There’s something important about silence when listening to music. At times it’s essential to tune out all distracting sounds and focus to the dedication and sonic visions that each artist has worked on. That’s exactly what I did the first time I listened to Hush Club. I took the hint from their name and made those first moments completely theirs. I was hit by layers of fuzzed-up chords, satisfying harmonies, and a reminder of what alternative/indie-psychedelic music should be. Influences of Tame Impala jumped at me while underlying tones of early alternative rockers such as The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand maintained a comfortable underlying position with occasional pops. Most noticeably was the uplifting and adventurous atmosphere that Hush Club creates. If you have ever seen “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and remember the scene as he longboards through Iceland jumps into mind as a background visual for most of their tracks.
Hush Club is a four-person band out of New England. It’s instrumentation consists of bass and vocals by Alasdair MacKenzie, guitar and vocals by Chris Haley, drums by Ben Curell, and keyboard and vocals by Liz Kantor.
I wanted to learn more about Hush Club and what was happening behind the scenes so I met with them this week. Here’s what I found out:
What brought Hush Club together? How and why did you all get involved with music in the first place?
Chris and I met early in college, when we were the only two audience members at a show on campus. We started talking––under the circumstances, it would have been rude not to––and discovered we liked a lot of the same music. Within a year, we were playing shows together. Liz joined us a bit later, after a friend told me to check out some songs she had written for a theatre production. Ben and I met as teenagers at a music summer camp, and we reconnected after we’d both graduated college, right when the band was looking for a drummer!
How did you come up with the name Hush Club?
Nothing special. We thought of a bunch of names, and it was our favorite.
Has your musical vision as a group shifted at all since the beginning?
Over time, we’ve moved toward a style of music that aims to be huge and intimate at the same time. We want our recordings to take listeners into outer space, to places they’ve never seen, but also inside themselves, to familiar feelings and memories. As for our lyrics, we’ve moved toward a style of writing that deals a lot with ambiguity and tries to acknowledge that some questions don’t have easy answers.
What are your favorite songs you’ve released? Most emotional and true to you?
Our new song “Saturday” gets me pretty pumped. I think the melody that Chris sings at the beginning of each verse is a great example of how music can express emotion totally separately from words. I’m proud of that song’s lyrics, for sure (although they’re more Chris’s than mine), but that melody would give me the feeling that it gives me––wistful and uplifting at the same time––no matter what the words were.
Who or what are some major influences for your music?
Off the top of our heads, we can think of Fleet Foxes, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, The Shins, The Byrds, Dawes, Emmylou Harris, The Staves, The Beach Boys, and Tame Impala.
Do you have any work coming out soon?
We just released two songs––”Flying Over Utah” and “Saturday,”––on all streaming platforms. Check them out on Spotify here! More music will be coming soon.
Where and when can we find your next shows?
Check out a list of our upcoming shows on our website, https://www.hushclubband.com/. If you’re in Connecticut inquire with us about our February 28th and 29th shows!
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