Music
Interview
Interview: The Hunna discuss April tour and new music
Ryan and Jack from the band chat about their upcoming tour dates.
Things were going very well for The Hunna. The band – formed by friends Ryan, Daniel, Junate and Jack just north of London in leafy Hertfordshire – have enjoyed mainstream success with their first two albums 100 and Dare, both reaching the top 20 in the UK albums chart. Known for their energetic live shows, the band’s rapidly growing fanbase has allowed them to perform increasingly bigger venues on sold-out tours across the globe.
Then, at the end of last year, the band released a statement out of the blue. They were unhappy with some of the business decisions being taken on their behalf, and to rectify the situation needed some time to reset and take control. The move meant doing something that no band ever wants to do, they had to postpone all upcoming shows.
What followed was a testing time for The Hunna, but they’re now ready to get back on track. The dates have been rescheduled for this April and the quartet are looking forward to the future with enthusiasm. They’re excited about putting out more music for their loyal fanbase in 2019, of whose support through everything the band are very grateful.
As they gear up for headline dates, as well as appearances at Reading and Leeds Festival, Community Festival and TRNSMT this summer, we caught up with Ryan and Jack from the band, to ask them about the shows, new music, festival season and what the future holds for The Hunna.
Where in the world are you right now and what are you up to?
Ryan: We’re just at my house getting ready for the new tour and we’re going to hopefully get a bit of writing done this afternoon. We’ve been writing a lot of new music recently.
The tour kicks off in April. How excited are you about the shows?
Ryan: We’re very excited! It feels like it’s been a long time since we’ve been out on tour. It’s what we do best and it’s what we love doing the most so we’re very excited to get back out there, see the fans again and celebrate this new chapter for us. We’ve had a tough few months so it’ll be good to get back out there.
What can fans expect from the shows?
Ryan: Anyone who’s been to any of our shows knows how loud they are and how crazy they can get. They’ll be lots and lots of energy, lots of people singing along and just having a good time. We’re also going to be debuting some new music, which is very exciting.
Your most recent album Dare came out last summer, what did you make of the reaction to the album?
Ryan: We were really stoked with the feedback from the fans. I feel like a lot more people gave that album a chance and connected with it more than the first record. It went really well for us, we loved it. We really do love both our albums so far and we’re really excited to do another one.
You’re going to be debuting new songs on tour, are there any in particular that you’re excited about playing live?
Ryan: We’ve just recorded what’s potentially going to be our first single from the new album, which I’m not sure I can tell you the title of yet. We can’t release it just yet but we can play it live. We’re really happy with it as a first single and we think we really took a step up with it.
When you’re writing do you imagine how the songs will sound performed live on stage?
Ryan: I think every time we write we envision what it will sound like live, how it will work and if we can add parts in that would work well in a live scenario. Our fans are so amazing at singing the words back to us and there’s such an energetic vibe every time we play, so a lot of the songs replicate that. There’s a lot of energy in them and we write big anthemic choruses. We wanna play stadiums one day, so we always have that in mind when we write anything really.
You’re playing the main stage at Reading and Leeds this summer. How much of a milestone is that for the band?
Jack: That’s a dream come true. We’ve all grown up going to Reading. We were super stoked when we found out we were going to be playing the main stage.
Ryan: We’ve got a really good slot as well. We’re really looking forward to it. I think we’re going to be potentially dropping a lot of new music around those festivals too.
Jack: Yeah they’ll be a campaign around Reading and Leeds where we release new stuff.
Ryan: That weekend is going to be a big moment for us. We’re looking forward to getting on that stage and owning it.
You recently covered The 1975’s Give yourself a Try. Are they a band you guys look up to?
Jack: There are lots of different ways of looking at a band like that. We’ve always listened to them and appreciated the progression they’ve made. Similar to Being Me The Horizon. They’ve both evolved and are constantly pushing boundaries. At the same time, we wanna pave our own way. We don’t feel like we sound like either of those bands, but we definitely appreciate what they do.
You’re currently working on a new album, is that a format that’s still important to you as a band?
Ryan: Yeah I think so. I know it is changing just because of how the music industry is. You can now make and release an amazing song in your bedroom instantly. That’s great because we wanna release as much music as possible, but yeah we do like the more traditional idea of having a body of work. At the same time, we’re writing too many songs at the moment. We’ve probably got around two albums worth written so it could be that we release two records quite close together.
Catch The Hunna live at the following tour dates:
1 April 2019 – Tramshed, Cardiff
3 April 2019 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
4 April 2019 – O2 Academy Newcastle
5 April 2019 – Manchester Academy
7 April 2019 – O2 Academy Brixton
8 April 2019 – O2 Institute Birmingham
9 April 2019 – O2 Institute Birmingham
10 April 2019 – Nick Rayns LCR UEA, Norwich
1 June 2019 – Marshall Live, Milton Keynes
30 June 2019 – Community Festival, London
13 July 2019 – TRNSMT Festival, Glasgow
24 August 2019 – Reading Festival
25 August 2019 – Leeds Festival
Tickets to see The Hunna live are available now through Ticketmaster.co.uk
