Interview with Lucas from Hound

Since their inception, Hound has toured the eastern states, playing alongside bands like DZ Deathrays, Hard-Ons, Clowns, Killing Joke and the Coathangers to name a few. Hound are scheduling three new EPs for release in 2016. The first of the trilogy 'MiniVolume,' has just been released. Tomatrax caught up with Lucas from the band to ask a few questions.

It's been a year since we last spoke, what has changed since then?

I've moved house, acquired new shoes and improved my nail polish application strike rate by about 17%.
Otherwise, the band has been very busy indeed. We've recorded two EPs in amongst regular shows since we last spoke.

You've just released your latest EP, what's it like to have it out?

It's feels overdue, as it was recorded at the very beginning of October last year, but that's what you get for recording so close to the no mans land of Christmas Holidays. So it's quite a relief to finally let it flee the nest and set up shop in the real world.

Where did the title MiniVolume come from?

It's the result of a spellbinding joke I was making about calling each EP MiniVolume #1 to #3, only for the purpose of combining all three into a physical release titled Full Volume. Except I'm not talking about loud as fuck rock'n'roll music here, I'm talking about books. I'm talking about using the Dewey Decimal system to drink in the collected knowledge of our species and travel through time to a place where your minds eye, prehistory and the impossible future all meet together. Of course, the grand plan was rejected and for some reason our EP is now called MiniVolume. Is it a good story? Probably not. Is it a true story? More likely than you'd think, if you ever think about it not being true.

This EP is the first of three to be released this year, what made you decide to release your music this way?

We thought it'd be exciting to crowbar all of this mess into our already messy day-job-weekend-warrior lives. It seemed an effective way to at once further promote the fact we exist to a brutally indifferent world and see how many songs we can accidentally finish at any given time.
I can confirm that it has been exciting thus far because it has forced us to be a bit wilder with the creative process, which is fun no matter how you slice it.

How will the follow up EPs compare with MiniVolume?

Do you know those Thomas Cole paintings The Course of Empire? There's five of them, with each depicting, drum roll please, the course of an empire. Well, the first EP is what happens between The Pastoral State and The Consummation of Empire. The second is what happens between The Consummation of Empire and Destruction, and the third between Destruction and Desolation.
It largely makes sense to me, you know, all except the bit where I at all implied the band I'm in is of relative quality to the work of Thomas Cole. I tried to avoid that by placing the EPs in positions between paintings instead of direct comparisons, but I still sound like a gigantic tosser. Classic. Have a gander at these painting though, they're full-on rippers.

Do you know what the next two EPs will be titled?

Haven't actually considered that yet, unless of course my answer to the other question about the title comes into effect, which would be a deadset tragedy.

When are the 2nd and 3rd EPs planed for release?

I couldn't say at this point, as EP #2 still requires a final mix and mastering and EP #3 hasn't been touched at all yet. I could estimate that we'll see EP #2 long before Winter is done and EP #3 in mid-Spring. I can feel it in me waters.

There's a 90s nostalgia vibe in the EP, was this what you were
aiming for?

Not consciously, no, but so much of what has influenced the each of us play our instruments comes from that general area. It just seeps into everything from the tunes to the artistic directions. It's red wine on a shirt you couldn't fucked soaking, or whatever. See that. "Or whatever" is pretty bloody 90s right there. It's a bit like saying nevermind but you can't say that anymore cos a Nirvana album stole that word from all sentences not about Nirvana.

You'll be playing a few shows next month, what can fans expect from your show?

New songs abound, and there'll be more mouths on microphones throughout. But I still haven't seen us, so I'm not sure how it'll compare to the older sets.

You spent years living together in share houses, what was it like for the band to spend so much time living together?

Easier than many would suspect. So easy in fact, Chris and I still live together. The only real downside was that we managed to rehearse less than usual despite all being there at once pretty much all the time. A lack of routine is a serial murderer of most improvements. Beside that, it was a good time to have good times in our own good time.

When writing what comes first, the words or the music?

Almost always the music, but always keep rejected bits and pieces of both music and lyric laying about, cos there is always going to be opportunity to steal from your unheard self to make something else worth hearing.

What do you have planned after your upcoming shows?

Rehearsals will begin in earnest for whatever is going to end up on the third 2016 EP. That'll be priority up until it's been tracked. Then after that, well, more shows. With any luck, there'll always be a few more shows ready to be played.

Check out Hound's Facebook page to find out more! Tour Dates

7th may - Public Bar Melb
Cosmic Kahuna
Chillers
Mild Manic

13th may - bearded lady
Deluso
Max Chillen
The Pierce Brosnans

14th - Toowoomba Powerhouse w/ Philadelphia Grand Jury

20th May - Waywards, Newtown

21st May - Glebe record crate
North arm + special guests