Huntings
HUNTINGS, the duo of James and Brian Edwards, have garnered attention with singles 'Turn On', 'Doom', and 'Sparks'. Praised by music publications and featured on various radio shows, they're set to release their debut album 'Songs of Last Resort'. Inspired by submarine captains' nuclear attack orders, the 9-track album explores love, loss, relationships, and world despair. It's a retaliation against modern chaos—a potential end-of-the-world soundtrack.
HUNTINGS' sound is stripped-down yet powerful, blending Nirvana's distortion with Joy Division's tension. Their guitar-vocals-drums setup creates an unsettling atmosphere that mirrors the album's themes, evoking a constant sense of impending doom.
The album kicks off with 'Turn On', a fierce punk rock opener reminiscent of early Therapy?. 'Sparks' builds from a drum machine experiment into a distortion-heavy crescendo, while 'Tells' delivers anxiety-inducing guitar work. 'Doom' employs octave pedals for a massive sound, and 'Howl' tackles domestic abuse with a slower, unsettling approach.
'Yes I Am' combines menacing vocals with pop influences, 'The Derby Hum' offers a psychobilly-inspired assault, and 'Execute' introduces trip-hop elements. The album closes with 'The Reckoning', a prophetic noise jam turned finality-laden finale.
HUNTINGS' debut is a masterclass in atmospheric, skin-crawling music. Each track brings unique, dark sonics exploring human existence's darker side. The brothers create a massive sound belying their number, with guitars ranging from surfy to destructive and drums driving the intensity. 'Songs of Last Resort' is a stunning debut that punches well above its weight.
Gold Lion – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
This YYY’s song was the very first song we played together as a band. We had just bought a drum kit and some new guitar pedals and that was the first song we tried out. It’s a great song to be fair from an excellent album. The chorus is really catchy but the guitar riffs and drums really stand out. When we hear it, it always brings us back to where we began.
Paranoid Android - Radiohead
This is a particular favourite of ours from one of our favourite bands Radiohead. The song is epic, so many different parts moulded together to form a masterpiece, but the solos are always a highlight. Brian had it recorded on VHS (look it up kids!) from when they played it for the first time on Jools Holland all those years ago and we played it to death. We do a nice little acoustic version of it and its always requested to this day by the family when there’s a house party on!
Angel – Massive Attack
Massive Attack are just one of the best bands we have ever seen live. We have loved their music since the early days and getting to see them live is always such a treat. Angel is one of those songs that just sounds like nothing else. The production on the track and the album Mezzanine is mind blowing and it’s one of, if not THE best produced album we’ve heard. The driving build-up and darkness of the track really makes the hairs stand up. We wrote our track ‘Tells’ with Angel in mind. It’s very different but a little nod to it.
Plastic - Portishead
This track from Portishead’s third album ‘3’ is one of our favourites but we could have picked any track from the album, it’s amazing. They have been huge influences on us over the years and this track really shines with its intensity and one of the best wobbling helicopter guitar effects going. We are always looking to bring new effects into our writing and live shows and this one really opened our minds to what we could throw into the mix.
Knives – Therapy?
This is the first track on their brilliant album ‘Troublegum’. This was Brian’s first ever album he owned and Therapy? Have also been huge influences on us over the years. We have had some great feedback of our debut album, and someone said that they could hear the Therapy? sound in some of the tracks. We are really happy with that even though it wasn’t intended! They are also one of the best live bands you will see a serious heavy sound which we love!
Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine
This track is one of our big favourites. Not much to say other than what a band, what a sound. A massive regret of ours is never getting to see them play live. We really love how they get such a huge sound from guitar, bass and drums. Anytime you hear a Rage tune the adrenaline starts to flow you can’t help wanting to jump uncontrollably and bang the head off yourself!
Chicken – Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
This band were just one of the most impressive bands we’ve seen live; such an amazing energy and stage presence and ‘Chicken’ is one of our favourites. It’s from their album ‘Horse of the Dog’ which is an absolute 10 out of 10 album in our view and we’d recommend everyone seek it out if you haven’t yet to this point. We were lucky enough to get to support them on a couple of dates in Dublin and over in the UK a few years ago and have some great memories of those nights.
50ft Queenie – PJ Harvey
We’re both huge PJ Harvey fans and in particular her ’93 album ‘Rid of Me’. The rawness of everything is something that we gravitate towards from her lyrics and vocals, to the guitar strangling and the overall ‘production’ by Steve Albini. The sound of the drums on this album are something that has had a big influence on us. This is one of PJ Harvey’s great tracks. The dynamic shifts at different points in the song are great and her lyrics are that terrific mix of anger and sarcasm, something that has had a big influence on James’ lyric-writing over the years as well!
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter – Nirvana
This track is one our favourites from ‘In Utero’ although we could’ve picked many others! The opening guitar effect always makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up and then it just kicks into this amazing powerful tune after that, with feedback and huge drums and bass all over it. It’s another produced by Steve Albini (can you see a pattern developing?) and the power of that sound is something we’re huge fans of.
Human Fly – The Cramps
We’re big fans of The Cramps and in particular that Psychobilly sound that they had. It’s something that we’ve taken inspiration from in our own stuff, in particular on our song ‘The Derby Hum’ from our debut album ‘Songs of Last Resort’. That sound was definitely inspired by bands like The Cramps and Eighties Matchbox and this is one of our favourites. We also started throwing this song into our sets a couple of years ago and it’s one that people always go mad for. Just a brilliant tune!
Bone Machine – Pixies
One of our favourite tracks from one of our favourite bands. The drums opening the song still sound amazing on every listen and it’s just a brilliant way to start the album ‘Surfer Rosa’. When the rest of the band come in then it’s a wall of noise and we get to hear that loud-quiet dynamic through the song that Pixies were famous for. Also a great example of Black Francis’ screaming vocals in the chorus which James has tried to replicate on many occasion and nearly blew out his vocal cords!