Seven questions with The Hush Now (@thehushnow)

Social media is magic, sometimes. I’ve discovered wonderful people, made new great friends, even found project opportunities. One of the first (and most amazing) bands I discovered on Twitter was my friends from Mojave (who recently launched their most recent album at Cafe Deux Soleils). Two other wonderful bands I’ve met on Twitter – Collective Soul and The Hush Now (a Boston-based indie rock quintet, as described in their Wikipedia page) found its way into my iPod’s playlist through one of the many social networking sites, Blip.fm.

Credit: Brad Searles

I fell in love with their song “Pining” (you can download all of The Hush Now’s release CD tunes by clicking here), and was delighted to find that they named a song “Vancouver”. Given that I fell very much in love with their music, I thought it’d be a good idea to interview them on my blog. Despite our repeated efforts to manage to do the interview online (via Skype or podcast) we finally settled on doing a written Q&A. Here for your reading pleasure, The Hush Now…

1. Where does name The Hush Now come from?

I was just trying to find a name that would fit the style of music. I had a lot of bad names I thought of and then The Hush Now fell into place. I liked the imagery it invoked, a mother quieting a child, the murmur of a crowd as something important is about to happen. There’s a sense of peace but expectation. I’d like to say it was from the Jimi Hendrix tune, but that would be a lie.

2. You have been using Twitter quite effectively. How do you find it in terms of keeping in touch and having conversations with your fans?

I love twitter. I’m a bit of a recluse…I hate talking on the phone (hence why our interview probably didn’t happen as planned). But I love texting. I love the efficiency of it. Saying as much as possible in the least amount of text. Twittering is like being able to text your closest 500 friends. I’ve also met some wonderful folks through twitter. I hope it doesn’t get abused and locked down under mountains of spam, because it really is a great social experiment. BTW, my iphone is broken so I haven’t twittered in a bit. Bummed.

3. Most music bands tend to have a MySpace page (you do too). Have you explored other social networking sites? I know that some of your songs are in Blip.fm, as I have blipped them myself!

Today as a band, you have to manage so many social media pages. In the old days, you could just have a website, but that just doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s actually an incredible amount of work for a DIY outfit to make sure all the social media outlets are fresh and up to date. There are some tools that allow you to push to all, but not all. If there is a developer out there, figure out a way to consolidate fans from all sites into a single “sortable” list so bands can let folks know when they’re in town for a show. This would be HUGE.

4. You put one of your albums entirely for download. Do you have concerns in regards to copyright issues? How do you think it will affect your future?

Well, the copyright is always protected because the songs have been registered. The face of the music business is changing (obviously). People really don’t want to pay for music anymore I think. I know I don’t. What I’m trying to foster is to involve people so that maybe they’ll consider coming to a live show. By doing this, you give a band a fighting chance to make a living with music again (if they’re willing to tour). Who knows. At the end of the day, I want people to hear our music. We’ve had over 50,000 downloads to date. If we were selling the album, maybe we would have sold 100 (not including friends and family who are always eager to help out). Right now, we’re unknown, so the goal is to get the word out and try to figure out a new path best we can. Maybe I’ll fuck it up, but it won’t be from not trying. Ha

5. When will we see you in Vancouver (Canada)?

Actually, we’ll be in Seattle on 18 June for a show at El Corazon if anybody wants to make the trip down? Maybe we can make Vancouver our next time out west???

6. Speaking of our fair city, I noticed one of your songs (and one of my personal favorites) is named Vancouver. What was the inspiration for this song?

Yes, I used to play in a band called Cerulean. We were on tour for about 4 months which ran through Thanksgiving. I was living in my car at the time, so instead of heading back to LA for the break, I bought a ticket to Vancouver and holed up in Chinatown for about a week with a guitar. I’d bounce around the city but I always had to make my way through the drug addicts in chinatown. Maybe I was a bit sheltered, but I had never seen anything like it. No teeth, eating ice cream, shooting up between the toes, hookers with falling fishnet stockings, the rows of drinking houses. It was really amazing. I’m not judging, but I was definitely in awe of the spectacle. So I had this idea that if I could choreograph a dance for all these folk out in the streets, that would be soooo awesome (hence the line “we could be beautiful, bending turning if we tried”) Funny thing, I never felt afraid while I was there. It was like an odd disney land ride of sorts. I did see a picasso exhibit while I was there too.

7. I’m personally a fan of Pining. It evokes sounds that bring some tough memories for me. However, the song in itself is beautiful. What was the inspiration behind it? What kind of sounds/artists influenced you in that particular song?

Well, pining for somebody I’ve found can be such a destructive force. My twenties were pretty much a stalemate because I was stuck on somebody. The thing I came to realize though is I was actually pining for the idea of something that didn’t exist. All those imaginary wanderings and what if’s of the perfect love. It didn’t exist. It never existed. And it was incredibly painful. The imagery of the song actually harkens back to Christmas on Long Island. Christmas lights adorning houses. Snow with a frozen crust that crunches as you walk. The desolate cold you feel outside while you long for the warmth you imagine exists in the houses you pass. The song is very much 10cc too, you know that song “I’m not in love” it’s so beautiful. Working with Dave Newton, I just said to him, I want this song to sound like 10cc and he smiled and went to work. Pining, Ashes and Roleplay are my favorites on the album.

As Noel mentions in the Q&A, they will have a show in Seattle on June 18th if anybody can make the trek down (sadly, I can’t). If you like to be in touch with The Hush Now, they are on Twitter and you can become a fan on Facebook as well.

[EDIT – Patrol Magazine compares The Hush Now to Death Cab by Cutie – I love them both!]