HOOSTER

HoosterSince their inception in 1999 three-piece Christchurch rock band Hooster have had more than their share of entertaining and double-edged moments.
The band consistently garner support and accolades for their brand of approachable melodic power rock, while encountering a bewildering array of comic and confusing side trackings.

Forming from three friends with a similar vague interest in screaming guitars and powered beats the band soon dropped their starter kit of obscure covers for a quickly forming pool of originals which pleased their audience no end.

In a case of "all roads leading to Rome", Hooster have found their path to success a twisted and obscure road through strange links.

The band made their first link through recordings with Failsafe Records boss Rob Mayes who had worked on drummer Al Evan's two elder brothers bands (Strangeloves, Delburgoes) and it seemed logical to keep the family thing going.

Taking those demos the band's bassist Kris Giles proceeded to entertain his fetish for entering competitions and before they knew it the band had won The Edge's demo competition bestowing on them the privilege to share stages with the likes of Tadpole, Garageland and Killing Heidi. That the "prize" eventually sees the band moved to a small stage outside the venue to entertain punters queueing to get in only dumbfounds and dampened their spirits slightly until another result from Kris' competition fetish saw the band "winning" an NZ On Air New Recording Grant for their song Lucy.

This time the Hooster moment was that singer / guitarist Ed Loughnan had since departed New Zealand for his OE in London and that Lucy was one of the bands least favourite songs in its current version. Such is the nature of Kris's condition that he never asks or informs the rest of his crew before entering them in these events.

Ed returns to New Zealand lured by the call of Rock n Roll, and $5000 to blow on one song and the band and producer Mayes proceed to smack some life into their contractual single Lucy, flying in some beats and adding some guitar and drum grunt.

The band found it difficult to merge their own need to produce sounds of credibility and power with radio's need for inoffensiveness and familiarity. The resulting recording satisfies the bands and producer's need for something a little more solid and powerful, but apparently scares some radio and NZ On Air staff (who didn't give it a follow up video grant), but not so much that they wouldn't include it on Indie Hit Disc 18.

The track won the band a weeks high rotate on Channel Z as the first band on "Unsigned", a segment for up and coming NZ artists.

Kris' competition addiction sees the band win the More FM demo competition for their track JFK (Just for Kicks) winning the band studio time to record the song to single standard. This prize backfires on the boys when it turns out that the studio and producer are not the band's choice and the band must record at a new studio run by inexperienced clean-cut Christian types whose view of Hooster's sound is a lot more sanitized than the band see it. The end result pleases neither band nor station with the band chalking the experience down to another double edged "Hooster" moment.

The band manage to rescue the session masters and the track is re-mixed for inclusion on the bands up coming Rotate EP, along with the NZ on Air Lucy, live favourite Blowtorch (from the bands earlier demo sessions with Rob), and the band and producer's new favourite track Rotate from the band's album sessions recorded on location at a disused meat packing factory for that big natural reverb sound. This highly reflective structure proving so loud that hearing protection was essential during drum tracking.

In November the band win themselves the coveted Christchurch slot for the Shihad tour. This time drummer Al must return from Thailand, where he is part way through his OE, in an attempt to prove to himself there is life outside of the band. The band enlist the services of ex NZ, London resident video producer Marc Swadel, veteran of many many NZ video clips, and just home for the holidays. Marc returns to London to cut the video and the band release their debut EP selling all the copies they had at their release party, and continue to work on their forthcoming album.

Rotate is submitted to NZ On Air and immediately gains a position on the upcoming Indie Hit Disc.

Meanwhile Rotate spends 2 weeks being Generator FM's most requested song, and The Rock and Channel Z persist in playing sporadically the more retro rockin' tracks off their pre EP demos Blowtorch, and Sweet 17.

It's been a fun-filled and entertaining journey of twists and turns for Hooster and the band have given up trying to predict and control the course of their career and simply enjoy the ride. Let's see where it takes them!

HOOSTER RECORDINGS
"Rotate" album  
"Keepin' Secrets" - Various Artists (song Rotate)    

HOOSTER MUSIC DOWNLOADS

Hooster Myspace Page

Leave Comments About Hooster :: Read Comments About Hooster


Failsafe Records, P O Box 3003, Christchurch, New Zealand
www.failsaferecords.com :: info@failsaferecords.com