Little King Hunter // Q&A

Introductions:

- Name of Artist/Band? (Include all band members names and instruments played.)

Our band is called Little King Hunter. On bass is Michael Ackerman, Jon Vriend (JV) plays guitar and sings, Shane Pardy is on drums and I, Luke Deveau, sing and play guitar. JV and I share lead vocal duties, depending on the song we're playing.


- What/where is your hometown? Do the people back at home support you?

We're based out of Halifax but we all hail from points beyond, from as far as Illinois and as close as Dartmouth.



- When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?

I responded to an online ad that JV had placed in the fall of 2008. It seemed like we were looking for the same kinds of things, not just musically but also philosophically and with respect to work ethic. Our initial meeting was just to see if each other could actually play and write. Some of the ideas that emerged that first day are actually in songs we play now. We discussed what we wanted out of a band; we reached the conclusion that we didn't want to rehash any particular style or attitude. This sort of approach forces you to be original, but its risky. Sometimes I think it would just be easier for our band to be a Rolling Stones clone or a Black Sabbath clone or just adopt a really specific genre, but I know that'd be dishonest and the rest of the band would feel the same. The risk is what makes it fun.


- Have you recorded any previous CDs or posted any audio files on the Internet? (What type of recording process did you use? Who produced your recording? Where can we find them?)

It took a few months for our lineup to really fill out, but we were constantly writing songs so it was a slow, but fruitful build. In the summer of 2009 we went into the studio at the Shambala School in Halifax and recorded a couple of live demos. They're on our myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/littlekinghunter. We've been in the same studio working on our debut EP since the early part of 2010. The engineer for the sessions is a guy named Chance Gillis, a really talented smart musician; he's been a huge help. Some new material should be posted before the end of the summer.



- Who are your musical influences?

Its difficult to pin down too many specific influences in our band, we all like a really diverse array of things. Influences are a funny thing anyway, after a while they start to lose their usefulness (which is purely inspiration) and become a convenient replacement for original ideas. Everyone "steals" in pop and rock music, ourselves included, but its when you make a long term habit of it that your art suffers. You just end up working from the manual at that point.



Playing Live:


- Give us an idea as to what its like to see your band live...

Our live performances are marked by the fact that we rarely play the same set twice and sometimes (intentionally or otherwise) we change the songs around and improvise a bit. Keeps things fresh. Stage antics? Well I sweat a lot, JV sometimes rocks the fedora or sea captain's hat, Mike is just a sick player and Shane has a third arm hidden somewhere, seemingly. I'm betting its in his freezer.

Other Stuff:


- Do you guys have any other hobbies besides, obviously, making music?

We all like typical guy things, ranging from sports, drugs, girls etc etc but rarely at the same time and never together. We have separate lives outside of the band. We aren't in each other's ass pocket all the time.



- What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?

Our rehearsals have evolved a bit over the last year. It used to be someone would bring a song forward and we'd all learn it. Now we just play off of each other and tack it all together with sticky tape.



In closing:


- Tell us anything you think we should know about your band - (upcoming shows, releases, links to facebook/myspace/bandcamp ect.)

Any news or updates can be found on our myspace page, including upcoming shows.
Our next show is tonight at Gus' Pub!



- white or whole wheat?

Ciabatta

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Make sure to check out Little King Hunter TONIGHT @ Gus' Pub w/ The Bad Bad Bad & The Johnny Dick Project! - and if you can't - check back here over the next couple of days and we'll have a full re-cap of the nights events!!