eager to see you, eager to play for you, and eager to get music down on record and out. By the time MPF rolls around, the aforementioned “Pornography” will be out, and the band hope to support it with some other singles, as well as rolling through the UK like some sort of unstoppable feminist punk force. As well as the mighty MPF, Helle are also appearing at the legendary Rebellion festival, beginning what will be a busy year for the band.
They cite Leeds contemporaries Random Hand as a massive influence (not least considering that Elsie was tutored by their guitarist in college!), and you’ll hear Elsie on their backing vocals if you listen well, but their biggest contribution to Helle’s rise might lie in what was possibly the best quote of all the interviews I’ve done with any band:
“Show up, and don’t be a knob.”
Helle exemplify this in everything they do – they’re releasing, writing, and performing music at one hell of a clip, and it’s not hard to see them having ascended even further in a year’s time.
You’ll get your chance to see them at a quarter past midnight (00:15 for you military types), on Saturday Night/Sunday morning in YES Basement.
You might be telling people that’s where you saw the next big thing one day. In Helle’s case, I’d put my money on it.
See you there?
Stay punk x
We’re down to the last 50 tickets. Grab yours here.
You should also download the MPF2025 app so you don’t miss Helle’s slot – woov.to/manchesterpunk25
