Distortion and discordance are just two of the many volatile components bubbling beneath the surface of HUNTERS, a fuzzy Brooklyn-bred punk outfit that has been capturing the attention of locals and festival-goers alike with their kinetic stage presence and punchy songs. Serendipity may have resulted in some big names lending a helping hand in the beginning, but HUNTERS has since taken the reigns on their sound, perfecting their battering-ram ferocity one track at a time. If their music and energy doesn’t make you want to thrash, scream, or flail, maybe you’re at the wrong show.
In town for a gig later tonight supporting their self-titled LP, I was able to snag a few minutes with the ever-colorful frontduo of Derek Watson and Isabel Almeida and talk about crafting their full-length album, the creator of ThunderCats, and relocating to Philly.
A lot of press has made it a point to report on the intensity of your live shows. Do you guys write with the intent of creating something that will translate well on stage and get people moving?
Izzy: We don’t usually think about live shows at all when we’re writing. But I feel like, ever since I was a little kid, I used to put on songs and perform them for myself because I thought it was fun. I believe you’re capable of performing to anything. It doesn’t have to be something specific. So we just write what we want and then we work with it on stage. And I like the challenge, too, of performing a song for the first time.
In the beginning of October, you released your self-titled debut LP. How do you think you’ve evolved since your 2011 EP Hands on Fire?
Derek: I think it’s similar, but we’ve expanded in certain ways. We have more dynamics in some of the songs and a little more space. I think that just comes from playing for so long – it’s impossible to just do heavy hitting for 40 minutes, or it just gets hard on everyone’s ears at that point [laughter].
Izzy: And we wanted a full record, so we needed more dimensions. If it’s an EP, it’s okay if all the songs just go boom, because it’s only four or five songs. But if it’s going to be an LP, I think it’s important to have some mellow songs, too. Like when you’re listening to Sonic Youth – there’s always one song that slows things up, but it’s still rocking.
Who influenced you guys on this one? Who do you turn to?
Derek: When we were doing this record, I was listening to this guy Randy Holden a lot. He was the guitar player from Blue Cheer. He did this weird, heavy, psychedelic riff-based music with another musician. So it was just two guys, a guitarist and a drummer, in the ‘70s doing their thing. He was one of the first dudes with a wall of Sunn amps, playing super loud.
Izzy: A lot of ZZ Top, too.
Derek: Yeah, a lot of the first ZZ Top record.
Izzy: It’s really weird. I feel like we listen to a lot of music that doesn’t sound like ours at all, but there’s a lot of stuff that we return to. It’s just whatever hits the spot at the time.
Tell me about your recently released music video for “Narcissist.” Did you guys manage to avoid injury while all those people were banging on the car you two were in?
Izzy: It was really fun. Crazy.
Derek: I kept thinking that the roof was going to cave in before anything else because there was a girl jumping on top of it, and the vehicle they had brought for us barely made it there. It was a super-rickety, old station wagon, and I hadn’t been in a really old car in a long time, so you kinda forget how weak everything can be. But the roof, every time the girl tap danced on it or whatever, would just come down and hit us in the head, and the whole time I was just waiting for a foot to come through and for her to come up with blood and scrapes all on her legs [laughter]. I think the only dangerous thing that happened was that our bass player Tommy was going crazy on the side with a sledgehammer and he didn’t realize that the battery was still in the car, because we didn’t take anything out. So he dented the car in really, really close to it, and if he hit it really hard or smashed something the wrong way who knows what could’ve happened [laughter].
Izzy: I feel like everybody had more fun than us in that video. We were just sitting in the car.
Derek: Yeah, it would have been more fun to smash the car for sure. Or to be the dude doing push-ups.
Izzy: Derek wanted to do the push-ups with me sitting on top of him.
Derek: Yeah, except I don’t have the upper body strength to do all of those push-ups, let alone with somebody on me [laughter]. But the coolest part of the video, remember that cartoon “ThunderCats?”
Yes, definitely.
Derek: We filmed at the house of the dude who created “ThunderCats.”
[Laughter] Really?
Derek: Yeah! I was flipping out. It was in the middle of nowhere in upstate Pennsylvania, and there were two mini lakes and woods all around it. It was incredible, but the guy hasn’t lived there in forever. I think he might be dead.
And what happened to the car afterward?
Derek: It was so destroyed a tow truck came and took it for scrap. There was no way it would have run. We tried to steal the hubcaps off it but they wouldn’t fit on our car [laughter].
Awesome. So, from what I can tell, you two are fairly open about being a couple. I know some bands that have members who are involved together sometimes like to keep it hush-hush. What’s it like working with your significant other, and do you guys ever think about or care how it might affect your image?
Izzy: I don’t want to be the band with the couple, you know what I mean?
Yeah, a lot of bands feel that way.
Izzy: Because a lot of times, people focus on that. For me, it’s fine that we’re dating and in a band. I don’t care if people know, but I don’t want to promote our band as a couple that’s writing songs together.
Derek: Sometimes it can be looked into too much. Some people look at every lyric and think, Is this about their relationship?
Izzy: And we were actually friends for two or three years before we started dating, and already in the band. So, I think for us it works fine because we already had chemistry writing music and everything.
Derek: Our dynamic was already established.
Izzy: It’s been easier that way. It would be harder to start a band with your new significant other and find out how you work together in the middle.
Derek: Yeah, we already knew we could work together, which helps a lot. We had a way of writing and it hasn’t really changed since then, luckily. And it’s also super fun now because when you’re on tour you don’t have to leave the person you’re with and wonder what’s going on and when you’ll see them next.
What’s it like as young band operating out of Brooklyn?
Izzy: We’re in Philly now, actually.
Derek: That’s really recently, though. We started in Brooklyn.
Izzy: We’re still a Brooklyn band basically. We just moved to Philly because we can’t afford rent in New York.
So what was it like when you were here full time?
Izzy: I think it’s really hard being a band in Brooklyn, cause everything is so expensive. Practice spaces are really expensive. Apartments are really expensive. You have to work so much to just pay your bills that you barely have any time to practice. And it’s really hard to go on tour because of bills and not being able to quit your job.
Derek: So many of our friends’ bands can’t even afford a van, or if they do get one it’s a really shitty, shitty one, and it might not last through their tour. Or it gets super complicated trying to borrow someone else’s van. Even this summer, we went on tour with a band and they borrowed someone’s van, but it broke down in the middle of the tour. They were incredibly stressed out and had to pay for all these repairs. So I think it can be stressful trying to make things work here.
What was it like transitioning from Brooklyn to Philly?
Derek: At first I was pretty worried it was going to be too much of a difference, but I feel like there are a lot of house shows and other things going on in Philly that it’s somewhat similar. I mean there’s not as much, but it’s way more laid back.
Izzy: I actually love it.
Derek: It’s pretty fun. We know a bunch of people there. And going to shows there is pretty awesome because it’s a totally different experience. We’ve been going to the same places here for a little while, so it’s kind of nice.
Izzy: It’s way more mellow and we have way more space. It’s easier for us now to write songs and work on music because we have more space. And we have more time, too, because we don’t have to work five days a week, twelve hours a day.
Sounds nice [laughter].
Derek: It would have never wound up happening for us had we not moved. We toured back then thinking we’ll just make it work, but then we were renting vans and trying to have someone sublet our apartment. Something would go missing and we would wonder if we misplaced it or if they took it. Finally we wound up with someone we didn’t know at all in our apartment for a long time and we were stressed out about that. And then you start to realize you have no money. Your account is at $1.67 or something, and that’s really dark. So moving was almost out of necessity for us, because I was working in a warehouse and my hours were insane. I would have to work 13 hour days, sometimes back to back to back. It was in Secaucus, so I had to take the train there at four or five in the morning. Now, not having to do that every single day is kinda awesome.
What’s coming up next?
Derek: It’s a U.S. jam. They’re are still adding some shows, but I think the first one might be in DC. Then it goes down to Texas for Fun Fun Fun, and California and Canada after that.
Izzy: We’re off for December. And in January, everything starts up again.
Purchase HUNTERS here.
Interview by Justin Davis. Follow him on Twitter @yeahjustindavis.
Photos by Cheryl Georgette Arent. Follow her on Twitter @BOHEMIANFOREST.
