Following numerous European festival appearances, including their slot on the Rock Stage at Reading & Leeds festival, Hawk Eyes are getting ready for their October tour with Black Spiders/Baby Godzilla. It’s a busy time for the band, with their latest EP released a couple of weeks ago, and we chatted to guitarist Robert about their varying musical influences, touring with System of a Down and, of course, the new EP!
Hi Robert! First things first, tell us about That’s What This Is…
Robert: Hi, thanks for talking to us. Our new EP That’s What This Is was recorded between Jan – March, we recorded the drums in a really really cold warehouse in Bradford whilst it was snowing. As you can imagine that was a challenge! Thankfully all the other parts were recorded in a warm studio. It’s the first recording we have released with Steve on drums and after a year of intense touring we were very keen to get some new songs released as soon as possible. It worked very well as a build up to writing a new album too, which is now nearing completion. We like being busy.
Describe your sound in one sentence…
Robert: I’ll go with a melting pot of millions of riffs and ideas, like a map we are still trying to make sense of.
Who are your musical influences?
Robert: We all listen to very different music, have different approaches to music and think in different musical ways. I think that is the point of this band and why it is interesting to me. No one person brings the songs. Some of the bands/music we listen to in the van are Toto, Genesis, Bella Fuzz, Beach Boys, Mastodon, Dillinger Escape Plan, ELP and Danny Elfman to name a few.
We know this is a difficult question, but what do you think is the best album ever written?
Robert: Somewhere between Thriller, Pet Sounds, Master of Puppets and Toto IV. Is that avoiding the question again?
What’s been your best gig so far?
Robert: We’ve just been on tour with System of a Down in Europe, for me that has been the peak of everything we have ever done for a number of reasons. The band and crew really were an example of how to do things – incredibly helpful and welcoming people and we were fortunate to play arenas to a lot of people. I was really proud of how the band stepped up to the challenge of the large shows and it was just a really really fun time, stressful but fun.
If you could duet with anyone, who would it be?
Robert: As I’m not a singer I will take this as a guitar duet. Right at this moment I’ll say Brian May, that man is a genius.
What TV show would you like to hear your music featured on?
Robert: I don’t really watch any TV. I do like Breaking Bad though so I’ll say that… or Noel’s House Party.
Where in the world do you most want to perform?
Robert: Oooo we have been lucky enough to play in a lot of different countries, but one place I’d really like to visit is New Zealand.
What’s your fondest musical memory?
Robert: Buying Master of Puppets when I was at school, I listened to it on the bus on the way home and didn’t like it, about a week later it suddenly clicked, in a very cliched moment it changed my life.
What are you listening to right now?
Robert: A band from Greece called Bella Fuzz… incredible band, really really good songs. We were lucky enough to play with them in Czech Republic last year, lovely people aswell.