Havoc City Band Bio:

Young, energetic and guaranteed to liven up any line up, Havoc City are only just getting started. Havoc cities formation was the culmination of pent up frustration and small town boredom leading to a classic garage punk sound that ensured a fun night out and a nice escape for everyone involved, After a band reshuffle with members leaving and new members joining the band has developed a tighter more sophisticated sound whilst remaining loyal to its routes. With influences from The Undertones and The Clash mixing with new influences such as, Wunderhorse, Fontains DC and The K’s the sound is fast driving and exciting yet melodic and thoughtful with catchy hooks sure to have you humming for days on end. Having moved to Leeds, a city of much musical opportunity, Havoc already has a plethora of gigs lined up and a dedicated fan base. Available to play at any event Havoc are a must have band if you want to sell out your venue and end the night on a bang.

The band’s debut single Raggin it round, is a catchy iconic track for the band, and since its release they’ve been selling out small venues and bars,with promise of festivals in summer 2025. They’re a band with incredible potential to make it big, and every promoter knows it, with headlines lined up, with tickets to their gigs in high demand.

Band Members:

• Jacob Haw-Wells – Vocals
• Gene Marram – Lead Guitar
• Nathan         – guitar
• Harrison – Bass Guitar
• Burgess Holden – Drum

Skills, Goals and Ambitions

As a band we pride ourselves on being able to bring the raw simplistic catchy sounds of the undertones and the clash with the modern sophistication and ‘tightness’ of Wunderhorse and modern indie. Our music is well thought out, each part complimenting the next and each song never outstaying its welcome. So if you’re tired and bored and want some new exciting music, we have what you have been  looking for. We provide entertainment and fun and can always guarantee a captivating and energetic performance.

We want to become a name around the local venues of leeds. A house band to many establishments, the band you can rely on to sell tickets and bring in a big crowd. 

We are in many ways already well on the way to becoming this band, the promoter for out first gig moved us to headline after we sold quadruple the amount of tickets off the other bands and has now set us up with a string of three headline gigs around leeds.

Testimonials/reviews 

‘I’ve attended many small gigs for local bands, but I’ve only ever had an experience like havoc city at large arenas, the venue was completely packed, the energy was incomparable to the other bands on the lineup. Their set was lively and well-put together. The band came on stage and took over the room instantly, any chatter in the room switched to cheering and dancing with the opening track ‘ragging it round’. Despite this being one of the first performances for the new band they already had a following- besides anyone who attended that night not knowing of havoc city, certainly will be a follower now. They mixed there set up with fast paced, punk-esc originals and iconic covers, like ‘teenage kicks’ and ‘everlong’ certainly doing them justice. The lead guitarist added incredibly skillful solos that added a layer of complexity to the simplistic style of the music, which worked favourably live, keeping the audience engaged during instrumental breaks, as well as the drummer who also added fitting fills throughout. The singer was vibrant and high spirited, he kept consistent energy to their set with raw vocals keeping the. integrity of the punk genre. Highly recommend Havoc City.’

Promotional Photos:

Social Media:

• Instagram: [@havoccityofficil]

Upcoming Shows:

• 28/05/2025] – [Venue] – [Leeds]
  

The point of this EPK is to let people know that we are a band looking to play and one that a small promoter can rely on to sell tickets; as is stated by an article by apple music for artists, an EPK is also a good way to document your own progress and track your goals and achievements. Havoc City was formed by a group of friends a couple of years prior to my joining and since then members have left and joined and most recently me as well as a fellow student from the conservatoire were invited to join. We joined at the point the lead singer wanted to start taking the band more seriously (also a fellow student at the conservatoire). As mentioned in the EPK one thing we pride ourselves on is being a band that provides a fun atmosphere with promise of taking the next step as a band.

The band’s bio successfully encapsulates the essence of the band and its influences, highlighting the current achievements, and potential of growing success, therefore hopefully appealing to promoters on the search for small bands with a strong foundation and growing momentum, like havoc city reflect.  By including the band members names and roles within the EPK it adds a personal element, introducing the members personally and giving them each recognition, the aim of this is to make the band more relatable and memorable, putting names to the music and sound of the band, again with hopes to draw attention from promoters and possibly media outlets. Furthermore, making space for a section outlining skills, goals and ambitions, it highlights that havoc city are a goal orientated band, ready and willing to put in the work. By making the goal realistic and practical (becoming a house band for local venues) it shows potential promoters that the band is dependable and consistent with their current achievements, and aren’t getting ahead of themselves with unattainable goals for heir current status. This information is vital for industry professionals who want to know both the bands vision and that the band have realistic expectations.
A section for testimonials/ reviews spotlights social proof that showcases Havoc Cits’s appeal and ability to generate energy and memorable performances live making the band more attractive to promoters that may have doubts of the bands capability which is also reinforced with the mention of upcoming shows, showing the band is in demand, this also draws attention to upcoming opportunities for people to see the gigs and form their own opinion by seeing the band in action. Promotional photos also help to build a strong visual identity to the band, showcasing their image and aesthetic to help generate a better overall idea of what the band is about, it also gives media-friendly images for promotion that draws a crowd that the aesthetic appeals to.

Upon reflection, the bio, although engaging, could benefit from a tighter narrative to fully convey the band’s journey and current stage in their progress, maintaining a better balance of personality with professionalism, for example, when mentioning band member changes. The use of social media could also be improved, with the only platform currently being instagram. The band would most definitely benefit from having other platforms to help promote themselves, such as Facebook and X accounts, to provide more visibility for event promotions 

The bands use of instagram is a key part of having a digital presence for promotion and visibility. It can showcase visual content and engage directly with a fan base, informally connecting to a target audience, showing the bands personality and ‘vibe’, whilst helping spread news of the bands upcoming events, like live gigs and new music. However, instagram is not able to convey the depth that an EPK can. An EPK can offer a more formal and professional overview of a band whilst still showing their personality. Its offers a presentation of the band attractive to music professionals, including contact information, band goals and testimonials, which are crucial in order to gain professional opportunities to grow the band.

 As far as, example EPKs for similar genres like the band yur mum, in which band zoogle states, “As powerhouse rock duo Yur Mum shows with their music EPK, adding consistent images and using colors from that imagery throughout their EPK creates a balanced effect. As a result they can include lots of information, from press to reviews, quotes, music and more, without their EPK appearing messy.” Havoc City’s EPK is not as clean and aesthetically pleasing as the more developed bands are, however, for a relatively new band havoc citys EPK is clear, concise and represents both the personality of the band whilst still maintaining professionalism that will appeal to industry professionals.

So far the band has already started generating revenue by selling out small gigs, and in the future with continued headlines and ticket sales making it more likely for promoters to charge higher fees as the band are in higher demand. With a fan base developing for Havoc City it is likely that in the future more revenue can be generated through merchandise, however that will come with costs of manufacturing, so it will be vital to be certain that profit will be made from sales before investing. The cost of promotional pictures has not yet been an issue as the band used a photographer wanting to gain more experience, so offered to take pictures for free, however as the band grows it will be important to invest in more professional pictures which according to an article on eventbrite concert photographs can vay between £350-£700. Intellectual property such as original songs are automatically protected by copyright once recorded, however the band should prioritise registering with a performance rights organisation, in order to collect royalties, as mentioned in an article on vocal media “Without it, you risk missing out on significant income”.

By being part of Havoc City has definitely made me a better guitarist, both creatively and professionally. The creation of the EPK was done with input from other band members which gave us insight on each member’s strengths and helped gain a better understanding of what we could do to improve our band and become a name in the industry. The aim was to make an epk that reflected who we are as a band, energetic and full of potential and serious about a future in music.

The idea of the EPK came about in informal discussions at rehearsals and after gigs, we asked audience members/ fans for reviews as well as the promoters to help us better verbalise what type of band we are and the audience we bring. Paired with input from the singer, who had already a strong vision of how we should be perceived vocally and stylistically. Me and the other guitarist worked together to best describe the bands sound, drawing comparison from other bands like the clash and wunderhorse.

Together, we were able to refine the content through discussions led by me, and edits were made were needed. With help from promoters I was able to better describe the band from the viewpoint with the language appealing to future promoters and venue managers. I was important to us to properly balance our personality with professionalism.

Through researching other EPKs and using the knowledge gained from the course, I better understand the true importance of an EPK. By acknowledging what promoters value, like crowd pulling power and professionalism, we were able to focus on aspects in the epk like ticket sales and live reviews. We made sure to include social proof as we all mentioning upcoming gigs. By utilising our EPK we have already booked another potential gig and it is becoming an essential part of our revenue generation strategy

During this process ive personally learnt alot about the business side of being a member of a band, things like communicating our value, grasping the use of branding, thinking beyond just the music, I found an article from forbes magazine that quite simply breaks down how important social media is for branding, with a point being “collaboration opportunities” which i hadn’t thought about prior, and now realise is again another avenue for income whilst being in a band . By forming the EPK it has improved my communication skills and confidence in pitching the band to industry contacts. Professionally, I have a better knowledge of how to present ourselves online. I have a good understanding of how important image and consistency are when dealing with promoters.

Looking ahead, one area I’d like to improve on is developing a better structure of system within the band, for example dividing the responsibilities when it comes to marketing, bookings, managings and social media handling. I also aspire to become a more well-rounded song writer to make songs that we can push for radio play and streaming success. As we evolve as a band creatively and professionally, we can expand on our epk adding more reviews, more gigs and press quotes.

Bibliography

Source 1: Author. (Year). Why an Electronic Press Kit matters. [online] Apple Music for Artists. Available at: https://artists.apple.com/support/1121-why-an-electronic-press-kit-matters [Accessed 20/05/2025]

Source 2: https://bandzoogle.com/blog/how-to-create-an-epk-for-your-music-with-examples. I can no longer access this article I am unsure how to proceed

Source 3: Kusek, D. (2016). The Musician’s Essential Guide to Merch: What to Get, How Much to Charge, and Where to Buy. [online] sonicbids. Available at: https://blog.sonicbids.com/the-musicians-essential-merch-guide-what-to-get-how-much-to-charge-where-to-buy [Accessed 20/05/2025]

Source 4: Buttrey, L. (2024). Event Photography Pricing: 2024 Rates in the UK. [online] eventbrite. Available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/event-photography-pricing-2024-rates-in-the-uk-00cd/#:~:text=How%20much%20is%20a%20photoshoot,a%20fixed%20rate%20per%20hour [Accessed 20/05/2025]

Source 5: 123, M. (2024). The Importance of Registering Music for Royalties. [online] Education. Available at: https://vocal.media/education/the-importance-of-registering-music-for-royalties [Accessed 20/05/2025]]
Source 6: Grome, J. (2024). The Importance Of Social Media Branding For Musicians. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2024/03/05/the-importance-of-social-media-branding-for-musicians/ [Accessed 20/05/2025]