"..an entirely new way to enjoy audial evolution right before your ears.."
Rollin Hunt
(actually, that's his friend up there..)
Rollin Hunt Bio:
In the 27 years since arriving here from the fifth dimension, cosmic pop-singer Rollin Hunt has learned a great deal about human emotion. Incredibly, he's almost become one of us: walking the streets of our cities, admiring our women, dancing in our nightclubs--and finally understanding us, crying big, salty tears over our species' violent destiny. And now he's dropping one of the first Major Albums of the 2010s, bringing the message of celestial love that's already earned him a cult-following in England and Canada. Fans of Rollin's far-out R&B ("Unearthly shoo-be-doo," Jessica Hopper has called it) know him as a lo-fi underdog, an oddly-charming savant who recorded some of his best material on an answering machine. But The Phoney, his first real LP, finds Rollin working it in panoramic, technicolor hi-fi that's light years from the bedroom studio. The not-so-secret weapon is whiz-kid producer and multi-instrumentalist Doni Schroader, who worked for months with Rollin in manic, all-night studio binges, bringing his songs to lush and lavish life. The gorgeous production that emerged from that west-side Chicago warehouse--jaw-dropping orchestral arrangements and pyrotechnic studio wizardry, an awesome synthesis of organic and electric that's both warm and futuristic--is as inventive as anything this side of Frank Ocean, with whom The Phoney shares a kind of Tumblr-era sense of digital melancholy. Most shocking of all, The Phoney has what might be called crossover potential--that is, it speaks not only to the human experience but to intelligent life across the space-time continuum. Unlike, say, Ziggy Stardust, Rollin is the type of otherworldly messenger that you can imagine having a drink with; as a messiah, he's remarkably accessible--one of us!--and for a 'phoney' he seems awfully real. Still, this is a big and important album that threatens to launch Rollin right back through the galactic portals --let's hope it doesn't, he's urgently needed here on earth.
Hello, how are you?
OK. Thanks for asking.
What are you currently listening to?
I've been listening to Beastie Boys some. Mostly in my friend Chris's car. He has an Infinity he drove here from New Jersey. He's a good friend of mine. I've sent along a picture of him (see above). He's a great guy. We work on movies together sometimes. I'm trying to produce a record for him. He's great at writing.
What's with the band name?
It's my name. I'm actually the 3rd. My grandpa and dad were named Rollin Hunt. I'm not sure about the history of the name. The best I could figure is that its from England or something. I don't know. It's a mutation of Roland. I never thought about a band name before since I haven't ever had a proper band, but I think I do now. Band names....
Care to shed some light on your latest release 'The Phoney'; theme, favorite track, etc?
Holy Smokes! Where to start? I could write a book about it. It took about 5 years to make. First of all, the best record I ever made (unreleased) I made in 2001. It's terrible lo-fi quality. None of those songs are on 'The Phoney'. I have loads of songs, but not all of them I can remember how to play. I've spent a long while trying to figure out what I did, but there's something really weird about them; it's impossible to do live or re-record. My way of doing things has been spontaneous recording and in the moment writing, like therapy or something. But I couldn't play you a song in real life, just through recording. I started hanging out with Anni Rossi at school and she would play the same songs again and again live on viola. I wondered why she wouldn't start on new songs, but then I realized that she was honing in on them. Over a period of time she took rough and raw songs and turned them into stunningly perfect performances and recordings, where I hadn't given any of my songs a chance to grow and just had a collection of tapes sitting in a box. 'The Phoney' was my attempt at sticking with a handful of songs and growing them. It worked!!! I wrote some songs, played them over and over and focused on just those songs and then worked on recording them perfect. I call it "The Phoney" since the process of making it feels so opposite of my nature. It's me trying to emulate the process I learned from Anni. My favorite track is "You".
Do you plan on touring the US extensively for said release?
Not at the moment. A lot of things still need to come together for an extensive tour. We'll see.
If you could pick any 3 artists (dead or alive) to remix your work whom would they be?
Paul McCartney, Randy Newman, Beastie Boys..
Got any other projects we should know about?
I'm also producing a pop record with Alexa Loftus. A bedroom record, but it's Hi-Fi. I'm so excited about it. It's a dance record for sure. A bunch of movies I designed. (I moonlight as a production designer/art director) Test, Wolves From Another Kingdom, Trestle at Pope Lick Creek are all cool. I'm really interested in writing scores for films or commercials. I'm trying to navigate into that world these days.
What movie would work best on mute while listening to you music?
I think 'Cool World'
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Probably some Brahms compilation.
Are you living your dream?
I wish I could say yes, but not yet. If I was, you probably wouldn't hear much from me.
Thanx Rollin & Gloria!
Rollin Hunt recently released 'The Phoney', do yourself a solid and get that NOW...
No comments:
Post a Comment