House Vs Hurricane

25 August 2010 | 8:45 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Since their formation in 2006 House Vs Hurricane have worked hard to become a household name in Australian heavy music. With an acclaimed EP under their belt, the release of their debut album "Perspectives" earlier this year and a schedule of intense touring nationwide, HVH are on the up and up. Bassist Dylan Stark caught up with us to talk about being regular dudes and life on the road.

Since their formation in 2006 House Vs Hurricane have worked hard to become a household name in Australian heavy music. With an acclaimed EP under their belt, the release of their debut album "Perspectives" earlier this year and a schedule of intense touring nationwide, HVH are on the up and up. Bassist Dylan Stark caught up with us to talk about being regular dudes and life on the road.

Please start out by telling us your name, your role in House Vs. Hurricane, and your favourite movie of all time.


My name is Dylan, I play bass for House Vs Hurricane and my favourite movie of all time would be Indiana Jones and the last crusade.

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How did the band actually come about?


The band came about a few years ago in a pretty similar way most bands do. A few Friends got into heavy music, started going to shows, wanted to play shows, so started a band of their own. and somewhere along the line people got into it and we were fortunate enough to play more and more shows.


Please describe your ‘sound’ in 25 words or less.


Heavy. Energetic and positive.


What are the band’s main musical (or other) influences?


Every individual member of this band has their own taste in music, which is probably why the sound of the band has become something we can't throw into a specific genre. We don't write music to try and sound like anyone in particular. I suppose the biggest influence we use when writing a new record is looking back at our last record, seeing what worked, seeing what didn't work, and working from there.


As well as taking influence from our personal lives and writing music that fits right for where we are at in that point of our lives, which makes me interested to see where the next record goes, because in comparison to 'Perspectives' life has changed a lot for everyone since that record was written.


You released your debut full-length Perspectives earlier this year, how has the response to it been so far?


The response to 'Perspectives' has been great, from what I can see kids who have picked it up have enjoyed it. As the tours go on and on, songs we play off that record are getting just as good responses from songs that were on the EP. Kids are singing the lyrics, asking for specific songs to be played, and enjoying listening to it just as much as we enjoyed making it.


As the guy behind so many famous albums by countless epic bands (Converge, Hot Water Music, The Movielife and Circa Survive to name a few), was recording with Brian McTernan in the US worthwhile?


Definitely, I think going to someone like Brian taught the band a lot about making records, not to mention the life experience of travelling to the other side of the world to make a record you wrote in your bedroom. We took a lot from working with Brian, and we came out of it with much more experience under our belts that I don't think we could have gotten in Australia. The USA is the major leagues for heavy music, it's a whole different world over there, and being exposed to that while the band was still fairly young was an experience we will all take with us into the next chapter of this band.


What has been your favourite show or tour to date?


Each tour just keeps getting better in my opinion. Each tour we come away with more and more experience to take into the next. We are used to being away from home and comfort zones and enjoying tour while it's here. But a standout would have to be the Perspectives tour in March and April earlier this year - shows were unreal, kids were crazy, and we had so much fun sharing our new record with the people who supported the band over the last few years.


Your upcoming Queensland tour with Confession includes a lot of all ages regional shows. How do these compare to shows say at home or in other capital cities?


Regional towns and capital cities are very different when it comes to shows. City kids have every big name band come through their city and the kids there live and breathe alternative music, they have all the CDs. Know all the words, and will come to a show to see a specific band on the bill.


Kids in regional places, it's more about the fun of going to see new bands and experiencing shows as a whole. They aren't fortunate enough to get bands to play their town every weekend, so they are just out to check out who ever is coming through their town.


The ‘East Coast Blazin’ Tour’ hardly has any NSW dates, what’ve you got against Sydney?!


The aim of the east coast tour was to reach out to places that we usually wouldn't visit, apologies to the NSW and Sydney kids that were keen to check out the tour and missed out, but I can promise it won't be long till we are back in your city.


Having already done numerous national tours (and considering you travel with at least FIVE other dudes) how do you keep your sanity / keep it fun whilst on the road?


Being in a touring band is pretty much like being in a family, except there isn't anyone to tell you not to do something stupid. Having a balance of time around the rest of the dudes and time alone to yourself is an important thing, we share everything we have with each other, food, clothes, beds etc. So we are close dudes, we know how to live with each other. We watch movies, listen to music, play video games, go swimming, play pool. We are pretty regular dudes.


What does House Vs. Hurricane rock in the tour van?


It changes from tour to tour, we go through stages with music, when the latest Jay-z record came out we listened to that a lot. Then it went to something like Mumford and sons, then to Blink, then to Acacia strain, and lately it's a lot of Black Sabbath.


Do you guys have plans for an overseas tour any time soon?


Yes. We recently announced a UK/European tour with Flood Of Red and Heights for November.


Other than your hefty list of upcoming tour dates, what does the future bring for HVH?


The band has become our life. We want to keep it that way. We still have the same excitement of making music as we did when we first learnt how to play an instrument. We don't plan on slowing down anytime soon, and the next release from HVH will be as soon as humanly possible, until then we just want to tour and tour more and more, play to new people and take our band to anyone who wants to listen.


Thanks a bunch, see you at a show sometime in August. Any last words?


Support bands while they are around. If not this band, then someone else’s band. Buy a shirt, go to a show, post blogs, take photos of bands, tell friends. Keep the heavy music scene alive, because it's just as much your music scene as anyone elses.