July 10, 2020
Interview with The Hunna
We had the pleasure of interviewing Ryan of The Hunna over Zoom video with special guest co-host Sean Ulbs of The Eiffels!
Please share while we are #togetherathome 🏠
“Was it Epicetus who said “it’s not what happens to you but how you...
We had the pleasure of interviewing Ryan of The Hunna over Zoom video with special guest co-host Sean Ulbs of The Eiffels!
Please share while we are #togetherathome 🏠
“Was it Epicetus who said “it’s not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters”? It was, because we’ve looked it up. And while we don’t know exactly who Epicetus was, he definitely had a point – and that point says everything about UK rock band The Hunna.
Hailing from Watford, Herts, The Hunna – singer/guitarist Ryan Potter, lead guitarist Dan Dorney, bassist Junate Angin and drummer Jack Metcalfe – are four guys living the classic rock ‘n’ roll dream – one of touring, tattoos and tearing up the world’s most iconic venues, and they’ve already got to phenomenal levels of fandom as, largely, a word-of-mouth success story.
But just as The Hunna’s dreams align with those of bands since time immemorial, they also managed to step into the oldest trap in the music industry – falling foul of a manager who locked them into a deal, with a company he owned but which now no longer exists. There are a long list of creditors - of which The Hunna has to be one of the largest. Tough times.
But before the nitty gritty of that, the happy conclusion: The Hunna are back with a thrilling third album and a stonking great attitude that’s alluded to in the title: I’d Rather Die Than Let You In. It was recorded in that most classic of band boltholes, Los Angeles, with crack producer John Feldmann, who achieved great success as the singer of ska punk heroes Goldfinger and went on to produce Blink-182, Fever 333, Twenty One Pilots, Refused, Panic! At The Disco, Black Veil Brides, All Time Low and many more, notching up sales in the tens of millions in the process.
A workday with Feldmann involves surfing trips, morning boxing sessions and afternoon drop-ins from half of LA’s music scene – a far cry from the cold North London studio in which they recorded 2018’s Dare. The whole experience, says Ryan, “was a bit of a mindfuck, in the best way possible.” The producer encouraged the band to work in new ways, freestyling vocals in the booth and recording with great speed – they wrote three songs on their very first day together. The last, written in 20 minutes, became I Wanna Know, which debuted in their 2019 festival sets and opens the album after the introductory One Hell Of A Gory Story… “John Feldmann is one hell of a character,” says Ryan I’ve never met anyone like John, and I couldn’t imagine not knowing him now. He’s such a big part of what we’re doing.”
Feldmann’s methods bore dark fruit, freeing the group to exorcise their demons into music that reveals an intensity of fire and fury that could only come from taking hard knocks and picking themselves back up again. It’s self-assured, confident and – most of all – collaborative, with multiple co-writes and features. Among the guests are some who arrived via Feldmann’s bulging contact book - Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy stopped by to write a tune and Blink-182’s Travis Barker appears on Cover You.
Some guests came via the band’s connections, like co-writers Carl Barat of The Libertines and Mike Duce of Lower Than Atlantis and up-coming LA singer Phem, the female vocalist on If This Is Love. Phem was someone Ryan had admired from afar who the band met, by chance, at Halsey’s Halloween party (Ryan dressed as Garth from Wayne’s World, Dan went as Marilyn Manson – as did Halsey. Awks). “I heard her music about a year ago and I knew I wanted her for this one track I had,” says Ryan. “Dan was outside for a smoke at the party, he asked a girl for a lighter, they got to talking and it turned out to be Phem. Dan said, ‘I’m pretty sure our lead singer is super into your music…’, he messaged me and I came running out. The track came out better than I’d even imagined.”
While the collaborations are certainly noteworthy, they’re possibly not the most attention-grabbing thing about th
---
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bringinbackpod/support
Please share while we are #togetherathome 🏠
“Was it Epicetus who said “it’s not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters”? It was, because we’ve looked it up. And while we don’t know exactly who Epicetus was, he definitely had a point – and that point says everything about UK rock band The Hunna.
Hailing from Watford, Herts, The Hunna – singer/guitarist Ryan Potter, lead guitarist Dan Dorney, bassist Junate Angin and drummer Jack Metcalfe – are four guys living the classic rock ‘n’ roll dream – one of touring, tattoos and tearing up the world’s most iconic venues, and they’ve already got to phenomenal levels of fandom as, largely, a word-of-mouth success story.
But just as The Hunna’s dreams align with those of bands since time immemorial, they also managed to step into the oldest trap in the music industry – falling foul of a manager who locked them into a deal, with a company he owned but which now no longer exists. There are a long list of creditors - of which The Hunna has to be one of the largest. Tough times.
But before the nitty gritty of that, the happy conclusion: The Hunna are back with a thrilling third album and a stonking great attitude that’s alluded to in the title: I’d Rather Die Than Let You In. It was recorded in that most classic of band boltholes, Los Angeles, with crack producer John Feldmann, who achieved great success as the singer of ska punk heroes Goldfinger and went on to produce Blink-182, Fever 333, Twenty One Pilots, Refused, Panic! At The Disco, Black Veil Brides, All Time Low and many more, notching up sales in the tens of millions in the process.
A workday with Feldmann involves surfing trips, morning boxing sessions and afternoon drop-ins from half of LA’s music scene – a far cry from the cold North London studio in which they recorded 2018’s Dare. The whole experience, says Ryan, “was a bit of a mindfuck, in the best way possible.” The producer encouraged the band to work in new ways, freestyling vocals in the booth and recording with great speed – they wrote three songs on their very first day together. The last, written in 20 minutes, became I Wanna Know, which debuted in their 2019 festival sets and opens the album after the introductory One Hell Of A Gory Story… “John Feldmann is one hell of a character,” says Ryan I’ve never met anyone like John, and I couldn’t imagine not knowing him now. He’s such a big part of what we’re doing.”
Feldmann’s methods bore dark fruit, freeing the group to exorcise their demons into music that reveals an intensity of fire and fury that could only come from taking hard knocks and picking themselves back up again. It’s self-assured, confident and – most of all – collaborative, with multiple co-writes and features. Among the guests are some who arrived via Feldmann’s bulging contact book - Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy stopped by to write a tune and Blink-182’s Travis Barker appears on Cover You.
Some guests came via the band’s connections, like co-writers Carl Barat of The Libertines and Mike Duce of Lower Than Atlantis and up-coming LA singer Phem, the female vocalist on If This Is Love. Phem was someone Ryan had admired from afar who the band met, by chance, at Halsey’s Halloween party (Ryan dressed as Garth from Wayne’s World, Dan went as Marilyn Manson – as did Halsey. Awks). “I heard her music about a year ago and I knew I wanted her for this one track I had,” says Ryan. “Dan was outside for a smoke at the party, he asked a girl for a lighter, they got to talking and it turned out to be Phem. Dan said, ‘I’m pretty sure our lead singer is super into your music…’, he messaged me and I came running out. The track came out better than I’d even imagined.”
While the collaborations are certainly noteworthy, they’re possibly not the most attention-grabbing thing about th
---
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bringinbackpod/support
We'd love to see you join our BiB Facebook Group.
Listen On
Support On
Featured Episodes
Here are some great episodes to start with. Or, check out episodes by genre.
