Steve Hughes is an Australian-born thrash metal drummer, comedian and actor. Hughes has embraced the title "heavy metal humourist", as it aligns with his approach to comedy, music and life; the press have referred to this title and similar variations.[1][2][3][4]
Hughes was an active member of Australia's early thrash metal scene. He founded and played drums for Slaughter Lord, one of the first thrash metal bands in Australia—a band that had a brief yet notable impact on the country's extreme metal music history.[5][6] He subsequently played drums for thrash metal band Mortal Sin and the black metal band Nazxul.[7][8][9]
Hughes started performing stand-up in the 1990s and relocated to England in 2002 to further pursue his career in comedy.[7][8][9][10] He is based in Manchester,[11][12][13] and performs stand-up internationally, primarily across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.[10][14]
Hughes also starred in the 2015 indie short film Brainless Killers, which won the awards for Best Film, Best Thriller and Best Special Effects in the short film category at the Sydney Indie Film Festival.[15][16][17]
Music career
Born in Sydney,[13] Hughes became interested in heavy metal in the early 1980s.[3] In an interview with MusicRadar Hughes said he became obsessed with Iron Maiden in 1982 and "the pounding drumming of Mr Clive Burr" and was also heavily influenced by Black Sabbath and Dio drummer Vinnie Appice, particularly his work on Dio's first 2 albums, which he would repeatedly play while attempting to play along.[3]
In 1985 he founded a band that was originally named Onslaught, but the band was forced to change their name due to a UK-based band by the same name.[5] The band briefly changed their name to Devastator, before settling on Slaughter Lord.[5] Slaughter Lord released one demo tape titled Taste of Blood before disbanding in 1987.[citation needed] In spite of the band's short lifespan, Slaughter Lord had received attention overseas[citation needed] and has since been called "legendary"[5] and "pioneering"[6] in terms of Australia's extreme metal history.
In 2010 Hughes released the album Sumaireindependently under the band name Eternum.[24]Sumaire contained songs that he had written and arranged and mainly performed himself along with "some shredding solos performed by a variety of metal maniacs."[24][25]
While Hughes has focused on his comedy career since the early 2000s, he said in a 2010 interview with Post Modern Ink magazine that music remained his first love.[11]
Comedy career
Hughes first tried comedy in 1994, shortly after having joined the band Nazxul,[8][22] and started performing at The Comedy Store in Sydney.[9][24]
Hughes is known for maintaining his heavy metal look during his stand-up performances. Hughes has worn his hair long for much of his comedy career and also sports a goatee.[7][29][30][31] He often wears all-black, including a leather jacket, concert t-shirt and jeans.[13][30][32][33]
After touring non-stop for four years and averaging more than 150 shows a year, Hughes took a break for health reasons.[14] During this hiatus he quit both drugs and alcohol cold turkey and cut his long hair short.[14][33] He returned to the comedy stage in 2014.[14]
Television and film
In the 1990s Hughes was a hard rockVJ for MTV Australia[9][24][54] By Hughes' own account, he got the job at MTV through the help of a friend who was a cameraman, but the job lasted only about 6 weeks after it was determined that there was not enough of a demand in Australia at the time for heavy metal-based programming.[54]
Hughes was interviewed for the 2014 documentary film Metal Down Under: A History Of Australian Heavy Metal.[55][56]
In 2015 he starred in the Australian short film Brainless Killers as the mayor of Zombridge, a fictional town inhabited by zombies.[15][16][48] The role required extensive make-up, provided by the same make-up team that worked on Mad Max: Fury Road.[16] The film was nominated for 6 awards in the short film category and went on to win the awards for Best Film, Best Special Effects and Best Thriller.[15][59]
Discography
Slaughter Lord discography
Taste of Blood (Demo)
Released: 1986
Thrash 'til Death 86—87 (A retrospective of the band's work from 1986 to 1987, including the Taste of Blood demo tracks as well as other previously unreleased studio and rehearsal tracks.)
^Sæverås, Nils Olav (30 August 2013). "Heavy metal-humorist". Bergensavisen (in Norwegian). Norway. Retrieved 11 February 2016. I call myself a heavy metal humourist because my sense of humour, like metal, are not tailored for everyone to like it.
^ abcdGiffin, Brian (2009). Encyclopedia of Australian Heavy Metal. Lulu Enterprises Incorporated. p. 344. ISBN9781409263982. Retrieved 11 February 2016. Perhaps the earliest and undoubtedly one of the most legendary of Australia's extreme metal contingent, Slaughter Lord was an early Sydney thrash band whose status during the formative period of the country's metal scene was only rivalled by Mortal Sin. The band was formed by Hughes under the name Onslaught in 1985, but after a clash was discovered with a British thrash band the group changed its name to Devastator. Unhappy with such a generic name, it was soon changed again to Slaughter Lord.
^ abScott-Maxwell, Aline; Whiteoak, John, eds. (2003). Currency companion to music and dance in Australia. Currency House Inc. p. 316. ISBN9780868192604. Its lightning speed and hammering beat were delivered by Sydney's pioneering Slaughter Lord.
^Giffin, Brian (2009). Encyclopedia of Australian Heavy Metal. Lulu.com. p. 2197. ISBN9781409263982. Retrieved 11 February 2016. (Nazxul) played their first ever gigs in 1998...Hughes left the band after these show and in early 1999 was replaced by Front End Loader drummer Pete Kostic.
