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First of all - what is Chickenhawk and why was it formed?
Chickenhawk is a band of friends, it was formed because no one else wanted to be in a band with us in 2004, we were initially a 3 piece, Matt joined us on drums roughly a year and a half ago.
What are your main influences?
The interesting thing about our band is there has never been one set of solid influences, it wasn’t a case of lets form a band that’s like this…… There was never a big plan with this band and we all listen to very different music….There are a few bands that we all like such as Dillinger Escape plan but then individually we draw influences from Shellac, Danny Elfman, Melvins, Health……the list is very big
A practical question now - why did you name the band Chickenhawk? Does it have any special meaning?
There is no real special meaning, when were first jamming I came across a book called Chickenhawk I liked the name suggested it to the others and it stuck.
How would you describe your music?
4 friends with very different interests musically finding common ground that kicks the shit out of you….
Just as probably many of our readers, we completely missed the first two Chickenhawk releases. Can you give us a little indication of both the releases, to know what we have missed?
We first released a demo in 2005 these were skeleton versions of 3 songs that would feature on our debut album. We then did a split CD in 2006 with ‘I breathe Spears’ and ‘With Scissors,’ these were much more longer pieces of music…… then there was our debut album released in 2008, this is the reason we are now a 4 piece, up until this point it had been Stick playing drums and singing, he did an amazing job with the album and at that point realised he really couldn’t replicate what he did on the album live whilst playing the drums. Matt was fresh from Whores Whores Whores splitting up and I think he was really impressed with the album and jumped at the chance of joining. Since he has joined we’ve made massive steps as a unit and the newer songs we have written, hes really brought a massive change to the band.
Your latest release, the A Or Not EP, got a good rating on our page. What do you think of the release yourself?
As I said before this is the first release as a 4 piece, personally I think its our best release to date, the drums are brilliant, Stick again has done a fantastic job with the vocals…
What is in your opinion the best track on the release and why?
Personally it has to be ‘I Hate this, do you like it?’ I think it’s a really good song, we’ve managed to bring all our personalities into the song and this song has some brilliant memories personally, regarding the making of the zombie video and all the things that have happened as a result of this song.
What is in your opinion the major difference inbetween the new release and the old ones?
The new songs sound much more like a full band, the playing is better, the music is heavier everything is a step up.
You already did quite some live shows, as well with Dutch legendary band Kong. What can a stranger expect when he visits a live show of Chickenhawk? And how was it to be able to tour with Kong?
The dutch band are ‘Kongh’ we toured with the English band Kong, they are fucking brilliant and you should listen to them religiously… Touring with kong was brilliant, lovely guys, awesome band. Chickenhawk live will kick your dick in, expect a lot of volume and a lot of energy….
What are next to music your other passions in life?
At the moment we have very little time for anything else other than music and the band. I like foreign films and Art……Let the right one in, go see it immediately…
What can we expect of Chickenhawk in the (near) future?
In the very short term we are touring throught September, October and November across the UK, very shortly we are releasing new song ‘Scorpieau’ on the third volume of the 4x12 series of Dance to the Radio releases….other than that writing a new album……
The interview ends here, thanks for your time. If you have some final words to add, you can do it here.
HAT
DOG
FACE
Thankyou very much.
Interview by: Gerardo - September 2009.
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