By Grant Manley, Staff Writer
Live music is back, and bands are hitting the road again across the nation! One of those bands is a four-piece indie rock group based out of Southern California called HUNNY.
The band is in the midst of their 2021 US Tour and have been supported by the up-and-coming alternative rock band Small Crush and the R&B prodigy Michi. HUNNY finishes up their tour on November 20 at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
As the marketing director of WNEK The Voice, I had the amazing opportunity to interview the band HUNNY before their show at the Sinclair in Boston, Massachusetts back on Tuesday, October 26.
The band seemed eager to be back on tour and see their fans again as Joey Anderson, HUNNY’s drummer, mentioned, “Everyone’s been absent from the world it feels like. But it’s cool to see everyone pull up and, like, have everything come back together. I feel like people are really into going out to concerts and going out and having fun again.”
Other members hopped in and said that the crowds have truly come alive this tour and pointed to their show in Orlando where fans participated in a soccer chant during the band’s concert. But the band stated it hasn’t been easy to get back in the songwriting mindset.
Guitarist Jake Goldstein said, “[the pandemic] shifted perspective” and allowed the themes of isolation and separateness to influence their new music. Furthermore, he mentioned “[the band] couldn’t go to a proper studio or anything” because of the pandemic. So, the band had to record their three new singles from the house of Kevin Grimmett, HUNNY’s bass guitarist.
Staying on the theme of new music, I asked the band what the inspiration was for their music video for their new single “Sports with Strangers” and lead singer Jason Yarger jokingly asked the group, “Where did that idea start?” Jake immediately recalled listening to music from other bands and talking about how the pandemic affected them.
He went on to say, “We mostly were looking for cool visual cues to kind of get the point across super bluntly with the visual companion to the song because there is that emotional element of isolation while being surrounded by as many people as you can think. So, to really hammer that point home… here I am in this massive party, here I am drowning [and] it’s a pretty literal interpretation of how we were feeling when writing that song.”
The band then talked about recording their first full length album back in 2019, “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.,” which was also recorded at Kevin’s house. Kevin mentioned the recording process was chill, even if the Woolsey fire nearly burned down his house while the band was putting the finishing touches on the album. They went on to say they saw firefighters run down their street towards the flames while Kevin’s mom made food for the band, and they recorded their last few songs.
All in all, it was a great interview, and they put on a great show! So, make sure to check out the band HUNNY and their three new singles “Sports with Strangers,” “Xbox Luvr,” and “Daydreams/Heartbreaks,” on whichever music platform you prefer.
