HOME

Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with Adam from unsigned Buckinghamshire band Hounds Haul to find out more…

Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the name?
We are Hounds Haul, currently a 4-piece Indie Rock/Pop band based in the Buckinghamshire area. We met through the website Join My Band, where I (Adam) put out an advertisement to form an Indie Rock band in the Milton Keynes area. From that I met Jamie, who plays bass, and we hit it off instantly, finding out that we both have the same aspirations and dreams for the band. Then we met Rien, the keys player, also through Join My Band, who brought some great energy and ideas to the band, and a competent piano player. Now we have just taken on a new guitarist called Griff who has some great ideas and material, and we’re very much looking forward to working with him.

At the time of coming up with the name, there was a lot of uncertainty and anger in our country. We wanted to create a name that would resonate with the topics we write and feel passionate about, and through that we called the band ‘Hounds Haul’ an idea that we’re all dogs running carrying a lot on our shoulders.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
We all enjoy different genres, but indie just hits all the notes for us. It allows us to express our thoughts and feelings in a way that invokes passion, mixed with some catchy licks to dance to. We get compared to Foals often, and yeah, we enjoy their music, there is a lot of heart in what they sing about which we love, but we take a lot of inspiration from other indie bands such as Tame Impala, Bloc Party, and Depeche Mode.

Adam: I never used to be into music until I got my first album which was a compilation album of Mod songs from the 60’s. From there, I started listening to Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, The Maccabees, The Smiths, all things indie.

Jamie: Very lucky to be a teen in the ‘golden age of indie’ in the mid to late 2000s, I loved The Strokes and the Arctic Monkeys. Always been a huge Interpol fan, I’d have to say Antics is probably my all-time favourite album.

Rien: I grew up in Belgium in the 90s, when there was a strong divide between people who liked electronic music and people who liked rock and metal. I was in the latter category. I went to loads of festivals, seeing Metallica, Iron Maiden, Sepultura… Fantastic times!

How would you describe your sound?
Our sound has been described as driving synth rock, dynamic tunes with a slight goth tinge, new romantic killer sounds! All of which we totally agree with!

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Our brand-new release is called ‘Riviera’, an idea that Adam had years ago, and in it’s infancy was very stripped down compared to the hard thumping indie track you hear today. We started working with the great music producer Ben ‘Faz’ Farestvedt at Damaged Audio in Bedford, who helped completely turn the track into something amazing!

The idea behind Riviera is that it is this place within all of us which is just full of debauchery, but in some ways, the perfect idea of paradise. We wanted to create an intrinsically upbeat sound to be the background of a lyrically darker overtone, drawing inspirations from 80s synth wave such as Depeche Mode and blending it with big indie hooks, the likes of Bloc Party, Maccabees, and Foals.

What’s your local music scene like?
It’s great, although it can be a mixed bag for certain genres. We’d say that Milton Keynes has a lot of Heavy Metal Rock musicians, but with surrounding areas like Northampton and Bedford, there’s indie bands out there who are making great impressions and have some awesome sounds!

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
Right now we’re working on our next single, we’re spending a lot of time in the studio with Faz from Damage Audio, and along with the songs we’ve got out now, we’re going to be working on a lot more music videos. Then looking at next year, we have a big big project we’re going to be working on, which will begin in the next months, but we’d rather keep it under wraps for the time being, all I can say is that it’s going to be a lot of fun and we’re looking forward to showing everyone what it is.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Like I said before, there’s a lot of great talented indie bands in the area, and we would be more than happy to collaborate with any of them. But we’d love to work with Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, that would be a dream come true!

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
We once had to play a gig all the way in Bishop’s Stortford, and at the time, our drummer’s wife was pregnant with the due date like a week after the gig. Anyway, the baby was early the day before the gig, and we really didn’t want to cancel. So we got a friend called Alex who learnt the set in in the 4 hour practice we had in the morning of the gig! Needless to say, we smashed it, and Alex never missed a beat.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
Just that we absolutely love what we do! We couldn’t imagine doing anything else right now. We’re trying to create something that’s for everyone out there, something they can sing along and relate to. We have loads planned for the future of this band, and it’s going to be a great journey for everyone to be a part of, so I guess just check us out and follow us, and you’ll see how passionate we are. You’ll see we appreciate each and every single person who listens to our music!

You can find out more about Hounds Haul via Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, Twitter or YouTube.