Interview with Hvnted

I recently had the chance to talk to LA band Hvnted about their really solid eponymous debut EP, and along the way we also discussed the LA Rock Collective, a recent membership change, Nirvana covers, the pandemic and more.  

I know the band has existed in one form or another for six or seven years.  Can you give me a little band history? 

The band was formed by Will Swanson who later found the other members via shows, social media, friends, etc.  Jack was actually a middle school/high school friend of Will’s.  He was a grade below him and learned to play bass just for the band. Seamus was found when he was playing the same show as one of Will’s other bands. Will had run out into the audience for some crowd interaction but didn't have enough time to get back to the stage so he actually used Seamus as a mic stand. 

 

You have recorded with American Hi-Fi frontman Stacy Jones and former Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson, and then you also recorded with producer Bruce Robb at his legendary Cherokee Studios.  How have you managed to end up working with such big names? (on a side note, I stumbled across a box set of music from The Robbs a few years ago, and they were a sadly underappreciated band)

 

Yeah!! The Robbs! That's so cool. Bruce used to tell us stories all the time about his time in The Robbs. We think these opportunities start just like how we did. Music pulls all kinds of people together. Meeting Keith, Bruce, and Stacy was seriously a blessing to us. We wouldn't be who we are today without them. We remember grinding out the perfect take over and over again with these guys in their studios and it made us better musicians overall because of it. 

How does your songwriting process tend to work?

 

The songwriting process is actually pretty open. Typically, one of us comes in with a song idea or some half-written song.  Normally it tends to be Will who brings in songs and we all end up working on them that way. As for how the songs are written from a technical standpoint, usually, the chords of the song come first followed by a melody. Lyrics don't happen until the very end. 

I saw pop punk come up a few times in reference to you, and while there are definitely times where that could apply, overall I don’t think that really fits.  Opener “Killing Me” is a great example.  That’s just a good straight-ahead, hard driving rock song.  What are your thoughts on that?

 

Yeah! Y’know it's one if those things where we almost wanna say listeners can call us whatever genre they want. We do a lot of different stuff and our sound tends to change quite a bit in the sense of our songs but not our overall style. Typically we like to generally categorize ourselves as just “rock.” That's what we really are at our core.  We just want to make music that we love playing and people love hearing.  

Another favorite of mine is “Otherside”.  I hear a little MCR and to me there’s something about the sound of it that really sets it apart from the others.  Can you tell me a little about that song?

 

"Otherside" has always held a special place in the band's heart. We think it's just because of how different the sound and overall vibe of the song is. That song is really our “chaotic break before the storm.” "Otherside" tends to be a fan favorite! People ask for it a lot. 

I noticed that Declan is no longer listed as a member of the band and in a recent live video on YouTube you had a guitarist named Chris playing with you.  What the story with that? 

 

Ah yes! Ok so, Declan O’Raidy was the original guitarist of Hvnted. He's a great guy and a great guitarist.  It's very rare to find a guitarist who plays to the song with such natural instinct as he does. He wanted to pursue another career opportunity and decided to depart from Hvnted. We are all on good terms though! He's a great guy and has always been a great friend to us.  The guitarist who's been playing with us for our recent shows is Chris Marshall. Somehow Hvnted ends up finding the nicest yet most rock kinda people for the band. Chris is really nice, really polite, super kind. But he looks like he could break me in half by just flexing his bicep. He's got the whole tattooed guitarist thing with the muscles going on and he's pretty insane when it comes to guitar playing.  Will actually found him off an Instagram hashtag and he has just seemed to be the right fit so far. 

In the video I saw it seems like his guitar work brings a different energy to the songs.  Would you agree?

 

This is something that we've all been thinking and have been really excited about. Will always says “It's kinda crazy how one guitarist brings such an energy and new sound that it makes this feel like a completely new band.” Chris just makes the songs feel heavier and almost pushes us towards a more “Nu Metal” direction.

You are involved in the LA Rock Collective. Can you tell me about that?

The LA Rock Collective is something that has been such a huge help to us and many other bands. What LARC does for bands is really something that we've been asking for for a long time. LARC gets all these local bands or bands who are touring in town and throws us all together for a show with the commitment of bringing out as many people as you can and sticking around for everyone's set even if you aren't even playing that night. I'd say the feeling I get from LARC is “Stronger Together.” Really helpful people.  We are actually playing a LARC pretty soon. If you wanna come just check us out on Instagram for the date and see what its all about @hvntedband. 

 

What kind of effect did the pandemic have on the band?

The pandemic basically slowed everything wayyy down.  It's crazy that when we write songs, we're typically alone inside our room or lockout. Which is right where the pandemic wanted us to be. But this pandemic killed all motivation. It just kind of put us into this state of looking around and saying “whoa.” I don't think something else like this will happen again in our lifetimes.  I mean we're still feeling the effects of it. 

 

From what I’ve read the band does a lot of work supporting mental health and depression.  Can you tell me a little about that?

 

Mental Health is something the band takes pretty seriously. It's something everyone has to keep track of.  No matter how someone appears to be feeling you have to be kind to each other.  You have to make sure you're checking on everyone.  You never know what someone could be holding in. Our EP that we just put out us actually based all around Mental health. It talks about everything from depression to addiction. Mental health has just been a big part of our lives and we want to make sure everyone's doing okay. 

Do you have any plans for a physical release of the EP?

 

It's definitely something we've thought about... Normally we take a lot of polls on our social media accounts to see what people would want as well as asking people at our shows. What we've seemed to gather is.... 1. Will’s grandmother wants a Hvnted CD.  2. Our fans love vinyl.... vinyls get pretty expensive....

I heard the song “Kaitlyn Delaine” in one of your live videos and read that you have a studio version recorded.  Is there any reason it’s not on the EP and should we expect to hear it at some point?

 

So what's kinda crazy about this EP is these are songs from like 2 years ago. We rounded up these songs together and thought about which songs belonged together and which needed to be saved for a later date.  "Katelyn Dillane" is definitely one that in fact, will be released at a later date.  It's a newer song and it's one of our favorites.  We have so much material that we're working on every day to get out to you guys. 

You have a couple Nirvana covers up on YouTube and Spotify.  Is there a story behind those?

 

It was the Anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death a little while ago and we decided to do some of our favorite songs by Nirvana. That's really all that was about. Just wanted to do a little tribute. 

I also read something about a possible covers EP.  Can you elaborate on that?

Ahhh yes... We've talked about this quite a bit. We've thought about covering some 2000’s hits for fun or even just some covers that seem in our genre and putting them together as a collective.  Haven't done it yet though. Haven't even started.  However... I know there's a Hvnted cover of a Neon Trees song laying around somewhere. 

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

 

Well we just put out our self-titled EP so now really it's just tour around and play a ton of shows with all of our friends/fans. As we stated previously though... always stay tuned for new music.  

Is there anything else you would like to share with readers?

We just wanted to thank you guys for all the support you've given us so far. Be sure to stream Hvnted and show us to all your friends, parents, grandparents, etc. We hope to see you guys soon! PEACE.

(Hvnted)