Since 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! Leave
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