So last week I went to visit The Hunna for a catch up, they've recently come back from their tour in America and spent the past couple of months chilling and in the studio. To start off 2017 the band toured around the UK on their 100 Tour, they have started off this year with a bang! On tour they were supported by High Tyde, who I have interviewed previously and Kovic, a new band in the industry. I cannot stress enough on how fantastic Kovic are, their song Wires is currently out, I'll leave a link at the bottom of the interview.
Back in August The Hunna released their first debut album 100 which they will be discussing later on in this interview. This is a definite must buy if you love an edgy rock type of music. Their alternative tunes are so catchy!
I will be running a competition where you have the chance to win something pretty cool off of The Hunna so keep an eye out on social media, I will also post about it at the end of the interview.
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So
you have just finished your big tour in America and come back to the UK to
start this tour, what’s it like to be back?
Jermaine: Good to be back
to your family, chilling and relaxing.
Jack: Yeah it’s nice
to be back to home ground and to the day one fans and loads of new fans as
well. To go from crazy America which is just like starting again out
there, compared to here. The shows were smaller, so to come back and do
big shows again.
There
are loads outside waiting.
Jack: Yeah commitment
and they are bringing blankets which is good.
Dan: They have duvets, I got
in one! I was saying goodbye to Jermaine and they called me over, I got in it!
The best day I've had in a while 💫Want to go back 😠🖤 pic.twitter.com/XlVq3Rwy9r— ✨Soph✨ (@fault_in_my_art) January 25, 2017
So
now you are doing bigger venues how does it feel?
Ryan: Overwhelming.
Jack: That’s a good
question, no one has asked us yet.
Ryan: I can’t really
say, it’s like you don’t have time to process it. We went from Nottingham from
Bodega to Rescue Rooms to Rock City in ten months and that’s never been
done before.
Jack: We just take it
in our stride, working hard on the music side and the life side. Getting
used to the bigger crowds which is good. It’s still like a dream come
true.
Dan: It’s mad
because it’s happened so quickly. To be so drastic is so unusual but it’s
really cool. It’s all new to us.
Jack: Reading and
Leeds was the start in the UK doing big shows, but obviously that was a
festival. But now to be doing headline shows!
We
want to do Reading and Leeds again, we haven’t done Glastonbury yet, there’s a
lot of festivals we want to tick off and bigger stages. Just keep it going!
What
made you choose High Tyde and Kovic as your support acts?
Dan: That was our
booking agent, he has the say who tours with us. When you are a really big
band you get to say who you want to support you if I am completely honest.
But it’s cool because we get to meet lots of people we don’t know and see
new music we haven’t heard. We are really digging High Tyde, we love the
guys, love their music.
Ryan: We knew of High
Tyde before.
Jermaine: We didn’t know
much about them.
Jack: Really good
band, good music, good vibe.
Dan: We tried to get
Airways again with us.
Ryan: I don’t think
they could make it or something like that.
So
you spent a while travelling the US, What was your favourite State to visit and
why?
Jack: We did a six
week tour in the summer, but this time we saw a lot more place. We loved
California!
Ryan: Santa Barbra,
always say it!
Jack: It’s more
pretty and mellow.
Jermaine: Clean.
Dan: Yeah.
Jermaine: The temperature
was perfect.
Jack: Just a nice
vibe.
Dan: Everyone is
really friendly.
Are
they more relaxed than here?
All: Yeah.
Jack: It’s like when
someone goes on holiday, it’s more relaxed. But we liked the south too,
Texas, New Orleans, Nashville, all of those areas we have never been to
before. They are all like big historic music states.
Ryan: Nashville was
my favourite.
Jack: Cowboy scarves!
Did
you get a cowboy hat?
Ryan: We tried to,
they were pricey.
Dan: The boots!
Ryan: They were so
expensive!
Jack: They went from
like from 500 to 2 grand!
Ryan: But they were
amazing!
Jermaine: Going to the
boot shop, there was so much selection you don’t know where to look.
But
you managed to get some kilts recently!
Dan: Yeah we got the
kilts! Got then from a thrift shop, Tino bought mine, thanks man!
A
bit cold in this weather!
Dan: Always wanted
to wear a kilt so good excuse to put one on! I wore leggings under mine! Tino
went with boxers he’s a good man.
Ryan: I didn’t go the
full way!
Dan: You could have
done it on stage.
Ryan: No, there’s a
lot of young girls!
Do
you find the American fans more crazy than the English ones?
Dan: Not crazy, they
are more like optimistic and like super friendly. It’s really cool and
nice speaking to them after shows and jam.
Ryan: It’s kinda the same,
It’s amazing and really nice. They are really like pumped! They are
constantly on like spring break and there’s a house party going on!
Especially the guys.
Jack: Yeah they shout
at us a lot during the songs, like ‘Yeah, rock on man!’
Ryan: We don’t have a
big a following as we do here.
Jack: It’s definitely
crazier here.
Jermaine: Yeah.
Ryan: I think because
we are English, over there as well they are really excited to have us
there and to see new music from England. We were just with American bands
the whole time we were over there apart from ‘The Struts’, but they have
been out there for ages.
Jack: The accent went
down well!
Do
you put on a post accent while you are there?
Dan: You can do.
Jack: You can milk it
a bit. One of our managers ended up speaking very posh out there. He was from a
nice area so it wasn’t completely put on. It makes you stick out more out
there.
He
had a Hugh Grant vibe going on!
Dan: Yogi Grant!
So
you met some pretty inspiring people like Good Charlotte and The
1975, how did you meet them?
Dan: Our homie
from 300 Entertainment, Ryan is really good friends with them.
He used to do what he does for us, for them, he introduced us, he took us to sound
check and then we watched them play a couple of songs.
We
met them and then they invited us back again later on
in the day. We watched them in Nashville, they are a really
cool guys, especially George. I really like George.
Jack: I think our guy
helped them like he is now helping us and they have all really grown up now
so he looks on us as the new 1975.
Ryan: Good
Charlotte were at a festival we were playing.
Jack: That was in Arizona.
Ryan: That was their
first gig back from taking a long break. That was really weird, I have
always loved Good Charlotte but I never thought I would
get to see them live. We were at the side of the stage, they finished and
we were just talking to them, hanging out.
Jack: I guess because we
are on the band side we are at the back of the festival so
everyone is just dotted about. As soon as they jumped off the bus we
met the twins, ‘Hey Guys’.
We
saw them supporting, All Time Low the other year.
Jack: We met the lead
singer after the Roxy in LA – he was in the bar.
Ryan: We might support them
in America.
Dan: He even tweeted about
it didn’t he; Alex?
Ryan: Yes he did, he’s a
big fan
Jack: Good Charlotte listen to the
album as well.
Dan: Hayley Williams was
there and we didn’t even realise, I was gutted we walked straight
past her!
Jermaine: I was in the next
room!
Dan: I went upstairs to
get my jacket said goodbye to Jimmy, we was in that room and I had no
clue.
Ryan
& Jack: You should have told us, we would have
clocked her.
Dan: She had her hair up,
that was the thing.
It
was like in a bun, it made her look so different.
Dan: What colour hair
did she have?
Ryan: I would have known.
Jack: It’s the face man!
Ryan: She is always
changing her hair colour.
Dan: I thought it was a
rumour, but I looked on Instagram and there were some tags so
it was definitely her.
Jack: Damn, we weren’t
there!
So
did Good Charlotte, The 1975 or even All
Time Low give you any good advice?
Dan: Good
Charlotte did.
Jack: Yeah they did, they
really liked our music. It was more like "keep doing your thing than
you need to do this you need to do that."
They
already realised we are set up and are here already doing what we do. So just
keep it up, quite straight forward.
Jimmy
who we toured with gave us a bit of advice as well, but it was the same sort of
thing with the big bands, do your thing, stay true to yourself, and work hard!
Ryan: I think it’s more
them not having to say anything it’s just watching them perform after the
amount of time they have been together like Good Charlotte and
Jimmy would have been playing together for something like twenty
years! It's insane, seeing them how they are, seeing them live is
really inspiring and where we would like to get when we are forty.
It
was really cool, they had buses with their kids on, their kids grow up together
and go on tour together , it’s really nice and something we have never been a
part of because our tours have just been us or bands that are our age or
younger.
Jack: It was kinda
surreal when you look back.
Ryan: It was one of my
favourite tours, Jimmy.
Dan: Yeah it was nice to
chill and the theatres were beautiful, they were like old school massive
and the architecture was really cool.
Jermaine: It was a classy tour.
Dan: It was like they
picked to play there as it was so snazzy and nice.
Jack: Especially the Santa
Barbra one, it was like a Spanish terracotta rooms. It looked like you
were in Spain inside of it.
Dan: And they painted the
ceiling to look like the night sky.
Jack: They had a lot of
seated venues as well, but it was really nice as everyone would stand
and come to the front. But them sometimes after we played we would sit
down have a beer and think ‘this is great!’
You
released you album just after my last interview, how long did it take you to
produce?
Dan: It took us like
three months to write and two months to record.
Ryan: We tried to do it all
pretty quick because of how quick things were moving and the demand for
it, so yeah two months to record a debut album is pretty quick. We pretty
much got no sleep while recording it, it sounds great and we are really
happy with it.
What’s
your favourite track off the album and your favourite to perform?
Dan: Mine is 'Alive' for
both, last night (Nottingham), playing 'Alive' was dope.
Jermaine: I like playing 'Rock
My Way' live.
Jack: I like 'Bad
For You'.
Ryan: I would say 'Sycamore
Tree'.
'Piece
by Piece' has been playing a lot on the BBC Radio One,
is it your new single?
Ryan: It kind of is, it’s
the last thing we released, I think Radio One have picked up on it and
started playing it a lot this week
Jack: I think its track of
the week.
Who
writes most of the songs in the band?
Dan: We all take turns, me
and Ryan do a lot of the writing. Jermaine wrote, 'Never Enough' with
Jack. We like write together and jam. We write with other people, we
expand as much as we can down different avenues. We are like more
writing the better, whatever produces the best track or the best song is
the best way.
We
have something called The Hunna Bank, we have tonnes of songs in there, you
would go back to it after not hearing it for a while it would not be as good as
you though it was. There are errors and parts that are really good that you can
recycle, making and building it so the song develops into something completely
different.
'Piece
by Piece' was
originally incredibly poppy, it was like a Taylor Swift track.
Ryan: We were going to try
and sell it.
Jack: Glad we didn’t.
Ryan: For Carly Rae
Jepson.
Jack: Half of the album was
rewritten, like 'Bonfire' and 'She's Casual', it’s
good to go back.
Ryan: They were written
years ago, we are 24 now but ‘She’s Casual', 'Bonfire' they
were all written ages ago.
Dan: 'She’s
Casual' was written when we were baked.
Ryan: Yeah I remember, when
we went back to listen to it, we were like that sounds really great! We
kinda finished it and thought, yeah that’s done and then we listened
to it and thought, how’s that?
Jack: I can’t even
remember 'Bad For You' ending up how it was.
Ryan: That was done in
Tasha’s front room when we had the mic up and we did the rap battles. I
got the mic and did the little chorus and then we were like that’s dope!
Jack: Even with sound
checks like recently we tend to jam and if we like it think we have to
remember that!
Dan: We have had tracks
like 'Brother', 'Sycamore Tree', 'The World Is
Ours', not exactly how they are now but even before. 'Sycamore
Tree' we had the acoustic beat for ages, 'Brother' is
what we got signed onto the label we are now.
Ryan: That was like when we
were 18.
How
did they hear 'Brother'?
Dan: It was on Soundcloud
and that’s how they picked it up and 'The World Is Ours'.
Jack: 'Brother' was the first
thing I ever played with you guys.
Dan: It was in that
little garage!
You
mentioned the rap battles, are they frequent?
Jack: These guys say I
can only have 16 bars a day!
Dan: It’s Jack just
rapping.
Ryan: It started as a fun
rap thing, we used to make our own raps.
Jack: It’s more fun, we
bounce off each other when we do it.
Ryan: We don’t have a lot
of time to do it anymore.
Go
on then, Jack.
Jack: Ooh Freestyle, I will
try to keep it clean!
I
used to go to school, call it semester
It's
gonna get lit up in Leicester
Not
in Chester, Hunna the besta
Killing
this with the set
What’s
nexta!
Ryan: Call me a jester,
I’ve got a cat named Sylvester
Jack: He’s the professor,
none the less a
No
second guesser
Kills
it with the female or male dresser!
Can
we expect a single anytime soon?
Dan: Absolutely!
Ryan: After this tour we
are going to be recording lots of stuff, I think we are going to do some
more stuff on this album.
Dan: Some videos.
Ryan: Acoustic.
Jermaine: Maybe some covers.
Ryan: Yep maybe some
covers, at some point through this year we will keep releasing songs from the
album. There will be a lot of music from us.
Have
you written any new music yet?
Dan: There’s lots of old
stuff.
Jermaine: We should sit down
and gather the best stuff, suss them out.
Jack: We have got enough
material now for about three albums.
Dan: People said we were
stupid we should have recorded the first album
as two albums.
Jack: There are certain
songs that we look back on and we all love and still listen to them
now.
So
are you getting recognised in the street now?
Jack: We are definitely not
at Bieber level yet! It depends where you are, I mean in London I haven’t
really been spotted.
Dan: Watford yeah. But
when we play tours I notice when you go out near that area we do because
everyone is coming to the sow.
We
have some pens and paper for you…….fans do a lot of fan art for you, it’s now
your turn to do some artwork for the fans. So we want you each to draw another
member of the band and we will do it as a competition on the blog. (See details at the end of this interview on how to enter)
Dan: That is such a good
idea, I am well up for this!
Jack: We should do it out
the hat to decide who we each have to draw!
Dan: And then you don’t
tell them who you are drawing!
Jack: I’ve got a hat!
Dan: This is dope I have
never done something like this before.
Ryan: I apologise to
whoever I get!
Dan: Whoever get me draw
me well!
Jack: I don’t know what
style to draw yet, don’t even know what outfit I am going to put on my person!
Ryan: Oh no I got the
hardest one!
Dan: Who’s the
hardest one?
******At
this point the room goes so quiet as they are all concentrating
hard! ******
Ryan: I am such a bad
drawer!
Jermaine: I am so bad!
While
you are drawing I am going to ask a few questions, Ryan what’s your favourite
type of tea as you are always drinking it?
Ryan: I am always having
to drink it and I am always ill!
I
have Lemon and Ginger tea most of the time with a bit of manuka honey. Oh and I
love the green tea.
Dan,
where did the t-shirt of Ryan come from that you were showing off on social
media?
Dan: I wore it last
night! I have given it away today actually to a fan. We were trying to
come up with some suggestions for the merchandise, we were really stoned and we
were making it on this webshirt thing and then I ended up buying it!
It
ended up looking great and I though wow this is great!
Jermaine: I can’t draw!
Ryan: I feel sorry for
any fans that are gonna get these.
Jermaine: I am just gonna do
a face!
Ryan: I am just doing a
face here….well I am not sure what I have really done! Where’s Jack?
******Jack
at this point is at the other side of the room giggling whilst drawing his
picture!*******
Ryan: Oh I see he’s
properly going for it!
Jermaine
last time we spoke you had never been to America, was it everything you
expected it to be?
Jermaine: Yeah it was everything
I expected it to be, it was like a film and more. Honestly though, I was
walking around the street and felt like I was in a movie trailer!
Did
your family go with you?
Ryan: No it was just
us.
Dan: I can’t wait to see
the pictures!
Ryan: I am actually
having a bit of fun with this! I thought I was going to be terrible but
this is actually pretty good!
Dan: Oh I have really
fucked up the body!
Ryan: Oh my god this
could be a master piece! This is the best drawing I have ever done in my life!
Dan: Smashed it!
Ryan: How do you do
noses, I don’t know how to do noses!
Dan: Oh Shit! That’s why
Jermaine’s looking at me, he’s drawing me!
Jack: You shouldn’t need
to look at the man, you see him every day!
Ryan: It’s the nose, this
nose is so hard for me!
So
we are going to reveal the pictures now…..
Dan by Jermaine
Dan: Is that my hoodie?
That’s sick, I look like an elf!
Jermaine: I tried my best
man.
Jermaine by Ryan
Jermaine: You smashed it, you
smashed the curls!
Ryan: I didn’t know what
to do!
Jermaine: It’s amazing!
Ryan
by Jack
Ryan: Aaah the kilt!
Dan: You smashed it!
Jack
by Dan
Dan: You’re body went
wrong.
Ryan: You look like a
hockey player.
Jack: It looks like one of
those beards you can buy, you know the beanie hats! Look at the drumsticks!
Dan: Yeah the drumsticks
man! I smashed you hair though and look at your eyebrows!
Jack,
you’re last question, you recently posted three cartoon pictures on
Instagram, can you elaborate?
Jack: Yeah I was just on google
looking for a screensaver and just typed in random stuff that I like
in general, came across them and really liked the art work. I
typed in Trill artwork.
What
three things would you take if you stranded on a desert island?
Jack: That’s a good arse
question!
Jermaine: iPhone, music and a
companion
Jack: Drum kit.
Dan: Aaaahhh. Guitar
of course!
Jack: Erm….
Dan: Helicopter!
Jack: Phone, with serious unlimited data and
swimming trunks.
Dan: Wow.
Ryan: But if you were in a desert island you
could just swim naked!
Jack: Oh yeah, no one’s around, food then!
Unlimited food that never runs out of its sell by date!
Ryan: It would have to be something so I
could listen to music so I guess it would be phone.
Jack: How would you charge it though?
Ryan: Solar charger, I don’t know what I
would really need.
No one has said a boat.
Jermaine: But are we trying to
escape this island?
Ryan: I think I would quite like it and just
want to stay there!
Dan: Maybe I would take a million pounds
but then I would have nowhere so spend it.
Jack: A surf board would be cool! You would
be so good at surfing by the end of it.
Ryan: I would take some kind of weapon, then
if I am in the sea and there is a shark about. It’s gonna take a while for
you to adapt to where you are and become George of the Jungle!
So
if a Zombie apocalypse broke out right now what’s your plan?
Dan: Oh we have had a
conversation about this!
Ryan: I would…
Jermaine: Run!
Jack: I would turn the
console off! I honestly don’t know I would put my pollution mask on and
fight them out.
Jermaine: I would just fight
with my bass, it’s a weapon.
Ryan: Yeah I would get my
guitar and try fight them off and try and travel to a castle.
Jack: With a moat!
Ryan: But first rob the shit
out of ASDA or something, get a load of food. Take the van, fuck the
amps! Take the amps out, fill the back up with as much supplies as
possible. Everyone get in the van, drive up to Scotland, find a
castle. Take the castle.
Jack: Just always move!
Dan: You would have to
get petrol.
Jermaine: We should have a
tour bus with full on bunk beds and everything.
Jack: They would smash
the windows!
Jermaine: Always keep running
don’t stop.
Dan: But eventually we
would have to get fuel right?
Jack: We would have to
take a few pit stops but that’s just us on tour! Or we just dress up as
zombies and just jam with them. As soon as one comes past you just play
the fool. And also you could have a great time you could go bowling,
ice skating, shopping, it would be quiet!
Ryan: What I would do is
take the band wagon to the castle, whenever we needed to go out we would
take the band wagon.
Dan: Oh so the band
wagon is Plan B!
Jermaine: We would turn it
into a war machine though.
Dan: Yeah…..Grills, spikes.
Ryan: But we have been in
the band wagon for two months without a zombie apocalypse and shit
got mad! It feels like you are never gonna get out and there is
nothing else in the world.
Jack: We played the
Zombie Prom as well in Arizona.
Ryan: We did!
Jack: And we went through
haunted houses.
Dan: Yeah it was
called Fear Farm, it was so cool!
Jack: You see that’s the
thing you put us in a real situation, well it wasn’t a real situation it
was acting as we just ran!
Dan: Yeah we were
terrible we literally just ran!
Ryan: Yeah if anything
was gonna happen I would just run and scream!
Jermaine: Run to the castle!
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I really enjoyed meeting with the lads again and I hope you loved the interview as much as I did. I may have had a bit too much fun when editing the photos!
So, how to enter the competition!
You can win all four of the illustrations drawn by The Hunna all you need to do is:
Follow me on Twitter and RT one of the tweets about the competition using the hashtag #TheHunnaAreUnique
OR
Like me on Facebook and share one of the posts about the competition
OR
Follow me on Instagram and repost one of the images about this competition using the hashtag #TheHunnaAreUnique
To have a better chance or winning, enter on as many of these platforms as you can! Don't forget the hashtag #TheHunnaAreUnique when necessary otherwise your entry will not count.
You can listen to Kovic's single Wires here:
View my previous interview with The Hunna here.
View my interview with High Tyde here.
Why doesn't this post have more comments!? That's so exciting that you met The Hunna. I discovered them earlier this year on Spotify and I am obsessed. Great post! I hope you have more opportunities to interview more bands.
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Christina Madeleine/ www.thisfashiongirl.com
It was very exciting indeed, they are lovely lads! They have some great music and I can't wait to hear their new stuff. Thank you! I have a few exciting things coming up....
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