Drink Hunters are a band from Barcelona (Spain) that intend to be heard worldwide. They are at the forefront of the Spanish Celtic punk scene, together with Bastards on Parade (La Coruña) and Brutus’ Daughters (Madrid). After having included their demo in the first sampler of 2010 and having reviewed it, we got in contact with the band in order to make this interview. This is what they told us.
First of all, Could you introduce yourselves? We would like to know if you have been playing with other bands and which genre of music you played.
Pau: I’m Pau and I play the drums. Before Drink Hunters I was the drummer of a hard rock band called Aural. But those bastards fired me because my way of playing was too punk for them. I’m joking, ha ha ha.
Aaron: Hey, I’m Aaron, I’m the bass player and lead vocals of this punk band. I had previously played with other punk-rock or hardcore bands, such as 13 Picas.
Rosa: Hello, I’m Rosa and I play the accordion. I used to play in a folk band called Tanyuts.
Raja: Hey! I’m Dani, aka Raja, I play the guitar and before Drink Hunters I was a lazy boy, Drink Hunters is my first band.
Nando: I’m Nando, the fiddler. I had never played in a Celtic punk band before. I had been in some projects in Music Schools, classical and modern bands.
How did you meet each other?
Pau: Well, the band was born after having left Aural. I knew Aaron, who was playing with 13 Picas. We were drinking at a pub, a little bit drunk, and I suggested him that we should play something new, the Irish Punk was new for me. So, I asked him something like this: "Aaron, d’ye wanna play in an Irish Punk band with me?"
Aaron: And I told him. “OK. When are we going to start?" Then me and Pau met often in order to write some songs. And then I left 13 Picas for different reasons and I put all my energy on Drink Hunters. Me and Pau went to Ireland to celebrate it!
Pau : But, of course, we needed a guitar and other folk instruments (such as a fiddle and/or an accordion). So we talked with Raja. The bastard had not been playing for a long time. It was a little bit risky, but we trusted on him and he did it quite well
Raja: To tell you the truth, it was really risky, cause I had not got any decent guitar… and I had never been in a band.
Pau: We met the fiddler by chance. A friend of mine showed me a video that he has shot with his mobile phone. It was Nando playing the fiddle, so I got in contact with him straightaway. And we also met the accordionist by accident. I asked a friend of mine if she would like to play in our band, but she refused. However, she gave to me a list of people that she knew. The first accordionist I talked to was Rosa … and she accepted!
Rosa: I was dreaming, ha ha ha. One day a certain Pau came across and told me that he was in a band that played Irish punk and asked me if I was interested in playing with them. I told him “Yes, of course”, cause I was interested in playing in a real and decent band. And, even if I thought that they would fire me immediately, I’m still playing with the band, ha ha ha
Aaron: And that’s how Drink Hunters was born… A little bit boring, isn’t it? Ha ha ha. During the first year we were rehearsing to death, writing our own songs and making covers of bands such as Great Big Sea, Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys. They were our only Celtic influences, cause we were mainly influenced by Bad Religion, NOFX or Raised Fist.
You sing in English. Is there any particular reason? Regarding the lyrics, who writes them and what are they about?
Aaron: Well, in my previous band I used to sing in Spanish, but I realized that the people didn’t understand the lyrics. So, I thought that it would be better to sing in English, cause there are a lot of people who can speak in English and it was more suitable for the kind of music that we were playing.
Pau: Yeah, I feel that the English language can open more doors, particularly in this genre which is not very popular in Spain yet. Regarding the subjects, apart from the social side, we talked about every day’s life and about funny things, cause we play to have fun. Why should we always talk about the same things? Everybody knows that this world sucks, but I think that our lyrics are about the things we really want to say.
Aaron: Usually I write the lyrics, cause my English is better, but everybody shares his own ideas… Sometimes I made some corrections. So, we could say that the lyrics are writen by all of us.
Do you intend to post the lyrics to your MySpace page?
Raja: No, we are not going to upload them, I think that nobody does it… I guess that they would be printed on the CD booklet.
The demo was recently out. It has four great songs. Are you happy with it?
Raja: It is working quite well, it has been critically acclaimed by our fans on MySpace.
Rosa: We have been distributing it for a few weeks, but the results are quite good. At least the people are asking for it . Now we are giving it for free, we are mainly interested in the promotion of the band.
Even if you are a young band, we have noticed that you have already shared the stage with the Real McKenzies and the Dreadnoughts … I guess that this is a positive step on your career.
Pau: Sure. Playing with The Dreadnoughts and The Real McKenzies has been a stroke of luck. It has opened many doors and has given us more opportunities.
And what do you think about those bands, musically and like friends?
Pau: Incredible! It was really a pleasure to play with topnotch bands such as the McKenzies, we cannot complain.
Aaron: I was really amazed by the humility of both bands. Apart from enjoying the booze as we do, they are fucking cool people.
We will continue talking about the main bands in the genre. Did you attend the Dropkick Murphys gig in Barcelona? What did you feel?. Please , tell us your comments.
Raja: Awesome, and I must say that The Mahones performance was great too.
Rosa : We had fun from beginning to end!
Pau: Wow! If we take into account that a lot of time has gone by from their previous gig, we were eager to see them live. In fact, all of us went together to the show and it was unbelievable: a sold out gig, a packed audience and DKM was at their peak on stage. We were lucky and they played some of the old Murphys songs, such as “Bar Room Hero”
Now we will come back to our home. In the past we have had some Celtic Rock bands in Spain (Labanda, Celtas Cortos, Tom Bombadil, Rhune …). Apart from Skontra and the sadly defunct band Oi n’Ast (both of them from Asturias), there were no Celtic punk bands here. However, right now we have Drink Hunters (you have recently released a demo), Bastards on Parade (that have been touring Europe some weeks ago) and Brutus’ Daughters (that have just released their debut CD in a gig in Madrid in which you also played). Do you feel that there is a Celtic punk scene in Spain? Do you get along well with those bands?
Nando: On the one hand, some people would say that maybe it is not the right time, cause it is a genre which is not well-known in this country. But, on the other hand, we feel that it’s the right moment to support this genre and to go ahead with the music we enjoy.
Pau: We have a great relationship with the other bands, we help each other. In fact we have already shared the stage with Brutus’ and it was awesome, a great punk folk party. And we are playing together the Saint Patrick show in Madrid (March 13th, Brutus’ Daugthers CD launch gig), the audience can expect a lot of fun. Brutus’ Daugthers rock, they made us feel comfortable as if we were a family, it was wonderful.
We had some contacts with Bastards on Parade, since they wanted to play a gig in Barcelona. However, even if we tried to get a show together, it was not possible then. To get a gig in Barcelona is getting harder and we could not find a suitable date. Anyway, we are friends and we hope that we will be able to share the stage with them in the future.
Regarding the shows, where have you played till now? We guess that you have played mainly in Catalonia, but, do you intend to play in other regions: Euskadi, Madrid, Asturias, Galicia …?
Rosa: Yes, we have played in Catalonia, but we have played in Madrid too and we are thinking about playing in Galicia.
Are you working with a booking agency or do you get your own shows?
Pau : Yes, we are dealing directly with that. We were thinking over signing a deal with a label from Barcelona, they were really interested. However, the band is still young and our aim is to improve our music step by step. I feel that it is not good to go too fast.
Which are your booking contact details?
Aaron: They can use MySpace (www.myspace.com/drinkhunters) or e-mail to aaronthecelt@gmail.com. Usually, we answer immediately, ha ha ha
What can the audience expect from a Drink Hunters show? Do you play some covers (traditional songs or other bands’ songs)?
Aaron: I guess that the people are expecting a drunken band, a raucous band on stage. Maybe the special numbers in our shows are the old school punk rock covers: NOFX, Bad Religion… I also feel that the people coming to our shows will easily notice our hardcore bands influences. But it seems that the audience enjoys them, they think that it’s something different.
Pau: Regarding the covers, we only play three, cause they fit the party side of our gigs: NOFX, Flogging Molly … we adapt them to our own style.
To finish up, when can we expect your debut album? Furthermore, what about a possible European tour (France, Germany …)
Pau: Our economy is a little bit low ha ha ha … we have not been asking a big amount for a gig till now. But we want to record an album as soon as possible. We would include 14 tracks, since we are already writing the songs for the second album and we would like to record all the songs that we have written during these two years.
Regarding tours, there were some discussions about a possible tour in June, Spain and Portugal, but it has to be confirmed. We also discussed about touring Germany and France together with Brutus’ Daughters, but it depends on many things. We will see.
Thank you for your answers. We wish you that the next Saint Patrick gigs will be a real success (Friday, March 19th together with Ebri Knight in Mataró and Saturday, March 20th with Pipes and Pints at l’Estraperlo in Badalona)
Drink Hunters: Thank you for your support..
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.
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First of all, Could you introduce yourselves? We would like to know if you have been playing with other bands and which genre of music you played.
Pau: I’m Pau and I play the drums. Before Drink Hunters I was the drummer of a hard rock band called Aural. But those bastards fired me because my way of playing was too punk for them. I’m joking, ha ha ha.
Aaron: Hey, I’m Aaron, I’m the bass player and lead vocals of this punk band. I had previously played with other punk-rock or hardcore bands, such as 13 Picas.
Rosa: Hello, I’m Rosa and I play the accordion. I used to play in a folk band called Tanyuts.
Raja: Hey! I’m Dani, aka Raja, I play the guitar and before Drink Hunters I was a lazy boy, Drink Hunters is my first band.
Nando: I’m Nando, the fiddler. I had never played in a Celtic punk band before. I had been in some projects in Music Schools, classical and modern bands.
How did you meet each other?
Pau: Well, the band was born after having left Aural. I knew Aaron, who was playing with 13 Picas. We were drinking at a pub, a little bit drunk, and I suggested him that we should play something new, the Irish Punk was new for me. So, I asked him something like this: "Aaron, d’ye wanna play in an Irish Punk band with me?"
Aaron: And I told him. “OK. When are we going to start?" Then me and Pau met often in order to write some songs. And then I left 13 Picas for different reasons and I put all my energy on Drink Hunters. Me and Pau went to Ireland to celebrate it!
Pau : But, of course, we needed a guitar and other folk instruments (such as a fiddle and/or an accordion). So we talked with Raja. The bastard had not been playing for a long time. It was a little bit risky, but we trusted on him and he did it quite well
Raja: To tell you the truth, it was really risky, cause I had not got any decent guitar… and I had never been in a band.
Pau: We met the fiddler by chance. A friend of mine showed me a video that he has shot with his mobile phone. It was Nando playing the fiddle, so I got in contact with him straightaway. And we also met the accordionist by accident. I asked a friend of mine if she would like to play in our band, but she refused. However, she gave to me a list of people that she knew. The first accordionist I talked to was Rosa … and she accepted!
Rosa: I was dreaming, ha ha ha. One day a certain Pau came across and told me that he was in a band that played Irish punk and asked me if I was interested in playing with them. I told him “Yes, of course”, cause I was interested in playing in a real and decent band. And, even if I thought that they would fire me immediately, I’m still playing with the band, ha ha ha
Aaron: And that’s how Drink Hunters was born… A little bit boring, isn’t it? Ha ha ha. During the first year we were rehearsing to death, writing our own songs and making covers of bands such as Great Big Sea, Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys. They were our only Celtic influences, cause we were mainly influenced by Bad Religion, NOFX or Raised Fist.
You sing in English. Is there any particular reason? Regarding the lyrics, who writes them and what are they about?
Aaron: Well, in my previous band I used to sing in Spanish, but I realized that the people didn’t understand the lyrics. So, I thought that it would be better to sing in English, cause there are a lot of people who can speak in English and it was more suitable for the kind of music that we were playing.
Pau: Yeah, I feel that the English language can open more doors, particularly in this genre which is not very popular in Spain yet. Regarding the subjects, apart from the social side, we talked about every day’s life and about funny things, cause we play to have fun. Why should we always talk about the same things? Everybody knows that this world sucks, but I think that our lyrics are about the things we really want to say.
Aaron: Usually I write the lyrics, cause my English is better, but everybody shares his own ideas… Sometimes I made some corrections. So, we could say that the lyrics are writen by all of us.
Do you intend to post the lyrics to your MySpace page?
Raja: No, we are not going to upload them, I think that nobody does it… I guess that they would be printed on the CD booklet.
The demo was recently out. It has four great songs. Are you happy with it?
Raja: It is working quite well, it has been critically acclaimed by our fans on MySpace.
Rosa: We have been distributing it for a few weeks, but the results are quite good. At least the people are asking for it . Now we are giving it for free, we are mainly interested in the promotion of the band.
Even if you are a young band, we have noticed that you have already shared the stage with the Real McKenzies and the Dreadnoughts … I guess that this is a positive step on your career.
Pau: Sure. Playing with The Dreadnoughts and The Real McKenzies has been a stroke of luck. It has opened many doors and has given us more opportunities.
And what do you think about those bands, musically and like friends?
Pau: Incredible! It was really a pleasure to play with topnotch bands such as the McKenzies, we cannot complain.
Aaron: I was really amazed by the humility of both bands. Apart from enjoying the booze as we do, they are fucking cool people.
We will continue talking about the main bands in the genre. Did you attend the Dropkick Murphys gig in Barcelona? What did you feel?. Please , tell us your comments.
Raja: Awesome, and I must say that The Mahones performance was great too.
Rosa : We had fun from beginning to end!
Pau: Wow! If we take into account that a lot of time has gone by from their previous gig, we were eager to see them live. In fact, all of us went together to the show and it was unbelievable: a sold out gig, a packed audience and DKM was at their peak on stage. We were lucky and they played some of the old Murphys songs, such as “Bar Room Hero”
Now we will come back to our home. In the past we have had some Celtic Rock bands in Spain (Labanda, Celtas Cortos, Tom Bombadil, Rhune …). Apart from Skontra and the sadly defunct band Oi n’Ast (both of them from Asturias), there were no Celtic punk bands here. However, right now we have Drink Hunters (you have recently released a demo), Bastards on Parade (that have been touring Europe some weeks ago) and Brutus’ Daughters (that have just released their debut CD in a gig in Madrid in which you also played). Do you feel that there is a Celtic punk scene in Spain? Do you get along well with those bands?
Nando: On the one hand, some people would say that maybe it is not the right time, cause it is a genre which is not well-known in this country. But, on the other hand, we feel that it’s the right moment to support this genre and to go ahead with the music we enjoy.
Pau: We have a great relationship with the other bands, we help each other. In fact we have already shared the stage with Brutus’ and it was awesome, a great punk folk party. And we are playing together the Saint Patrick show in Madrid (March 13th, Brutus’ Daugthers CD launch gig), the audience can expect a lot of fun. Brutus’ Daugthers rock, they made us feel comfortable as if we were a family, it was wonderful.
We had some contacts with Bastards on Parade, since they wanted to play a gig in Barcelona. However, even if we tried to get a show together, it was not possible then. To get a gig in Barcelona is getting harder and we could not find a suitable date. Anyway, we are friends and we hope that we will be able to share the stage with them in the future.
Regarding the shows, where have you played till now? We guess that you have played mainly in Catalonia, but, do you intend to play in other regions: Euskadi, Madrid, Asturias, Galicia …?
Rosa: Yes, we have played in Catalonia, but we have played in Madrid too and we are thinking about playing in Galicia.
Are you working with a booking agency or do you get your own shows?
Pau : Yes, we are dealing directly with that. We were thinking over signing a deal with a label from Barcelona, they were really interested. However, the band is still young and our aim is to improve our music step by step. I feel that it is not good to go too fast.
Which are your booking contact details?
Aaron: They can use MySpace (www.myspace.com/drinkhunters) or e-mail to aaronthecelt@gmail.com. Usually, we answer immediately, ha ha ha
What can the audience expect from a Drink Hunters show? Do you play some covers (traditional songs or other bands’ songs)?
Aaron: I guess that the people are expecting a drunken band, a raucous band on stage. Maybe the special numbers in our shows are the old school punk rock covers: NOFX, Bad Religion… I also feel that the people coming to our shows will easily notice our hardcore bands influences. But it seems that the audience enjoys them, they think that it’s something different.
Pau: Regarding the covers, we only play three, cause they fit the party side of our gigs: NOFX, Flogging Molly … we adapt them to our own style.
To finish up, when can we expect your debut album? Furthermore, what about a possible European tour (France, Germany …)
Pau: Our economy is a little bit low ha ha ha … we have not been asking a big amount for a gig till now. But we want to record an album as soon as possible. We would include 14 tracks, since we are already writing the songs for the second album and we would like to record all the songs that we have written during these two years.
Regarding tours, there were some discussions about a possible tour in June, Spain and Portugal, but it has to be confirmed. We also discussed about touring Germany and France together with Brutus’ Daughters, but it depends on many things. We will see.
Thank you for your answers. We wish you that the next Saint Patrick gigs will be a real success (Friday, March 19th together with Ebri Knight in Mataró and Saturday, March 20th with Pipes and Pints at l’Estraperlo in Badalona)
Drink Hunters: Thank you for your support..
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