“The Hardrock Haven Band of the Month is a band we firmly believe needs to be heard. Each month, one Hardrock Haven staff member has their opportunity to pick a band they feel is going to break soon; a band that is deserved of nationwide attention; and lastly, a band that just kicks ass.” … Derric Miller.

Hardrock Haven is proud to continue into our second year for our feature installment — Band of the Month — and visit New Jersey to discover The Hixon.

The Hixon hit the New Jersey metal scene in 2002 with a vengeance. By mid 2003 Billboard Magazine was interviewing all the band members to discuss the events they were to be performing at later in the summer. They had secured coveted time slots on all three festivals playing between 8-10 p.m.

During March Metal Meltdown that summer The Hixon caught the attention of filmmaker Rick Ernst who was filming the documentary Get Thrashed. Ernst was so impressed with the band he not only included the footage in the final cut of the film but personally invited the entire band to attend the premier and they were all photographed together for an ad in Revolver Magazine.

With so many clubs closing in southern NJ and PA it was very hard to get bookings being an original old school thrash band. The band would not let the situation hinder their mission to be heard.

When vocalist Marc Hixon’s mother won her battle with breast cancer, Marc saw a way to not only help people in need but to also help the local music scene. Heavy Metal Takes A Stand Against Breast Cancer Concert Series was created, produced and headlined by The Hixon. The events have raised and donated over $12,000 to The Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation. Other self-produced charity events include, Make A Wish Foundation and The Concert For New Orleans Victims, Proceeds went to sponsored families in need.

Another staple of the local scene is the Hixon-Fest. It is a yearly summer concert produced and headlined by The Hixon, featuring metal bands from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The last Hixon-Fest was hosted by Richard Christy, formally of Iced Earth and Death, and now on the Howard Stern show. The legendary shock jock promoted the event for three weeks in a row leading up to the July 30 2007 show.

The Hixon had completed their first full length CD Truth Has Been Burned and released it at the 2007 Hixon-Fest. This hard hitting in your face CD was produced by Eduardo Barragan (The Hixon guitarist) engineered by The Hixon and mixed by Neil Kernon (Nile, Deicide, Judas Priest.) Kernon heard about the band, heard their music and accepted the invitation to work with the band.

Truth Has Been Burned is receiving airplay all over the country on various metal stations including Sirius Radio. The Hixon members have been doing many on air interviews to promote the CD. The Truth Has Been Burned is available via CD Baby, iTunes, and directly from the band members.

Jose Mangin, the voice of Sirius satellite show “Hard Attack” is a huge Hixon supporter. He invited the band to do a live on-air interview to introduce the band to the world and be the first station to play tracks off the new CD Truth Has Been Burned making The Hixon the first unsigned band to be given this honor and Mangin added their CD to his regular rotation of music on "Thrash Week" as well as on "Hard Attack".

Again The Hixon are given the same honor normally reserved for signed acts, this time a track on the most recent FMQB Metal Detector Sampler with such bands as Down, Iced Earth and Overkill. They also had a full page color ad in the year end issue of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles and when you spin that year end sampler "Knuckle Tracks" you will again find The Hixon roaring from your speakers.

The Hixon closed out 2007 and started 2008 with good and bad news, Well-z The Hixon's monster drummer broke both wrists and was out of commission for quite a while and thankfully for him and Hixon fans everywhere he is back pounding out the tunes with all the power of a speeding freight train. Eduardo several years back also faced an almost career ending injury to his hand and thankfully he is shredding with the best of them.

The good news is The Hixon's bassist Flip Martorano was in talks with Bernie Rico Jr. and Flip is now endorsing his basses. Flip comments on how this came about, "Jed Simon from Strapping Young Lad was kind enough to get me in touch with Bernie Rico Jr. Bernie and I spoke for several months about making a bass guitar together with my input and his expertise. We developed a real good relationship and finally after many months of talking about it, we finalized the specs on a bass guitar. He is working in a new line of basses. The model is on his Web site, it is called the Jekyll. We both agreed this would be the way to go."

Asked if Flip would be doing any clinics and he stated, "As of now I do not have to do any clinics, but would certainly do them if asked. Bernie is an extremely talented guitar manufacturer and I am very honored to be a part of the Bernie Rico Jr. roster."

Given all that The Hixon has achieved on their own, Flip explains why the band created their own record label, "We have had several offers that were not right for the band or the label, we never want to burn a bridge. Things can always change and they could come back with a better offer that benefits all parties involved. We did our research and found that it would not be in our best interest to get involved at this time. When you have bands currently on a label and they are all unhappy, well that is a dead giveaway to stay away or suffer the consequences ... making a dumb, ill advised move can cripple a band in this business!!! It can lock you into a contract with a snake that you cannot get out of, or it will cost you a bunch of legal fees to get out of it. At this level no one has that kind of money just laying around, if we did, we would just sink more of it into marketing ourselves! We are pretty happy being independent, but if the right deal comes along, it's party time!!!!"

So what labels would be of interest to The Hixon? Flip mentioned several "Century Media, Metal Blade, Stillborn, Earache, Massacre, Nuclear Blast, Gridiron, Relapse, just to name a few, there are others. These are some of the best metal labels out there now so naturally they draw our interest first.

The summer 08 Hixon-Fest will be in Blackwood, NJ on Saturday July 26 ....Go check out the outstanding group of musicians and as you all know ... "It's All About The Metal"!!!

The Hixon:
Eduardo: Guitars
Flip Martorano: Bass & vocals
Marc Hixon: Vocals
Well-z: Drums & vocals

www.thehixon.com

www.myspace.com/thehixon