London-based band Howling Hawk combine the best of British rock, from 90s Britpop to indie rock and 60s touches, in a sound they describe as a “B-side from 95.”
The quartet is formed of London pair Jim and Reece on bass and drums, alongside Chilean guitarist and vocalist Gonzalo and Italian guitarist and vocalist Paolo. They met off the back of posting adverts for bandmates, with Reece being the most recent addition and diving straight in to help write their next batch of songs.
On the sound they’ve crafted, Jim told us: “Rough, ready, unpolished but full of love and hope. Most of our songs are about how hard things have been for so long, but about how with right people it can feel like it is about to get better.”
Our latest taste of this is their third single The Downside, which was released on Thursday (2 October). It opens up with little drum hits that tee up a delicious guitar lick, before dropping into an opening verse led by Gonzalo’s engaging vocals. The drums pick up a notch as the pre-chorus “Smoke and velvet sky, Kings and Queens go by, Almost undefeated, Always feeling you’ve been cheated” builds up to a singalong chorus “Wait, Take me out to make mistakes and we’ll, Beat the evil eye above this place and we say, The dreams you feed are dreams you get to keep, On the downside.” Stabbing guitar chords kick in and drop into another dreamy verse, building up to another chorus that ends with repeats of “on the downside” bringing the track to a mellow conclusion.
Speaking ahead of the track’s release, Jim said: “We are buzzing! We recorded it with Paul Tipler, top bloke and an unsung hero of the music scene – he’s done albums for Squeeze, Dr Feelgood, and the first releases by Placebo and Idlewild. He caught our sound and we are really proud of it. If people like the Strokes, Smiths, early Oasis, they should like it too. We are a throwback and not ashamed of it. Jagger said ‘you don’t need to be original, just authentic’, and we are very heart-on-sleeve.”
That follows on from two single releases last year, the laid-back Napoleon Road and Howling Hawk’s equally delicious debut single Ramona, which you can check out in the ‘psychedelic’ video below.
The Howling Hawk sound has been influenced by the bands you’d discover if you popped your prized Now That’s What I Call 1995 cassette into your stereo. And, for anyone lucky enough to not know what a cassette or a stereo is, that includes the likes of Oasis, Supergrass, Pulp, Dodgy and Paul Weller. Proper music. Most recently, Jim tells us, he’s been big into the likes of Wunderhorse and William The Conqueror.
And on what inspires them to write music, Jim explains: “If I don’t make stuff, I go a bit wonky after a while. Mental illness and isolation come out a lot as themes. A lot of us live in cages that we make for ourselves, and it can be music that pulls you out of it.”
Howling Hawk have two more singles scheduled for release before the end of the year. They’re also playing several gigs, including playing at Aces and Eights in north London on 15 November with tickets available here.
And Jim added: “We make music because we love music, and to make friends, so if you like what you hear, reach out and talk to us.”
You can follow Howling Hawk on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Soundcloud and YouTube.
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