Extreme music in the industrial scene is extremely hit or miss for me. I feel like it’s divided between people who actually give a shit and try to make an album that’s both gnarly and hard hitting with good production values and those who just create noise and harsh music just for the sake of being different and telling everyone that they just don’t get it when most people can’t stand their music. Thankfully label Sentient Ruin Laboratories is filled with acts that are part of the first section, such as Virginia-based industrial metallers Hold Me Down. Influenced by the likes of Swans, Throbbing Gristle, Skinny Puppy, and Godflesh, Hold Me Down is eager to create a new era of post-industrial music. And we’re here with the details in today’s edition of INTRODUCING.
Give us a brief about your band. Who are you and what do you do?
Greetings from Hold Me Down. I am Ben Rinehardt and I am an artist who lives and works in Richmond, Virginia. I play various instruments in Hold Me Down as well as contribute some vocals and art for our releases. Hold Me Down consists of three band members: Ben Rinehardt, David Hoefer (Guitars/instrumentalist) as well as Jim Gullickson (Vocals). We all live in Richmond.
When did you first launch the project and how has it come along since?
Hold Me Down started in 2018 when my former band With Sympathy (Ben Rinehardt and David Hoefer) dissolved and we connected with Jim Gullickson of the band American. Jim became our vocalist, while me and David took care of the instrumentals. We released our first EP on Sentient Ruin in 2019 and our first LP “Powerless” in 2022. We have just released our most recent LP “Devour” in September 2025 also on Sentient Ruin.
What bands and artists influenced you the most and why?
I would have to list the following bands and artists as major influences on us. Godflesh, SWANS, Skinny Puppy, Acid Bath, Dead Can Dance, Slint, Throbbing Gristle, Big Black. Also the soundtracks of John Carpenter movies and David Lynch’s work have played a massive role on our sound. As well as visual artists like Francis Bacon, H.R. Giger and photographer Bill Henson. They all seem to have a stark and eerie quality to them that is deeply moving.
If you could pick a single song from your discography to explain your music, which song would you pick and why?
I would go with either “Strapped” off of our first EP or “Maid” off of Devour. When I laid the vocals down for Strapped, Jim came over and provided the screams at the end of the track. I remember listening to it on playback and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. “Maid” is just a surreal and dark piece of music that I am quite proud of.
What is your most recent release and what is it about?
Our most recent release is “Devour”. I think it focuses primarily on Death, Loss and permanence.
Take us through your creative process. How do you compose a song from start to finish? Where do the ideas come from?
So the writing process is that David is the key songwriter, as well as composer. I also help guide the writing and vision of the material as well as provide the art. Jim is the vocalist, whom also brings another side of ideas to how the songs may go. I think the ideas come mostly from life experiences as well as films and books.
What’s your current favorite song, band, or album within your scene? And vice versa, what do you enjoy the most that’s completely opposite of what you make?
We have a few friends whose projects we really enjoy. However when we started there was no real scene for what we were doing. There has always been a noise and metal scene in Richmond, but we always felt like outsiders. A few artists to mention would be Pete from R-Complex and Prisoner as well our friend Abdul, whom plays in many projects. Also Bobby Donne who was in Labradford and still continues to put out amazing music. Definitely many more to mention. We all enjoy all kinds of music. For me, I really enjoy psychedelic music. Hawkwind, Can, Neu, Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, Spacemen 3, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd as well as so many others.
What is on the horizon for your project? Upcoming gigs, tours, merch, videos, etc. Name it, link it, show it off.
We are currently trying to complete a music video for another upcoming single. Its going to be purely visual, no band component to it. Hopefully we will play a few more shows as well, we really like for the shows to be visual and hypnotic. Also we will hopefully keep recording for another album down the line.
