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Wednesday, January 11, 2017

THE HUNTERS - Dead End



"Dead End", the debut full length by Finnish rock'n' roll guitarslingers THE HUNTERS was released recently on STUPIDO RECORDS. This is certainly one of the best, rawest and sweatiest shot of sleazy rock'n'roll to come out off the Nordic countries since decades. 

This five piece got it all in spades: the energy, the swagger, the guitars riffs and the sing a long choruses that stick in your head for weeks. If you are looking for the twin brother to "L.A.M.F" by Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers, don't look any further, you just found it!! Yours truly had a little chat with lead singer EKI and Lead guitarist SONNY to know more about this band:



1) What can you tell about The Hunters? Who is playing what in the band? How long are you guys together as a band? Were you in other bands previously? 

-Hunters is a standard five-piece rock and roll band consisting of Eki Hunter : vocals, Sonny Dawoud :lead guitar, Samu Skinnari : rhythm guitar, Olavi Pietiäinen :  Bass and Akseli Aro : Drums. We’ve been playing together since 2007. Lead guitarists have come and gone, but when Sonny joined the band in 2009 things just clicked.

-The idea to create a band came to Eki and Samu after a night of drinking, despite Eki and Olavi hadn’t played in bands before. Previously Akke played in Third Man Down. Samu played bass in Caroline. Sonny played guitar in Ace Up The Sleeve.


2) About the debut full length record "Dead End", can you explain the choice of the title and the lack of information mentioned on the cover? Do you -on purpose- intend to stay a mystery for everybody?

-After we were done with the studio and heard the masters, the band felt like “Dead End” was the title track for us. The lack of info on the album covers is because we wanted to keep it as simple as possible. From the inner sleeve you can find the information you need.


3) To what kind of music did you listen to as a teenager and does it still influence your today
work? What was your favorite band as a teenager? Name 3 bands that you consider still have a influence on your own work today.

The influences haven’t change that much, from our work you can still hear those teenage kicks.
I’ll bet you know what I mean…If we had to name 3 bands that influenced our music today… Okay, all time favorites, not in any particular order: Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers; T.REX and The Undertones 


4) Is there a main composer in the band or is everybody involved in one way or another?

-Most of the ideas are by Eki and Sonny, but all the songs are arranged by the whole band.

5) The Hunters are often compared to Hanoi Rocks, which I can agree with to a certain extend, but would it not be more accurate to say that you guys are the true heirs of the Hurriganes? Their gig in Tavastia in 1974 is a classic. Do you agree with both these comparaisons or do you consider there is way more than that?  

-It’s always an honor to be compared to any band that we look up to. But if Hanoi and ‘Ganes had a child that bastard would be us. We just play straight forward rock and roll, so the listeners can make up their own minds.

6) Do you have a video on youtube featuring a track from the LP??

-We have four videos from the LP. “Dead End”, “Shivers” ,“Radio” and “Get Wrecked
You can find them all and more from Youtube by user name HuntersRockAndRoll.



7) What can concert goers expect at a The Hunters gig? Are you playing any famous cover songs? 

-Lot of energy. Lot of melodies. No samples. No playbacks, just sweat and pure rock and roll.

8) Does Helsinki, Finland have a long history of rock bands, that goes way back to the 60's? Today it seems your country is best known for its metal bands of all kinds, ain't it?

-We’ve had lots of good rock and roll bands since the 60’s, but most of them are in Finnish, with a few exceptions. Seems like Finns dig darker kinda music like metal, probably because of the depressing darkness.








9)  The album is released on "Stupido records", is this a famous label in Finland??

It’s not that famous label, it is more popular among the underground music.


10) What are the plans for 2017? Are the Hunters gonna tour Europe soon? 

We are writing new material constantly and our second album is bound to come. We’ve had some good reviews from the States and U.K. No booked dates yet, but we have some connections that we hope will work out. If anyone wants to see us play in their town, feel free to contact us.

PURCHASE IT HERE: 
http://glunkrecords.bigcartel.com/product/hunters-dead-end
OR HERE:
http://stupidorecords.com/fi/cd/980-hunters-dead-end.html

Listen herehttps://soundcloud.com/hunterstadi





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