New local Minneapolis band Hunting Club just recently released their debut EP, Pretty/Ugly, an excuse-free exercise in songwriting.
Take the track “Yours Truly” below, with touches of Annuals cantankerousness, Brian Wilson harmonies, and post-shoegazer incredulousness. It’s a wicked mess so good I’m compelled to oil my rifle and sit in a tree stand all night in hopes of proving my worth to the club.
Hunting Club : “Yours Truly” (mp3)
This week we had the opportunity to throw out a few questions to the band…
Who is Hunting Club?
Hunting Club is brothers Justin & Kyle Steen, Eric Pasi, London Gears, and Bob Dubois.
What hole does the band fill in the MSP scene?
We hope to fill every hole in the MSP scene. You set us up for that one.
What’s your differentiator compared to other local/regional/national bands?
This feels like loaded question, but we never shy away from danger. Our ADD requires us to approach songwriting from several angles. We like to switch instruments a lot, play songs fast, slow, adagio, pianissimo, mezzo-forte, with electronic beats, eccentric instruments… sometimes tens of different ways before we settle on something. To us, our pensiveness is a virtue.
Tell us about your new debut EP, Pretty/Ugly.
Pretty/Ugly are recordings about losing yourself. Eric suffered from a breakdown before/during the writing process and the EP took on a therapeutic role for him. On the whole, we were pleased with the way the EP represented us in that moment. There are 12 more songs in the hopper; we plan to release a full-length this fall.
You recorded it at Vaudeville in Saint Paul with Jeff Halland. What was that experience like?
Hunting Club was really excited about working with co-owner Jeff Halland. We all appreciated Jeff’s earlier work with local rock gods Houston and knew his creativity would augment our sound. The process was very organic, we’d come in whenever there was a spare hour or two over the course of a couple months. Each step was balanced, never jumping ahead of ourselves. Jeff is a genius, he’s got all sorts of proverbs from personal experience that helped us keep perspective; we were in good hands.
Catch Hunting Club at Uptown Bar TONIGHT.
[...] sweet harmonies in the background and diversity. “Yours truly” (which can be downloaded here) is a brilliant ride through all sorts of genres without ever feeling overloaded but rather [...]