Howling Hawk | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: I love that that is nine miles high. The band

0:03 Speaker 1: is Howling Hawk, and uh, let's see who we have

0:06 Speaker 1: from the band on the line with us A via WhatsApp. Hello,

0:09 Speaker 1: welcome to the show.

0:11 Speaker 2: Hi, thanks for having me.

0:12 Speaker 1: Absolutely, So who is this? Who do we have on

0:15 Speaker 1: the line with us?

0:16 Speaker 2: So? This is Jim. I'm the singer, the bassist, and

0:19 Speaker 2: I write the chunes outstanding.

0:21 Speaker 1: I'm glad that you're a singing bassist because I am

0:23 Speaker 1: also a bass player. And uh, I don't feel that

0:26 Speaker 1: we get enough time out in front, you know.

0:28 Speaker 2: So I know, I know we're dying breed lead guitarist

0:33 Speaker 2: at ten a penny, but a good bass player is

0:35 Speaker 2: worth his weight and goal exactly.

0:36 Speaker 1: I completely agree. And I love that track nine miles High.

0:40 Speaker 1: And I'm really curious to ask you now, did you

0:42 Speaker 1: write the lyrics to that?

0:44 Speaker 2: Of course? Of course, all.

0:45 Speaker 1: Right, tell me about tell me about these lyrics because

0:48 Speaker 1: very very interesting and uh, I really want to dive

0:53 Speaker 1: into this. I'm excited to talk to you about the song.

0:56 Speaker 2: A friend of mine went through a phase where he

0:59 Speaker 2: spent a little bit too much time enjoying medicinal herbs

1:04 Speaker 2: and listening to his Twitter feed. Oh, and he uh,

1:10 Speaker 2: he began because he was getting increasingly paranoid every time

1:13 Speaker 2: a helicopter went over here coming to look for him.

1:16 Speaker 2: Oh wow, you know, close to making Tim Foyle hats

1:19 Speaker 2: mm hmm. So there's about having a friend who's going

1:23 Speaker 2: down that dangerous rabbit hole and trying to pull him

1:25 Speaker 2: back from the brink. Yeah, that's the vibe. I didn't

1:30 Speaker 2: know how much of that comes across, but that's what

1:32 Speaker 2: I was going for.

1:33 Speaker 1: Yeah. No, that's interesting because I think that that I

1:36 Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know what kind of feedback you've

1:38 Speaker 1: gotten on this, but to me, that seems highly relatable

1:43 Speaker 1: because I think, and I can tell you here in America,

1:47 Speaker 1: you know, there's there's a conspiracy theorism and all of

1:50 Speaker 1: that stuff is rampant, and there are a lot of

1:54 Speaker 1: people who who there are a lot of people who

1:56 Speaker 1: don't need any any anything to uh to help from

2:00 Speaker 1: get there. They just somehow managed to get there on

2:04 Speaker 1: their own. And it's frightening.

2:06 Speaker 2: There's a lot of people over here who just been

2:08 Speaker 2: waiting for confirmation of a lot of what you're It's

2:12 Speaker 2: so difficult now reading the news every single day and

2:15 Speaker 2: having these little nudges that maybe the conspiracy theories were true.

2:21 Speaker 2: I got all excited about eighteen months ago when they

2:23 Speaker 2: are a bunch of Expressdents talking about aliens. That sounding

2:25 Speaker 2: kind of fun, but it's taking a bit of a

2:26 Speaker 2: dark turn. Sit then.

2:30 Speaker 1: It has. It has, So I mean, what kind of

2:33 Speaker 1: feedback have you gotten on the song? Do you find

2:36 Speaker 1: that other people can also really kind of relate to this?

2:39 Speaker 2: Yeah, people seem to like it. It's a lot of what

2:43 Speaker 2: we play is very deliberately like nineties focused, big choruses, britpop,

2:49 Speaker 2: and this is the one where we've gone a little bit,

2:51 Speaker 2: a little bit more X files. Yeah, and people seem

2:54 Speaker 2: to appreciate it, So maybe that will be a direction

2:58 Speaker 2: we've tried to do. We've got a release plan for

3:01 Speaker 2: this year. We've got to put a song out every month. Okay,

3:03 Speaker 2: so we've got our next single is out next Friday,

3:07 Speaker 2: which is a very different vibe. But I think for

3:09 Speaker 2: the next few after that we're going to go back

3:11 Speaker 2: to the back to the well for some weird stuff.

3:14 Speaker 1: Okay, Oh cool? What is that kind of your So

3:16 Speaker 1: you're gonna be releasing a single every month? Is that?

3:19 Speaker 1: Is that the long term strategy. Are you going to

3:21 Speaker 1: do you have any plans to do an EP or

3:23 Speaker 1: an album? You know, we we live in a time

3:25 Speaker 1: where there's so many different strategies for releasing music, so

3:28 Speaker 1: I'm curious or maybe these singles will eventually coalesce into

3:31 Speaker 1: an album or what one's kind of the long term strategy.

3:35 Speaker 2: Well, probably every now and again, collect stuff together into

3:37 Speaker 2: a into a whatever feels best, So like collect them

3:42 Speaker 2: together by vibe. Yeah, we've got a CD. We've got

3:44 Speaker 2: a CD with putting out next Friday, which is the

3:47 Speaker 2: most recent three songs that we've recorded. Not that we

3:49 Speaker 2: plan to do them like that, but they just they

3:51 Speaker 2: fit quite nicely together.

3:52 Speaker 1: Mm hmm.

3:54 Speaker 2: We're doing one single a month because it's just so

3:57 Speaker 2: hard to get anything out and through the noise since

4:01 Speaker 2: we since we started playing together that there's been just

4:04 Speaker 2: this explosion of AI created dross. So it's apparently Spotify.

4:11 Speaker 2: I'm not a big fan of the fact that Spotify exists,

4:14 Speaker 2: but to be fair to them, if they're having to

4:16 Speaker 2: deal with one hundred and fifty tho AI songs uploaded

4:19 Speaker 2: every day, oh yeah, it's how do you get through that?

4:23 Speaker 2: It's because of people like it's going to be people

4:25 Speaker 2: like you that help bands fight through the noise. So

4:28 Speaker 2: thank you for what you're doing.

4:29 Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely, I appreciate that. Yeah, you know, we're doing

4:32 Speaker 1: what we can. But we actually did a segment on

4:34 Speaker 1: that recently about Spotify and how how they've they've begun

4:38 Speaker 1: to delete a lot of AI generated music. Of course,

4:44 Speaker 1: the tricky thing there is too, I always say this,

4:48 Speaker 1: some people are going to get There are legitimate artists

4:50 Speaker 1: who are going to get caught in that net as well.

4:53 Speaker 1: And that's a tricky thing too, because on one hand, Okay,

4:56 Speaker 1: you want to delete all this AI generated stuff, that's good,

4:59 Speaker 1: But at the same time time there are artists who

5:02 Speaker 1: maybe there's there's something in their music that flags gets

5:07 Speaker 1: the attention of the bot that is going through all this. Yeah,

5:11 Speaker 1: you know.

5:12 Speaker 2: And there are only so many beats that you can play, right,

5:16 Speaker 2: I think that a solution might I'm sure your listeners

5:20 Speaker 2: know of a Noah band camp.

5:22 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh I love band camp.

5:24 Speaker 2: Which is which is a great idea. The trouble with

5:26 Speaker 2: band camp, I think, is that ninety percent of people

5:28 Speaker 2: use it a musician selling their own music. It hasn't

5:31 Speaker 2: really got like mainstream traction. If there was a way

5:33 Speaker 2: of pushing people towards that, or if Spotify could do

5:36 Speaker 2: a add a button to buy a song if you

5:39 Speaker 2: like it enough for whatever pennies you know, yeah, fifty whatever,

5:44 Speaker 2: that'd be a game changer. But until then, it's just

5:49 Speaker 2: a case of trying to get your music in front

5:51 Speaker 2: of people however you can. I'm so grateful if you're

5:53 Speaker 2: playing these songs to people would otherwise I'd have no

5:56 Speaker 2: way of reaching them. I'm so grateful.

5:59 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, we're like I said, We're glad to do it.

6:01 Speaker 1: And I do love that song. I'm curious about you know,

6:04 Speaker 1: you mentioned britt Pop and what that song to me?

6:07 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a huge Oasis fan and you know,

6:10 Speaker 1: I job, what's up? Good job, thank you? Oh Morning

6:19 Speaker 1: Glory is one of my favorite albums ever. But or no,

6:22 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I definitely maybe I'm sorry, But I'm curious

6:27 Speaker 1: about what other you know because you're in where where

6:29 Speaker 1: are you exactly? I'm not sure your exact location.

6:32 Speaker 2: I'm in London, sir.

6:34 Speaker 1: You're in London was the.

6:35 Speaker 2: Center of the universe musically until not so long ago. Yeah,

6:40 Speaker 2: you go back a few years and you couldn't walk

6:42 Speaker 2: down the street without bumping into someone work. I mean

6:46 Speaker 2: I talking about Oasis. I bumped into an old Gallagher

6:49 Speaker 2: in a supermarket here. Oh no, Kaddy just ambushed him

6:53 Speaker 2: while he was trying to buy his butter. And he

6:56 Speaker 2: was a lovely man, lovely man and he's very that.

7:00 Speaker 2: That used to be pretty standard around here. Amy Winehouse

7:03 Speaker 2: brought me lunch breakfast with Black Sabbath. I've got photo

7:08 Speaker 2: evidence of a lot of that.

7:11 Speaker 1: Wow.

7:11 Speaker 2: Now, it's just there's been such a what's the word,

7:17 Speaker 2: a fragmentation of that industry that it's just hard for

7:22 Speaker 2: any of those little ecosystems to sustain themselves. Sure, there

7:27 Speaker 2: there there are a couple of new bands getting through.

7:29 Speaker 2: There's a few. There's a band called Westside Cowboy that

7:33 Speaker 2: are breaking through that sound pretty good like a traditional

7:37 Speaker 2: guitar band. Interesting, so in terms of like, we we

7:41 Speaker 2: love the britpop thing because we what we really love

7:45 Speaker 2: is choruses. Man, people bands now seem to be sort

7:49 Speaker 2: of embarrassed about writing choruses. You got to look so moody,

7:55 Speaker 2: like why do you? Guitar is meant to make you

7:57 Speaker 2: feel good. That's the point at the end, At the

7:59 Speaker 2: end of a if if you've got a bunch of

8:01 Speaker 2: people who have only seen you for the first time, Yeah,

8:04 Speaker 2: I don't think nine out of ten of them are

8:05 Speaker 2: going to walk areer remembering your lyrics, but make them.

8:08 Speaker 1: Feel exactly that's it, man, aim for aim for the

8:12 Speaker 1: jury exactly. No, I agree, I agree. Is there is

8:16 Speaker 1: there like a pressure coming from there in terms of,

8:20 Speaker 1: you know, being being a band from from London? Well,

8:23 Speaker 1: actually though, well interestingly, so you're in London, but not

8:26 Speaker 1: all the band members are correct.

8:28 Speaker 2: Oh they're all in London now, oh they are? Yeah? Yeah,

8:32 Speaker 2: so were we all live?

8:34 Speaker 1: Oh good?

8:34 Speaker 2: Okay, okay, so now we're a real like in person band.

8:38 Speaker 1: Oh good?

8:39 Speaker 2: And we yeah and we so. The guitarist one of them, Parlo,

8:43 Speaker 2: He's Italian, as you can guess from Yeah, Gonzalo is.

8:47 Speaker 2: Gonzalo is Chilean.

8:49 Speaker 1: Oh okay.

8:52 Speaker 2: But we came together with the all we found each

8:55 Speaker 2: other online and came together for the love of the

8:57 Speaker 2: same music. Yeah. I mean, you can tell what music

9:00 Speaker 2: we like from listening to our songs. We're on our sleeves.

9:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, So is there a pressure like being a

9:06 Speaker 1: London band in terms of just I mean you mentioned

9:09 Speaker 1: trying to cut through the noise. There's that part, but

9:12 Speaker 1: is there also this thing where, like you said, you

9:15 Speaker 1: know it used to be if it's not still or

9:18 Speaker 1: one of the centers of of the of the musical universe,

9:22 Speaker 1: Like do people expect you as a band from London

9:24 Speaker 1: to is there a certain expectation there or or a

9:27 Speaker 1: certain expectation in terms of your sound.

9:29 Speaker 2: Or I really can't. I mean, we're just so blessed

9:32 Speaker 2: to be from London. Yeah, it just carries a certain

9:37 Speaker 2: a certain weight I think like this. The venue that

9:39 Speaker 2: we're playing next Saturday is called the Troubadour. Oh yes,

9:43 Speaker 2: any I mean that's it's the last surviving sixties venue.

9:46 Speaker 2: We'll be playing on the same stage that who Jimmy Hendrix,

9:50 Speaker 2: Rolling Stones used to play on, and that's the It's

9:53 Speaker 2: just an ordinary venue. It's not like a museum. So yeah,

9:57 Speaker 2: we're really spoilt like that, and just the the I

10:00 Speaker 2: mean I half joke about bumping into people, but you

10:03 Speaker 2: really can find amazing people. The guy that the song

10:06 Speaker 2: you just played was recorded for us by a guy

10:09 Speaker 2: called Paul Tipler, who was a lovely man and he

10:12 Speaker 2: runs a little studio in London. He charges next to

10:16 Speaker 2: nothing for it and he's put out. He's produced Doctor

10:21 Speaker 2: Feel Good, he did the first recordings by Placebo HM

10:25 Speaker 2: like he's there are just these people around, like there's

10:28 Speaker 2: a really nice I've never met anyone who wants to

10:31 Speaker 2: do anyone down in music. I haven't. Everyone's been lovely. Yeah,

10:35 Speaker 2: and I think that might be. I do love London,

10:37 Speaker 2: but there is something magic about it now.

10:39 Speaker 1: Is it Unit thirteen? Is that where you recorded that?

10:42 Speaker 1: It is?

10:43 Speaker 2: Yeah?

10:43 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, great, great sound. You know obviously it came

10:47 Speaker 1: out really well. Have you recorded like the previous singles

10:51 Speaker 1: that you've released or are releasing? Are those all recorded

10:54 Speaker 1: there as well?

10:55 Speaker 2: So we did a song called The Downside that came

10:57 Speaker 2: out I think earlier this year with him and the

11:00 Speaker 2: next the next song, Delilah, is that next Friday. I'll

11:02 Speaker 2: send it to you after after this chat to enjoy

11:05 Speaker 2: a few if you're interested.

11:07 Speaker 1: Yeah, what what what song is it?

11:09 Speaker 2: It's called Delilah?

11:10 Speaker 1: Oh, Delilah? Okay, okay, and I do. Have you also

11:13 Speaker 1: sent us Ramona, which I'm going to play at the

11:15 Speaker 1: end of our conversation. That's a great song too. I

11:19 Speaker 1: really like that a lot.

11:19 Speaker 2: And that was that was produced by a friend of

11:22 Speaker 2: ours called Cucko, who runs Damon Albarn's studio, which is

11:28 Speaker 2: also called thirteen Studios.

11:31 Speaker 1: I guess it's amazing.

11:33 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there's there's a magic there, right, serendipity.

11:37 Speaker 1: That's excellent. So in terms of writing, you know, obviously

11:41 Speaker 1: you mentioned Nine Miles High. You wrote the lyrics. I

11:44 Speaker 1: assume did you also write the music to that?

11:47 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I tend to come in with just really

11:51 Speaker 2: basic chords and a melody, and but my voice won't change.

11:55 Speaker 2: But I tried to give the rest of the band

11:57 Speaker 2: as much space as they as they want to develop.

11:59 Speaker 1: It has been that way from the beginning with this project.

12:02 Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, who needs to feel that. I don't want

12:05 Speaker 2: it to be me and my session band. It has

12:07 Speaker 2: to be those guys expressing themselves. It's a nice Arctic

12:10 Speaker 2: Monkey's style riffing that the Powder came up with.

12:13 Speaker 1: Oh okay, you're right, No, that's yeah, that's cool. And

12:17 Speaker 1: then I assume, what what's the live situation like? Are

12:20 Speaker 1: you doing a lot of shows? You you know you

12:22 Speaker 1: did mention the show at the Troubadour coming up. If

12:23 Speaker 1: you've been playing a lot because I can imagine. I

12:26 Speaker 1: would assume that in London there's a lot of places

12:28 Speaker 1: to play, or maybe not.

12:29 Speaker 2: I'm assuming, but no, there are loads of venues, but

12:33 Speaker 2: the audiences for live bands aren't quite what they used

12:36 Speaker 2: to be. I'm from Camden, which is I mean, it

12:40 Speaker 2: was the musical hub, but so many of those venues

12:44 Speaker 2: are closed down now just because the constant tax and

12:49 Speaker 2: business rates keep keep going up, which pushes some good

12:53 Speaker 2: people out of business.

12:54 Speaker 1: Right.

12:54 Speaker 2: But that said, that said, there are some growing scenes.

12:56 Speaker 2: There's some wonderful people here. There's Debbie from Cooper Concept

13:00 Speaker 2: who's built a fantastic little scene over in West London.

13:03 Speaker 2: There's a new friend of ours called Johnny. I only

13:07 Speaker 2: know him as Johnny Middleman. He's a bit secretive. He's

13:11 Speaker 2: he's putting on the gig at the Troubador as part

13:13 Speaker 2: of what he's trying to develop into a gig cooperative

13:18 Speaker 2: with the London with a London band, and there are

13:20 Speaker 2: three other bands from other major English cities. So they're

13:24 Speaker 2: going to come down and see us and then soon

13:25 Speaker 2: we'll go up and play their places. Because that's, as

13:28 Speaker 2: I say, being from London, we're so blessed that it's

13:31 Speaker 2: easy for us to get gigs in London.

13:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, we can just you know.

13:34 Speaker 2: You get a bus there. It's not hard. But if

13:36 Speaker 2: you've got to come down from Manchester or Liverpool, that's

13:39 Speaker 2: that's a big investment.

13:40 Speaker 1: Right right now. That's that's excellent. Are are you playing

13:44 Speaker 1: like pretty consistently or what's what's the what's the schedule?

13:47 Speaker 2: As much as we can, we've got to we play

13:50 Speaker 2: a lot to each other. We've got to shared that

13:52 Speaker 2: we're always playing it. Yeah, but in terms of like

13:57 Speaker 2: we're trying to play one London gig a month and

14:00 Speaker 2: then get out of London to play other places.

14:02 Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm really curious what the name Howling Hawk means.

14:08 Speaker 1: I'm sure you get this question all the time, but uh,

14:12 Speaker 1: I like the name, but I'm curious what it means.

14:14 Speaker 2: It's just Howling Wolf was taken, that's about.

14:18 Speaker 1: It a long time ago. Yeah.

14:20 Speaker 2: I think that the best, the best rock and roll

14:23 Speaker 2: band name ever is the Rolling Stones for me, Okay,

14:27 Speaker 2: And we were trying to come up with something in

14:29 Speaker 2: the same bluesy vein and just something about that. Howling stuck. Yeah,

14:33 Speaker 2: and we went through it to try and find you've

14:35 Speaker 2: got Arctic monkeys. We don't want it to be ridiculous

14:38 Speaker 2: like howling penguin. Certain edge to it.

14:42 Speaker 1: No, I like it. I like it. Did you did

14:44 Speaker 1: the name come easily? Or did you have to go

14:46 Speaker 1: through some and to find one that you agree on?

14:49 Speaker 2: God? No, I've had so many, so many terrible, terrible names.

14:52 Speaker 1: Okay, I love I love hearing about rejected band names.

14:55 Speaker 1: Give me, give me what you got. I love this.

15:00 Speaker 2: Lima was floated around for a while, really, as in

15:04 Speaker 2: the monkey, the little furry thing that be something exotic

15:08 Speaker 2: and cool?

15:09 Speaker 1: Well, was it gonna be Howleen lemur or just uh see.

15:13 Speaker 2: If we'd have had you? We we went through a

15:21 Speaker 2: phase of just adding colors, two different nouns as well. Okay,

15:28 Speaker 2: the red, the red seven, you know, the blue whatever,

15:34 Speaker 2: the blue. But yeah, harling Hawk has done quite well.

15:38 Speaker 2: It looks pretty good on a T shirt as well.

15:40 Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. No, it's a cool name.

15:42 Speaker 1: Although the red seven is kind of cool. I wonder,

15:45 Speaker 1: I wonder if anyone else has taken that. I do

15:49 Speaker 1: like that, but I think, excuse me, I think no,

15:51 Speaker 1: Howling Hawk is a great name. And when how long

15:55 Speaker 1: has this project existed? When when, when roughly did you

15:58 Speaker 1: start this?

16:00 Speaker 2: Well, I met the guitarist Reese, the guitarist Gonzalo and

16:07 Speaker 2: Parlo about two years back, okay, and we've had a

16:11 Speaker 2: series of different drummers for different reasons too, wet. We

16:14 Speaker 2: met Reese in about the summer of last year, okay,

16:18 Speaker 2: so probably since then. This feels like the band at

16:21 Speaker 2: the moment.

16:21 Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is a relatively new project then in

16:24 Speaker 1: the grand scheme of things.

16:26 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so if everything's we're still learning how to

16:30 Speaker 2: do everything really.

16:32 Speaker 1: Yeah. It's interesting too that you mentioned about drummers. It

16:35 Speaker 1: sounds like you've been through a few. I don't know

16:37 Speaker 1: if it's the same there, but I can tell you

16:40 Speaker 1: here every drummer I know is in just multiple projects

16:44 Speaker 1: because there's only you know, we we talked at the

16:46 Speaker 1: beginning about how bass players are, you know, harder to find.

16:50 Speaker 1: Drummers are like impossible.

16:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I only played the bass because I

16:55 Speaker 2: couldn't find a bassist. Yeah, to guitarists and bass instead.

17:00 Speaker 2: But this this drummer, now, Reese, aside from being a

17:03 Speaker 2: talented drummer, he sings as well. Yeah, so we've been

17:06 Speaker 2: leaning into that to try and build up that Lenin

17:08 Speaker 2: and McCartney vocal vibe. Right, it's ridiculously arrogant, isn't it.

17:12 Speaker 2: How can you jump from hockey jumped to Lennon and McCartney. Yeah,

17:18 Speaker 2: far more, far more average than Lennon McCartney. But we're

17:21 Speaker 2: going to have multiple voices from now so that should

17:23 Speaker 2: be fun.

17:24 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think that's excellent. So so the show

17:28 Speaker 1: at the Troubadour is on the twenty eighth, so that's

17:31 Speaker 1: a big deal. Who do you want to mention? Who

17:33 Speaker 1: else is on that show with you? You guys are

17:34 Speaker 1: the headliners? Correct, Yeah, we are.

17:37 Speaker 2: And they're there are only I think a few. It's

17:40 Speaker 2: like a handful of tickets left now, which is really

17:42 Speaker 2: eating because it's being filmed and recorded as well. Excellent

17:51 Speaker 2: to put out a live at the Troubadour EP later

17:54 Speaker 2: in the year.

17:54 Speaker 1: Oh, very cool.

17:56 Speaker 2: So the other bands we've got, uh, there's a Bank

18:00 Speaker 2: and the Mama's Boys.

18:02 Speaker 1: Okay, that's Fantastic's a band called black Manas okay.

18:13 Speaker 2: Well, and they're they're really good. Some of their stuff

18:15 Speaker 2: sounds a bit like they're from Manchester. If you imagine

18:18 Speaker 2: LCD sound system but with a thick Manchester.

18:21 Speaker 1: Accent okay, okay, interesting.

18:24 Speaker 2: And there's another band called Brides who are really cool okay,

18:29 Speaker 2: and they'll be grateful for that shout out.

18:31 Speaker 1: So yeah, no doubt, no doubt. That's great. And then

18:34 Speaker 1: so what's what's the next thing after that? Because I know, well, well, actually,

18:40 Speaker 1: let me ask it this way. When does the or

18:42 Speaker 1: maybe it's already started. You said, you know you guys

18:44 Speaker 1: are going to do one single a month, So is

18:47 Speaker 1: that is that cycle already begun? As far as I know,

18:50 Speaker 1: Nine Miles High is new right? When what does that

18:54 Speaker 1: come out this month or last month?

18:55 Speaker 2: Yeah? So that came out. We're trying to put a

18:57 Speaker 2: somewher on the last day. I think enough that's been

19:02 Speaker 2: out for two three weeks now, and we've been it's

19:09 Speaker 2: it's been great. How how many how anna say? We've

19:15 Speaker 2: been stuck in a little London bubble for a while

19:19 Speaker 2: and so so we're really grateful for the people who

19:22 Speaker 2: are seeing us and hearing us. A lot of the

19:23 Speaker 2: time it's the same people. So to get the music

19:25 Speaker 2: out and heard in other strange and interesting places, it's

19:29 Speaker 2: really fun, Like you get messages from interesting places. So

19:34 Speaker 2: we're trying to get some airplay in places that we

19:39 Speaker 2: wouldn't normally go the next song. We've got a few

19:43 Speaker 2: conversations like this booked in with places in Italy and Chile,

19:48 Speaker 2: and then we'd like to get maybe go out abroad

19:50 Speaker 2: somewhere and play. Well.

19:52 Speaker 1: That's kind of a that's kind of an interesting advantage too.

19:54 Speaker 1: Where where you've you've got in terms of the members

19:58 Speaker 1: of the band, there's some there in terms of where

20:01 Speaker 1: they're from originally, so it kind of gives you it

20:03 Speaker 1: kind of gives you an in, uh in some places

20:07 Speaker 1: that you wouldn't otherwise have. So that's pretty cool.

20:10 Speaker 2: Yeah, we've we've had some some radio play in with

20:15 Speaker 2: indie books in Brazil and Argentina, Okay, but we haven't

20:19 Speaker 2: had any interviews or any proper conversations yet. Yeah, so

20:23 Speaker 2: we'd like to build some relationships with that. That's a

20:25 Speaker 2: big part of what we do. This is just meeting

20:26 Speaker 2: people with the same interests. You like, the same things,

20:28 Speaker 2: you know, we want to make friends. Yeah, and sure

20:31 Speaker 2: there's those joyful womens.

20:33 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, that's how you build a fan base.

20:35 Speaker 1: So no, I think you're I think you're on a

20:38 Speaker 1: great trajectory. Like I said, I listened to UH. I

20:40 Speaker 1: listened to a bunch of the songs, you know, because

20:42 Speaker 1: we did mention band camp. So I was listening to UH.

20:45 Speaker 1: Obviously I love nine Miles High. I was listening to

20:47 Speaker 1: some of the other tracks on band camp. The great

20:49 Speaker 1: thing about band camp too, is and because I mentioned this,

20:52 Speaker 1: every opportunity I get, because a lot of people don't

20:54 Speaker 1: realize this, you get a higher quality file on band

20:57 Speaker 1: camp than you do if you're just say you're just

21:00 Speaker 1: streaming it on YouTube or something like that. So I'm

21:02 Speaker 1: a big I'm a big proponent of band camp. I

21:05 Speaker 1: think that's the best place to listen to that to

21:07 Speaker 1: listen to music personally.

21:09 Speaker 2: Yeah, I tried is it title?

21:13 Speaker 1: I tried title?

21:14 Speaker 2: Yeah, it was okay. And there's one I think called

21:16 Speaker 2: Coba's or quobas q ob u z. And it's really

21:21 Speaker 2: really noticeable that the leap in audio quality. I think

21:23 Speaker 2: there's a whole a whole generation of people now who

21:25 Speaker 2: have only ever used Spotify and YouTube, who have never

21:28 Speaker 2: had the chance to listen to Dark Side of the

21:30 Speaker 2: Moon or Sergeant Pepper on vinyl through nice speakers.

21:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they are, they are missing out. Nothing sounds

21:37 Speaker 1: better than vinyl. I love the warmth of vinyl. What

21:41 Speaker 1: so are are? Do you guys have any plans to

21:43 Speaker 1: release any physical media or is everything digital? Because I

21:46 Speaker 1: can tell you that here in the US, CDs not

21:50 Speaker 1: that they ever went away, but it seems like over

21:52 Speaker 1: the last five or six years have have sort of

21:55 Speaker 1: made a comeback in the sense that a lot of

21:58 Speaker 1: independent artists here really like to have physical media. But

22:01 Speaker 1: I've also noticed when I talked to artists from the UK,

22:04 Speaker 1: it seems a little different there. It seems like, uh

22:06 Speaker 1: like maybe you've all just kind of left that in

22:08 Speaker 1: the past. I don't know, though, I'm curious what your

22:10 Speaker 1: perspective is on that.

22:12 Speaker 2: I think I think people are naturally inclined to want

22:18 Speaker 2: artifacts that commemorate the things that they love. Yes, like

22:22 Speaker 2: I've I've got you, and I have got access to

22:26 Speaker 2: YouTube for free. We could listen to any song that's

22:29 Speaker 2: ever been released without spending your penny. But they've still

22:32 Speaker 2: got that drive in me to buy the latest vital

22:35 Speaker 2: by my favorite band. Yes, if I reissues and I

22:37 Speaker 2: find that people want people buy CDs from us, then

22:42 Speaker 2: they'll they'll never play them. They'll listen to us. In

22:44 Speaker 2: other ways. Anyway, I want to have something that shows

22:47 Speaker 2: that they've they've built that connection. So yeah, absolutely, we're

22:50 Speaker 2: starting to move into physical media.

22:52 Speaker 1: Excellent.

22:53 Speaker 2: There's been a weird push for old style cassettes, you know,

22:56 Speaker 2: like the old Walkman people. I think that just looks

23:01 Speaker 2: really cool when you put it on a shelf. Yeah,

23:04 Speaker 2: it might be that. I would love to get some

23:06 Speaker 2: vinyl going, but it's just it's just not realistic.

23:10 Speaker 1: It's very expensive.

23:12 Speaker 2: Yeah. Have you heard of Third Man Records?

23:15 Speaker 1: That sounds familiar to me. I'm not sure that.

23:18 Speaker 2: So Jack White, the White Stripes Jack White, Yeah, really

23:20 Speaker 2: really cool. Guy is pushing for greater accessibility for vinyl. Oh, okay,

23:26 Speaker 2: and he's opened a he's got a store in Nashville,

23:29 Speaker 2: I know, but he's opened up another one in London,

23:32 Speaker 2: not far from where I'm sitting now. And at the

23:34 Speaker 2: back is a nineteen fifties straight to wax recording booth.

23:39 Speaker 2: Oh you can go in and record records straight onto vinyl.

23:43 Speaker 2: But it's broken. I go in there once a week

23:46 Speaker 2: to see if they've had it repaired. I'm praying that

23:51 Speaker 2: by the end of this year, I've.

23:52 Speaker 1: Got something on vinyl that's interesting. Yeah, here in the US.

23:56 Speaker 1: It was either twenty two or twenty three was the

23:59 Speaker 1: first year, or maybe it was twenty four. It all

24:01 Speaker 1: becomes a blur, but the first year that vinyl actually

24:05 Speaker 1: outsold CDs, uh for the first time since CDs became

24:09 Speaker 1: the you know, the primary medium for music. So yeah,

24:13 Speaker 1: love love the sound of vinyl, and and people give

24:16 Speaker 1: me vinyl records sometimes. You know, some of the guests

24:18 Speaker 1: that we have on the show that are here in person,

24:20 Speaker 1: and you know, I don't I don't even have a

24:21 Speaker 1: record player at home. We do have one here in

24:23 Speaker 1: the station. I don't have one at home, but it's

24:25 Speaker 1: just cool to have it, you know, and it looks

24:26 Speaker 1: good on the wall, and you know, love vinyl.

24:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean someone it might have been

24:32 Speaker 2: Warren Zevon was talking about books. He said that we

24:37 Speaker 2: buy books not necessarily to buy them, but because we

24:39 Speaker 2: feel richer having them around. And I think having vinyls

24:42 Speaker 2: is the same thing. I love that vinyls have also

24:44 Speaker 2: brought back a new found love for art and for

24:47 Speaker 2: cover art. Yes, means people are displaying these things in

24:51 Speaker 2: their homes.

24:52 Speaker 1: That's a great point. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, well, Jim in

24:58 Speaker 1: a moment we're gonna we'll hit that track, Ramona. This

25:01 Speaker 1: is another great song and I really like this a lot.

25:04 Speaker 1: But before we do that, and you know, we'll let

25:07 Speaker 1: you go in a moment when we do that. But

25:10 Speaker 1: where is the best place to go? Where should people

25:11 Speaker 1: go online to keep up with everything that Howling Hawk

25:14 Speaker 1: is doing.

25:15 Speaker 2: We're we're most active on Instagram, but you can follow

25:19 Speaker 2: us wherever you like if you go to harling hawk

25:20 Speaker 2: dot com. Okay, you want to speak to me and

25:23 Speaker 2: say hello and maybe you'll send you a present, and

25:25 Speaker 2: just go to go to the Instagram.

25:28 Speaker 1: Okay, that's easy. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah. It seems like Instagram

25:31 Speaker 1: is really becoming in terms of social media, kind of

25:34 Speaker 1: the main hub now for a lot of artists, which

25:38 Speaker 1: is which is interesting.

25:39 Speaker 3: It's amazing the people that you find on there. I

25:42 Speaker 3: was talking the other day to Gordon Raphael, you recorded

25:46 Speaker 3: the first two Strokes albums. Yes, chatting away on Instagram

25:50 Speaker 3: is it's what Twitter should have been?

25:54 Speaker 1: Yeah?

25:55 Speaker 2: I love it.

25:56 Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, I like how you said that is what

25:59 Speaker 1: Twitter should have in Yeah, that ship is sealed. Well,

26:06 Speaker 1: very good, very good. Well, Jim listen, thank you so

26:08 Speaker 1: much for joining us today, and we will definitely do

26:11 Speaker 1: this again in the future. I'd love to have you

26:12 Speaker 1: back because it sounds like you're gonna be. If you're

26:14 Speaker 1: gonna be releasing a new single every month, then that's easy.

26:17 Speaker 1: We will definitely have you back, and we're happy to

26:19 Speaker 1: also kind of be your your conduit into the American

26:22 Speaker 1: radio market here.

26:22 Speaker 2: Because thank you so much.

26:25 Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, because we really love what you're doing. Anything

26:28 Speaker 1: we should know about this song, Ramona, I think you

26:30 Speaker 1: said in the email, this is one of your favorites.

26:34 Speaker 2: It is. It's absolute nonsense. It's like John Lennon stall Doggrel.

26:40 Speaker 2: I read about how David Bowie wrote some of his

26:42 Speaker 2: songs by just writing. He collected up newspapers and cut

26:46 Speaker 2: the lines out and then rearrange them like a like

26:50 Speaker 2: a weird jigsaw, and it's just that.

26:52 Speaker 1: So okay.

26:53 Speaker 2: I like the idea that that sort of fate might

26:55 Speaker 2: lead it to a meaning for someone who's listening, but

26:57 Speaker 2: for us, it's just fun.

26:58 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, No, I like that. So we'll share this

27:01 Speaker 1: with everybody, and I'm gonna hit that track, but Jim,

27:04 Speaker 1: we will let you go. Jim from of course Howling Hawk,

27:07 Speaker 1: thank you so much, and like I said, you know,

27:08 Speaker 1: bass players unite and uh and I really appreciate you

27:14 Speaker 1: joining us today and I look forward to the next

27:16 Speaker 1: time we get to speak.

27:18 Speaker 2: Thanks man, great talking

27:19 Speaker 1: Absolutely jam all right, thank you, take care,