I Heart Hiroshima started in 2005, and have been gathering momentum ever since. Much of that was due to their superb debut album Tuff Teeth, which got them nationwide airplay and touring spots. On the eve of their east coast tour with fellow Brisbane band An Horse, FasterLouder spoke to guitarist/vocalist Cameron Hawes about the album, playing live, and why it’s perfectly okay to list Pharcyde as one of their influences.
I Heart Hiroshima won the hearts of many with Tuff Teef, an album which the band had been wanting to release ever since forming in 2005, and Hawes reports that it took the band to a new level. “It’s awesome, it feels like it’s been out for ages now and when people ask where you can get it, it’s great to say A SHOP! Instead of the back of our car!”. Making the transition from their explosive and complicated stage shows to an album may sound like it should have been difficult, but Hawes muses that they captured their distinct, unique sound on the record as best and as simply as they could. “You can get carried away with technical riff raff, it kinda shows on the album that we didn’t do that”.
The process of recording, especially for a band fraught with expectation from a live fan base, is difficult for the most hardened of artists, but Hawes mentions that he loves the process of making an album. And, as much as he likes playing live shows, he’s looking forward to going through it again. Tentative plans for a new record later on this year is Hawes’s prediction and while he offers that the band has no specific way of going about it yet, or new techniques, they are definitely keen to get back to it.
The album was recorded by Jonboyrock in Sydney at Megaphon with Jon Gardener. “We got up early every day, took the train down to Sydney, and warmed up with toasted sandwiches and coffee, it was a nice ritual for us” Hawes reminisces. Jon came to IHH when he came to listen to them rehearse, and the band was impressed with artists he had worked with before. He also toured with the band as a live sound tech and Hawes says the relationship became a little paternal – ‘He’s like a Dad, very relaxed Dad, but a really quiet Dad. He just sort of came to us, we liked his thoughts on the recording process and he worked quickly, we just pushed the record out and didn’t have time to muck around”.
Punks is the band’s first single from the album, which is catchy and raw and one of those songs you put on in the morning to start your day. “Punks just worked at the time, we didn’t really sit down and discuss it seriously or vote, we all just seemed to agree on it” Hawes explains. “Rhythmically it’s different from the other stuff we play and it’s lots of fun to play live.” But it’s not his favourite – that spot is reserved for Crooked. “I really enjoy that song, but not sure of the next single to release”. Maybe it will just fall into place like Punks and viciously steal the hearts of many.
The band has been road testing their album across our brown crispy land for nearly the past year, and constant touring and promoting can take it’s toll on the band dynamics. “We all have weird habits and of course they are magnified on tour and we learn what pisses each other off pretty quickly, tiny things piss you off when you’re together for extensive amounts of time, but you must keep it together”. The band’s live shows are deliciously energetic but how do they keep going? “It is nice to come home for a week or two” Hawes says, “but you get kinda bored and itchy to get back to it again, it’s pretty exciting”. Every band has goings-on while on tour, and IHH are no exception; “Our sound manager had his birthday while we were on tour at a gig in Newcastle and we brought him a shitty cake from Coles and he was feeding us cake all through out the set and I could hardly play the songs because I had crappy dry birthday cake in my mouth.” Remind me to buy my own cake if I’m ever on tour with IHH!
The band has a satchel full of tour dates in June and will be heading up and down the east coast with An Horse. Do they have anything planned for fans? “We have some new songs we’ll be playing, at least two of them and very excited to present them”. The band seems to be moving along from a steady lumbering pace and is nearly at fever pitch, the small shows and tours have paid off and Cameron says “The crowd grows and the reaction is more enthusiastic, it’s encouraging and really cool and makes everything worth it, keeps you doing what you love”. The band has played with many great acts this past year, and Cameron mentions that his favourite band to work with is Ratatat. “We hung out with them in New Zealand a few weeks ago, it was a really fun show and they are great guys,” he gushes, “they play incredible live shows and very entertaining to watch and are just generally good guys”.
The unconventional but fantastic lineup of the band has raised one major question, they have two guitarists, one drummer and excellent shared vocals, but why no bass? “It was always the plan anyway, wasn’t really an option to have a bass player as much as I do like the bass,” Cameron says. “We might just get lost in the fray and sound like other bands, and I honestly don’t think about it, we have good material without it”.
IHH’s MySpace site states that one of their influences is the five piece hip hop ensemble Pharcyde which seems a little unusual for a rawky rock three piece, but Hawes informs me that, “No, it isn’t a joke, it’s quality trashy crack hip hop, we listen to quite a lot of hip hop and Pharcyde are just cool!”.
And what’s in the future for IHH? From a band that formed at a house party in 2005, forward to today where hungry punters are snapping up tickets to their live shows and bathing in the goodness of their debut album, Hawes says that ‘As long as we keep writing and recording the music that we make, it’s pretty special and it’s all we can hope for as a band, it’s been really great!”.
Catch I Heart Hiroshima and An Horse feeling and being great on their east coast tour in June.
Thursday 5 June – Jive (Adelaide)
Friday 6 June – East Brunswick Club (Melbourne)
Thursday 12 June – Great Northern Hotel (Byron Bay)
Friday 13 June – The Zoo (Brisbane)
Saturday 14 June – Swell Tavern (Burleigh Heads)
Saturday 28 June – Hopetoun (Sydney)
Sunday 29 June – Bondi Beach Hotel (Sydney)
You can also catch I Heart Hiroshima playing the Come Together Festival on Saturday 7 June, Luna Park.
Tuff Teeth is out now through Valve.
