“He Told Him Of His Wish For His Son To Travel The World Singing Sabbath”: All Hail Hellvis! In Conversation With HEAVEN AND HELLVIS

[photo: Heaven and Hellvis]

"Have you ever wondered what Black Sabbath would sound like if they were fronted by Elvis Presley?" is a question you might have found yourself asking at some point in your life... or not. But it's a question HEAVEN AND HELLVIS are answering, for better or for worse.

Based in Scotland, the band are exactly what it sounds like - the doom-laden, ominous sound of Black Sabbath blended with the synonymous, crooning vocals of The King. It's one of those band descriptions and names that genuinely sells you before even listening to a note.

It was for that reason I knew I had to find out more, and it wasn't long before I found myself communicating with Hellvis himself, or rather, band frontman Rab Dempsey.

R: Hi guys, great to have you on the page! 

Hi Riley, Hellvis J Paisley here (Rab Dempsey to my family). Absolute pleasure to be on board.

I've got to say, the idea of an Elvis-fronted Sabbath shouldn't work, yet you pull it off brilliantly. Where did the idea come from? 

Well I've always had the idea of running a tribute band alongside my originals band. I spent a year singing in a punk tribute band called the Gimme Gimme Gimmes and it gave me an insight of what the tribute world is like, an incredibly friendly and talented world which I don't think gets enough credit.

When I finished my time with them I had an inkling I wanted to get something off the ground.

" I wanted the band to have a name that didn't need any further explanation"

So fast forward to the start of 2025 and I watched a documentary about Dread Zeppelin (who did Led Zeppelin covers in a reggae style with an Elvis impersonator on vocals). I'd been a fan of them in the 90's and had a total lightbulb moment.

Black Sabbath are probably my favourite band and I started to mess about with Elvis vocals on Paranoid and War Pigs. It worked in my head so I floated the idea with the rest of the original band (Buzzards Of Babylon) and they were on board.

I was sold on the name straight away. Were there any other frontrunners or was it always going to be this?

Not really, I wanted the band to have a name that didn't need any further explanation, Heaven and Hell is a classic Sabbath album, and song and it works Elvis' name into the title as well so I decided on it pretty early in the process.

Once you have a decent name for a band you can start working on logos and artwork so we think it's been a great choice.

"RubberneckiN.I.B" is out now [photo: Heaven and Hellvis]

Of course, your namesake frontman, Hellvis - where does he fall into this band's story?

Haha, so that's where the back story kicks in. My character, Hellvis J Paisley, is the recently discovered illegitimate son of Elvis.

Elvis only visited the UK once (that bit is true). The story is that when he stopped over in Scotland, a body double took his place allowing him to visit Wimpy in the town of Paisley. He instantly fell in love with the waitress and from this relationship young Hellvis was born.

On the morning of his 13th birthday he awoke to find he had a quiff reminiscent of his father who came to him in a dream and told him of his wish for his son to travel the world singing the songs of Black Sabbath in an Elvis style.

"I'm really careful to stay faithful to the original Sabbath track though, it still needs to be recognisable and respectful"

You've released one single so far, "RubberneckiN.I.B". How has the reaction been?

That's right, we released it just before Christmas on all the streaming sites.

The reaction has been amazing, we've had airplay from some Scottish and UK radio stations.

We never had any intention of recording tracks when we started this band but after some discussions with local producer John Anaya we felt we had to do it. John worked on the song with Primus years ago when they recorded it for a Sabbath tribute album so he was perfect for us to work with. It's a favourite in our live set and we feel he really helped us capture the spirit of it.

We've also recorded The Wizard, which we've entitled Ghetto Wizard as it contains a nod to In The Ghetto in the lyrics as well as some Hound Dog lyrics. This will be featured on an Ozzy Tribute album which is being released by a record label called Witching Buzz and is due for release on 13th Feb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sffTRB6FA8

Music video for "Ghetto Wizard" [cred. Heaven and Hellvis]

We've also produced a music video for this, we did the whole thing ourselves and it contains some familiar landmarks from our home town, Kirkcaldy.

It's up on our YouTube page if any of your subscribers fancy a laugh.

How do you approach combining the two different artists? What's your process?

It's a pretty simple process for us, as a band we decided on a setlist pretty early, it leans pretty heavily on the Ozzy era.

We all learn our individual parts and for the first few runs through as a band I just sing it normally. Once we've got the song tightened up I start to weave some Elvis lyrics shtik into the song, that bit isn't formulaic. Until our debut gig I don't think the rest of the band were actually aware of how many lyrics I'd changed, haha.

I'm really careful to stay faithful to the original Sabbath track though, it still needs to be recognisable and respectful to the original.

"There's so much seriously scary stuff going on in the world ... if we can give people a bit of a laugh whilst enjoying the music of Sabbath, we'll be pretty happy"

Are there any tracks, from either artist, you're hesitant to mash up?

Nothing's off the table really, as I said it's not an exact science and I wouldn't purposely force any Elvis lyrics into any of the songs.

There are a couple of the Sabbath songs in our set which while stylistically the vocals and phrasing have been changed, I haven't changed any of the lyrics.

I've also sneaked a bit of an Eminem song into War Pigs for no other reason that it sounds pretty cool.

I think what makes it so great is that the musicianship is strong, it's a refined project. How do you balance this as a tribute act whilst also potentially being seen as 'gimmicky'?

At the end of the day there are numerous Sabbath tributes out there who stay 100% faithful to the original songs and I have total admiration for these bands. We've chosen to do it with a bit of twist and yeah, I could see why some people might find it a bit of a gimmick, but we're experienced musicians who have played together for years.

I guess there's so much seriously scary stuff going on in the world just now that if we can give people a bit of a laugh whilst enjoying the music of Sabbath, we'll be pretty happy.

"It's a favourite in our live set" [photo: Heaven and Hellvis]

Lastly - you've got bands like Elvana, Tragedy, and now yourselves. Who do you reckon will get the 'Elvis fronted' treatment next? 

My current favourite hybrid band are Nic Cage Against the Machine who do a tremendous Rage Against The Machine tribute fronted by Nicholas Cage.

I'd love to see an Elvis fronted Faith No More band. The King crooning along to Epic is something the world needs to see.

In fact we need to get all these bands we've both mentioned on a bill and tour the world...

"RubberneckiN.I.B" is out NOW on streaming platforms