Tristan Hann

Born and raised in Johannesburg South Africa , Tristan relocated to the United Kingdom in 2005. Finally settling in Northern Ireland in 2011.

Tristan first picked up the guitar at age 12 inspired by alternative and grunge with early influences including Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Sound Garden. Soon his father, also a guitarist purchased a basic but quality SG copy and encouraged a more diverse ear for music that included progressive rock from the 70’s, Pop Rock and anything that had standout musicianship.

However in his own time along with his peers he discovered the likes of Metallica, Pantera and Sepultura which formed the core basis of his metal influences. As time progressed his ear started to lean towards more extreme acts like the post apocalyptic industrial sounds of Fear Factory and Strapping Young Lad.

Later Death Metal , and Black Metal particularly symphonic Black Metal played a massive role in influencing the ultimate direction of Tristan’s writing.

From the age of 15 he started to play gigs at local house parties and small clubs in a three piece outfit known as “Nameless” featuring Conley Van Der Westhuizen on drums and Anthonie Snijders on Bass with Tristan performing guitars and Vocals.

The band held together for several years playing small but infrequent club gigs. It’s highlight performance playing support for what was intended to be a headline show from Saron Gas, now known internationally as Seether.

With Conley moving onto other artistic commitments and Anthonie choosing to focus on Law, Tristan was left to forge ahead in a career of Music with other musicians.

He approached a mutual acquaintance of his and Anthonie’s by the name of Emmanuel Taliakis with a unique and fantastic voice. He then began looking for a second guitarist to fill out the sound and found a fellow guitar tutor by the name of Christo De La Rey who was a solid professional already working solely from music to earn a living as Tristan was by this stage.

The last two pieces of that puzzle fell into place when he spotted a “guy with an awesome mop with a black Ibanez Bass slung over his back ” walking through a busy parking lot. When he was asked to join, his reply was direct and to the point as he always was. Calvin Hardman joined the band at this time on bass. The most difficult spot to fill was the drum throne. Conley had left large shoes to fill with precise timing, as well as top class a fills and dynamics. It ended up that his replacement was also from outside of the metal scene in the form of one Brandon Williams.

The Project was renamed “The Construct” and moved ahead with more of a collaborative vision in terms of composition and contributions. Nameless had been a clear partnership in writing between Tristan and Anthonie, with the bulk being written by Tristan. Once the initial ideas were on the table they’d be refined in rehearsals with Anthonie contributing ideas as the songs were Jammed into shape.

The Construct worked hard. Rehearsing several times a week, then building up to a point of playing several gigs a week. At the peek of it’s popularity the band achieved festival slots with welcome receptions of a couple thousand fans in attendance and even managed a day time radio appearance.

The South African music scene was and still is a scene with a low ceiling. In other words , there’s only so far you can go before you need to go beyond SA’s borders if you want to make a career out of an original heavy band. The Ceiling had been hit and so Tristan was looking to relocate to Europe due to it’s inherently strong and large Metal Community.

Plans were set in motion to allow the entire band to relocate. However without firm guarantees, the other members were unwilling to risk relocation. Tristan left on his own and took his material he’d written with him with the exception of any material that was co-written could be played or released by the remaining members of The Construct under that banner.

They continued on for a time and continued to enjoy some success but ultimately disbanded a couple years later.

Ever since then Tristan has written and recorded as a solo artist focusing on re establishing a more extreme metal sonic style compared to the somewhat more radio friendly groove orientated approach of The Construct.

Two records have been released under the Masterless name. A name owing to Tristan’s unwillingness to compromise any longer on the clear creative vision he has for the project. It’s a vision that’s still with him since the early years of his musical journey.

The concept has always been a 4 piece , twin guitar style with great musicianship but not overly technical. It should have great hooks, and memorable melodies and solo’s that people want to sing along to. But it needs to have guts, it’s needs to bite and land with heavy beat of aggressive and technical “show” drumming.

Life has taken him away from music as a living for the time being. So it’s now become a hobby of sorts until such time as musicians can be brought in for the second guitar, bass and drumming positions. At which point it will become a labour of love that, if it matures and becomes viable, may well become a welcome creative career again.

For now though he’s happy to create new music and publish it when he can at grass roots level. It was never about the money and never will be. It was always about crafting a sound.