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Van Hunt
What Were You Hoping For?
With his new What Were You Hoping For?, Van Hunt employs a spare but dizzyingly vibrant meld of day-glo psychedelic soul laced with glammed-up riffs and the acerbic energy of punk. A joint venture between the Nashville-based Thirty Tigers and Hunt’s own label, godless-hotspot, the album sees the Grammy-winning musician/songwriter/producer turning up the volume on his genre-smashing songcraft and the results are altogether gripping. From the breakneck “Watching You Go Crazy Is Driving Me Insane” and “A Time Machine Is My New Girlfriend” to the metallic k.o. of the album’s first single,“Eyes Like Pearls,” Hunt unleashes a sound that reverberates with caustic wit, passion, and the thrilling excitement of an artist operating at the peak of his powers. Careening with exhilarating intensity and frenetic, inventive musicality, What Were You Hoping For? is Van Hunt’s most daring and provocative work to date.
“I’m really excited about this record,” Hunt says. “I love the way it sounds. I’m nervous about the way it’ll be received, even by big Van Hunt fans, and I think that’s good. I want the record to be disruptive.”
Hunt first fell in thrall to the power of music from an early age, taking inspiration from a remarkable range of musicians and composers, spanning J.S. Bach to David Bowie, Thelonious Monk to Curtis Mayfield, Iggy Pop to The Isley Brothers. The Dayton, Ohio-born musician soon made his way to Atlanta, where he drew acclaim for his creative production efforts and crafty songwriting, featured on recordings by such diverse artists as Dionne Farris, Joi, Rahsaan Patterson, and Cree Summer.
His own self-titled debut album arrived in 2004, instantly establishing Hunt as a distinctive and original talent with its idiosyncratic amalgamation of R&B, neo-soul, funk, pop, and rock ‘n’ roll (not to mention earning him a 2005 “Best Urban/Alternative Performance” Grammy nomination for his breakthrough hit single, “Dust”). The equally inventive On The Jungle Floor followed two years later, highlighted by the single, “Character.”
In 2007, Hunt received a Grammy Award for “Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals,” honoring “Family Affair,” a collaboration with John Legend and Joss Stone found on the 2006 Sly & The Family Stone tribute album, Different Strokes For Different Folks. Hunt’s third album, Popular, was slated for the following year but the decision was made to delay the album’s release in order to “set the record up properly.” Hunt was concerned, but agreed to wait. He put together a band of talented young players – including keyboardist/programmer Peter Dyer and drummer Ruthie Price – and hit the road. However, upon his return, the label balked and opted to pull Popular from its schedule.
“It set me back a year,” Hunt says. “To be honest, I was kind of numb to the whole thing as it happened.”
Thanks to the wonderful world of online music sharing, Popular has since become somewhat of an underground sensation, a certifiable lost classic hailed by LA Weekly as “a left-field stunner” for its “trippy fusion of funk grooves, punk guitar and soul vocals.”
“They did such a disservice to themselves and their company, to me and my work, and ultimately to the people who would’ve enjoyed my music,” Hunt says. “If they had just allowed me to grow into my own thing, everything would’ve been fine.”
Hunt – who had relocated in 2007, leaving his Atlanta homebase for Los Angeles – found himself at a true crossroads. Separated from his family and without a record deal, he was a musical r?nin unsure of his next creative path. Hunt spent countless hours driving the streets of L.A., seeking out some kind of inspiration. He immersed himself in photography, taking photo after photo, first of the city’s countless abandoned couches and later of L.A.’s rapidly increasing homeless population. A friend noticed a theme to Hunt’s work, suggesting a subconscious attraction to “discarded objects.”
Further stimuli came from Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain’s indispensible Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. No stranger to punk – a surprising cover of Iggy Pop & James Williamson’s Kill Cityclassic, “No Sense Of Crime” is among the high points of On The Jungle Floor – Hunt saw himself in the book’s chronicle of artistic frustration and rebellious spirit.
“These folks, it didn’t matter if they were good musicians or not, because they brought this kind of intelligence along with the rawness,” Hunt says. “It was really bold. They just didn’t give a shit. I was like, that’s the attitude that I’m feeling right now.”
Encouraged by friends, Hunt was at long last ready to make music once more. He dove into the project with his customary fervor, writing the bulk of the material in late summer 2010 before heading into Los Angeles’ Santa Fe Tracking Station to record. Hunt both produced and played, with former drummer Ruthie Price his only accompaniment. Together they constructed a series of tracks radiating raw power and vivid color, later enlisting keyboardist/programmer Peter Dyer to “build a landscape of sound around the songs.” Hunt declares the record’s minimalist approach to be “musically adept but also stringently unique. People might describe it as futuristic.”
Hunt’s low-key line of attack only serves to further amplify his audacious songwriting, his lyrical eye for detail as sharp and quick as his camera. Songs like the meaty beaty “North Hollywood” or the beguiling title track crackle with all the dissonance and tension of modern life in the golden west.
“All of these elements are coming together to create this combustion,” Hunt says. “My experience of trying to live here and survive myself is really where this record was born.”
A charismatic and engaging live performer, Hunt is unabashedly looking forward to bringing his unbridled new sound to as many people as humanly possible. Having already toured both as headliner as well as alongside such diverse acts as Kanye West, The Roots, Coldplay, Mary J. Blige, and Dave Matthews Band, he plans to hit the road hard to herald the new album’s release.
“We’re gonna play until we either make a lot of money or run out of it,” Hunt says.
Hunt has returned to action invigorated and re-energized, his time in the wilderness spurring on his already ambitious sound and vision. What Were You Hoping For? marks a genuine milestone for Van Hunt, the moment in which this sonic adventurer lit out for territories all his own.
“I feel like I’ve finally shed the music that I grew up with,” he says. “I made a record that doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard before.”
GRAMMY® WINNER VAN HUNT ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN HEADLINING TOUR, LAUNCHING ON MARCH 16 IN HOUSTON
Live at “The Troubadour” 2011– HUNT’S FIRST LIVE ALBUM –
OUT MARCH 13 ON GODLESS HOTSPOT VIA RANDY JACKSON’S
THE FRIENDSHIP COLLECTIVE
GRAMMY Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer Van Hunt will celebrate the release of his first-ever live album – Live at “The Troubadour” 2011 – by heading back out on the road. The digital-only release will be out March 13 on godless hotspot and distributed through The Friendship Collective, the label headed by Randy Jackson. Hunt will play the Thirty Tigers showcase at South By Southwest (3/15 at Cedar Street Courtyard in Austin) and launch a North American headlining tour on March 16 at Houston’s Warehouse Live Studio. The run will include two New York shows – April 2 at The Studio @ Webster Hall and April 3 at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. Vintage Trouble will open on the first portion of the tour and Rocco Deluca will support on the remaining dates. See below for itinerary.
“I greatly enjoy adding new experiences to the songs our fans already know,” says Van. “I’d like to think this keeps it fresh for everyone. I consider it a compliment when people tell us that no two shows are the same. My role is that of a conductor and a DJ. I try to maintain a brew – that emotionally and physically keeps the crowd moving.”
Hunt is renowned for his live performances, with The Hollywood Reporter declaring: “he is a star….oozing charisma and energy” and The Washington Post praising his ability to “hold audiences rapt….Hunt’s cheeky lyrics, understated bass playing and vocals that shift from growl to howl held down everything from the sexually charged soul of his past to the punk, glam and garage rock songs [of his latest record].”
The 19-track Live at “The Troubadour” 2011 captures that electricity. Recorded at Los Angeles’ legendary Troubadour on October 17, 2011, the set spans Hunt’s career. It contains five songs from his latest studio album, What Were You Hoping For? including the title track, lead single “Eyes Like Pearls” and “Watching You Go Crazy Is Driving Me Insane.”
“In the Prince tradition, he kicks out the boundaries of R&B with surprising elements of prog and art-rock. It’s a surrealist’s notion of soul, though one that never wants for tunes and hooks to ground it,” said the New York Daily News of What Were You Hoping For? while the Philadelphia Inquirer noted: “[Van Hunt] has produced one of the most thrilling records of the year.” Numerous other critics placed it on their “Best of 2011” lists and it also appeared on Amazon.com’s “Outstanding 2011 Albums You Might Have Missed” list.
Live at “The Troubadour” 2011 also includes stunning renditions of several tracks from Hunt’s 2004 self-titled debut album, including the GRAMMY-nominated “Dust,” “Down Here In Hell” and “What Can I Say,” plus “Character,” the lead single from On the Jungle Floor (2006), and “The Lowest 1 Of My Desires,” a song written for the unreleased Popular, Hunt’s “lost” album, which was hailed by the LA Weekly as “a left-field stunner” and became an underground sensation via online music sharing after his former label refused to release it.
In addition to his headlining outings, Hunt has toured with such diverse acts as Kanye West, Coldplay, The Roots, Mary J. Blige, Dave Matthews Band and Seal. He received a GRAMMY Award for “Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals,” honoring “Family Affair,” a collaboration with John Legend and Joss Stone found on the 2006 Sly & The Family Stone tribute album, Different Strokes For Different Folks.
You can check out Hunt performing “Eyes Like Pearls” on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” at:
http://origin-www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/van-hunt-1612/1385318
Track Listing – Van Hunt’s Live at “The Troubadour” 2011
1. Intro
2. Dimples On Ur Bottom
3. Hello Goodbye
4. Man Of The Year
5. SNM
6. Seconds Of Pleasure
7. Watching You Go Crazy Is Driving Me Insane
8. What Were You Hoping For?
9. North Hollywood
10. What Can I Say?
11. Character
12. Prelude Reprise / Highlights / Peter Intro
13. Eyes Like Pearls
14. Her December
15. A Time Machine Is My New Girlfriend
16. Dust
17. Down Here In Hell
18. The Lowest 1 Of My Desires
19. Outro
Van Hunt – Spring 2012 Tour Dates
3/15 Austin, TX Cedar Street Courtyard – SXSW/Thirty Tigers Showcase
3/16 Houston, TX Warehouse Live Studio
3/17 Dallas, TX Prophet Bar
3/20 St. Louis, MO Lola
3/21 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
3/22 Ferndale, MI The Magic Bag
3/23 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom
3/24 Toronto, ON The Great Hall
3/27 Washington, DC The Hamilton
3/28 Baltimore, MD Sound Stage
3/29 Pittsburgh, PA Thunderbird Café
3/31 Providence, RI Fete Lounge
4/1 Philadelphia, PA World Café Live
4/2 New York, NY The Studio @ Webster Hall
4/3 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory
4/5 Charlotte, NC Double Door Inn
4/6 Atlanta, GA The Earl
4/7 Nashville, TN Jazz & Jokes
4/9 Columbus, OH The Basement
4/11 Dayton, OH Canal Street Tavern
4/13 Bloomington, IL The Castle Theatre
4/14 Davenport, IA RME Performance Hall
4/15 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café
GRAMMY® WINNER VAN HUNT ANNOUNCES U.S. HEADLINING TOUR, LAUNCHING ON SEPTEMBER 19TH AT NEW YORK CITY’S WEBSTER HALL
WHAT WERE YOU HOPING FOR? – HIS NEW STUDIO ALBUM –
SET FOR SEPTEMBER 27TH RELEASE
HUNT TO PERFORM AT 21st ANNUAL
NAACP THEATRE AWARDS GALA ON AUGUST 29TH IN HOLLYWOOD
GRAMMY Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer Van Hunt will celebrate the release of his new studio album – What Were You Hoping For? – with a U.S. headlining tour. Launching at Webster Hall’s The Studio in New York City on September 19th, the outing marks his first national tour since 2008. See below for itinerary.
Hunt toured widely in support of his first two albums – his 2004 self-titled full-length debut, which contained the GRAMMY-nominated single “Dust,” and the acclaimed follow-up, On The Jungle Floor – both as a headliner and with such diverse acts as Kanye West, Coldplay, The Roots, Mary J. Blige, Dave Matthews Band and Seal. In a live review, The Hollywood Reporter declared: “he is a star….oozing charisma and energy” while Variety observed: “An original with a firmly assimilated sense of history, Hunt goes the extra mile musically to prove he’s not another formulaic neo-soul songwriter and singer.”
Joining Hunt on the road will be band mates Ruth Price (drums), Peter Dyer (keyboards) and Douglas Showalter (guitar). Prior to the tour’s launch, Hunt will perform at the 21st Annual NAACP Theatre Awards Gala, which will take place on August 29th at Rolling Stone Lounge in Hollywood, CA.
What Were You Hoping For? – a collection of 11 challenging, densely layered compositions that reveal more with each listen – will be released on September 27th via a joint venture between the Nashville-based Thirty Tigers and Hunt’s own label, godless-hotspot. Van penned the songs in the summer of 2010, then produced and performed them at Los Angeles’ Santa Fe Tracking Station, bringing Ruthie Price in on drums. Along the way they enlisted keyboardist/programmer Peter Dyer to build what Hunt describes as “a landscape of sound around the songs.” This minimalist approach focuses the light on an unadulterated, unfiltered Van Hunt, delivering his most daring and provocative work to date, where intricate jazz melodies butt up against punk rock and poetry.
“I wanted this record to be disruptive,” says Hunt. “I feel like I’ve finally shed the music that I grew up with. I’ve made a record that doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard before.”
From the breakneck “Watching You Go Crazy Is Driving Me Insane” and “A Time Machine Is My New Girlfriend” to the metallic k.o. of the album’s first single, “Eyes Like Pearls,” Hunt unleashes a sound that reverberates with caustic wit, passion and frenetic, inventive musicality. The funky “North Hollywood” and the beguiling title track crackle with the dissonance of modern life in his new home town, where American dreamers navigate a path strewn with eviction notices, abandoned couches, skate rats and struggling starlets. A “Cross Dresser” finds he feels closer than ever to his ex when he dons the clothing she left behind and the tour de force closing track, “It’s A Mysterious Hustle,” offers up a warning and a promise: “You know the world’s no place to raise a child/You’ve been dropped into the wild/You’re here now and the clock is winding down/Let me show you how to work your way through the crowd.”
“All of these elements came together to create this combustion,” says Hunt, who was born in Ohio and relocated to Atlanta, where he began his music career. He moved to Los Angeles in 2007. Driving the city’s streets, he soon began photographing the abandoned objects he encountered and L.A.’s growing homeless population. “My experience of trying to live here and survive myself is really where this record was born.”
What Were You Hoping For? is Hunt’s fourth studio album. After the success of his first two albums and his GRAMMY win for “Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals,” honoring “Family Affair,” a collaboration with John Legend and Joss Stone found on the 2006 Sly & The Family Stone tribute album, Different Strokes For Different Folks, he recorded his third album, Popular. But the label he was signed to delayed its release, then dropped it from the schedule altogether. Online music sharing turned the still-unreleased album into an underground sensation, which the LA Weekly hailed as “a left-field stunner.” In 2009, Hunt liberated a collection of B-sides, demos, remixes, and other rarities on the self-released collection, Use In Case Of Emergency (Rare Items From The Vault).
Van recently gave fans two free downloads – tracks from the What Were You Hoping For? sessions that won’t appear on the final album. Pastemagazine.com premiered “The Savage, Sincere L of P,”noting: “His soulful vocals waltz over a backbeat that makes you wanna throw on your dancing shoes and cut the rug” while The Huffington Post debuted “June.” Free downloads of both songs are now available at Hunt’s recently relaunched website, www.vanhunt.com.
Van Hunt – Fall Tour Dates
9/19 New York, NY @Webster Hall Studio
9/20 Alexandria, VA @ The Birchmere
9/21 Brooklyn, NY @Southpaw
9/22 Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live
9/23Richmond, VA @ The Camel
9/24Charlotte, NC @ Double Door Inn
9/25Nashville, TN @ 3rd & Lindsley
9/27Augusta, GA @ Sky City
9/28Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
9/29New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s Uptown
9/30Houston, TX @ Underground Live
10/1Austin, TX @Cactus Café
10/3Dallas, TX @ House of Blues Cambridge
10/4Little Rock, AR @ Sticky Fingerz Chicken
10/6St. Louis, MO @ Lola
10/7 Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
10/8Minneapolis, MN @ Bunker’s
10/11Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge
10/12Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
10/13San Francisco, CA @ Yoshi’s
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What Were You Hoping For? - Album Art
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Shalon Goss